manded Abram to leave this country, and to go into the land which he would shew him. He promised that a mighty people should descend from him, and engaged to bless him, and in him to bless all the nations of the earth. Abram, without hesitation, believes the word of God, including two such great advantages, as making him the head of a great people, and blessing all the world in HIM, who was to proceed from his loins.*

Abram, with his whole family, and that of his nephew Lot, prepares for his journey towards the land of promise, though no particular place was yet pointed out, God intending thereby more fully to prove his faith and obedience, which was clearly evinced by his ready compliance with the Divine command. Accordingly Abram set out, and pursued his journey till he came into the land of Canaan to that place which is called the Oak † of Moreh. Having passed through some parts of the land, the Lord appeared again to him, and gave him a promise of it to his posterity, long before he had any issue, and while it was possessed by other people; for it was then inhabited by the Canaanites. Abram, however, to shew his faith and

That this included an intimation of the Redemption of man by Jesus Christ, is evident from Gal. i. 8. "The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, (namely, in Gen. xii. 3. xviii. 18. xxii. 18.) In thee, shall all nations be blessed, i. e. By their faith in that glorious person who is to descend from thee, all persons of every nation, who resemble thee in their ready reception of the divine message, shall be blessed." Dr. Doddridge. in loc.

+ Oak. The Chaldee paraphrase, and most Rabbies, transform into a plain the Oak of Moreh, at which God appeared to Abraham, Gen. xii. 6, and most versions transform this Qak into a Valley; and if we were to give it another signification, we must rather make it signify a Valley than a Plain; because Sychem was situated in the valley of Aulon, so called from the word Elon, which signifies an Oak. It was under this Oak that Jacob hid the strange gods which his servants kept; and it was likewise under it that Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, was buried, Gen. xxxv. 4, 8. It was also under it that Joshua set up a great stone, Joshua, xxiv. 26. and that Abimelech was made king, Judges, ix. 6. where our translators render it Plain. But here, in Gen. xii. 6. the Septuagint render it High oak. But more of this in our note on the same word when we speak of the Oak of Mamre, a little farther.

gratitude, erected an altar in that place to the Lord, who had appeared to him, and made him so gracious a promise. Removing from thence to a mountain, which is on the east of Bethel, he pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai: and there he erected an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name. But he had not continued long in Canaan, before he was forced to remove; for a famine happening in that country, he was obliged to go into Egypt; which lying near that part of Canaan, and being a fruitful country, he determined to travel thither, and stay there for some time.

While they were upon the confines of Egypt, having observed the difference in point of beauty, between his own wife and the Egyptian women; a painful apprehension arose in his mind, that her beauty might expose him to personal danger. And because the world had not then arrived to that height of dissoluteness, as lightly to invade the marriage bed, nuptial ties being held too sacred to be violated, his fear suggested, that if Sarai passed for his wife, they would murder him, in order to enjoy her without the imputation of adultery; a crime which seems to have been held in greater detestation than murder itself. To prevent this danger, he opened his mind to Sarai; and ascribing the cause of his fears to her beauty, intreated her to say she was his sister, that she might not be taken for his wife; by which means he hoped not only to escape the apprehended danger, but also to fare the better for her sake.

Abram's fears and apprehensions were not groundless : for no sooner was he come into Egypt, than the beauty of Sarai was much admired, and became the common theme of conversation, which at length reaching the ears of the king, excited in his mind a strong desire to behold the beautiful stranger. In consequence of which she is immediately brought to court, and introduced to Pharaoh ; while Abram, who was understood to be her brother, was courteously treated for her sake, the king bestowing many presents upon him. Here the providence of God remarkably interposed in preserving the honour of the Patriarch, and the chastity of his consort. For to deter Pharaoh and

his court from any dishonourable attempt, God, by inflicting some sudden sickness or bodily infirmity on them, restrained their unlawful desires, and made them sensible she was a married woman. The king took the hint, and calling for Abram, blamed him for deceiving him, which might have led him into a fatal error; for not knowing her to be a married woman, he might have taken her to his own bed. Then, in much displeasure, he bids him take his wife and depart, commanding his servants neither to injure him in his person or his property, but permit him quietly to remove with all his substance, which was much improved during his stay in Egypt by the favour of the King, for he was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold.

Hitherto his nephew Lot continued with him, whose stock increased proportionably with that of his uncle Abram. Leaving Egypt together they proceeded towards Canaan again, and arrived at Bethel, the place where Abram had built an altar to the Lord, before he went into Egypt, and there he worshipped God again.

