a

a The expression in the text is, 'Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace,' which some will have to be no more than an oriental phrase for going to the grave; but since it cannot be said of Abraham that he did, in this sense, go to his fathers (forasmuch as his body was so far from being laid with them in the sepulchre, that it was deposited in a country that had no manner of communication with that of his fathers,) it must be allowed, that from this text an argument may justly be drawn for the separate existence of human souls. The expression, however, of going to our fathers,' seems to have been formed from some such notion as this,-That the souls of the deceased do go to a certain place, where those of the same family, or same nation at least, are supposed to live together, and in communion: which notion certainly arises from that natural desire, which all men, who think their better part immortal, have to see and converse with such of their relations or countrymen as have left behind them a great and lasting fame. "For if the soul of Socrates," says one, "were permitted to go where it desired, it would certainly associate with the worthies of Greece, with Orpheus, Musæus, Homer, and those ancient demigods, who, in their several generations, were so renowned."-See Le Clerc's Commentary; and Biblioth. Biblica, vol. 1. in locum.

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6 Expositors have been very much divided in their opinions, how to make it out that Abraham's posterity was in a state of servitude and affliction for the space of four hundred years. It may be observed, however, that all this difficulty is removed, if we suppose that their state of affliction is to be reckoned from the time of Isaac's birth, which, to the deliverance out of the Egyptian bondage, was just four hundred and five years; but the five years are therefore not mentioned, because it is a common Custom among all writers to take no notice of broken numbers (as they call them) when they name a round sum. And if there be supposed a farther difficulty, in that their sojourning is (in Exod. xii. 40) said to have continued four hundred and thirty years; in these years, the time of Abraham's sojourning (which was exactly twenty-five years from his coming into the land of Canaan to the birth of Isaac) may be comprehended, and then all the difficulty vanishes; because these twenty-five years, added to the four hundred and five before mentioned, exactly make up the four hundred and thirty.-Patrick's Commentary. e By this symbol God designed to represent to Abraham, either the future state of his posterity, the smoking furnace' signifying Israel's misery in the land of Egypt, and the burning lamp' their happy escape and deliverance; or (what seems more probable) to notify his own immediate presence, since both smoke and fire are, in several parts of Scripture, mentioned as emblems and representations of the divine appearance. And, therefore, as it was a thing customary, and especially in Chaldea, (from whence Abraham came,) for persons covenanting together to pass between the pieces of the sacrifice; so God, who had no body to do it visibly for him, did it in this type and emblem.-Poole's Annotations; and Bibliotheca Biblica, in locum.

d la concubinage, these secondary, or wives of a lower order, were accounted lawful and true wives; had an equal right to the marriage bed with the chief wife, and their issue was reputed as legitimate; but in all other respects they were inferior. And as they had no authority in the family, nor any share in household government; so, if they had been servants in the family before

It was not long before Hagar accordingly did conceive; and forgetting now the former condition of her life, she began to value herself upon it, and to treat her mistress with insolence and ill-manners. Sarai, impatient to see herself insulted by a slave, could not forbear breaking out into bitter complaints against her to her husband; but he, willing to make her easy, and withal to discountenance any disrespectful carriage towards her, left her to treat her maid just as she pleased. This license gave Sarai an opportunity of expressing her resentment with too much severity, which the other not able to bear, she stole from her master's house, and was making the best of her way to her own country, which was Egypt; when, in her travels through the wilderness, meeting with a fountain, she tarried to rest and refresh herself there. As she was revolving her sorrows in her mind, an angel came to her, and, after some previous questions, advised her to return home, and be subject to her mistress, because it would not be long before she should be delivered of a son, (whom he ordered her to name e Ishmael,) whose posterity would be very numerous, a stout and warlike people, living upon plunder in the deserts, and apt to annoy others, though not easily vanquished themselves.

they came to be concubines, they continued in that state afterwards, and in the same subjection to their mistresses as before -Howel's History of the Bible.

e Ishmael is compounded of the words Jishmag and El, the Lord hath, or the Lord will hear; and the reason of the name is immediately subjoined by the angel, namely, because the Lord hath heard her complaint.

f Gen. xvi. 12. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.' "The one is the natural, and almost necessary consequence of the other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilderness; and his posterity have all along infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and incursions. They live in a state of continual war with the world, and are both robbers by land and pirates by sea. As they have been such enemies to mankind, it is no wonder that mankind have been such enemies to them again; that several attempts have been made to extirpate them; and even now as well as formerly, travellers are forced to go with arms, and in caravans or large companies, and to march and keep watch like a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of these freebooters, who run about in troops, and rob and plunder all whom they can by any means subdue. These robberies they also justify, by alleging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there; and on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else; always supposing a kind of kindred between themselves and those they plunder; and in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of I robbed a man of such and such a thing, to say, 1 gained it." Sale's Preliminary Discourse, 30.—Newton on the Prophecies, vol. 1. p. 42.

