When a man shall take hold of his brother... — Disorder was followed by destitution. The elder brother, the impoverished owner of the ruined dwelling, the head of a family or village, turns in his rags to the younger, whose decent garments seem to indicate comparative wealth, and would fain transfer to him the responsibilities of the first-born, though he has but a ruined tenement to give him. And instead of accepting what most men would have coveted (Genesis 25:31), the younger brother rejects it. He has enough bread and clothing (same word as in Exodus 22:27) for himself, and no more. It is not for him to bind up the wounds of others, or to try to introduce law where all is lawlessness. The supreme selfishness of a sauve qui peut asserts itself in his answer. In Isaiah 4:1 we have another feature of the same social state.

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