And now their families growing large, and their flocks increasing, they began to labour again under a scarcity of pasture for their cattle; which might probably proceed partly from the late famine there, and partly from the great number of Canaanites and Perizzites that possessed the most fruitful part of the country. This scarcity of provisions and pasturage occasioned some petty quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot, which gave Abram some uneasiness; who fearing that this contention among the servants, if not timely suppressed, might rise higher, to the endangering of a breach betwixt his kinsman and himself, took an opportunity to speak to his nephew Lot about it; and in soft and gentle terms said to him, "Let there be "no dispute between us, nor our servants; for we are

* Though Sarai was, in a certain sense, the sister of Abram, (see Gen. xx. 12.) yet this was certainly a blameable equivocation, occasioned by a distrust of God's protection, and exposed her to the very danger he wished to avoid. It shows the imperfection of the best human characters, and is not recorded for our imitation.

"brethren."* Abram therefore to prevent the worst, wisely proposes parting, seeing it scarcely probable, that since their substance was grown so great, they should with the same conveniency and accommodation dwell any longer together. And though Abram was, in all respects, a greater and better man than Lot, yet to shew his prudence, (not meanness of Spirit,) he condescends to give his nephew Lot his choice of settlement, in what part of the land he liked best, and himself would take what he refused. Lot readily closed with this advantageous proposal; for having before surveyed the country, he chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, which he had observed to be very fertile and well watered. Thus having parted by agreement, Lot directs his course eastward, and settles in the plain of Jordan, pitching his tent towards Sodom: the inhabitants of which place exceeded, in that age, the worst of sinners. Lot having removed, Abram still continued in the land of Canaan, where God renewed to him the grant of that land, and to his seed for ever. This grant, as penned by the direction of God himself, stands thus enrolled in the sacred record: "Lift up now thine

eyes, and look from the place where thou art, North"ward, Southward, Eastward, and Westward; for all the "land which thou scest will I give unto thee, and to thy "seed for ever: and I will make thy seed as the dust of "the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the "earth, then shall thy seed be numbered. Arise, walk "through the land, in the length and breadth thereof; for "I will give it unto thee." Hereupon Abram removing his tent, went and dwelt at the Oak† of Mamre, which is in Hebron; and there he built an altar unto the Lord.

Brethren. So the ancients reputed and called those that sprang from one common root, though not in a direct line from one and the same father. In which respect those were brethren in a natural relation; as with regard to religion, and the worship of the true God, they were brethren also in a spiritual relation: in both which respects they would have suffered, had not the contention been timely suppressed.

+ Oak. Sazómen writes, that this oak was still famous in the time of Constantine for pilgrimages, and for an anniversary feast which was solemnized

In a short time after, happened that memorable battle fought by four kings against five; the first pitched battle we read of in sacred history. The occasion of which was this; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, had held five petty kings in a tributary subjection to him for some years; of which number the king of Sodom was one. At length they confederated against him: Whereupon he, with three other kings, made war upon them to reduce them to their former subjection. The tributary kings resolved to try their fate in a pitched battle, and were defeated. The vale of Siddim, where the battle was fought, had in it many pits, out of which had been dug slime, (a kind of clammy earth, called Bitumen, useful for making mortar,) and here the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, in their flight, are said to have fallen. But whether, being pursued among those pits, they were overtaken and slain, or whether taking shelter there, they hid and secured themselves till the pursuit was over, is not expressed. However, after the rout, the conquerors plundered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, carried away all the goods and provisions, and made the inhabitants prisoners; Among whom was Abram's nephew Lot, who by this time was become an inhabitant of Sodom, though upon his parting with his uncle we left him only pitching his tent towards Sodom; but now he was gone to dwell in Sodom, and with the Sodomites was taken prisoner.

But some made their escape; one of whom came and brought the news of this defeat to Abram, who remained still near the oak that belonged to Mamre, with his two brothers Escol and Aner, who were in confederacy with him. Abram in haste musters up what force he could to rescue his kinsman; and choosing among his own servants, such as were fit to bear arms, to the number of

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there: That it was distant from Hebron but six miles, where there were still to be seen some cottages which Abraham had built near that oak, and a well which he had digged; and whither the Jews, Pagans, and Christians, travelled every year, either out of devotion or a design to trade. Brochard assures us, that he had seen this oak, and had carried home some of the fruit and wood of it.