"The Arabs have never been entirely subdued, nor has any impression been made on them, except on their borders; where, indeed, the Phenicians, Persians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, and in modern times, the Othman Tartars, have severally acquired settlements; but, with these exceptions, the natives of Hejaz and Yemen have preserved for ages the sole dominion of their deserts and pastures, their mountains and fertile valleys. Thus, apart from the rest of mankind, this extraordinary people have retained their primitive language and manners, features and characters, as

a

At the birth of Ishmael, Abram was eighty-six years old; and lest, in the excess of his joy, he should mistake this child for the heir of the promises which had been made to him, about thirteen years after, God renewed his covenant with him; instituted the rite of circumcision upon a severe penalty; changed his name from Abram to Abraham, and his wife's from Sarai tod Sarah, (where the difference in sense is much more than in sound,) and long and as remarkably as the Hindoos themselves.-Sir W. Jones's Discourse on the Arabs. Works, vol. 3. p. 49.-ED. a Gen. xvi. 13. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me.' The religion of names was a matter of great consequence in Egypt. It was one of their essential superstitions: it was one of their native inventions, and

the first of them which they communicated to the Greeks. Thus when Hagar, the handmaid of Sarai, who was an Egyptian woman, saw the angel of God in the wilderness, 'She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, ELROI, the God of vision, or the visible God,' that is, according to the established custom of Egypt, she gave him a name of honour; not merely a name of distinction, for such all nations had (who worshipped local tutelary deities) before their communication with Egypt; but after that they decorated their gods with distinguished titles, indicative of their specific office and attributes. Zechariah (chap. xiv. 9.) evidently alluding to these nations, when he prophesies of the worship of the supreme God, unmixed with idolatry, says, in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name shall be one.' Out of indulgence, therefore, to this weakness, God was pleased to give himself a name. And the Lord said unto Moses, I am that I am. Exod. iii. 14.-Warburton's Divine Legation, b. 4. sec. 6.-ED. b Gen. xvii. 10. This is my covenant.' Covenants were anciently made in the eastern countries by dipping their weapons in blood (as Xenophon tells us,) and by pricking the flesh, and sucking each other's blood, as we read in Tacitus; who observes (p. 1. Annal.) that when kings made a league, they took each other by the hand, and their thumbs being hard tied together, they pricked them, when the blood was forced to the extreme parts, and each party licked it. This was accounted a mysterious covenant, being made sacred by their mutual blood. How old this custom had been we do not know; but it is evident God's covenant with Abraham was solemnized on Abraham's part by his own and his son Isaac's blood, and so continued through all generations, by circumcision: whereby, as they were made the select people of God, so God, in conclusion, sent his own son, who by this very ceremony of circumcision, was consecrated to be their God and Redeemer.-Patrick, in locum.-ED.

The ceremony of laying a knife or sword upon the altar, was the usual mode of ratifying grants before the invention of seals; and it appears that it was not entirely laid aside afterwards. King Stephen's last charter to the nuns at Barking, in Essex, was executed at the monastery by the ceremony of laying his knife upon the altar of the Virgin Mary and St Ethelburgh.-Lysons' Environs of London, vol. 3. p. 60.—ED.

c Abram is compounded of two Hebrew words, Ab and Ram, which signify high father; and Abraham is commonly derived from three, namely, Ab-Ram-Hamon, the father of a great multitude. But this is forced and ungrammatical, having nothing to support it but only the reason which God gives in the text, for changing Abram into Abraham, namely, because he was to make of him a father of many nations,' as indeed he was; for not only the twelve tribes, but the Ishmaelites, the Edomites, and all the posterity of Keturah, descended from his loins.

à Sarai signifies my princess, or princess of my family only; but Sarah, the name now given her, denotes a princess indefinitely, and at large, according to the prediction concerning her, a mother (or princess) of many nations shall she be, and kings of people shall come of her.' Gen, xvii. 16.

to complete his happiness, gave him a promise that his wife Sarah should bear him a son. This seemed a thing so strange, and almost impossible, that Abraham, falling on his face, began to intercede for the life and preservation of Ishmael, as thinking it unreasonable to ask, or wish for any thing more; but the Almighty soon assured him, that these great blessings were not designed for Ishmael, but for a son to be born of the once barren Sarah, (and therefore to be named e Isaac,) which would certainly come to pass within the compass of a year. That he might not, however, seem wholly to neglect his request for Ishmael, he promised to make him a great nation, and the father of twelve princes, though the son begotten of Sarah should alone be entitled to the covenant and promise of making all the nations of the earth blessed.' This was the purport of the vision; and as soon as it was ended, Abraham delayed not (according to the divine command) to circumcise himself, his son, and all the males in his family;

an ordinance which the Hebrews have ever since observed very religiously.

