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 BEYOND THE STARSj 
 
 OR, 
 
 Its Inhabitants, Occupations, and Life. 
 
 By THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., Belfast, 
 
 Author of “History of the Irish Presbyterian Church.” 
 
 CONTENTS. —Chap. I. Some Introductory Words. II. A Settling 
 of Localities. III. The King of the Country. IV. The King’s 
 Ministers. V. The King’s Messengers. VI. The King’s Sub¬ 
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 Resurrection. XI. How to get there. 
 
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John. Bartholomew 1 & 
 
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 Bible Claps primers. 
 
 EDITED BY PROFESSOR^S ALMOND, D.D., ABERDEEN. 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OE ABRAHAM. 
 
 CHAELES AKDEESOjST SCOTT, B.A., 
 
 ASSISTANT MINISTER, FREE ST JOHN’S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, 
 FORMERLY NADEN DIVINITY STUDENT, ST JOHN’S 
 COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 (EMttburgh: 
 
 T. k T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
Sea #^^3 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Home, and the Call to leave it. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, 1; Abram’s Birthplace, 2 ; Religion in 
 Chaldea, 3 ; Abram’s Descent and Family, 4 ; The 
 First Migration, 5 ; Sojourn in Haran, 6 ; The Call 
 of Abram, God’s Summons, 7 ; God’s Promise, 8 ; 
 Abram’s Faith, 9 ; Abram’s Obedience, 10, . .9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Canaan and Egypt. 
 
 The Land of Promise, 11; The Inhabitants of Canaan, 
 
 12; Abram sojourning in Canaan, 13 ; The New 
 Promise, 14 ; Abram in Egypt, 15 ; Sarai in Egypt, 
 
 16 ; Abram’s return to Canaan, 17 ; Separation, 18 ; 
 
 The Third Promise to Abram, 19 ; Invasion from 
 the East, 20 ; Defeat of the Five Kings, 21; Abram 
 rescues the Captives, 22 ; Gratitude of the King of 
 Sodom, 23 ; Melchizedek, 24; Abram’s Position 
 and Conduct, 25,.17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Covenant op Promise. 
 
 The Fourth Promise, 26 ; Abram’s Righteousness, 27; 
 Preparation for a Covenant, 28 ; Vision of the 
 Future, 29; Completion of the Covenant, 30 ; 
 Hagar, 31; Hagar’s Return, Birth of Ishmael, 32, 35 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Abraham the Friend of God. 
 
 PA OR 
 
 The Covenant Renewed, 33 ; The True Heir of the 
 Promise, 34 ; The Covenant Sealed, a New Name, 
 
 35; The Human Seal of the Covenant, Circum¬ 
 cision, 36 ; Renewed Promise of a Son by Sarah, 
 
 37 ; The Divine Errand to Sodom, 38 ; Abraham’s 
 Intercession for Sodom, 39 ; The Testing of Sodom, 
 
 40 ; Escape of Lot, 41; Destruction of Sodom, 42, 45 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Great Trial of Faith. 
 
 Abraham Sojourning in the “ Negeb,” 43 ; Abraham in 
 Gerar, 44 ; Abimelech dismisses Abraham, 45 ; 
 Birth of Isaac, the Son of Promise, 46 ; Expulsion 
 of Hagar, 47 ; Hagar in the Wilderness, 48; 
 Abraham’s Treaty with Abimelech, 49 ; The Su¬ 
 preme Trial of Faith, (a) the Command, 50 ; ( b ) What 
 the Command meant for Abraham, 51; (c) What the 
 Command did not mean for Abraham, 52 ; Abraham 
 Prepares to Sacrifice his Son, 53 ; God Provides a 
 Substitute, 54 ; The Promise again Repeated, 55, 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Closing Years and Death. 
 
 Death of Sarah, 56 ; Abraham Purchases a Place of 
 Burial, 57 ; Preparations for Isaac’s Marriage, 58 ; 
 Journey of Eliezer, 59 ; Rebecca at the Well, 60; 
 
 The Marriage Arranged, 61; The Bride’s Home¬ 
 going, 62; Death of Abraham, 63 ; Abraham’s 
 Character, 64,.73 
 
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HOME AND THE CALL TO LEAVE IT. 
 
 1. INTRODUCTION. The Bible is the history of 
 redemption. It shows in the opening chapters of 
 Genesis how redemption became necessary, when 
 man in the exercise of his freedom fell from obedi¬ 
 ence, from likeness to God, and from free communion 
 with God. Redemption is the Divine method by 
 which man recovers the communion he had lost, 
 and is restored to the likeness of God. The 
 Old Testament is the history of the working of this 
 purpose of redemption. There we see it con¬ 
 centrating itself upon a chosen nation, the nation 
 of Israel, of which Abraham was the Founder; 
 then narrowing itself first from a nation to a 
 “ remnant ” of that nation, and afterwards from the 
 remnant to an individual, Jesus Christ, the Divine 
 Redeemer, and Mediator between God and man. 
 The New Testament contains the proclamation of 
 redemption finally achieved by Christ, and the 
 history of its effects, widening out first on the 
 Apostles, then on the Church, and finally on the 
 world at large—this ultimate expansion being the 
 object aimed at throughout in the election, whether 
 of a nation or of individuals. Abraham’s import¬ 
 ance in this history lies in this—that he was 
 chosen by God to be the father and founder of 
 that nation, which was to be the bearer of the 
 promise of redemption, the subject of its first fulfil- 
 
raent, and the instrument by which its grace was to 
 come to all peoples. 
 
 The Bible is also a history of religion, that is, of 
 God’s gradual revelation of Himself to man, and 
 of man’s response to that revelation by worship 
 and by conduct. The importance of Abraham in 
 this history is, that he was chosen to receive the 
 revelation of God as One and Supreme, and by 
 his conduct at different crises in his life to pro¬ 
 claim his adherence to such a God, to testify before 
 the world that God is, that God is One God, and 
 that God is the Rewarder of those that serve Him. 
 
 2. ABRAM’S BIRTHPLACE (Gen. xi. 28; 
 cf. Acts vii. 14). Abram was born about two 
 thousand years before Christ, 0 at Ur of the Chaldees. 
 The country of the Chaldees, described in the Bible 
 sometimes as Chaldea, and sometimes as Babylonia, 
 lay some six hundred miles in a direct line east¬ 
 ward from the land of Canaan, where he afterwards 
 settled. Situated in the lower part of the valleys 
 of the Euphrates and the Tigris, a fertile, alluvial 
 plain, stretching northward to the highlands of 
 Mesopotamia, and southward to the shores of the 
 Persian Gulf, Chaldea was the seat of the earliest 
 civilisation in Western Asia. It had been peopled 
 originally by a nation of the Turanian stock, who 
 are known by the name of Accadians ; and long 
 before the time of Abram, even before his fore¬ 
 fathers, the Semites, entered the country, the earlier 
 inhabitants had developed the arts of building and 
 writing and government. And though they lost 
 their political supremacy to the incoming Semites, 
 yet, as has so often happened in history, they passed 
 on their civilisation, their alphabet, and their re¬ 
 ligion to their conquerors. Chaldea, therefore, 
 at the time of Abram’s birth was a land full of 
 large and populous towns, with a highly developed 
 
 a The date of Abram’s birth has by recent scholars been fixed 
 approximately at 2150 B.e. 
 
11 
 
 commerce and agriculture, and abounding in lux¬ 
 ury and magnificence. The land was naturally 
 fertile, especially in grain, and under a skilful 
 system of tillage, combined with elaborate irriga¬ 
 tion by canals, it yielded abundant support to a 
 teeming population. Wealth and plenty were 
 accompanied by culture and learning. Great 
 palaces and temples testified to the inhabitants’ 
 knowledge of architecture, observatories to their 
 interest in astronomy, public libraries in all the 
 large towns to widespread popular education. 
 Almost everyone could read and write. For books 
 they used bricks, cylinders, or tablets of clay, upon 
 which, while it was soft, the characters were im¬ 
 pressed with a graver or stylus; and these after 
 being baked in the sun became practically inde¬ 
 structible. Large numbers of these clay books have 
 been discovered, and are now stored in the British 
 and other Museums. Many of these have in 
 recent years been deciphered and translated, and 
 are found to contain calendars, mathematical and 
 astronomical calculations, commercial records, and 
 historical annals, as well as liturgies and other 
 religious literature. There was a highly de¬ 
 veloped legal system in Chaldea; property was 
 protected, conveyed, and bequeathed ; judges 
 were appointed throughout the kingdom. The 
 city of Ur itself was not the least populous or 
 magnificent in this great country. Its name 
 signifies “ The City,” and it may have been the 
 capital. It was situated probably on the right 
 bank of the Euphrates, not far from its mouth, 
 on a site now known as El-Mugheir. a The name 
 of the city may have been applied also to the sur¬ 
 rounding district; and we cannot conclude that 
 Abram’s family were dwellers in the city; they 
 
 a Other sites have been identified with it, e.g. s the modern Warka, 
 a little further up the river; while some maintain that it was near 
 Edessa in Upper Mesopotamia. 
 
32 
 
 may have been shepherds or agriculturists in the 
 neighbouring plain. 
 
 3. RELIGION IN CHALDEA. The Chaldeans 
 were idolaters. They worshipped many gods—the 
 moon, the sun, and-the planets, as well as other 
 deities which represented the forces of nature, 
 and were known by various names. Their sacred 
 literature consisted of stories of these gods, de¬ 
 scribing how they were descended one from another, 
 how they lived and quarrelled and fought like 
 men. They attributed to them neither justice nor 
 purity nor love, but caprice and lust and cruelty. 
 And though they had also many prayers and 
 hymns breathing a devout and penitent spirit, yet 
 as the character of a god reflects itself in the life 
 of his worshippers, so the fruit of their worship 
 was seen in a deeply degraded moral life. The 
 Chaldeans practised the cruelties and immoralities 
 which they ascribed to their gods themselves. The 
 very temples were the scene of frequent murders in 
 the name of human sacrifice, and of other abomina¬ 
 tions in the name of worship. The city of Ur was 
 specially dedicated to the Moon-god, and contained 
 a magnificent temple, the ruins of which have been 
 discovered in our own day. 
 
 4. ABRAM’S DESCENT AND FAMILY. Abram’s 
 father was Terah the son of Nahor. According to 
 the list given in Genesis he was ninth in descent 
 from Noah, as Noah was ninth in a direct line from 
 Adam. He had three sons, Haran, Nahor, and 
 Abram, among whom Abram was probably the 
 youngest; he is named first, however, because for 
 the purpose of the sacred historian he is the most 
 important, the one with whom the subsequent 
 history is to be concerned.** Of Haran we know 
 only that he died “ in the presence,” i.e ., in the life¬ 
 time of his father, and before the family left Ur of 
 the Chaldees; and also that he left a son,Lot, and two 
 
 a Cf. Gen. xxv. 9. 
 
13 
 
 daughters, Milcah and Iscali, of whom the former 
 became the wife of Nahor. The name “Abram,” 
 which the patriarch bore till he was very nearly a 
 hundred years of age, signifies “ great father,” or 
 “ exalted father ; ” his wife’s name, which like his 
 own was afterwards changed, was Sarai. Some 
 have thought that Sarai was the same as Iscah, and 
 therefore Abram’s niece ; but he himself describes 
 her as his half-sister, “ the daughter of my father, 
 but not the daughter of my mother.” 
 
 Terah and his family were idolaters like the people 
 among whom they lived. We find Laban his great- 
 grandson in possession of “ Teraphim,” or sacred 
 images, which he speaks of as his gods (Gen. xxxi. 
 30); and Joshua, addressing the children of Israel 
 at the close of his life, reminds them that their 
 fathers who dwelt on the other side of the Euphrates 
 in the old time, among whom he mentions Terah, 
 “ served other gods ” (Josh. xxiv. 2). Thus Abra¬ 
 ham was brought up in an idolatrous country, and 
 in a home where the true God was not known or 
 worshipped. In after-times the Jews invented many 
 legends about his boyhood and youth, describing 
 him as already in his early years a believer in the 
 one true God, and enlarging on the persecutions 
 which he suffered, and the courage with which he 
 defied the idolaters and their king. But all this the 
 Bible itself passes over in silence. 
 
 5. THE FIRST MIGRATION (Gen. xi. 31, 32;cf. 
 Acts vii. 2-4). Within the short compass of one 
 verse (Gen. xi. 31) is described a movement of 
 great importance, the first migration of Terah’s 
 family from Chaldaea towards Canaan. Neither 
 the period in Abram’s life, at which it took place, 
 nor the cause of the migration, nor the reason of its 
 stopping short at Haran is even indicated here. 
 The movement is ascribed to Terah. It may have 
 been the effect of the nomadic instinct working in a 
 family which had never planted itself firmly in 
 
14 
 
 Chaldea. Or it may have been part of a general 
 migration among the descendants of Shem, traces of 
 which are found on the monuments of Upper 
 Mesopotamia. Or again, it may have been due to 
 a profession by Abram of faith in the one God, 
 which, combined with attacks on the surrounding 
 idolatry, would bring down persecution on himself 
 and his family. It should be noted that Stephen 
 in his sermon, reported in Acts vii., attributes this 
 the first migration to the call of God, addressed to 
 Abram ; on the other hand he seems to ascribe the 
 subsequent removal from Haran to Canaan to the 
 working of natural motives. Terah was accom¬ 
 panied in his migration by Abram and his wife 
 Sarai, and by Lot the son of his dead son Haran. 
 Nahor, the third of his sons, remained behind in 
 Chaldea, but must have afterwards followed his 
 father, since in Gen. xxiv. 10, we find his family 
 settled in Mesopotamia. Leaving the rich and loamy 
 flats of Chaldea, Terah, with his family and his 
 servants would journey from one camping ground 
 to another up the valley of the Euphrates towards 
 the undulating tableland in the North-west. There 
 at the foot of the great mountain-ranges which 
 separate Syria from Armenia, they settled in the 
 district of Mesopotamia. 
 
 6. SOJOURN IN HARAN. Haran (which must 
 be distinguished from the Hauran, the region east 
 of the Sea of Galilee) was a district of great fertility, 
 well watered and abounding in rich pasture. In 
 after days it became a famous centre of trade, stand¬ 
 ing on the caravan route between Tyre and Nineveh 
 (cf. Ezek. xxvii. 23). In Abram’s time it would be 
 as it has now become again, a choice home for shep¬ 
 herd tribes, where the flocks and herds would find 
 space and pasture and water in abundance. Here 
 Terah fixed his new home, giving up any purpose he 
 may have had of pushing on to Canaan. And here, 
 after a life of two hundred and five years, he died. 
 
1 * 
 
 11 » 
 
 No doubt he had prospered in that fertile land ; we 
 find Abram, who had become head of the family, the 
 master of a great household, and a man of wealth 
 and substance. 
 
 7. THE CALL OF ABRAM—GOD’S SUMMONS 
 (Gen. xii. 1-3). We do not know how long Abram 
 continued to dwell in Haran. We are told only of 
 the cause of his leaving it. When he was seventy-five 
 years old, Abram heard the voice of God bidding 
 him leave “ his country, his kindred, and his father’s 
 house,” and depart into another land.® The object 
 of this summons was dark enough to Abram, but is 
 plain to us. One man was to be separated from all 
 his surroundings and from his past, to be at once 
 the recipient, the witness, and the channel of a true 
 knowledge of God. He was to be settled in a 
 country which by its natural character was similarly 
 separated from the surrounding countries. Within 
 this country, thus isolated from the outside world, 
 Abram and his descendants were to be trained in the 
 knowledge of God, the love of righteousness, and 
 the pursuit of holiness. They and their land were 
 to be types of holiness, the outward mark of which 
 is separation. Their history was to be a history of 
 religion, and they themselves depositaries of revela¬ 
 tion ; until in the fulness of time in the same land, 
 and from among the same people, He should appear, 
 who was the perfect Revelation of God, and the 
 perfect realisation of Holiness, in man. 
 
 8. THE CALL OF ABRAM—GOD’S PROMISE. 
 It was not, however, only a bare summons which God 
 addressed to Abram. God does not demand obedience 
 of any man capriciously or arbitrarily, but always 
 with some purpose of good to himself, and through 
 him to others; and by opening before him a pro¬ 
 spect of the good that is to follow, graciously en¬ 
 courages him to obedience. Thus there is here added 
 to the summons a great promise, letting Abram see, 
 
 a R.V. in Gen. xii. 1.— 1 The Lord said ” for A. V. “ had said.” 
 
16 
 
 however dimly at first, the purpose in which he 
 was to co-operate with God This promise contained 
 the assurance of three blessings waiting for Abraham 
 in the future,—first, that God Himself would show 
 him the land which was to be his future home ; 
 second, that he should become the founder of a 
 great nation ; and third, that he should be a cause 
 of blessing to all the families of the earth. The 
 full meaning of these assurances, especially of the 
 last, could not be understood by Abram at the 
 time ; but they were sufficient when received by a 
 believing heart, to induce him to cast himself on 
 the guidance of God. The promises which were 
 vague at the outset, were from time to time ex¬ 
 panded and explained in answer to the obedient 
 spirit in which Abram looked for their fulfilment. 
 
 9. THE CALL OF ABRAM—ABRAM’S FAITH 
 (Cf. Heb. xi. 1, 8). Abram had faith in God. He 
 recognised the voice that spoke to him as the 
 voice of God, and acknowledged its authority. He 
 heard the summons, and believed the promise. And 
 he was prepared to “ stake his future on the exist¬ 
 ence and faithfulness” of Him who thus communi¬ 
 cated with him. a The faith, like the promise, may 
 have been but dim and indistinct at first; room 
 was left for a growing faith in response to a grow¬ 
 ing revelation ; but already Abram’s faith was suf¬ 
 ficient to grasp the promise and obey the summons. 
 The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews defines 
 faith as the “ substance ” or “ assurance ” of things 
 hoped for, the test of objects not seen ; and he 
 takes Abraham as a leading illustration of the 
 office of faith. For faith is to the soul what sight 
 is to the body; it apprehends unseen things as 
 real, and future things as certain; and the power 
 of it is to make a man act and live as if the future 
 were already his, and the unseen continually before 
 his eyes. So by faith Abram apprehended the ex- 
 
 a Cf. Heb. xi. 6. 
 
