Eastern Manners and Customs: "The He-goats Before the Flocks" ; "I Have Enough"

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 2min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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“Some time ago we sent a shepherd and a Chowkedar of the regiment with too rupees to buy a flock of sheep for the Mutton Club. They were obliged to buy a large he-goat to walk at the head of the flock, for until they did so, the sheep ran hither and thither, and could not be driven comfortably. Does not this illustrate the expression (Jeremiah 1:88Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:8),) in which the Jews are told to go out of Babylon, and be as the he-goats before the flocks, that is, to set an example to others to follow.”
—Mrs. Colin Mackenzie.
These words, used by Jacob and Esau at their meeting of reconciliation, differ in the original, and their force and meaning are lost by their being rendered alike in the Authorized Version. Esau uses rabh, great things, equivalent to “much goods laid up for many years.” “I am rich,” he says boastingly. But Jacob’s rejoinder, kol, is rightly rendered in the margin. “ All things are mine,” he says with the confidence of faith. St. Paul seems to repeat these words of Jacob.—1 Corinthians 3:2121Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; (1 Corinthians 3:21).
The characters of the two brothers, the man of the world, and the man of God, are thus indicated by the different expressions which they use.