17 
 
 istence of God One and Supreme, and by faith he 
 was convinced of the reality of the unseen blessings 
 which lay in the future. 
 
 10. THE CALL OF ABRAM—ABRAM’S OBEDI¬ 
 ENCE (Gen. xii. 4, 5). By faith also Abram obeyed, 
 and leaving his country and his kin, “ went out, not 
 knowing whither he went.” This prompt obedience 
 was the proof of his faith ; he adventured his life 
 and his fortune on the assurance that God was 
 guiding him,—a God whom no one recognised 
 but himself. The home in Haran was abandoned. 
 Accompanied by Sarai, and Lot, and with a great 
 train of servants and dependants, with much goods 
 and cattle, Abram set forth and journeyed first to 
 the west, then southward to the promised land. 
 The “ great river, the river Euphrates ” was crossed 
 and left behind,—a passage from which, according 
 to tradition, Abram afterwards took the name of 
 Hebrew, the crosser, the man from beyond the 
 river. Tradition also points to Damascus as a place 
 on Abram’s route, where he halted for a time ; and 
 where probably he fell in with that “ Eliezer of 
 Damascus,” who became his steward or major- 
 domo. Thence the caravan would pass on through 
 Bashan, till having crossed the Jordan a few miles 
 south of the sea of Galilee, it would ascend the oppo¬ 
 site slopes of Gilboa, and enter at once into the heart 
 of Canaan. 
 
 Questions and Points for Inquiry. 
 
 1. When and in what circumstances did Abram’s 
 descendants return to Chaldea ? 
 
 2. Illustrate connection between God’s commands 
 and God’s 'promises . Cf. Matt. xi. 28-30 ; John xiv. 
 2ff.; vii. 17. 
 
 3. Distinguish between “ faith’’ “ belief” and 
 “ trust.” Which is the most comprehensive term ? and 
 why ? 
 
 .R 
 
18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CANAAN AND EGYPT. 
 
 11. THE LAND OF PROMISE. As Abram was 
 the chosen man, so Canaan was the chosen land, 
 chosen by God to be the scene of the working out of 
 His divine plan. We can see now how admirably 
 it was adapted to be the scene of the history of 
 redemption and of religion. It was central. For 
 though in a map of our modern world, Palestine 
 occupies only an obscure corner, it was planted at 
 the very centre of the ancient world. It lay at a 
 point where Asia, Africa, and Europe may be said to 
 meet, and midway between the seats of the earliest 
 civilization, in the valley of the Euphrates and the 
 valley of the Nile. Whatever knowledge, religious 
 force, or spiritual influence was gathered and stored 
 in a country so situated, would, when the proper time 
 came, radiate with the greatest rapidity from the Holy 
 Land over the whole world. But Canaan was also 
 secluded , fenced off from the rest of the world, by 
 the desert on the east, and on the west by the sea, in 
 early days as great a barrier as the desert. The 
 highways from the Euphrates to the Nile, either 
 passed by Canaan on the east, or crossed the country 
 at its centre, leaving the inhabitants dwelling on 
 the high ground comparatively undisturbed. Again, 
 the country was fertile, producing enough to support 
 a laborious population, yet not enough to encourage 
 luxury or idleness, or to render the spirit of the 
 people independent of the Providence of God. 
 
 The district, which was afterwards to be peopled 
 by the descendants of Abram, was a narrow strip 
 of mountainous country, about the size of Wales, 
 stretching like a bridge from north to south, between 
 the desert of Arabia and the plain of Syria. On 
 the east it descended steeply to the valley of the 
 
19 
 
 Jordan and the Dead Sea, on the west in gentle 
 slopes to the plain of the sea-coast. It was a land 
 of grey limestone ridges, and rounded green hills, 
 of intersecting valleys, covered after rain with fresh 
 succulent grass, and a spangled carpet of brilliant 
 flowers ; “ a good land, a land of brooks of water, of 
 fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and 
 hills ; a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig- 
 trees and pomegranates, a land of oil, olives and 
 honey” (Deut. viii. 7, 8) ; but a land also where 
 from time to time “ the harvest of the field perished, 
 the vine withered, and the fig-tree languished” 
 (Joel i. 12), and famine was very grievous. 
 
 12. THE INHABITANTS OF CANAAN. At the 
 time when Abram entered Canaan, “the Canaanite 
 was then in the land.” The earlier inhabitants, 
 whom the Canaanites had dispossessed, had been 
 driven to the mountains, the caves, or the outskirts 
 of the country, where we find them at different 
 points of the subsequent history under the names of 
 Rephaim, Zuzim, Emiro, or Anakim. The name 
 Canaanite, which is given to their successors, prob¬ 
 ably their conquerors, seems to have been both a 
 special name of a single tribe, and a general name 
 for a great number of related tribes, who all traced 
 their descent from Canaan, one of the sons of Ham 
 (Gen. x. 6, 15-20). A list of these tribes is fre¬ 
 quently given in the Pentateuch, bearing names 
 derived, some of them from the town or district 
 where they dwelt, others from the character of their 
 locality or their manner of life. Thus the Amorites 
 were Highlanders, living mainly in the mountainous 
 districts of the land, a warlike and savage people. In 
 contrast to them are the Hittites, more peaceable 
 and advanced in civilisation, living in settled com¬ 
 munities. Abram’s allies in war are Amorites; but 
 when he desires peaceably to obtain possession of a 
 plot of ground he turns to the Hittites. Connected 
 with them were the Hivites, the midlanders, who 
 
20 
 
 dwelt in the heart of the country, loving peaceful 
 occupations, such as agriculture and trading pur¬ 
 suits. Though according to the genealogical table 
 in Gen. x., these Canaanite tribes were descended 
 from Ham, they seem by this time to have adopted 
 a Semitic language, not far different from the 
 Hebrew. For we find Abram holding free and 
 unhindered intercourse with those peoples which he 
 found in the land ; and the names alike of places 
 and of people which occur in the narrative are 
 Hebrew in their character. 
 
 Like the Chaldeans the Canaanites were wor¬ 
 shippers of many gods. Their religion was the 
 worship of the forces of nature under diverse forms 
 and names. Centuries later, there were still vestiges 
 of the old idolatrous religion to be found in the 
 land, in the 4 high places, 5 sacred groves, and sites 
 consecrated to Baal, as also in the recurring disposi¬ 
 tion of the Israelites to fall back from the pure 
 worship of Jehovah upon the rites and practices of 
 their Canaanite predecessors. This worship of many 
 and false gods was accompanied, as appears only too 
 clearly from the story in Genesis, by great moral 
 corruption, effeminacy and depravity of social life. 
 Nevertheless, there were still some indications of a 
 purer religion being not extinct in the land. Abram 
 entered it as a worshipper and servant of One 
 Supreme God, and as such he was recognised and 
 tolerated ; his references to his God and his faith 
 are received with respect, and in Melchizedek at 
 least he meets and acknowledges a ‘ priest of the 
 most high God, 5 representing a tradition of true 
 religion. Abram thus found in Canaan a place 
 where he realised every day the separation between 
 himself and his neighbours, and the distinction 
 between their gods and his God, but a place also 
 where in freedom and security he could practise his 
 own religion, building altars and offering sacrifice 
 to the Most High God alone. 
 
91 
 
 13. ABRAM SOJOURNING IN CANAAN. (Gen. 
 xii. 6-9). The first place in the Promised Land 
 where the Patriarch halted for a season in his 
 wanderings was Sichem or Shechem, a narrow 
 valley of great beauty, hemmed in between the 
 mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, in the very heart 
 of central Palestine. Here beside a famous tree, 
 the “oak” or “terebinth” of Moreli, he halted his 
 caravan, and pitched his black hair-cloth tents. 
 The district was in the occupation of the Hivites, but 
 the Canaanite population must down to this time 
 have been thin and scattered. The land was unen¬ 
 closed, and there were few towns. Abram passed 
 freely through the country without coming into 
 collision with the inhabitants already there. So he 
 sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tents, « 
 moving like other nomad families from pasture 
 ground to pasture ground, as one after another 
 became exhausted. From Sichem he removed, and 
 journeyed southwards, to pitch again for a season 
 on the high ground “ east of Bethel,” a district 
 which is said to be “ still one of the finest tracts of 
 pasturage in the whole land.” 
 
 14. THE NEW PROMISE (Gen. xii. 7). Abram’s 
 obedience in quitting his old home in Haran, and 
 going forth in simple faith “ not knowing whither 
 he went,” was rewarded by a new revelation and a 
 new promise. The Lord appeared unto him at 
 Sichem, and opening to him still further His pur¬ 
 pose, proclaimed that this was the land, which should 
 be possessed by his descendants. And without 
 questioning how this was to be fulfilled to an alien 
 and a childless man, Abram received the promise, 
 and acknowledged his belief of it by building there 
 an altar to the Lord, “ who appeared unto him.” 
 Again at Bethel he built an altar, “ and called on 
 the name of the Lord,” thus consecrating the suc¬ 
 cessive stages of his journey, and by faith claiming 
 
 a Cf. Heb. xi. 8-10. 
 
2a 
 
 for liis descendants the land in which he himsell 
 was but a stranger and a sojourner. He dwelt in 
 tents, established no permanent home. But in the 
 altars which remained after his tents were struck, he 
 displayed his faith that his heart had a home with 
 God. Seeking the secret place of the Most High 
 in prayer and worship, Abram learned that the Most 
 High “ prepared for him a city.” Thus the moving 
 tent and the abiding altar together symbolised the 
 life of faith. 
 
 15. ABRAM IN EGYPT (Gen. xii. 10-20). The 
 land of Canaan having no great rivers of its own, is 
 and always has been dependent for water and for 
 fertility 7- upon its rainfall. The failure of rain fora 
 few months in winter dries up the watercourses, 
 and turns the country into a “ dry parched land.” 
 The unnourished pastures wither away before the 
 summer sun, and the shepherd tribes are driven to 
 seek food for their flocks, as well as for themselves, 
 beyond the border of the land. A calamity of this 
 kind, a “ famine,” befel the country soon after 
 Abram’s arrival. The grass withered, the brooks 
 failed, the flocks on which he and his household 
 were dependent could not be fed. He learnt thus 
 early in his walk with God, that God’s favour does 
 not ensure the continual abundance of earthly 
 gifts, that even the chosen bearer of the promise 
 was to be exposed to calamities and trials like other 
 men. This lesson would be emphasised by the 
 contrast with the land he had left. There would 
 have been no fear of famine in Haran with its 
 springs, and winding streams, and unfailing 
 pastures. This was a sharp trial to his faith in the 
 guiding hand which had led him forth from such a 
 country, and left him so soon face to face with 
 famine. If indeed he had been mindful of that 
 country, from which he went out, he would now 
 have had opportunity to returns But the new pro- 
 a Cf. Heb. xi. 15. 
 
23 
 
 mise was in his heart. This was the land God was 
 to give to his seed ; and rather than risk unfaith¬ 
 fulness to the call by returning to his old home, he 
 would seek a temporary refuge in a country where 
 he would be still more clearly a stranger and a 
 sojourner. 
 
 For when Canaan could no longer support the 
 large household of the Patriarch, he turned his steps 
 towards Egypt, the land whose river and whose 
 system of irrigation rendered it independent of 
 rainfall, and almost perpetually fertile. Thus 
 Abram, fleeing from famine, showed the way in 
 which his descendants so often followed him, until 
 the time came when the Greatest of them was carried 
 down into the same country to escape from the 
 swordsmen of Herod. Yet the twenty centuries 
 which separated Abram from Jesus form but a frag¬ 
 ment of the history of that nation, “ half as old as 
 time.” In Egypt Abram found himself once more in 
 contact with a civilisation already old, even more 
 ancient and more refined than that which he had left 
 in Chaldea. But entering it as a foreigner, to remain 
 in it only during a temporary emergency, there was 
 less danger than there would have been in returning 
 to Chaldea, of his becoming absorbed in another 
 nation, and forgetting his call and his dependence 
 upon God. 
 
 16. SARAI IN EGYPT. Nevertheless Abram 
 had not yet fully realised what God’s promise in¬ 
 volved in watchful care over his safety, or with 
 what complete dependence it pledged him to trust 
 in God. On entering Egypt he was seized with 
 fear of danger to himself from the beauty of his 
 wife. The Egyptians were sensual and luxurious. 
 Sarai was fair-skinned and comely. Some powerful 
 personage might desire to have her for his own, 
 and perhaps seek to put her husband to death that 
 he might be free to seize his wife. Thinking more 
 therefore of his own safety than of his wife’s honour, 
 
04 
 
 trusting less to God’s protecting hand than to his 
 own cleverness, Abram told Sarai to say she was 
 his sister, from which it would be inferred that she 
 could not be his wife. It was a half-truth, which 
 is often “ the more dangerous lie ”; for she was 
 half-sister to Abram, a relationship which in early 
 ages was not thought a bar to marriage. Abram 
 thought, no doubt, that any attempt by an ordinary 
 citizen to obtain Sarai for his wife would then pro¬ 
 ceed openly and deliberately, and give him an 
 opportunity to evade the proposal, and escape from 
 the country. The event which he foresaw did 
 occur, but in a form which defeated his precaution. 
 The Egyptians, struck with the beauty of Sarai, 
 carried the report of her to Pharaoh, the reigning 
 king himself; and he, acting with oriental licence 
 and royal disregard of ceremony, caused her to be 
 carried at once to his palace. Then, relying on the 
 assurance that she was Abram’s sister, and as though 
 preparing for an honourable marriage, Pharaoh sent 
 to him the customary present or dowry paid to a 
 bride’s relations. Abram saw that his clever scheme 
 had failed, and his conscience must have stung him 
 when he saw arrive the “ sheep and oxen, and men- 
 servants, and maid-servants, and camels.” But God 
 interfered to protect His timorous servant from the 
 consequences of his own folly. A mysterious sick¬ 
 ness fell upon Pharaoh and his household, which 
 was interpreted, either by his own conscience or by 
 his diviners, as due to the presence of the foreign 
 woman in his palace. The king thereupon sent for 
 Abram, and having ascertained from him the true 
 relation between himself and Sarai, rebuked him 
 with scornful indignation for the deceit he had 
 practised, and for the danger to which he had ex¬ 
 posed the king of making another man’s wife his 
 own. He restored Sarai to Abram, permitted him 
 apparently to retain the presents he had received, 
 and dismissed him in safety ; but the Patriarch, 
 
25 
 
 who had fallen for the moment from his trust in 
 God, went away bearing the scorn of the heathen 
 but truth-loving king. He knew now the mistake 
 he had made ; his clever trick had failed, it had 
 brought him into a danger even greater than that 
 he sought to evade. Abram had learnt that God 
 requires no double dealing in man to secure His 
 purpose from being frustrated, and that deceit 
 begets shame ; he had learnt, on the other hand, 
 that even from his own folly and its consequences, 
 the same God was willing and able to deliver him. 
 
 17. ABRAM’S RETURN TO CANAAN (Gen. xiii. 
 1-4). We are not told how long Abram’s visit to 
 Egypt lasted. He left it with greatly increased 
 wealth. Not only were his flocks and herds much 
 larger, he had now asses and camels, gold and 
 silver, and a largely increased following of men and 
 women servants. At the head of such a household 
 he had become a powerful man. From Egypt he 
 moved first to the “Negeb,” the “south country,” 
 lying between the highlands of Judah and the 
 southern desert. Thence he advanced northwards 
 “ by stages,” till at last he reached his old camping- 
 ground between Bethel and Ai. His old altar, 
 which he found standing there, must have been a 
 sharp reminder of his temporary lapse of faith, of 
 the mistake and the danger into which it led him, 
 and of the delivering mercy of God. So once more, 
 but with ripened experience and chastened recol¬ 
 lection, he “ called on the name of the Lord.” 
 
 18. SEPARATION (Gen. xiii. 5-14). The very 
 prosperity, which had come to the Patriarchal 
 household, was the cause of the trial which fol¬ 
 lowed. Abram’s nephew, Lot, had accompanied him 
 throughout his journeyings, and having his own 
 share in the substance and stock of the camp, had 
 shared in the general increase. At this point it 
 became evident that the two households could no 
 longer dwell together. Disputes would naturally 
 
26 
 
 break out between the respective servants, disputes 
 between the herdsmen about boundaries and wells 
 and pasturage. Moreover, the large company 
 journeying together, felt more than before the 
 presence and pressure of the other dwellers in the 
 district, the Canaanites and Perizzites. “ The land 
 was not able to bear them.” Abram preferred 
 separation to dispeace within one camp, and with 
 equal dignity and generosity pointed out to Lot the 
 necessity of their parting company, while he offered 
 to him, though the younger and the inferior, the 
 choice of the direction he would take. Standing 
 side by side on that high ground near Bethel, on the 
 crown of the watershed of the country, Abram and 
 Lot together surveyed the land. The view which 
 spread before them at this point has often been 
 described. To the west and south there appeared 
 only the bleak hills of Judea, rising in the extreme 
 south to the ridge on whose slope lay Hebron. 
 Northward, also, bare summits shut out from view 
 the fertile valleys of central Palestine, such as 
 Sichem. But at their feet opened a long and deep 
 ravine, between whose widening sides were seen, far 
 in the east, the rich green pasture lands of the 
 Jordan valley. This was part of the “ circle ” or 
 “ round ” of the Jordan, the lower reach of the river 
 valley, “ well watered ” everywhere, almost tropical 
 in the luxuriance of its vegetation. To the eye of 
 Lot it looked like a very “ garden of the Lord,” 
 reminding him of that teeming country of the 
 Nile, where he had already so greatly prospered. 
 His choice was quickly made. He accepted with¬ 
 out demur the generosity of Abram, and,, without 
 considering anything further than the prospect of 
 gain and comfort and ease for himself, he chose 
 “ the circle of the Jordan.” for his future home. 
 
 So Abram and Lot separated, Lot’s readiness show¬ 
 ing that he either knew little, or cared little about 
 the spiritual wealth and knowledge of which Abram 
 
27 
 
 was the possessor, about that promise which could 
 not be divided or separated from the Patriarch’s 
 tent. Yet up to this time he had been Abram’s 
 heir, and to him Abram must have looked to be the 
 means of the fulfilment of the promise “ to his 
 seed.” On the other hand the choice which Lot 
 made, proclaims that, in the pursuit of worldly 
 prosperity, he would be undeterred by the danger of 
 moral corruption to himself and his family. For 
 the cities at the foot of the Jordan valley were full 
 of iniquity. The natural richness and fertility of 
 the district relieved the inhabitants from the 
 necessity of much toil ; and they were sunk in sen¬ 
 suality and vice. “ Pride,fulness of bread, and abun¬ 
 dance of idleness, was in Sodom and her daughters,” a 
 and every evil lust of the flesh which these breed. 
 Yet Lot fixed his encampment in the neighbourhood 
 of Sodom, the most famous and most corrupt 
 of these cities. He may have intended at first to 
 avoid, as much as possible, contact with its inhabit¬ 
 ants ; but ere long he was drawn away by the 
 attractions of the town ; he relinquished his simple 
 pastoral life, and became a citizen of Sodom, to 
 acquiesce in its wickedness, and be all but involved 
 in its judgment. 
 
 19. THE THIRD PROMISE TO ABRAM 
 
 (Gen. xiii. 14-18). Abram had generously sur¬ 
 rendered to Lot the right to choose in which part 
 of the country he would fix his home ; and by 
 Lot’s choice he himself was left with the bleak and 
 comparatively unproductive uplands of Judah for 
 his portion. But as between these upland ridges 
 there were smiling and fertile valleys hidden, so 
 below the grey surface of self-denial there was a 
 glorious promise reserved for Abram. Lot had 
 “ lifted up his eyes ” to choose a portion of the land 
 for himself ; but Abram was now bidden by God 
 to lift up his eyes and behold the whole land as his 
 
 a See Ezek. xvi. 49,50. 
 
/ 
 
 28 
 
 own. Wherever he looked, east or west, north or 
 south, all that land was to belong to him and to his 
 descendants. Thus was the promise concerning the 
 land again more clearly defined ; and on the other 
 hand the promise concerning descendants was now 
 separated from the promise of the land, and in turn 
 expanded and defined ; Abram was assured that 
 his posterity should be as the dust of the earth in 
 multitude. Acting on this new promise, with its 
 invitation to use the land as his own, Abram 
 traversed the country, till at length he found a 
 more permanent resting-place “ by the oaks ” of 
 Mamre, at Hebron, where again, for the third time, 
 he “ built an altar unto the Lord.” 
 
 20. THE INVASION FROM THE EAST (Gen. 
 xiv. 1-8). The Arabah, as that deep trough was 
 called, in the hollow of which lay the Jordan and 
 the Dead Sea, and where Lot had chosen to fix his 
 dwelling, was not only fertile but very populous. 
 Near its centre, where the plain of the Jordan 
 widened towards the shore of the Dead Sea, there 
 were found at this time no fewer than five towns, 
 Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, after¬ 
 wards called Zoar. These five were known collec¬ 
 tively as the “ cities of the plain.” The control of 
 this plain and of the Arabah was always of impor¬ 
 tance to the great powers on the Euphrates, because 
 through it ran the natural route from Damascus to 
 Arabia, and so from Babylonia to the Red Sea and 
 Egypt. Whatever power ruled on the Euphrates, 
 it was part of its policy to keep open the way of 
 communication for commerce with Arabia, or 
 for military expeditions against the rival power of 
 Egypt; and for that purpose to obtain political 
 control over the “cities of the plain” and the 
 neighbouring tribes. The ruling power in West 
 Central Asia at this period was Elain,« a country 
 which extended over the rich lowlands east of the 
 
 a Cf. Gen. x. 22; Is. xi. 11; Jer. xxv. 25, xlix. 39. 
 
29 
 
 lower valley of the Tigris, and the mountainous 
 district beyond. Accordingly, it was a king of 
 Elam who, about the time of Abram’s entrance 
 into Canaan, had sent an expedition to subdue the 
 cities of the plain. For twelve years these five 
 towns had submitted to the yoke of this distant 
 sovereign, and paid the annual tribute he imposed ; 
 but in the thirteenth year they revolted. If they 
 were counting on the distance, or on the indifference, 
 of the king of Elam, they were disappointed. 
 In the following year Chedorlaomer, then king of 
 Elam, collected an army, and set out to chastise and 
 reduce to subjection the rebels. His capital, Susa, 
 lay almost on the same parallel of latitude with the 
 Dead Sea, but the intervening desert made a long 
 detour necessary, and in the course of his march 
 up the Euphrates valley, Chedorlaomer gathered a 
 number of other kings, his vassels or allies, with 
 their armies—Amraphel, king of Shinar or Upper 
 Chaldea, Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Tidal, king 
 of “ the nations.”" 
 
 With this large and formidable body of allied 
 forces under his command, Chedorlaomer executed 
 his purpose rapidly and thoroughly. He first 
 attacked and defeated the tribes on the east of the 
 Dead Sea; the Bephaim, 6 one of the aboriginal 
 tribes of Canaan, whose chief stronghold was 
 Ashteroth Karnaim—Ashteroth of the twin horns— 
 so called after the goddess Astarte, whose symbol 
 was the two-horned crescent moon; the Zuzim, 
 
 a It is generally supposed that in chap. xiv. we have one of 
 the oldest documents in the Bible, an actual contemporary account 
 of the events here narrated, incorporated in his work by the writer 
 of the Book of Genesis. “ Chedorlaomer ” probably represents the 
 Hebrew pronunciation of Kudur-Lagamar, which would mean “son” 
 or “ crown ” of Lagamar, Lagamar being the name of an Elamite 
 deity. For Shinar compare Gen. xi. 1. Ellasar was probably the 
 Babylonian Lassa. For “ king of nations ” we should perhaps read 
 king of Jutium, a country in the north-east of Babylonia, frequently 
 referred to in Assyrian inscriptions. 
 
 b Cf. Deut. ii. 20. 
 
30 
 
 and the Emirn, who are described in Deuteronomy 
 (ii. 10) as “ a people great and many and tall 55 ; and 
 finally the Horites, the rock dwellers in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood of Petra and Mount Seir. At El-Paran, 
 on the edge of the southern desert, having broken 
 all resistance eastward of the Ar&bah, Chedorlaomer 
 turned northwards again, and marched along the 
 west side of the valley, defeating the Amalekites 
 and the Amorites on the way. a Arrived now 
 on the high ground of Judea overhanging the 
 Dead Sea, the army must have passed within a 
 short distance of Hebron, where Abram was dwell¬ 
 ing ; but their attention was fixed on the cities of 
 the plains below, and they passed by, leaving Abram 
 and his allies among the Amorites undisturbed. 
 
 21. DEFEAT OF THE FIVE KINGS (Gen. xiv. 
 8-12). Having thus swept the surrounding country, 
 and deprived the cities of the plain of any support 
 they might have looked for from the neighbouring 
 tribes, Chedorlaomer descended from the high 
 ground of Judah upon the “ circle of the Jordan. 55 
 The five kings had leagued themselves together for 
 self-defence, and awaited the Elamite attack in the 
 Valley of Siddim. It is the first battle recorded 
 in sacred history. Chedorlaomer was victorious, 
 and many of the defeated army, including, perhaps, 
 the kings themselves of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 were caught and destroyed in the asphalt pits or 
 wells which abounded in the plain. The rest 
 escaped to the hills. The rout was complete. The 
 victors pillaged the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 and set out to return to Elam laden with prisoners 
 and spoil. 
 
 22. ABRAM RESCUES THE CAPTIVES (Gen. 
 xiv. 12-16). Among the prisoners whom Chedor- 
 
 a Hazezon-Tamar was the former name of En-gedi, a difficult and 
 important pass, which they must have forced if they had marched so 
 far along the shore of the Dead Sea, or found necessary to seize, if 
 on the other hand, they had kept the high ground all the way from 
 Kadesh. 
 
31 
 
 laomer carried off from Sodom, Abram’s nephew 
 Lot, was included. The news of the disaster and 
 of the captivity of his kinsman was brought by 
 one of the fugitives to Abram, as he was dwelling 
 beside the oaks of Mamre. Without hesitation or 
 delay the Patriarch collected all of his household 
 who were capable of bearing arms, and, accompanied 
 probably by Eshcol, Mamre, and Aner, his Amor- 
 ite allies, with their dependants, set out in pursuit 
 of the retiring army. In spite of his promptitude, 
 the invaders had gained a considerable start, and 
 it was not till they had reached the northern border 
 of Canaan at Dan, some one hundred and twenty 
 miles from Sodom, and near the head-waters of the 
 Jordan, that Abram overtook them. There, how- 
 over, he fell upon the host under cover of night, 
 routed the unprepared and encumbered troops, and 
 pursued them as far as Hobah, a few miles north a 
 of Damascus. His success was so complete that 
 he recovered all the spoil which had been carried off, 
 together with the prisoners, and what was of chief 
 consequence to him, his nephew, Lot, with his 
 family. It should have been a sharp lesson to Lot 
 on the foolishness of uniting his fortunes with 
 a people so sunk in wickedness as the dwellers in 
 Sodom. But he disregarded the warning, and 
 returned with his family to abide in the “ city of 
 
 HpcifriiptinTi ^ 
 
 23. GRATITUDE OF THE KING OF SODOM 
 
 (Gen. xiv. 1*7-24). On his return from this notable 
 exploit, Abram was met at Shaveh, 6 “the King’s 
 Dale ” by the King of Sodom, who came to express 
 his gratitude to the stranger chieftain for the great 
 service he had rendered to the cities of the plain. 
 
 a “The left hand” signifies the north, since primitive peoples in 
 taking their bearings always faced the east, the sun-rising. 
 
 b The site has not been identified; it was probably not far from 
 Salem, and if the latter is taken as Jerusalem, then the King’s 
 Dale might correspond to the spot mentioned in 2 Sam. xviii. 18, 
 where Absalom set up his monument. 
 
32 
 
 He even proposed that Abram should restore only 
 the captives he had rescued, and keep for himself 
 all the property and the spoil. But Abram refused. 
 He was not going to take payment for the victory 
 he had won in seeking to deliver his kinsmen; 
 there could be no trafficking between the represen¬ 
 tative of this decaying pagan race, on which the 
 wrath of Heaven had just begun to fall, and the 
 representative of a new consecrated race, to which 
 God’s mercy was already pledged. Abram did not 
 surrender the claim of his allies, Aner, Eshcol, and 
 Mamre, to a share in the booty, but for himself he 
 swore with a solemn oath before “ the Lord, the 
 Most High God, the possessor of heaven and 
 earth,” that he would receive nothing. This 
 king should not have cause to say afterwards, 
 “ I have made Abram rich.” He had acted 
 as God’s servant, and God alone should reward 
 him. 
 
 24. MELCHIZEDEK (Gen. xiv. 8-10; cf. Heb. 
 vii. 1-17). In contrast to the dignified reserve 
 with which he thus treated the king of Sodom, was 
 Abram’s attitude towards Melchizedek, king of 
 Salem. He also came forth to meet the returning 
 victor, bringing with him bread and wine to refresh 
 the fighting men and the rescued prisoners; he 
 blessed Abram in the name of “the Most High 
 God, possessor of heaven and earth,” and gave 
 thanks to the same God for the great victory just 
 achieved. And Abram received both the gift and 
 the blessing from the hand of this stranger, and 
 delivered to him in return tithes, or a tenth part 
 of all the spoil. Then this mysterious figure dis¬ 
 appears into the darkness from which it started 
 out, and we hear no more of Melchizedek. Only, 
 a thousand years later, the Psalmist speaks of the 
 Messiah as “a priest for ever after the order of 
 Melchizedek” (Ps. cx. 4); and again, after another 
 thousand years the writer of the Epistle to the 
 
33 
 
 Hebrews, quoting from the same Psalm, enlarges 
 upon this king of Salem as a type of Christ. 
 
 There is much about this mysterious personage 
 to rouse interest and excite speculation. His place, 
 his name, his office, his God, and his relation to 
 Abram are all significant. He was King of Salem, 
 which is “ king of peace.” The situation of 
 Salem is not certain. Some would place it on the 
 east of Jordan, on the route between Damascus and 
 Sodom, others in the Jordan valley near to Beth- 
 shan, on the slopes of Gilboa. But it has all along 
 been the general opinion among Jews and Chris¬ 
 tians alike, that it was the same as Jebus, the 
 stronghold of the Jebusites, which afterwards be¬ 
 came the site of Jerusalem. It would lie not far 
 from Abram’s route of return to Hebron; the 
 same name is certainly given to Jerusalem in Ps. 
 lxxvi. 2; and in the name of its king there is a 
 parallel to the name of a later king in Jerusalem, 
 Adoni-Zedek (Josh. x. 1). The name of Melchize- 
 dek, which is Semitic in character, signifies “ king 
 of righteousness,” (Hebrews), or “just king” 
 (Josephus). But Melchizedek was not only a king, 
 he was a priest, “ priest of God Most High .” a 
 Like many early kings he combined the regal and 
 the sacerdotal office. But his priesthood was not of 
 any of the deities, who in the eyes of the Canaanites 
 shared the power of heaven, and the worship of 
 earth ; it was a priesthood of “ God Most High ” 
 (El Elyon), one God and Supreme, “ Maker b of 
 heaven and earth,” the same whom Abram acknow¬ 
 ledged as his God, adding the same name and de¬ 
 scription in his oath before the King of Sodom. 
 Abram therefore recognised in this King of Salem, 
 unconnected with the stock of the Patriarch, perhaps 
 not even a descendant of Shem, a fellow-worshipper 
 of the One God, isolated in the surrounding polythe- 
 
 a So R.V. for “ the priest of the Most High God.”—A.V. 
 
 6 R.V. margin, for A.V. “ possessor." 
 
 C 
 
34 
 
 ism. It is still more remarkable that he acknow¬ 
 ledged him as a spiritual superior, one nearer God 
 than himself. In offering him the tithes he acknow¬ 
 ledged his priesthood ; he who had the promise suf¬ 
 fered himself to be blessed by this stranger. Whence 
 came this rank, this authority, or this knowledge of 
 the Most High God,® we cannot tell. But the writer 
 of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes the priesthood 
 of Melchizedek for an indication of the existence of 
 another dispensation alongside of the Mosaic, in¬ 
 dependent of the Patriarchal line, superior to the 
 dispensation embodied in Abram, and so typical of 
 the priesthood of Christ. And the figure appearing 
 so mysteriously for a moment, whose ancestry and 
 family, birth and death, remain alike unrecorded, 
 he takes as a type of the eternal Son of God. 
 
 25. ABRAM’S POSITION AND CONDUCT. We 
 have now seen Abram enter Canaan, not to conquer 
 it for himself, but to sojourn in the land, and to 
 claim it by faith for his descendants. He has pros¬ 
 pered exceedingly, and has become a powerful 
 domestic prince, whose alliance is welcomed by the 
 Amorite chieftains, and whose skill and promptitude 
 are effective in defence of the whole country. As 
 regards his inner life we have seen how the faith, 
 as yet imperfectly realising his relation to God, 
 betrayed its weakness in Egypt; how it appeared in 
 restored vigour, as the secret of the generosity 
 with which he treated Lot. We may see it working 
 again as the foundation of that character which dis¬ 
 played itself in promptitude, resource, and courage 
 in danger; dignified independence of spirit, which 
 bowed before the priest of the Most High God, but 
 refused to treat with the King of Sodom even as an 
 equal. Abram’s faith enabled him to be helpful 
 towards men, while it kept him exalted above men. 
 
 a This name is found again in the song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. 8;, 
 in the story of Balaam (Numbers xxiv. 16), and in some of the 
 Psalms. It occurs also in Phoenician Inscriptions. 
 
35 
 
 Further Points and Questions. 
 
 1. Trace the importance in the history of Israel , of 
 Shechem, Bethel , and Hebron. 
 
 2. Opinions of different nations on the importance 
 or duty of truthfulness. 
 
 3. Who were the Canaanites ? Ascertain their rela¬ 
 tion to the Philistines and the Phoenicians. 
 
 4. What light is thrown on Lot's character (a) by his 
 going to Sodom in the first instance , (b) by his return 
 to it. 
 
 5. Illustrate from this chapter , Hebrews xi. 1. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE COVENANT OF PROMISE. 
 
 26. THE FOURTH PROMISE (Gen. xv. 1-6). 
 Abram had now reached the highest point of his 
 influence, and of his worldly wealth. He had made 
 himself respected by his friends and feared by his 
 foes. But the very unexpectedness and complete¬ 
 ness of his success now seemed to threaten him with 
 a new danger, while the earthly wealth with which 
 he was surrounded, only served to emphasise the 
 continued absence of the one thing on which his 
 heart was set. Almost involuntarily he had acted 
 as a shield to the country in which he was a 
 stranger, and though he had been momentarily 
 successful in defeating the invaders, the Elamites 
 could hardly suffer such a defeat to pass unavenged, 
 and on Abram their anger would surely fall. And 
 what hope had he of again defeating so great a 
 power ? On the other hand, he had returned even 
 from his great victory not richer by a “ shoe-latchet ” 
 than he went forth. He may have suspected, if he 
 did not detect, a contemptuous wonder in the minds 
 
36 
 
 of his followers. They had seen him proudly refuse 
 the reward of men; and there was as yet no 
 reward of God to which he could point to justify 
 his faith. His wealth seemed but half his own, so 
 long as he had no child to inherit it. Possibly, 
 therefore, in the reaction after unexpected success, 
 in the prospect of a return of the Elamites in the 
 next campaigning season, in the sickness of hope 
 deferred, Abram’s faith began to fail. To fortify 
 this fainting faith, God granted a new revelation 
 and a new promise. Both were as usual linked on 
 to what had gone before, but both responded also 
 to the need of the moment. After the events de¬ 
 scribed in the preceding chapter the word of the 
 Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “ Fear not, 
 / am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”« 
 Thereupon Abram’s heart opened to God, and the 
 secret reason of his uneasiness found expression. 
 He was living for the future, and there was as yet 
 no sign that his house would have a future beyond 
 his own lifetime. By faith he was claiming this 
 land as an inheritance for a posterity which God 
 had promised him ; and he had not even one child 
 of his own on which to rest this hope. Of what 
 value to him were the wealth and possessions with 
 which God had enriched, or might still further 
 enrich him, when the only heir to whom they 
 would descend was his house-steward, an alien, 
 Eliezer of Damascus V> He was going childless to 
 his grave ; his own nearest kinsman neither regarded 
 nor deserved the inheritance of the promise ; this 
 slave, born in his household, would step into his 
 worldly possessions, and where should the promise 
 find an heir or fulfilment ? 
 
 This mingling of faith and fear, this frank admis¬ 
 sion of perplexity in a heart that clings to its 
 
 a R. V. margin , gives “ Thy reward shall be exceeding 
 great,” a rendering which accords better with the reply which follows. 
 
 b R. V. “Dammesek Eliezer;” others explain “Damascus 
 the city of Eliezer.” 
 
37 
 
 belief in God, is just the attitude to which God 
 grants a further revelation of His will. The reply 
 was very gracious. Again the word of the Lord 
 came to Abram, and this time with the express 
 assurance, now first conveyed to him, that a child 
 of his own should be born, and become his heir. 
 And then leading his servant out beneath the 
 night sky, God bade him try to count the countless 
 stars, and assured him that his descendants should 
 be as countless in their multitude. Thus the 
 promise, made first at Haran, and repeated at 
 Moreh and at Bethel, given now for the fourth 
 time, becomes again more definite; but in its 
 greater definiteness it demands a greater faith. 
 
 27. ABRAM’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (cf. Romans 
 iv). Abram “ believed in the Lord, and he counted 
 it to him for righteousness.” The Patriarch’s belief 
 in the Lord was an enlightened and resolute renewal 
 of the convictions which at the first brought him out 
 of Haran. It included three things—a hearty 
 acknowledgment of God’s existence, power, and 
 authority (cf. Heb. xi. 6.); a belief that this was 
 truly the promise of God which had come to him; 
 and a submissive trust in God’s will and ability to 
 reward His servant in His own way and at His 
 own time. These are the elements of faith, and in 
 Abram’s case their existence was confirmed by his 
 readiness to wait patiently and obediently upon 
 God, “ enduring as seeing Him who is invisible.” 
 The faith may have been still imperfect. Much was 
 still hid from Abram which became part of saving 
 faith to later generations. And, as we shall see, he 
 was still far from fully understanding his own rela¬ 
 tion of complete dependence upon God for the ful¬ 
 filment of the promise. But God, who looks on 
 men, not only as they are, but as they are becoming, 
 accepted his faith, and for the sake of it, accounted 
 Abram as righteous, upright, in His sight. 
 
 This declaration is referred to by St Paul in his 
 
38 
 
 Epistle to the Romans, where the great question is 
 discussed, “ How is a man justified in the sight of 
 God—by works of the law, or by faith 1 ” He takes 
 the case of Abram at this time as an illustration 
 of his contention that a man is justified by faith 
 alone, and not by observance of the law, or of the 
 ceremonies of the Mosaic legislation. For in Abram’s 
 case the very earliest ordinance, that of circum¬ 
 cision, was not yet imposed, still less was the Mosaic 
 legislation, the Levitical ceremonial established. 
 So that previously to the very existence of these 
 things, therefore beyond all doubt independently of 
 them, Abram was justified. He was justified by 
 his trusting self-surrender, openly sealed by patient 
 waiting upon God—by his faith. 
 
 28. PREPARATION FOR A COVENANT (Gen. 
 xv. 7-11). God’s favour to Abram at this time did 
 not cease here. The faith with which he received 
 the distinct promise of an heir of his own body was 
 rewarded by a further repetition of the other part of 
 the promise, that he should “ inherit ” this land in 
 which he dwelt; and now the whole word of 
 promise which had come to his inward ear was to 
 be confirmed by sign and symbol to his outward 
 vision. Agreements between man and man were 
 wont to be confirmed then as now by impressive 
 formalities ; the contracting parties joined together 
 in some symbolical act or ceremony, which was 
 a visible pledge, or permanent memorial, of the 
 contract between them. As, when after the flood 
 God promised to afflict the earth no more in like 
 manner, He gave the “ bow in the cloud ” to be a 
 symbol of His promise; so now, in consideration 
 of the weakness of His servant’s faith, God conde¬ 
 scended to bind Himself, as man did with man, 
 confirming His solemn promise by ceremony and 
 sign. When, in answer to the promise thus repeated 
 in both its parts, Abram asked, not in unbelief, but 
 in believing desire for a further revelation, how he 
 
5f9 
 
 should be assured of his inheritance to be, God 
 bade him make the necessary preparations for a 
 solemn “ covenant.” Acting “ on God’s behalf,” he 
 was to take the animals commonly used for sacrifice, 
 and deal with them according to the practice of men 
 in such ceremonials. He took therefore a heifer, a 
 she-goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon ; and having 
 slain them, and divided the bodies of the three 
 larger animals in two, he arranged the severed parts 
 in two rows, leaving a passage between. To com¬ 
 plete the ceremony and seal the covenant, the con¬ 
 tracting parties should walk between the divided 
 bodies, either to signify that they invoked a 
 similar treatment upon themselves, if they were 
 unfaithful to their agreement, or to symbolise a 
 union between themselves as intimate as that which 
 belonged to the divided parts in life. But Abram’s 
 part was done in preparing for the covenant. He 
 had now to wait and watch. 
 
 29. VISION OF THE FUTURE (Gen. xv. 
 12-16). All through the hot day Abram watched 
 God’s sacrifice, driving away from time to time the 
 vultures which descended to prey upon the carcases. 
 Towards sunset, there fell upon him a heavy sleep, 
 such as came upon Adam in the Garden of Eden. 
 In this sleep he was overwhelmed with a sense of 
 horror, as one in great darkness, and heard a pro¬ 
 clamation concerning the future of his descendants, 
 their sojourning and sore servitude in a land of 
 strangers, but concerning also the judgment of the 
 nation who oppressed them, and their ultimate 
 return “ with great substance ” to the land of their 
 inheritance. But not until four hundred years 
 had elapsed should the land become theirs, because 
 “ the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full.” a 
 
 a The 400 years of the text must be taken to express in round 
 numbers the period of 430 years, which in Ex. xii. 40, is assigned to 
 “the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt” 
 (compare Acts vii. 7 with Gal. iii. 17). The “ fourth generation” 
 being evidently equivalent to the end of the 400 years, we must infer 
 
40 
 
 For himself Abram received only the assurance that 
 he should die in peace, “ in a good old age.” 
 
 This vision of the Patriarch pointed forward to 
 the captivity of Israel in Egypt, to their deliver¬ 
 ance “with a mighty hand and a stretched out 
 arm,” and to their subsequent return to conquer 
 Canaan under Joshua. Abram learnt that the 
 possession of the land was to be for himself 
 'potential only, but real for his descendants; that 
 even their obtaining of it was to be after a long 
 interval, and through suffering and struggle; and 
 also, that even to fulfil His promise to the man 
 and the people whom He had chosen, the Judge of 
 all the earth could not do aught but what was 
 righteous. The eventual conquest of Canaan by 
 the Israelites was to be a judgment on the sins of 
 the previous inhabitants (here indicated by the 
 general name of “ Amorites ”), as well as a fulfil¬ 
 ment of the promise to Abram. And great as their 
 iniquity already was, it had still to run its course, 
 before the judgment to follow could be indubitably 
 deserved. The entering into possession of the land 
 was therefore postponed, but the wide boundaries of 
 the inheritance were now for the first time described 
 to Abram. It was to include all the ground now 
 covered by the ten tribes of earlier inhabitants, 
 with whose names and localities he was familiar ; 
 and it should extend from the “ great river, the 
 river Euphrates ” to the very border of Egypt.** 
 The unfaithfulness and inactivity of the people in 
 
 either that a “ generation ” was then reckoned as covering 100 years, 
 or that in the chain, Levi-Kohath-Amram-Moses, some steps are 
 passed over. 
 
 a The fullest list is given here of the former peoples of Canaan. 
 It begins with those living furthest south, and arranges them in 
 geographical order as they would be found by one moving north¬ 
 wards in a zigzag line. In Ex. iii. 8; Deut. xx. 17, only six tribes are 
 mentioned; and in Deut. vii. 1; Josh. iii. 10, there are seven, the 
 _ Hivites being added. 
 
 The “river of Egypt” signifies not the Nile, but the stream now 
 known as the Wady-el-Arish, which flows into the sea at the S.E. 
 corner of the Mediterranean. 
 
 
41 
 
 after days both delayed and curtailed the fulfilment 
 of this promise. Yet for one short period, in the 
 reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel did touch 
 both these limits. 
 
 30. COMPLETION OF THE COVENANT 
 
 (Gen. xv. 17-21). The vision ended, Abram awoke. 
 The sun had gone down, and the symbols of the 
 uncompleted covenant were still before him in the 
 dark. Then for the first time since the gate of Eden 
 closed upon Adam, the glory of the Lord appeared. 
 In the form of “ a smoking furnace and a burning 
 lamp,” a column of smoke with a glowing fiery 
 heart, it moved down the passage between the 
 severed carcases. Thus it pleased God to manifest 
 His presence, to fulfil the conditions customary in 
 a human agreement, and as man with man, as friend 
 with friend, to enter into covenant with Abram. 
 “ The wonderful mercy and kindness of God in thus 
 binding Himself to a weak and sinful man cannot 
 but have given him new thoughts of God and new 
 thoughts of himself. He was now the Friend of 
 God, taken up into a new world of thoughts and 
 hopes; hiding in his heart the treasure of God’s 
 covenant, brooding over the infinite significance 
 and hopefulness of his position as God’s ally.” ° 
 
 31. HAGAR (Gen. xvi. 1-6). As in Egypt 
 Abram had been tempted to forestall the protecting 
 care of God, and by human craft to secure his safety, 
 so now he was tempted to adopt means of his own 
 devising to hasten the fulfilment of that promise on 
 which his heart was set. He was now eighty-five 
 years of age. It was ten years since he had entered 
 Canaan, to claim the land not only for himself but 
 for his descendants. The promise on the strength 
 of which he had taken this step had been several 
 times repeated, and with each repetition had grown 
 more definite. He was to be the father of a son ; 
 but was Sarai to be the mother of the child 1 There 
 
 a Dods, Genesis, p. 145. 
 
had been as yet no word from God to link her with 
 the fulfilment of the promise; and it now seemed 
 extremely improbable that she would become the 
 mother of the promised heir. It might be that 
 another woman was to be this mother. It seems 
 that when they had been ten years sojourning in 
 Canaan, Sarai gave up any hope she may previously 
 have cherished, of herself sharing in the realisation 
 of the promise. She therefore suggested to the 
 Patriarch, brooding over his childless state, that he 
 should take one of his female slaves and make her 
 his secondary or slave wife. This was in accordance 
 with a practice at all times common in the East, 
 and not regarded .as either wrong or dishonourable. 
 Any children that the slave-wife might bear would 
 be counted as children of Sarai, and if she should 
 bear a son, he would be Abram’s heir. Abram 
 accepted his wife’s suggestion, and took to be his 
 secondary wife one “ Hagar, an Egyptian,” a hand¬ 
 maid of Sarai, possibly one of the slaves whom 
 Pharaoh had presented to Abram. It was a 
 desperate, a foolish, and a presumptuous plan, and 
 could only lead to mischief and confusion. The 
 very success of the scheme served to increase the 
 family troubles. Sarai seems to have been capable 
 of feeling, and giving effect to, a generous impulse, 
 but she had not the constancy to enable her to bear 
 patiently its natural results. She could step aside, 
 but she could not stand aside ; and when it appeared 
 likely that Hagar would bear a child to Abram, her 
 mistress felt that she had done a foolish thing. For 
 Hagar, on her part, was uplifted with pride in the 
 prospect of becoming the mother of that heir for 
 whom the whole encampment had looked so long 
 in vain. She began to carry herself already as the 
 superior of her childless mistress. Then Sarai, 
 in anger at the insolent behaviour of her maid, 
 unreasonably threw the blame on Abram. And 
 even the Patriarch’s generosity failed him. He was 
 
43 
 
 justified in upholding the authority of Sarai; but 
 he was bound no less to defend the woman whom he 
 had treated as his wife. But he surrendered his right 
 either to rebuke or to protect her, and replied to 
 Sarai’s complaint that Hagar was at her disposal, 
 her slave, whom she might treat as she pleased. 
 The jealous mistress used her authority without 
 much mercy ; and at last Hagar sought an escape 
 from her cruelty by fleeing from the camp. a 
 
 32. HAGAR’S RETURN : BIRTH OF ISHMAEL 
 (Gen. xvi. 7-16). Hagar fled southwards towards 
 her native land of Egypt; but she had only gone 
 ODe or two days’ journey in the wilderness that lay 
 to the south of the pastures of Hebron, when she was 
 stopped by God. She had reached the traveller’s 
 well between Kadesh and Bered, on the way to 
 Shur, when “ the angel of the Lord ” met her, and 
 having questioned her about her journey, bade her 
 return and submit herself to her mistress. The 
 command was accompanied by a promise. She was 
 to become the mother of a son, and through him the 
 ancestress of a great nation, “that shall not be 
 numbered for multitude.” Her son should grow up 
 to be an independent b chief, “a wild ass among 
 men,” roving, headstrong, and untameable. But the 
 name Ishmael ( God heareth ), by which she was to 
 call him, would be a perpetual reminder that God 
 had heard her cry in her affliction, and had watched 
 even over the outcast. The heart of this half¬ 
 heathen woman responded to the promise and the 
 command. She recognised that she was under the 
 eye of God, and acknowledged His presence in the 
 
 a The name “Hagar” is probably connected with a root 
 meaning “flight"; the same root appears in the word Hegira or 
 Hejra, by which the Mohammedans describe the flight of their 
 Prophet from Mecca, and from which they date their era (a.h. 1= 
 a.d. 622). 
 
 6 “In the presence of his brethren” literally ‘in the face of, 
 signifies probably ‘ over against,’ 4 independent ’: it may mean, how¬ 
 ever, 4 to the east of ’—see p. 31 note—and indicate the geographical 
 position of the Ishmaelites in relation to the Israelites. 
 
44 
 
 angel that spoke to her. After He had gone she 
 perceived that He had been there, “and she called on 
 Him as “ God of Seeing ! ” The well where this 
 strange interview took place was afterwards called 
 Beer-lahai-roi, ‘ the well of the living One who 
 seeth me.’ Hagar obeyed the command of God, and 
 returned to Abram’s encampment at Hebron. And 
 there she became the mother of Ishmael, to whom 
 all the Arab tribes of to-day trace back their pedi¬ 
 gree. Thus from Abram through his first-born son 
 nave sprung Mohammed and Mohammedanism, as 
 from him through his second son, Isaac, have sprung 
 the Jews and the Founder of the Christian religion. 
 
 Questions and Points for Inquiry 
 
 1. What is the essential idea of a “ covenant ” ? 
 How far is it fully realised in the transaction here 
 recorded ? 
 
 2. Explain “ potential ” possession, and illustrate 
 the idea (a) from Abram in Canaan , (6) from the 
 spiritual inheritance of Christians. Compare Eph. i. 
 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. 
 
 3. What checked and curtailed the fulfilment of the 
 promise ? Describe the promise under the dispensation 
 of Christ, which answers to the promise to Abraham. 
 Compare 1 Cor. iii. 21-23 ; Gal. iii. 14 ff; Col. i. 12. 
 
 4. “ Asking for a sign ” (Gen. xv. 8); compare the 
 cases of Gideon, Hezekiah, and Moses ; Ahaz, 
 Zedekiah, and the Jews in Christ’s time. 
 
 5. In what way were Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, 
 respectively, at fault in this episode ? 
 
 a The word rendered ‘ looked ’ in v. 13 may possibly signify 1 See 
 the light’ = ‘Zwe,’ when the sense would be 1 Do I still live after see¬ 
 ing God,’ and the name of the well with a slightly different punctua¬ 
 tion, would become, ‘ Well of living and seeing.’ 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ABRAHAM THE FRIEND OF GOD. 
 
 33. THE COVENANT RENEWED (Gen. xvii. 
 1-8). Thirteen years of Abram’s life are passed over 
 by the Bible record in silence. He was eighty-six 
 years of age when Ishmael was born; he was 
 ninety-nine when the next recorded revelation came 
 to him from God. We may picture his life in the 
 interval as one of prosperity and peace. Outwardly 
 it was the life of a shepherd-chieftain, the head of 
 a numerous body of dependants, making Mamre 
 his head-quarters, from which his great flocks and 
 herds, under charge of the herdsmen, could range 
 all the neighbouring pastures at will. Inwardly it 
 was a life of tranquillity and growing content. 
 Ishmael would be growing up a brave, active and 
 impetuous boy; in him the father saw his heir, the 
 pledge of a posterity which should hold his name 
 in reverence, and pass on the knowledge of God 
 from generation to generation. But Ishmael did 
 not represent the fulness of God’s purpose or of His 
 power; he was the representative of a human contriv¬ 
 ance to anticipate the slow ripening of the promise. 
 Abram was in danger of being content with less 
 than God was prepared to give him ; and from this 
 danger he was roused by a new revelation, a new 
 hope, and a new covenant. The new revelation 
 was embodied in a new name by which God allowed 
 Himself to be known by His servant. For when 
 he was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared 
 to him, and said, “ I am El Shaddai, God 
 Almighty ” ; not a God whose will was to be 
 fulfilled only in part, or by means of human ex¬ 
 pedients, or with results such as might satisfy a 
 man, but a God Omnipotent whose purpose achieves 
 itself completely, independently of man, and even 
 in spite of human contrivances. And as every 
 
46 
 
 revelation of the nature of God carries with it a 
 corresponding obligation on the conduct of men, 
 so to this revelation was added the precept it in¬ 
 volved, “walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” 
 Abram was to order his daily life and conduct, as 
 in the sight of such a God ; and by patient trust 
 and undivided loyalty to acknowledge his perfect 
 dependence upon Him. Then while Abram fell on 
 his face in humble recognition of the Majesty in 
 whose presence he found himself, God “ talked with 
 him,” and renewed in more explicit terms the 
 former covenant with his servant. The three parts 
 of the original promise made in Haran are now 
 repeated with a new amplitude and greater clear¬ 
 ness. There are again promised the Seed, the 
 Land, and the Blessing. To the expectation of a 
 numerous posterity is now added the assurance of 
 royal dominion—“kings shall come out of thee.” 
 This promise must have struck the shepherd-chief 
 who only “sojourned” in the land of Canaan, as 
 very unlikely of fulfilment, but it was fulfilled accord¬ 
 ing to the letter in the royal houses of Judah and of 
 Israel, and still more richly, according to the spirit 
 in Jesus Christ, “ the prince of the kings of the 
 earth,” and in those, the children of Abram “ by 
 faith,” whom He has made “ kings and priests unto 
 God and His Father.” The inheritance, the land 
 of Canaan, though not so fully defined here as else¬ 
 where, is now assured, “ for an everlasting posses¬ 
 sion.” And the Blessing, about which the promise 
 on the last three occasions of its repetition has been 
 silent, now starts out into prominence, and expands 
 to display its gracious contents. The covenant of 
 God with man is not to cease with Abram ; this 
 strange and gracious fellowship is to continue with 
 his descendants, “ for an everlasting covenant.” And 
 the contents of this covenant are proclaimed at once 
 most simply and most profoundly in the words, “ I 
 will be their God.” God’s choice of Abram and his 
 
47 
 
 descendants to serve Him, was but the other siae 
 of His having given Himself to them to save them. 
 
 34. THE TRUE HEIR OF THE PROMISE 
 (Gen. xvii. 15-21). The promise concerning a 
 son was still to Abram only, and he continued, 
 and was content, to look on Ishmael as his heir, 
 the son through whom these great promises were 
 to be fulfilled. If he had thus allowed his hope 
 to fall below the level of God’s power, he was now 
 to have new possibilities opened to him, hopes long 
 ago dismissed as vain revived, and his faith in 
 God’s Word still further tested. For Ishmael, the 
 son of Abram and Hagar, his wife’s handmaid, 
 was not the true heir of the promise ; and God 
 now told Abram that he should have yet another 
 child, a son of whom Sarai herself should be the 
 mother, a true heir born of his true wife. This 
 promise was so contrary to human expectation, at 
 the time of life which both Abram and Sarai had 
 reached, that on first hearing it, Abram was sur¬ 
 prised into laughter; it seemed nothing else than 
 absurd. He was partly disappointed also. He 
 himself was quite satisfied with Ishmael as an heir. 
 Why should not God be equally willing to accept 
 the son of the bondwoman? Why should he 
 be called upon to pass by the son of flesh and blood, 
 this boy so strong and full of health and hope, to 
 fix his attention and strain his expectation once 
 more on a vague, shadowy, most improbable heir 
 of promise ? Abram’s answer to this new promise 
 was, therefore, a prayer that Ishmael might be 
 accepted by God. But while God assured him in 
 reply that Ishmael was not to be forgotten, that 
 he should be blessed and multiplied, and become 
 the ancestor of a royal house, He repeated at the 
 same time the announcement, which so tried the 
 Patriarch’s faith, and quickened his love to the son 
 he already had. Within a year from that time 
 Sarai herself should bear a son, whom they should 
 
48 
 
 call Isaac ; and with him and his seed God would 
 establish “ an everlasting covenant. ” 
 
 35. THE COVENANT SEALED: A NEW 
 NAME (Gen. xvii. 5, 15). As God at this time re¬ 
 vealed Himself to Abram under a new title, which 
 contained the revelation of His Almighty power, 
 so on Abram also He conferred a new name, which 
 was to be to him from henceforth the symbol of his 
 destiny. The Hebrews at all times attached great 
 importance to a man’s name and its signification. 
 In naming a child, the parents sought either to 
 commemorate the circumstances of his birth, or to 
 express their hopes for his future. A name thus 
 came to be in many cases an index of character, or an 
 evidence of life purpose. 0 It was natural, therefore, 
 that when a man’s character developed, or the pur¬ 
 pose of his life was changed, this should be out¬ 
 wardly indicated by a corresponding change of 
 name. The great destiny to which Abram was 
 called was now fully revealed to him; and he 
 who had hitherto been known by the vague title 
 of Exalted Father, was henceforth to be called 
 Abraham, “Father of a Multitude.” The actual 
 alteration was very slight, involving only the addi¬ 
 tion of a single letter, but its inner significance 
 was very great, little less than sacramental. For 
 it was ordained by God Himself; it became a per¬ 
 manent memorial to Abraham of the grace and 
 favour conferred upon him by God ; it was an 
 outward and audible sign of the spiritual promise 
 in the strength of which he lived. In like manner 
 the name of Abraham’s wife was to be changed, 
 from Sarai “the contentious ,” to Sarah, “princess” 
 The promise has now definitely expanded, so as to 
 include the Mother as well as the Father of the 
 
 a Conversely, the word “ name ” itself is used in the Bible to ex¬ 
 press all that is known or comprehended, or in the case of God 
 revealed, concerning character or purpose. Compare Ps. xci. 14; 
 John xvii. 6 ; Rev. ii. 17. See also “ Shorter Catechism Primer,” 
 Q. 101. 
 
4!) 
 
 Faithful. And on both alike the covenant is thus 
 sealed on God’s side by the change of names. 
 
 36. THE HUMAN SEAL OF THE COVENANT; 
 CIRCUMCISION. (Gen. xvii. 9-14 ; 23-27). On a 
 previous occasion the covenant had been ratified by 
 God alone; Abram had then acted only as a 
 spectator. Now he also was to take part in the ratifi¬ 
 cation, and set an outward and visible seal upon the 
 covenant just concluded. It was to be a sign made 
 in his own flesh, a sign made not without pain, a 
 sign appointed by God to be a lasting memorial of 
 the human obligation involved in the covenant. 
 The sign chosen and ordained by God for this pur¬ 
 pose was circumcision. The Patriarch and all the 
 males of his family were to be circumcised. And 
 as an eastern household, however large, was regarded 
 as but forming one family under the headship of its 
 master, every man belonging to the household 
 whether by purchase or by birth, was to partake in 
 this rite. Nor did the obligation apply to that 
 generation only ; but every male child that should 
 afterwards be born within the chosen family, must 
 be circumcised on the eighth day from his birth, in 
 token that he was the Lord’s, and claimed, or had 
 claimed for him by his parents, the covenant bless¬ 
 ing along with the covenant responsibility. The 
 penalty of disregarding this command was that the 
 uncircumcised Israelite was to be cut off from his 
 people, treated as a rebel and an outcast, deprived 
 of the privileges, as he had rejected the duties, of 
 the covenant. 
 
 It is probable that this rite of circumcision was 
 not now practised for the first time, but had 
 already been in use among other nations. Nor has 
 it been confined in subsequent history to the descen¬ 
 dants of Abraham, or to those nations which might 
 conceivably have derived the custom from them. 
 It has in fact been proved to be a custom prevalent 
 among many peoples, widely scattered all over the 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 earth. But as with the other practice of sacrifice, 
 so in the matter of circumcision, God chose a 
 custom of human origin, consecrated it to the service 
 of true religion, infused it with a religious mean¬ 
 ing, and ordained it to be a permanent obligation 
 on all the faithful descendants of Abraham. Its 
 application to the service of the true religion lay 
 primarily in this, that it distinguished by a per¬ 
 manent mark all generations of true Israelites from 
 the heathen nations who surrounded them. The 
 chosen people were to be a separated people ; and 
 circumcision was the outward mark of their 
 separation. But there was also a deep sym¬ 
 bolical meaning attaching to the institution. It 
 was a sign of God’s authority over the body of 
 man. It was a figurative surrender of the whole 
 body to God, an acknowledgment of the duty of 
 suffering pain or loss at His command, a symbol 
 carved upon the flesh of the inward consecration of 
 the heart which was demanded of all true children 
 of the covenant. 
 
 At a later time the regulations for circumcision 
 were laid down with great precision in the Mosaic 
 legislation, and it continued to be the seal of the 
 covenant throughout the Old Testament dispensa¬ 
 tion. Under the new dispensation of the Gospel its 
 place was taken by baptism. Baptism differed from 
 circumcision in that the permanent outward mark 
 was exchanged for a momentary ceremony. But 
 they are alike in that both were ordained by 
 God ; both were applied as a seal of grace ; both 
 were to be used as a sign that every child born 
 within the community of believers is born into the 
 covenant; while on the other hand both were adapted 
 also for those born outside the community of God’s 
 people, to be a sign of their conversion, submission, 
 and reception into the covenant of mercy and 
 promise. But even in the New Testament the idea 
 of circumcision is still used figuratively to describe 
 
51 
 
 the purification of heart, the laying aside or carnal 
 passion and desire, the complete surrender of a man 
 to God. a 
 
 Acting on this command Abraham himself 
 received the mark of circumcision, and caused all 
 the men of his household, beginning with Ishmael, 
 his thirteen-year-old son, to be circumcised in like 
 manner. The covenant made with the Head 
 extended to the whole household, and thus the 
 whole household shared in its ratification. 
 
 37. RENEWED PRGMISE OF A SON BY 
 SARAH (Gen. xviii. 1 -15). Not long after the 
 covenant had thus been renewed and sealed, Abra¬ 
 ham received a new communication from God, 
 under a new form of intercourse. God appeared to 
 him and talked with him in the likeness of man. 
 This was the “ first fruits of a relationship, now 
 fully established, which constituted this man and 
 his family the friends of the Most High. 55 Abraham 
 was still dwelling beside the great terebinth-tree at 
 Mamre, and there one day during the midday heat, 
 as he sat under the tent-flap raised for shade and 
 coolness, he looked up to find three men before 
 him. They were standing mutely claiming the 
 hospitality which is the right of every weary way¬ 
 farer in the East. And with that ready welcome 
 and courteous reception of the stranger, which has 
 always characterised the shepherd families of the 
 East, and is still found among the Bedawins of to¬ 
 day, Abraham rose and ran to meet them. Before 
 one of the three figures, which was distinguished 
 from the rest by some superior dignity, he bowed 
 himself in reverent obeisance ; and addressing him 
 with deep respect as “ My Lord,” he asked that he 
 might be allowed to offer the usual service to 
 travellers, water to cleanse their travel-stained 
 feet, a “ morsel of bread ” to “ comfort their hearts,” 
 and rest under the shadow of the spreading tree. 
 a Rom. ii. 28, 29; Col. ii. 11. 
 
52 
 
 The orfer being gravely accepted, Abraham hastened 
 to give it a generous accomplishment. He caused 
 an abundant pastoral meal to be prepared, cakes of 
 fine flour, butter and milk, and a calf “ tender and 
 good ” taken from his herd, and dressed by himself. 
 These things he set before his guests, as they sat 
 under the tree, and courteously stood by to minister 
 to their wants. 
 
 Then it was made known to Abraham that his 
 mysterious visitants were other than mere mortal 
 men. For, having inquired where his wife Sarah 
 was, and received the reply that she was within the 
 tent, one of them addressed Abraham with an 
 emphatic repetition of the strange, almost incredible 
 promise, which was still echoing in his memory. 
 “ I will certainly return to thee when the season 
 cometh round, and lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have 
 a son.” The words were overheard by Sarah 
 through the curtain of dark camel’s-hair cloth, 
 which hung in the door of the tent, and she 
 laughed aloud with incredulity at a promise which 
 she felt to be so unlikely of fulfilment. Where¬ 
 upon, the stranger who had spoken, who is now 
 openly called “ the Lord,” turned to Abraham and 
 demanded, “ Wherefore did Sarah laugh ? Is any¬ 
 thing too hard for the Lord 1 ” And yet once again 
 the promise was solemnly repeated. Sarah, now 
 ashamed and trembling, tried to deny that she had 
 laughed ; but their guest, now directly addressing 
 her, rebuked her with a stern emphasis on the 
 fact, “ Nay, but thou didst laugh.” 
 
 38. THE DIVINE ERRAND TO SODOM (Gen. 
 xviii. 16-21). The meal over, “the men” rose up 
 to go ; and Abraham set out to accompany them on 
 their way. They were bound for Sodom. Their 
 errand was not complete. Their divine mission of 
 favour and grace to Abraham was to be followed in 
 sharp contrast by a divine mission of judgment 
 upon sin. And Abraham was admitted to know 
 
53 
 
 the counsels of the Lord. The purpose of this visit 
 to Sodom is revealed to him as they go. The reason 
 for this lifting of the veil is set forth in the narra¬ 
 tive as the thought of God. Abraham was the 
 chosen depositary of divine revelation, and the 
 channel of blessing to all nations. To him was 
 entrusted the duty of teaching his children and his 
 household, and through them the coming genera¬ 
 tions to “ keep the way of the Lord, to do justice 
 and judgment.” It concerned him therefore both 
 to know the method, and to be assured of the 
 righteousness, of God’s dealings with mankind. 
 Judgment as well as mercy was part of the all- 
 important revelation with which he was charged. 
 He who knew, and was a witness to, the grace of 
 God in his own experience, must learn the right¬ 
 eous and holy wrath of God against sin, that he 
 might be a witness to it also. Should God then 
 hide from Abraham, His friend, His chosen 
 prophet, what He was about to do ? Acting on these 
 reasons the Lord told Abraham, that because the 
 sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was very grievous, and 
 the cry of them had come to His ears, He was going 
 down now to visit and try these places, whether 
 their character was really according to the report of 
 it. The Divine errand to Sodom was an “ inquisi¬ 
 tion for sin,” an errand of investigation with a view 
 to final judgment. 
 
 That God is thus represented as needing to go 
 down to see if it was so, is only in harmony with 
 the method and condition of the Divine manifesta¬ 
 tion observed throughout this chapter, a manifesta¬ 
 tion which was consistent throughout. The three 
 men walked and talked, and ate like men ; and yet 
 Abraham recognised that he was in the actual 
 presence of the Lord. We may say with some that 
 these were three angels, commissioned with God’s 
 authority, and speaking in His name; or with 
 others, that it was a momentary incarnation of the 
 
54 
 
 Persons of the Trinity ; or with others, that God 
 presented Himself in three human forms, answer¬ 
 ing to the three activities, of Promise, Judg¬ 
 ment, and Deliverance, on which He was engaged. 
 The manifestation was adapted to the knowledge 
 and faith of the Patriarch. The revelation of 
 the one Spiritual God was at its earliest dawn. 
 Men still thought very humanly of the Deity ; 
 they ascribed to Him the thoughts and feelings, 
 to some extent the necessities and limitations 
 of man. God allowed Himself to be known by 
 them “as they were able, 5 ’ in such form as even 
 they could recognise Him. With the progress of 
 revelation and the deepening of faith, these earlier 
 concessions to human inexperience were withdrawn. 
 More and more God revealed Himself as a Spiritual 
 Being, whose ways are not as our ways, neither His 
 thoughts as our thoughts ; until He came, who as 
 Son of Man and Son of God in Himself combined 
 at their highest the manifestation of God in the 
 flesh, and the revelation of God*as “ Spirit.” 
 
 39. ABRAHAM’S INTERCESSION FOR SO¬ 
 DOM (Gen. xviii. 22-33). Tradition still points out 
 the spot, overlooking the “circle” of the Jordan and 
 the doomed “ Cities of the plain,” where Abraham 
 and his companions stopped. Two of “the men” 
 went forward towards Sodom; but Abraham “ stood 
 yet before the Lord.” Then Abraham took it upon 
 him to intercede with God on behalf of Sodom. 
 With great earnestness, with a strange mixture of 
 boldness and humility, seeming at one moment to 
 forget, and at the next moment to be overwhelmed 
 by, the distinction between himself and his Inter¬ 
 locutor, he pleaded for the city. The motive of his 
 intercession was not, as we might have expected, a 
 desire for the safety of his own kinsfolk, Lot and his 
 family. It was in part compassion for the whole 
 people, in whose defence he had once ventured his 
 own life and property. It was in part also a pas- 
 
55 
 
 sionate desire for the honour of God. The ground 
 on which he urged his appeal was not God’s compas¬ 
 sion, but His justice. There might be righteous 
 men even in Sodom ; if they were involved in a 
 common destruction with the wicked, God would 
 seem to treat both classes alike. And He was judge 
 of all the world. Should not He therefore “do right,” 
 act, that is, in accordance with the principles of 
 fairness and j ustice which He had implanted in His 
 creatures ? In answer to the appeal so grounded, 
 the Lord assured Abraham that if fifty righteous men 
 were found in Sodom, the city should be spared for 
 their sakes. Emboldened by this gracious answer 
 to his prayer, Abraham went on suggesting fewer 
 and fewer of the righteous to be the condition of 
 mercy to the rest of the inhabitants. His impor¬ 
 tunity is balanced by his ever increasing humility ; 
 and five times his eager prayer is granted. At length 
 he obtained the Lord’s promise that if only ten 
 righteous men were found in Sodom it should not be 
 destroyed. Then the strange intercession ended. 
 More could not either be asked or granted. The 
 open communion between the Lord and His friend 
 was over. The Lord “ went His way ; ” and Abra¬ 
 ham returned to his tents at Hebron. 
 
 It did not occur to Abraham that another course 
 was possible for God. He thought only that the 
 inhabitants must either be all destroyed or all spared. 
 That God could or would spare a righteous few, or 
 even a righteous individual, while destroying the 
 wicked multitude, was beyond the Patriarch’s pre¬ 
 sent knowledge. Yet that was God’s purpose and 
 what He did. 
 
 40. THE TESTING OF SODOM (Gen. xix. 1-13). 
 Meanwhile the two angels pursued their way to¬ 
 wards Sodom ; and coming there in the evening, 
 found Lot seated in the gateway, in all eastern 
 towns the regular resort and meeting place of the 
 citizens. Lot, seeing the strangers, rose respectfully 
 
56 
 
 to greet them, and offered them the shelter and hos¬ 
 pitality of his house for the night. They at first de¬ 
 clined, but as he urged them, consented. Whereupon 
 he led them to his dwelling and made ready for them 
 a feast. Lot had thus an opportunity to display his 
 good qualities, of courtesy, reverence for strangers, 
 and hospitality ; he was further called upon to show 
 his courage in defence of his guests, and in defiance of 
 his fellow-citizens. On them, too, the coming of the 
 strangers acted as a test. It provoked an unmistak¬ 
 able display of the character and disposition of the 
 citizens. They saw in the presence of these men 
 only an opportunity to indulge in the shameless 
 wickedness to which they had sunk. The whole 
 body of the citizens, old and young, surrounded the 
 house of Lot, demanding that his guests should be 
 given up to them. When he refused and remon¬ 
 strated, they mocked him as a foreigner, who pre¬ 
 sumed to criticise and control their conduct. In 
 vain Lot exposed himself to their fury and tried to 
 argue with them. They were attempting to make 
 an entrance on the house by force, when the angels 
 drew Lot within the door, and struck the men who 
 were clamouring before it with blindness, “ so that 
 they wearied themselves to find the door.” 
 
 Sodom might have learnt a lesson from the 
 judgment which had come upon it at the hand of 
 Chedorlaomer, and the unhoped-for deliverance 
 through Abraham. But there had been no amend¬ 
 ment in the life of the city. The prophet Ezekiel 
 has traced the cause of its fall in the pregnant 
 verses : “ This was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, 
 fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in 
 her, . . . and they were haughty, and committed 
 abomination before Me: therefore I took them 
 away.” a Their iniquity was full. They had ex¬ 
 hausted even the long-suffering of God. Their 
 conduct that night “ cut the worn thread of His 
 
 a Ezek. xvi. 49-50. 
 
57 
 
 patience,” and vindicated the righteousness of the 
 judgment which followed. The angels announced 
 to Lot the Divine sentence: “We will destroy this 
 place, because the cry of them is waxen great before 
 the Lord.” 
 
 41. ESCAPE OF LOT (Gen. xix. 12-23, 26). 
 The grace of God in sparing exceeded Abraham’s 
 boldness in asking. Though there were not found 
 ten righteous men in Sodom to justify the sparing 
 of the whole city, yet God answered the spirit of 
 Abraham’s prayer in providing an escape for Lot 
 and his family. At the bidding of the angels, Lot 
 went to warn his sons-in-law of the coming disaster, 
 and summon them to join him in escaping with the 
 rest of the family from Sodom. But these men 
 treated his warning only as idle mocking. And, 
 as the dawn was now breaking, the angels hastened 
 Lot, urging him to take his wife and daughters and 
 flee with them. As he still hesitated, they took 
 both him and them by the hand, and forced them 
 to quit the city, “ the Lord being merciful to him.” 
 Once outside the city, Lot was commanded to escape 
 for his life, neither looking behind him, nor staying 
 in the plain, but seeking in the mountains a refuge 
 from the impending doom. Still Lot failed fully 
 to understand his danger, or the mercy that was 
 being shown him. To the mountains he would not 
 go ; and he actually made the saving grace of God, 
 as he understood it, the ground of a piteous request 
 that he might still remain in the plain. He pointed 
 to the village of Bela, or Zoar, not far distant a ; 
 it was but small; its very insignificance might 
 justify its being spared. He could not give up the 
 comfort, the familiarity, the wealth of the fertile 
 plain. He prayed that Zoar might be spared to 
 
 a Zoar has generally, on the authority of Josephus, Jerome, and 
 the Crusaders, been placed a little to the north-east of the south end 
 of the Dead Sea. The identification is probably inaccurate, and the 
 true site to be found in a side valley on the east side, but towards 
 the north end of the sea. 
 
58 
 
 become his dwelling-place. And God granted his 
 prayer. It may well have been a grant in anger. 
 Lot ^got his own way. God left him alone to his 
 choice, “ tame in earth’s paddock, as her prize.” 
 And he disappears from the history, a worldly, 
 self-indulgent, and degraded man. 
 
 The command not to look back was broken by 
 one of the escaping party. Lot’s wife, whose heart 
 even God’s judgment on Sodom and mercy to 
 the family could not awe into indifference to the 
 household gear she had reluctantly left behind, 
 turned back to behold its fate ; and “ she became 
 a pillar of salt,” a symbol of the fate of those 
 who while escaping still yearn after the City of 
 
 Jip q‘|'y»ii on 
 
 42. DESTRUCTION OF SODOM (Gen. xix. 
 24-29). Early next morning Abraham hastened 
 back to the place where he had stood before the 
 Lord and interceded for Sodom. Had the condition 
 for the sparing of the city been fulfilled ? Had the 
 Divine investigators found therein the ten righteous 
 men! Abraham had not long to wait before 
 he knew. Even before he reached the top of the 
 ridge, from which there was a view of the Jordan 
 valley, he could see the dense clouds of smoke which 
 went up from the burning cities as the smoke of a 
 furnace. The judgment had fallen. The Lord 
 rained fire and brimstone out of heaven upon all 
 the plain. The cities, probably constructed in large 
 measure of bituminous and inflammable material, 
 caught fire; the soil itself, which was pitted with 
 bitumen wells, may have been kindled ; the whole 
 plain was wrapped in one vast conflagration, in 
 which all those cities, and all the inhabitants of 
 the cities, and all the vegetation were consumed 
 and utterly destroyed. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, 
 and Zeboiim disappeared; of the cities of the 
 plain only Zoar, where Lot had taken refuge, 
 escaped the catastrophe. 
 
59 
 
 It was long supposed that the overthrow of Sodom 
 was caused by the same volcanic convulsion which 
 formed the Dead Sea, and that the waters of the 
 sea covered the ruins of the cities of the plain. But 
 this is not borne out by the testimony of Scripture, 
 or by the geological history of the district. Scripture 
 places the site of Sodom on the plain to the north 
 of the Dead Sea, and consistently represents its after 
 desolation as visible to succeeding generations. 
 And the best grounded conclusion of geologists is 
 that no disturbance of the level of the Dead Sea 
 has taken place within historical times, either in its 
 deeper northern portion, or at the much shallower 
 southern end. Close adherence to the allusions in 
 Scripture would lead us rather to see the cause of 
 the catastrophe in a lightning - storm of unusual 
 violence, accompanied perhaps by a shower of 
 ignited meteoric stones ; these with the lightning 
 descending on a district impregnated with inflam¬ 
 mable material, would give rise to this vast con¬ 
 flagration. 
 
 No catastrophe in the world’s history has been 
 more indelibly stamped on the face of the earth 
 and on the memory of men. The Dead Sea basin 
 still bears traces which mark either the causes or 
 the result of the overthrow. The once fertile plain, 
 which Lot had described as the garden of the Lord, 
 was reduced to perfect sterility. “At the north 
 end of the lake you may ride for a couple of hours 
 before you reach the present ruins of Jericho ; and 
 all the way your horse’s hoofs will sink through a 
 salt crust into a friable mould some inches deep, in 
 which nothing will grow.” a The bitumen being all 
 burnt away has left only salt, which impregnates the 
 whole soil as well as the waters of the lake, so 
 that nothing can live in them. “ The whole land is 
 brimstone and salt and burning, so that it is not 
 a Dykes, Abralmm, p. 212. 
 
60 
 
 sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein.” a 
 It is “the breeding-place of nettles and salt pits, 
 and a perpetual desolation.” 6 
 
 Profane and sacred history alike testify to the 
 profound impression which this event made on the 
 memories of men. Josephus among the Jews, 
 Tacitus and Strabo among the Romans, alike allude 
 to the catastrophe, and ascribe it to “ Divine fire,” 
 or to “lightning.” For the writers of Scripture it 
 became a perpetual type of God’s anger and judg¬ 
 ment against sin. c 
 
 Questions and Points for Inquiry. 
 
 1. Distinguish carefully the promises to Ishmael and 
 to Isaac. 
 
 2. What are the parts of the promise to Abraham. 
 Show the gradual development of each part through the 
 various repetitions of the promise. 
 
 3. Illustrate the importance attached to names and 
 their significance among the Israelites. 
 
 4. What are the conditions of prevailing inter¬ 
 cession ? 
 
 5. Explain the term “ anthropomorphic ,” and illus¬ 
 trate it from this chapter and other parts of Scripture. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE GREAT TRIAL OF FAITH. 
 
 43. ABRAHAM SOJOURNING IN “THE NE¬ 
 GEB” (Gen. xx. 1). Abraham had now for some 
 fifteen years had a permanent settlement in the 
 neighbourhood of Hebron “beside the oak of 
 Mamre.” But shortly after the destruction of Sodom, 
 he broke up his encampment at Mamre, and moved 
 
 a Deut. xxix. 23. 6 Zeph. ii. 9. 
 
 c Cf. Jude vii.; 2 Peter iii. 7-12; Luke xvii. 28-33. 
 
61 
 
 with his household and his docks towards the south. 
 The historian does not indicate the reason of this 
 step. Possibly it was due to the shock produced 
 upon the Patriarch’s mind by these recent events, 
 and a desire to quit the neighbourhood of the 
 awful visitation ; or possibly it arose from some 
 passing necessity of his flocks. “ The Negeb,” 
 which is always in our Bible rendered “ the south 
 country,” was the name given to the rolling table¬ 
 land to the south of Hebron ; and there, between 
 Kadesh and Shur, in the neighbourhood of the Well 
 of Hagar’s Vision, Abraham led once more for a 
 season the wandering life of a nomad chief. In 
 the course of his journeyings he descended the 
 western slope of the plateau and came to Gerar. 
 The site of this town has not been exactly identi¬ 
 fied, but it lay some ten or fifteen miles to the south 
 of Gaza, on the plain between the mountains and 
 the sea. This district was already in the occupation 
 of the Philistines, and here, for the first time, 
 Abraham comes into contact with the people who 
 afterwards played so important a part in the his¬ 
 tory of his descendants.* They seem to have been 
 still a simple shepherd clan, who had not yet 
 acquired the extensive influence, or developed the 
 warlike disposition which belong to the Philistines 
 of a later age. Their king, who resided at Gerar, 
 was known as Abimelech (“ my father, the king” ), a 
 name which was probably, like that of Pharaoh, a 
 title adopted by each of a series of kings. The 
 name, being compounded of two Hebrew words, is 
 further an indication that these Philistines were 
 either a branch of the Semitic stock, or, being, on 
 the other hand, descended from Ham, had adopted 
 a Semitic language. The question is still unde- 
 
 a As it was with the Philistines who dwelt on the sea-coast that the 
 Greeks first came in contact, it is from them that the whole country- 
 received the name of Palestine, by which it has been known to 
 Western Europe. 
 
62 
 
 cided ; but the weight of authority leans towards 
 the latter of the two theories. 
 
 44. ABRAHAM IN GERAR (Gen. xx. 2-8). It 
 might have been thought that Abraham had learned 
 at least one lesson from his previous experience in a 
 land of strangers. His experience in Egypt should 
 have taught him that God’s providence and protect¬ 
 ing care does not require assistance from stratagem 
 or doubtful policy in his servants. But either that 
 lesson had been forgotten, or Abraham “ ventured 
 to presume in a culpable degree on a second inter¬ 
 position of God ” in his favour. Once more, 
 through fear of what might befall himself if it were 
 known among the Philistines that Sarah was his 
 wife, he gave out that she was his sister. And 
 Abimelech, desiring no doubt to make an alliance 
 with the now famous and influential chieftain, sent 
 and took Sarah with the intention of making her 
 his wife. But God once more interfered to protect 
 his servant from the consequences of his own folly, 
 and Sarah from the danger to which she was ex¬ 
 posed. He “came to Abimelech in a dream by 
 night,” and warned him that he was under sentence 
 of death because of this woman, who was really 
 another’s wife. The king replied, declaring his 
 own innocence, and pleading the express statement 
 of Abraham, in reliance on which he had acted. 
 God recognised the justice of the plea, and the inno¬ 
 cence of the king, but commanded him, on pain of 
 death to himself and his household, to restore Sarah 
 to her husband. The Divine Voice does not ex¬ 
 press approval of Abraham’s conduct, but lets 
 Abimelech know that, in spite of it, the Patriarch 
 stands in a nearer relation to God than himself. 
 He is by God’s choice a prophet, a proclaimer of 
 God’s truth, and by God’s favour and friendship 'an 
 intercessor, a mediator of God’s pardon. So faith¬ 
 ful is God to this relation, that when Abraham shall 
 pray even for the man he has wronged, the prayer 
 
63 
 
 shall be answered. Though Abraham for a moment 
 left his hold on God, the Divine Hand would not 
 let him go. God vindicates those whom He has 
 chosen, even against their own unfaithfulness. 
 
 45. ABIMELECH DISMISSES ABRAHAM (Gen. 
 xx. 8-18). The king arose from this dream, and 
 gathering together his household, informed them of 
 the warning he had received. They acknowledged 
 the dignity of the stranger who was thus protected, 
 and were filled with fear at their own danger. 
 Then, having summoned Abraham, Abimelech re¬ 
 proached him with the deceit he had practised. He 
 had led the king to the verge of a great sin, and 
 the kingdom into great peril. Abraham tried to 
 justify himself in reply, pointing to the fear he had 
 had for his own safety in a land where the “ fear of 
 God ” was not. It was a self-accusing excuse, but 
 Abimelech withheld further reproaches. His respect 
 for Abraham as the protected friend of God over¬ 
 ruled his indignation. He restored Sarah honour¬ 
 ably to her husband. And having given him a 
 handsome present of sheep and oxen, men-servants 
 and women-servants, he generously invited the 
 Patriarch to remain in his land, and settle in it 
 wherever he pleased. He added also a special 
 present of a thousand pieces of silver as quit-money 
 for the apparent dishonour he had done to Sarah 
 This gift, he told her, was to be as “a covering of 
 the eyes/’ to be a veil over the past, to make it as 
 though it had not happened." Thus she was 
 righted in the sight of all men. 
 
 Abraham then prayed for Abimelech, and the 
 plague which had visited the royal household was 
 removed. Nevertheless, the Patriarch’s conduct 
 at this time, his untruthfulness and want of trust in 
 
 a R.V. “Behold it (the thousand pieces of silver) is for thee a 
 covering of the eyes, . . . and before all men ( marg .) thou art 
 righted.” Or, as others translate, “this is a satisfaction to thee for 
 all that has befallen thee . . . and justice has been done thee.” 
 
r 
 
 64 
 
 God, appear in striking and unfavourable contrast 
 with the magnanimity of the Philistine king, and 
 the respect he showed towards a prophet of God. 
 
 46. BIRTH OF ISAAC, THE SON OF PROMISE 
 (Gen. xxi. 1-7). After this rash experiment in pro¬ 
 viding for his own safety, Abraham probably left 
 Gerar, and sojourned for a time in the neighbour¬ 
 hood of Beersheba. And then at length, when 
 Abraham was a hundred years of age, the long- 
 cherished promise of a son found its real fulfilment. 
 Within the time foretold by the strange guest whom 
 Abraham had entertained at Mamre, Sarah bore a son, 
 who, as the offspring of Abraham’s true and free-born 
 wife, was the true heir of the promise. Great joy 
 would fill the camp as it filled the hearts of the 
 parents, at the birth of this boy. And the name, Isaac 
 (he laughetk), which they gave to him in accordance 
 with the word of the promise, a was a testimony to 
 their joy, as well as a memorial to them of the 
 laughter of surprise and incredulity with which 
 both the father and mother had first heard the 
 promise of his birth. 6 Sarah’s own wondering joy 
 and gratitude for her new motherhood found ex¬ 
 pression in a hymn or song, which is, as it were, a 
 prelude to the song of Hannah in similar circum¬ 
 stances, and with it an anticipation of the great 
 Magnificat of Mary, the Mother of the Child 
 Jesus— 
 
 “ Laughter hath God prepared for me ; 
 
 All who hear of it will laugh with me ; 
 
 Who would have said to Abraham, 
 
 ‘ Sarah giveth children to suck ’ ? 
 
 For a son have I born to him in his old age.” 
 
 In this gift of a son the first part of the threefold 
 promise had been fulfilled. Yet, just as Abraham 
 only potentially possessed the Land, and as he only 
 partially realised and received the Blessing, so even 
 
 a Gen. xvii. 19. 
 b Gen. xvii. 17; xviii. 12. 
 
65 
 
 this son was only a partial fulfilment of this part of 
 the promise in its fullest scope. Isaac was indeed 
 the promised son; but he was at the same time a 
 pledge of the long line of sons which should be born 
 to inherit and transmit the covenant of God, and a 
 pledge, also, of the supreme fulfilment of the promise 
 in the coming and birth of the Son of Man. It was 
 in the divine foreshadowing and foreseeing of this 
 far-off birth, and its value for mankind, that Abraham 
 could be said to “see the day” of the Son of Man.® 
 In rejoicing over Isaac he rejoiced over the pledge 
 of the salvation of mankind. 
 
 47. EXPULSION OF HAGAR (Gen. xxi. 8-14). 
 So soon as Isaac the free-born son appeared, Ishmael 
 necessarily sank to the level of his slave-mother, 
 from being heir of all that Abraham possessed to 
 become himself part of the possessions which the 
 new-born son would one day inherit. The weight 
 of the father’s affection would also quickly be trans¬ 
 ferred to him, the child of his old age and the true 
 son of promise; and both Ishmael and his mother 
 Hagar would soon learn that their position was gone. 
 Sarah also would look with jealousy upon the brave 
 and headstrong boy, who still had much to recommend 
 him to his father’s affection, and whose character and 
 superiority in age might make him a dangerous 
 rival to her own son. The feast with which Abra¬ 
 ham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, gave her an 
 opportunity for which she may have been looking. 
 Instead of sharing in the general joy, Ishmael 
 broke out in insulting mockery. Angered at the 
 sight of this, Sarah demanded of Abraham that he 
 should drive out both Hagar and her son from the 
 family, in order that there might be no chance of 
 Ishmael regarding himself as co-heir with Isaac. 
 Abraham, who still loved his first-born son, was 
 very unwilling to deal thus hardly with him, and 
 
 a See John viii. 56. 
 E 
 
66 
 
 to lose him from his sight. But God commanded 
 him to hearken to the words of his wife, and do as 
 she had said. For it was in Isaac that his true 
 posterity should be found. Abraham was called to 
 be the founder, not of a warlike, but of a religious 
 nation. He must part from Ishmael, who should 
 indeed become the father of a nation, but of a 
 warlike one a ; he must concentrate his affection 
 and his training upon Isaac, who was the heir of 
 the promise of spiritual blessing to “ all families 
 of the earth.” To him alone was to descend the 
 saving fellowship with God. 
 
 Abraham sorrowfully obeyed. He took Hagar 
 and her son, who would now be about sixteen or 
 seventeen years of age, and having provided the 
 mother with bread, and a skin of water over her 
 shoulder, dismissed them together from the camp 
 to seek for themselves another home. 
 
 48. HAGAR IN THE WILDERNESS (Gen. xxi. 
 14-21). Mother and son departed from the old 
 camp to wander in the neighbouring wilderness of 
 Beersheba. When the water-skin was exhausted, 
 they found no well from which to refill it. At last, 
 utterly spent with heat and thirst, the lad could go 
 no further. Hagar in despair laid him down under¬ 
 neath one of the branchy bushes of the desert, that, 
 if he must die, he might at least die under its shade. 
 And, herself unable to bear the sight of his suffer¬ 
 ing, she went away, and sat down about “ a bowshot 
 off”—to wait. But though Ishmael had been sent 
 away from his father’s tents, he was not sent away 
 from his father’s God. Isaac had been chosen, but 
 Ishmael was not forgotten. God heard the cry of 
 his pain and despair, and by the voice of an angel 
 bid Hagar arise herself and lift up the lad. For 
 God had a purpose for him also as well as for Isaac. 
 He was not to die in the wilderness. He was to 
 
 a See Gen. xvi. 10-12. 
 
become a great nation. And then God “ opened 
 the eyes ” of the mother, and “ she saw a well, and 
 went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the 
 lad drink.” Ishmael revived, and they continued 
 their journey together. He settled in the wilder¬ 
 ness of Paran, beyond the southern border of Canaan, 
 where he became an archer or hunter, and “ God 
 was with him.” In due time he was married to an 
 Egyptian, one of his mother’s countrywomen, and 
 from him are descended the Arab and Bedawin 
 tribes of to* day. a 
 
 49. ABRAHAM’S TREATY WITH ABIMELECH 
 
 (Gen. xxi. 22-33). Abimelech had not forgotten 
 either the dignity and power of his Hebrew visitor, 
 or the distrust caused by his conduct at Gerar. 
 Abraham was still in his near neighbourhood, and, 
 the herds and herdsmen of the two chiefs ranging 
 over the same pasture-ground, there was constant 
 danger of misunderstanding and dispute. Abime¬ 
 lech, therefore, accompanied by Phichol, his chief 
 officer, sought out Abraham, and proposed that 
 there should be a solemn treaty of peace and honour¬ 
 able dealing between them; that Abraham should 
 “ swear by God ” not to “ deal falsely ” either with 
 the king of Gerar or with any of his descendants. 
 The Patriarch consented to such a treaty, but had a 
 complaint to make on his side also. His men had 
 dug a well in the district, which was a work of great 
 labour, and added greatly to the value, for its pos¬ 
 sessors, of the surrounding pasture. But the well 
 had been seized by the servants of Abimelech. 
 Abimelech replied that this had been done without 
 his approval, and even without his knowledge ; and 
 the treaty was concluded. In witness whereof, 
 Abraham delivered to Abimelech seven ewe lambs, 
 the complete or perfect number seven signifying the 
 solemnity of the agreement. From this transaction 
 
 a See Gen. xxv. 12 ff.; 1 Cluon. i. 29. 
 
68 
 
 the well received the name of Beersheba—the 
 “ Well of Seven,” or, as binding oneself by the 
 number seven was equivalent to an oath, the “ Well 
 of the Oath.” Abraham further marked the place by 
 planting a tamarisk-tree, and by calling there upon 
 the name of “ the Lord, the everlasting God.” Beer¬ 
 sheba became, in later times, the southern frontier of 
 the land of Israel; so that Abraham’s name is 
 associated with the two extreme points of the 
 country occupied by his descendants, with Dan 
 through his victory over the Elamites, and with 
 Beersheba through his treaty with Abimelech. The 
 site of Beersheba has been successfully identified. 
 It is still famous for its well, a favourite resort of 
 shepherd tribes, and a place of tamarisks. 
 
 50. THE SUPREME TRIAL OF ABRAHAM’S 
 FAITH— (a) THE COMMAND (Gen. xxii. 1-2). 
 The twelve or fifteen years which followed the 
 weaning of Isaac and the expulsion of Ishmael, 
 are passed over in silence by the Bible narrative. 
 They must have been years of quiet prosperity and 
 peace of mind, during which Abraham, meditating 
 on the goodness and faithfulness of God towards 
 him, rested in the realisation of the hope of his life¬ 
 time, and contentedly watched the growth of his 
 son. He may well have thought that God had 
 made the last demand on his faith, that he had no 
 more to learn, no more to suffer. Yet at the end of 
 these years there was waiting for him the supreme 
 trial of his faith, for which all the preceding 
 moments of trial and victory, all the preceding 
 years of meditation and peace, had been prepar¬ 
 ing and training him. At the end of this time, 
 when Isaac was grown almost to manhood, the 
 Divine Voice came to Abraham, bidding him 
 take this his son, go with him into “ the land of 
 Moriah,” and there offer him for a burnt-offering 
 to God. 
 
 51. ( b ) WHAT THIS COMMAND MEANT 
 
69 
 
 FOR ABRAHAM. This was a demand for the 
 sacrifice, final and complete, of the most precious 
 thing that Abraham had. It was “his son, his 
 only son Isaac,” on whom he had, since the dis¬ 
 missal of Ishmael, concentrated all his affection and 
 all his hope, that he was now to give up. And in 
 Abraham’s case the natural affection of a father 
 was multiplied by the long years of expectation, 
 during which he had looked for this son ; by the 
 hope of posterity which was bound up in him, and 
 by the unspeakable value of that inheritance, of 
 which he had been taught by God to see in Isaac 
 the channel to mankind. At the command of God 
 he had already surrendered one son. This further 
 demand involved the giving up both of natural 
 affection and of religious expectation. In Isaac he 
 would surrender both the pledge and the possibility 
 of the promised Seed, Land, and Blessing, on the 
 strength of which he had cut himself off from his 
 kindred, and in dependence on which he had lived 
 these many years in Canaan. 
 
 52. (c) WHAT THIS COMMAND DID NOT 
 MEAN FOR ABRAHAM. In the command to put 
 his son to death Abraham did not feel that he was 
 called to perform an act of cruelty , or of tyrannical 
 violence, a wrong against Isaac. According to the 
 views which have prevailed in most early communi¬ 
 ties, the right of a father over his sons was regarded 
 as absolute and beyond challenge. They were his 
 property, to do with them as he pleased. As against 
 his ownership of them they owned nothing, not even 
 their lives. Neither could Abraham regard what 
 he was summoned to do as a crime , a wrong against 
 society. For the society of his day, like most societies 
 at a similar stage of civilisation, recognised his 
 power of life and death over his son, and tolerated 
 such an exercise of it, even regarded it in certain cir¬ 
 cumstances as a man’s highest duty, a supreme act of 
 
70 
 
 worship and propitiation of the gods.° Nor, again, 
 must we suppose that Abraham looked on human 
 sacrifice as a sin , a wrong against God’s law. That 
 it is so, was, in fact, part of the lesson he was to 
 learn. God speaks to men through their conscience. 
 The Divine Voice never speaks contrary to conscience. 
 It never bids men do what they know to be wrong. 
 So far as Abraham yet knew, human sacrifice was 
 pleasing to God. It was practised by the nations 
 round about him. To their gods he had seen them 
 offering their best, even their children. Was he 
 to withhold his best from the God whom he wor¬ 
 shipped, whom he rightly held to be very far exalted 
 above the gods of his neighbours, who, moreover, 
 had so richly blessed and prospered him ? The com¬ 
 mand came to Abraham that he might learn in the 
 clearest way that his God differed in this also from 
 the gods of the neighbouring tribes,—that He did 
 not require human sacrifice to honour or propitiate 
 Him, while, at the same time, He did require the 
 absolute surrender to Him of human hearts and 
 wills. The human sacrifice which the true God 
 requires and accepts, does not die but live. 
 
 53. ABRAHAM PREPARES TO SACRIFICE 
 HIS SON (Gen. xxii. 3-10; cf. Heb. xi. 17-19). 
 Abraham’s obedience was prompt and complete. 
 Even before he left the tents at Beersheba, he had 
 already in heart surrendered his son. But down to 
 the last detail of the painful journey and the pre¬ 
 parations for the sacrifice, the outward evidence of 
 the surrender must be complete also. Early in the 
 morning, Abraham rose and took Isaac and two of his 
 serving-men, and set out for the place towards which 
 God directed his steps. The “ land of Moriah,” 
 whither he journeyed, is probably the hilly plateau 
 which afterwards became the site of Jerusalem. 
 
 a Compare the action of the King of Moab, 2 Kings iii. 27; also 2 
 Kings xvi. 3; Ps. cvi. 37, 38; Gen. xix. 5; also the case of Agamem¬ 
 non and Iphigenia. 
 
71 
 
 The Mosque of Omar, which now stands on the site 
 of the Jewish Temple, encloses the rock which is 
 traditionally supposed to be the scene of the “ sacri¬ 
 fice.” On the third day of their journey, Abraham 
 came in sight of the place, and leaving the men 
 behind, went forward himself with Isaac “ to wor¬ 
 ship and come again.” The wood which Abraham 
 had carefully prepared for the sacrifice was borne 
 by Isaac ; the father carried the fire and the knife. 
 On the way, the young man asked his father what 
 they were to do for a lamb for the offering, and 
 Abraham replied that God Himself would provide 
 the lamb. Arrived at the appointed spot, Abraham 
 built an altar, arranged the wood upon it, and then, 
 having bound Isaac and placed him upon the altar, 
 he “ stretched forth his hand and took the knife to 
 slay his son.” There is no indication of resistance, 
 or even of refusal, on the part of Isaac. He had 
 faith in his father, even as his father had faith in 
 God. He proved himself by his submission to be 
 Abraham’s true heir. 
 
 54. GOD PROVIDES A SUBSTITUTE (Gen. 
 xxii. 11-14). God asked, and could ask, no more of 
 His servant. In will, in purpose, in spirit, he had 
 made entire sacrifice of his son. At that moment 
 God interposed. A voice from heaven called out 
 to Abraham to stay his hand and not to slay his 
 son, “ for now I know that thou fearest God, and 
 hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” 
 And Abraham looked round and saw a ram caught 
 by the horns in the neighbouring bushes, and he 
 took the ram, and slew it, and offered it as a burnt- 
 offering in the place of Isaac. In memory of this 
 gracious provision of a substitute he called the 
 name of the place Jehovah-jireh, “ the Lord pro¬ 
 vides ” a ; and thence arose a proverbial ex¬ 
 it Literally as iu A. V. “ The Lord seeth ”; but, as is recognised in 
 R.V.,the word carries the significance of seeing a need, and meeting 
 it; the same word is translated “ will provide ” in xxii. 8. 
 
72 
 
 pression, “ In the mount of the Lord it shall be 
 provided.” 
 
 That God did not need human sacrifice ; that He 
 did require the entire surrender of His servant’s 
 will; that He accepted one life in substitution for 
 another, and allowed for a time animal life to stand 
 symbolically for the human life that was owed to 
 him ; that when faith has done, and love has suf¬ 
 fered, its uttermost, the Lord doth provide; these 
 were the lessons which Abraham was to learn from 
 this great trial. He had given a new and final 
 proof of his faith. He had counted his son less 
 dear than his perfect loyalty to God. He is thus 
 an Old Testament illustration of the spirit which 
 Christ requires in His disciples, that spirit which 
 counts devotion to Him even a higher claim than 
 the claims of earthly affection.® And in the perfec¬ 
 tion of his self-surrender Abraham reflected in the 
 clearest way possible to a man, part of the character 
 of God. In his willingness to give up his son we see 
 at the beginning of the history of Redemption a 
 type or picture of the manner of its consummation, 
 when God “ Himself spared not His own Son, but 
 freely gave Him up for us all.” 
 
 55. THE PROMISE AGAIN REPEATED (Gen. 
 xxii. 14-19). Abraham’s faith and obedience in 
 this trial did not go without a reward. The Divine 
 Voice addressed him a second time, and repeated * 
 once again, in stronger terms than ever before, the 
 great Promise. The inheritance in the Land is not 
 again referred to, but the promise of the Seed and 
 the Blessing is abundantly confirmed. It is con¬ 
 firmed even by an oath, “ I have sworn by My¬ 
 self ; ” for the first time in his intercourse with 
 men God binds Himself by this human form. Thus 
 richly rewarded and blessed, Abraham returned to 
 his men, and with them to his tents at Beersheba. 
 
 a Cf. Matt. x. 37; Luke xiv. 26. 
 
73 
 
 Questions and Further Points. 
 
 1. Why was the departure of Ishmael necessary for 
 the working of God's purpose ? 
 
 2. What spiritual application does St. Paul make 
 of the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael ? 
 
 3. What is the meaning of the ivord 1 tempt ’ ? In 
 what sense , for what purpose , and under what condi¬ 
 tions does God tempt men ? Compare 1 Cor. x. 13 ; 
 2 Pet. ii. 9; Jas. i. 13. 
 
 4. What application does St. James make of the 
 sacrifice of Isaac ? 
 
 5. 
 
 “ Why comes temptation but for man to meet 
 And master, and make crouch beneath his foot, 
 
 And so be pedestailed in triumph ? ” 
 
 Illustrate from the life of Abraham. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 CLOSING YEARS AND DEATH. 
 
 56. DEATH OF SARAH (Gen. xxiii. 1-2). Again 
 a period of some twenty years passes without re¬ 
 corded history. Abraham has meantime left the 
 neighbourhood of Beersheba, and returned to his 
 old dwelling-place near Hebron. Isaac grew up to 
 ripe manhood under the care and training of his 
 mother. She had been ninety-one years of age at 
 the time of his birth, and died at the age of a 
 hundred and twenty-seven. She is the only woman 
 in the royal lineage of David, the sacred lineage of 
 Christ, whose death is recorded. Sarah had an 
 essential part in the founding of the people of 
 redemption. She was the mother, as Abraham was 
 the father, of the faithful. She shared with 
 Abraham in the pain of leaving home and kindred 
 
** 4 
 
 <4 
 
 at his first migration. She shared for more than 
 half a century in the Patriarch’s wanderings, in his 
 waiting for the fulfilment of the promise. How far 
 she shared in the faith which moved and sustained 
 him, we cannot say. She must, at least, have had 
 faith in her husband’s faith, and a growing con¬ 
 viction that the God before whom he lived, by 
 whose will he shaped his life, was the Almighty 
 God, and a rewarder of those that diligently seek 
 Him. That she fell in with her husband’s unwise 
 policy on two occasions ; that she could be generous 
 for a moment, and then angry at the result of her 
 own generosity; that she was at times unjust, 
 passionate, and even cruel in her jealousy—we have 
 seen in the course of the narrative. But when 
 Abraham lost her, he lost a true partner of his life, 
 of his hope, and of his joy in its realisation ; he 
 received a warning that his part in the purpose of 
 God was nearly at an end. The inheritance of 
 privilege and of duty was about to descend upon 
 
 J gaac 
 
 57. ABRAHAM PURCHASES A PLACE OF 
 BURIAL (Gen. xxiii. 3-20). Though he had been 
 fifty years in the land, Abraham was not yet owner 
 of any of the soil of Canaan.® The death of Sarah 
 made it necessary that he should acquire at least 
 sufficient for the purpose of a grave. For, though 
 still but a sojourner there, Abraham looked on Canaan 
 as his home, and the assured inheritance of his seed. 
 He had God’s word for that. Otherwise he might 
 very naturally have wished to carry the body of his 
 wife back to the home and sepulchre of their 
 kindred in Mesopotamia. But by burying it in 
 Canaan he would, in the most solemn way, claim 
 the land for his descendants, and show his faith in 
 the promise ; even as Jacob did in after days, when 
 he directed that his own body should not be buried 
 
 a Cf. Heb. xi. 9, 13. 39. 
 
76 
 
 in Egypt, but embalmed, to be carried back with 
 his descendants when they returned to the Promised 
 Land." Yet the land must be his own, and his by 
 purchase, not by gift. As in his dealings with the 
 King of Sodom Abraham recognised that what he 
 had been enabled by God to achieve must not be 
 met with any human recompence, so now he recog¬ 
 nised that what God had assured to him as an 
 inheritance, must not be received as a gift from 
 human hands. 
 
 The land in the neighbourhood of Hebron was at 
 this time in the possession of a Hittite tribe, an off¬ 
 shoot, probably, of the great Hittite kingdom of 
 the north. 6 When, therefore, Abraham went forth 
 “from the presence of his dead,” he sought the 
 “ sons of Heth,” and asked them to grant unto him, 
 the landless stranger and sojourner, a burying-place 
 in the land. The negotiation proceeded in the grave 
 and courteous fashion still observed in the East. 
 The Hittites began by offering the Patriarch the 
 choicest among their own sepulchres. Abraham 
 waived aside their apparent generosity, and asked 
 them to intercede for him with Ephron, the owner 
 of the field which contained the cave of Machpelah, 
 that he might sell the cave for “ as much money as 
 it was worth.” Ephron, who was seated with the 
 rest in the gate of the town, replied by offering 
 both the cave and the field in which it stood, as a 
 gift; and confirmed the offer by appealing to the 
 
 a See Gen xlix. 29-32. 
 
 b The existence, long duration, and great influence of the Hittite 
 empire have been displayed through the discoveries of recent years. 
 The Bible references to this people stood for long unconfirmed by 
 external testimony, and disputed by some. But inscriptions lately 
 discovered and deciphered in Asia Minor, in Syria, and elsewhere 
 have proved that there was a great Hittite empire, extending at one 
 time over Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, having its capitals at 
 Kadesh on the Orontes, and Carchemish on the Euphrates, which, 
 for a thousand years, waged war on equal terms with Egypt and 
 Assyria. Hebron, which “ was built seven years before Zoan ” (Num. 
 xiii. 22), and Zoan itself (Tanis, in Egypt) probably mark stages in 
 the southward movement of this powerful race. 
 
76 
 
 witness of the bystanders. Upon Abraham again 
 refusing to accept a gift of the ground, Ephron 
 named four hundred shekels of silver as its value. 
 Thereupon the bargain was struck. Abraham 
 weighed out to Ephron the four hundred shekels, 
 of the fineness which was “ current with the mer¬ 
 chant,’ 5 and he became possessor of the ground, 
 which was described with legal exactness as “ the 
 field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which 
 was before Mamre, the field, and the cave that was 
 therein, and all the trees that were in the field.” 
 And there, within the cave of Machpelah, Abraham 
 laid the body of his wife. 
 
 58. PREPARATIONS FOR ISAAC’S MAR¬ 
 RIAGE (Gen. xxiv. 1-9). The death of Sarah was 
 to Abraham a warning that his own course was 
 nearly run, and to Isaac the removal of the influ¬ 
 ence and companionship in which he had contentedly 
 grown up. In both respects it prepared the way 
 for the marriage of Isaac. To provide a wife for 
 his son was in most early communities the duty of 
 the father; and shortly after the death of Sarah 
 Abraham took steps to this end. He was guided 
 by two principles, which throw light on the motive 
 of his life. His son’s wife must not be a daughter 
 out of one of the neighbouring Canaanite tribes; 
 the Hebrew race to which the Sacred Inheritance 
 and Blessing were committed, must not be inter¬ 
 mingled with the present inhabitants of the land, 
 who knew not God, and were indifferent to the pro¬ 
 mises. The wife for Isaac must be sought in the 
 old country, among Abraham’s own kin. Concern¬ 
 ing these, he had heard recently that Nahor his 
 brother had children,® and that following the foot¬ 
 steps of his father Terah he had left Chaldea and 
 settled in Padan-Aram or Mesopotamia. But 
 Abraham was not less clear that Isaac must not 
 
 a See Gen. xxii. 20 ff. 
 
77 
 
 himself leave the promised land even to seek a wife 
 among his father’s kindred. The command to leave 
 Haran was valid so long as the promise was unful¬ 
 filled. The son, like the father, must wait in the 
 land to which God’s promised blessing was attached. 
 
 Abraham, therefore, summoned Eliezer, hia 
 steward, “ that ruled over all that he had,” and 
 entrusted to him the task of journeying to the old 
 home and there choosing a wife for Isaac. He took 
 a solemn oath of his servant that he would pass by 
 “the daughters of the Canaanites, and take a maiden 
 from among the Patriarch’s own kinsfolk.” Should 
 she whom he chose, refuse to leave her home to 
 marry a man she had never seen, Eliezer was to be 
 free of his oath. Even that was not to be a pretext 
 for Isaac to leave Canaan. The God who had 
 brought the father forth for the very purpose of 
 founding a nation, would overrule for the same 
 purpose the destinies of the son. 
 
 59. JOURNEY OF ELIEZER (Gen. xxiv. 10-14). 
 Taking with him a train of camels befitting his 
 master’s wealth and station, Eliezer journeyed into 
 Mesopotamia. Outside the “city of Nahor,” where 
 he arrived towards evening, he halted his caravan 
 beside a well. In much perplexity over the diffi¬ 
 culty and importance of the mission he had under¬ 
 taken, he prayed that God would grant him a sign 
 to indicate the maiden who was “appointed” to be 
 Isaac’s wife. “The daughters of the men of the 
 city ” would be coming immediately to draw water. 
 He would ask one of them to give him a drink of 
 water. If she not only complied with this request, 
 but offered further to give water to the camels also, 
 he would take it as a sign that this was the chosen 
 woman. The sign thus fixed upon was not a mere 
 arbitrary one. It was an indication of character that 
 Eliezer sought. Action such as he desired to see 
 would show a readiness to help the stranger, eager¬ 
 ness even to outrun his request, and thoughtful 
 
78 
 
 kindliness towards the beasts of burden, all great 
 virtues in a pastoral home, and elements in a charac¬ 
 ter which would mate well with Isaac’s. Eliezer 
 prayed that the indication of character which he 
 sought, might be a true one. 
 
 60. REBECCA AT THE WELL (Gen. xxiv. 
 15-27). Eliezer’s prayer was hardly finished, when 
 there came out to draw water, Rebecca, the daughter 
 of Bethuel Abraham’s cousin, and granddaughter 
 of his brother Nahor. The beauty and attractive¬ 
 ness of the young girl were at once apparent to 
 Abraham’s servant, and he decided to apply to her 
 the test which he had chosen. Running forward to 
 meet her as she came up the steps from the well 
 with her pitcher full of water on her shoulder, he 
 asked her to give him a drink. The girl quickly 
 lowered the pitcher from her shoulder on to her 
 hand, and allowed him to quench his thirst, and 
 then looking round upon the train of thirsty camels 
 in the background, she offered to draw water for 
 them also. So “ she hasted, and emptied her pitcher 
 into the trough,” which stood for the purpose at the 
 mouth of the well, “ and ran again unto the well to 
 draw, and drew for all his camels.” Eliezer watched 
 her in silent astonishment and thankfulness. He 
 could not but feel that his prayer was answered, 
 and that this was the manner of woman “appointed” 
 to be Isaac’s wife. So when her task was at an end, 
 he took out some of the gifts with which he was 
 provided, a golden ring for the ear or forehead, and 
 two heavy bracelets of gold ; and presenting them 
 to Rebecca, enquired who she was, and whether 
 there was room in her father’s house for him and 
 his men to lodge. When she replied that she was 
 the daughter of Bethuel, and granddaughter of 
 Nahor, and frankly made Eliezer welcome to her 
 father’s house, he felt no longer any doubt that he 
 had found what he sought. God had guided him to 
 
79 
 
 the woman who, alike by birth and oy character, 
 was suited to be the wife of Isaac. 
 
 61. THE MARRIAGE ARRANGED (Gen. xxiv. 
 28-54). Leaving Eliezer and his train at the well, 
 Rebecca ran back to the city to warn her mother’s 
 household of his coming. The head of the house at 
 this time seems to have been her brother Laban, 
 and he, when he heard his sister’s story, hastened 
 out to meet the stranger. He gave Eliezer a truly 
 Eastern welcome, in the heartiness of his salutation, 
 and in the abundance and thoughtfulness of the 
 provision made for his beasts, as well as for himself. 
 But Eliezer refused to eat until he had disburdened 
 himself of his errand. He proceeded therefore to 
 tell Laban who his master was, and of his wealth 
 and family ; he explained the purpose and the his¬ 
 tory of his journey; related how he had prayed to 
 God for a sign to guide him, and how the sign had 
 been fulfilled in the action of Rebecca. The thought 
 that was in his mind became clear as the narrative 
 proceeded, and he laid a proposal for the hand of 
 Rebecca before the family with sufficient clearness, 
 when he enquired whether they were prepared to 
 show love and loyalty to his master. The answer 
 of Laban and Bethuel showed that they recognised 
 the hand of God in the matter; it was not for them 
 either to resist or to approve. Without further 
 parley they committed Rebecca to the care of 
 Eliezer to take her back with him, to be “ thy 
 master’s son’s wife, as the Lord hath spoken.” The 
 negotiation being thus concluded, and his journey 
 crowned with success, Eliezer produced rich gifts 
 of gold and silver and fine raiment, and sealed the 
 agreement by presenting them to the promised bride 
 and her parents. 
 
 62. THE BRIDE’S HOME-GOING (Gen. xxiv. 
 54-67). Eliezer was impatient to complete his 
 mission, and to gratify his master and his master’s 
 son by bringing home the bride. He spent the 
 
80 
 
 night at Laban’s house, but the next day he asked 
 the family to allow him to return to Abraham. 
 They tried to dissuade him from so hasty a depar¬ 
 ture ; but, as he persisted in his determination, they 
 referred the decision to Rebecca. Her reply was 
 one of prompt readiness to go with Eliezer. So 
 they let her go, blessing her as she went, 
 
 “ Thou art our sister, 
 
 Be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, 
 
 And may thy seed possess the gate of their enemies; ” 
 
 and she departed with Eliezer and the maid-servants 
 who were to bear her company. 
 
 As they drew near the end of their journey, they 
 saw the figure of Isaac in the distance. He had 
 come up from the South Country, where he was 
 now dwelling in the neighbourhood of Hagar’s Well 
 of Vision, to await Eliezer’s return. He had gone 
 out “ to meditate in the field at the evening-tide ” ; 
 and he looked up and saw the caravan approaching. 
 Rebecca, being told who it was they saw, modestly 
 covered herself with her veil, and lighted down 
 from her camel to meet Isaac. And he led her to 
 the tent that had been his mother’s, and “she be¬ 
 came his wife; and he loved her : and Isaac was 
 comforted after his mother’s death.” 
 
 63. ABRAHAM’S DEATH (Gen. xxv. 7-10). The • 
 Bible records sufficiently for the guidance of other 
 men the effect of Divine training and teaching on 
 chosen men or a chosen people. It concerns itself 
 with the life of a man as he is acted upon by God, 
 as he responds, or refuses to respond, to the Divine 
 Will. Accordingly, it omits much which secular 
 biography counts important or interesting ; while, 
 on the other hand, it chronicles and emphasises 
 much that secular biography omits or lightly passes 
 over. Abraham’s function as the recipient of Divine 
 revelation was completed when, in obedience to the 
 Divine command, he had offered his son to God, and 
 
81 
 
 received him back “ as from the dead.” His func¬ 
 tion in the purpose of God as the Founder of the 
 household of faith was complete when he saw Isaac, 
 his son, established in a household of his own. He 
 continued to live for five-and-thirty years after Isaac’s 
 marriage, but these years are rapidly passed over in 
 the Bible narrative, and his death is recorded rather 
 as an event in the life of his son. 
 
 The one thing related concerning these years is 
 that he again took a wife, whose name was 
 Keturah ; and that by her and other secondary 
 wives he was the father of a number of sons. 
 Foi these he made provision in his lifetime, and 
 that there might be no rivalry between them and 
 Isaac, sent them away to dwell in the east country. 
 From them descended many of the nomadic tribes 
 of Arabia. In Esau and Jacob, the sons who were 
 born to Isaac some years before his own death, 
 Abraham would rejoice to see a new pledge for the 
 permanence of the family which he had founded. 
 
 Thus, according to the promise of former days, a 
 Abraham lived to “ a good old age,” a hundred and 
 seventy-five years in all; and died “ an old man 
 and full of years.” The cave of Machpelah, where 
 he had laid the body of his wife, opened again to 
 receive his own body, Isaac and Ishmael together 
 paying the last honour to their father. Having 
 afterwards received also the bones of Jacob, the 
 “ field of Machpelah ” became a sacred place in the 
 eyes of the Jews. In the time of the Crusaders, it 
 became the site of a Christian church, and is now 
 covered by a Mohammedan mosque. The followers 
 of Mohammed, who also regard Abraham as the 
 “ Father of the Faithful,” and the Bedawins especi¬ 
 ally, who call themselves still the “Tribe of Abra¬ 
 ham,” look on Machpelah as one of their most 
 sacred places, and a scene of meritorious pilgrimage. 
 
 o Gen. xv. 15. 
 F 
 
82 
 
 64. CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM. Though the 
 inspired historian selects only a few episodes in the 
 life of Abraham, yet they are selected and presented 
 in such a way as to give a clear impression of his 
 character and its basis. The character is felt to be 
 a real one. We see Abraham acting and being 
 acted upon. The causes described explain the 
 effects ; the effects described pre-suppose the causes. 
 The successive revelations which Abraham receives, 
 are reflected in his conduct; his conduct at various 
 crises in his life requires the revelation to account 
 for it. 
 
 But at the same time it is a human character. It 
 does not act mechanically. It is not constrained 
 into perfect unison with the Divine Will. It can 
 resist, it can fail to comprehend, it can come short 
 of the fulness of Divine requirements. The Bible 
 does not conceal weakness in its heroes. It does 
 not ascribe to them completeness of knowledge of 
 duty, or perfection of obedience. But it shows— 
 and of this Abraham is an illustration—how a man 
 is led, through God’s dealing with him in the ex¬ 
 perience of life, to recognise the incompleteness of 
 his knowledge or the insufficiency of his faith ; and 
 how by facing difficulties, into which God thus leads 
 him, and laying them before God, to whom he still 
 clings, he may make the very difficulties stepping- 
 stones to larger knowledge and stronger faith. 
 
 In this manner Abraham’s character grew, as his 
 faith widened in comprehension and strengthened 
 in grasp. For the character is based throughout 
 upon faith ; and it is a faith which grows. It 
 grows in comprehension and in strength. It in¬ 
 cludes more and it does more. At the outset he 
 left Haran, holding to a simple belief in one Supreme 
 God, in His command, and in His promise. The 
 training on which he then entered, opened the way 
 to a larger knowledge of God as All-Mighty, All- 
 Righteous, and All-Merciful : it caused the original 
 
83 
 
 command to unfold and expand into a sense 
 of duty and submission to the same God in other 
 and minor matters also ; it taught him not to look 
 for the fulfilment of the promise immediately, or 
 in all its parts literally to himself. He learned 
 that faith was “ waiting patiently upon the Lord.” 
 As years went on, the fulfilment of the promises, 
 except as concerned the son, retreated more and 
 more into the future. Abraham’s spiritual vision 
 expanded to take in possibilities of Divine grace 
 which lay beyond his own earthly life. Behind the 
 Promise he laid hold on the Promiser. And at last, 
 in the supreme trial of his faith, in the sacrifice of 
 Isaac, he showed to what his faith had grown ; that 
 he was willing to cling rather to God and His 
 Word than even to those means which appeared in¬ 
 dispensably necessary for the fulfilment of God’s 
 promise. 
 
 But the faith which grew thus in comprehension, 
 grew also in strength, and widened in its applica¬ 
 tion to his life. “ Humble in faith he gave way to 
 his cousin Lot; mighty in faith he smote the four 
 kings from the East ; steadfast in faith he rested 
 despite all contradiction of reason and nature in 
 the word of promise ; bold in faith he besought 
 God for the deliverance of Sodom ; loyal in faith 
 he submitted at God’s command to the will of 
 Sarah ,” a and parted with Ishmael his son. Thus 
 from stage to stage he found application for his faith 
 in conduct; and his faith grew from strength to 
 strength, till by the same faith he stood by the 
 altar of Moriah, victor over his natural affection, 
 victor over his opinion about how God’s promise 
 was to be fulfilled, and victor over himself. 
 
 Thus, having lived “as seeing Him who is invis¬ 
 ible,” Abraham was one of those who “ died in 
 faith, not having received the promises but having 
 
 a Delitztch , Genesis, p. 324. 
 
84 
 
 seen them afar off.” a Having tlins lived and died 
 in faith, he became “the father of all them that 
 believe,” of those that live and walk by like faith. 
 And in virtue of the fellowship which through his 
 faith was established between him and God,—the 
 covenant which once made with him became the 
 high inheritance of his race, Abraham was recog¬ 
 nised by his posterity by that highest of all titles, 
 “the Friend of God.” 
 
 Questions and Points for Inquiry. 
 
 1. Illustrate Abraham's faith in the Promise of 
 the Land (a) from the burial of Sarah, (b) from the 
 marriage of Isaac. 
 
 2. Show how Rebecca's conduct at the well displayed 
 a character suitable and complementary to Isaac's. 
 
 3. Illustrate from case of Abraham and others the 
 difference between Biblical and secular biographies 
 —(a) in what they omit , (b) in what they record. 
 
 4. In what respects , and in connection with what 
 events did Abraham increase in the knowledge 
 God? 
 
 5. Trace the continuance of the covenant Blessing 
 (Gen. xvii. 7) to the children of Abraham. Compare 
 Ex. xxix. 45, 46 ; Jer. xxxi. 1, 31-34 ; Ezek. xi. 
 19, 20, &c. 
 
 6. How was the blessing finally fulfilled? Compare 
 John i. 14; Matt, xxviii. 20. Show how it continues 
 to be enjoyed , and by whom. Compare 2 Cor. vi. 
 16-18; Rev. xxi. 7, &c. 
 
 a Hebrews xi. 13. 
 
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