Abraham continued still to dwell at Mamre; and, as he was sitting one day at the door of his tent, he espied three persons, whom he took to be travellers, coming towards him. He therefore went out to meet them; and having, in a very civil and respectful manner, invited them to take a small refreshment with him, (which they consented to,) he immediately gave orders for an enter

e Isaac, or, according to the Hebrew, Ischack, signifies he or she has, or shall laugh; and this name Sarah gave him, because when the angel promised that she should become a mother, though she was not of an age to have children, she privately laughed at the prediction; and when the child was born, she said God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.' Gen. xxi. 6.—Calmet's Dictionary.

f Gen. xviii. 1. And he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.' Those who lead a pastoral life in the east, at this day, frequently place themselves in a similar situation. At ten minutes after ten we had in view several fine bays, and a plain full of booths, with the Turcomans sitting by the doors, under sheds resembling porticoes; or by shady trees, surrounded by flocks of goats."-Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor, p. 180.-ED.

g Gen. xviii. 1—S. When a party belonging to Captain Cook (in his last voyage) went ashore on an island near that of Mangeea, in the South Seas, they were forcibly detained by the natives a considerable time, which much alarmed them. But this detention proceeded, as they afterwards found, from pure motives of hospitality; and continued only till such time as they had roasted a hog, and provided other necessaries for their refreshment. "In reviewing this most curious transaction," says the writer of that voyage, we cannot help calling to our memory the manners of the patriarchal times. It does not appear to us that these people had any intention in detaining us, diflerent from those which actuated the patriarch in a similar transaction."-ED.

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h The following quotations seem to illustrate the nature and manner of this entertainment:-Gen. xviii. 4, Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet.' One of the first rites of hospitality observed towards strangers amongst the ancients, was washing the feet: of this there are many instances in Homer. Gen. xviii. 6. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. These instructions are quite similar to the manners of the place, which even at present are little if any thing altered from what they anciently were. Thus Dr Shaw relates, (Travels, p. 29,) "That in cities and villages, where there are public ovens, the bread is usually leavened; but among the Bedoweens, as soon as the dough is kneaded, it is made into thin cakes, which are either immediately baked upon the coals, or else in a txjen, a shallow earthen vessel like a frying pan."2 Sam. xiii. S. 1 Chron. xxiii. 29. Gen. xviii. 7. Abrahanı

The judgment indeed was so very terrible, that Lot, not thinking himself safe at Zoar, withdrew to the mountains, to which he was first directed, and for want of houses lived there, with his two daughters, in a cave.

it a heap of salt, which the Hebrews say continued for many ages. Their conjecture is not improbable who think the fable of Niobe was derived hence, who, the poets feign, was turned into a stone upon her excessive grief for the death of her children.-Patrick, in locum.-ED.

a Gen. xix. 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire.' These cities are said by Moses, on account of their abominable impurities, to have been overwhelmed with a torrent of liquid fire, rained down upon them from heaven. This narrative is equally confirmed by profane historians and by modern travellers. Diodorus Siculus mentions the peculiar nature of the lake which covered the country where these towns were formerly situated. "The water of it is bitter and fetid to the last degree, insomuch that neither fish nor any other aquatic animals are able to live in it." (Biblical History, b. xix. p. 734.) Tacitus relates that a tradition still prevailed in his days of certain powerful cities having been destroyed by thunder and lightning, and of the plain in which they were situated having been burned up. He adds, that evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. The earth was parched, and had lost all its natural powers of vegetation; and whatever sprung up, either spontaneously or in consequence of being planted, gradually withered away, and crumbled into dust. (Tacit. Hist. b. 5. c. 7.) Strabo, after describing the nature of the lake Asphaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the prevailing tradition, that thirteen cities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once destroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, fire, and an inundation of boiling sulphureous water. (Strab. Geog. b. 16.) Maundrell visited the lake Asphaltis in the year 1697, and makes the following observations upon it:-" Being desirous to see the remains, if there were any, of those cities anciently situated in this place, and made so dreadful an example of the divine vengeance, I diligently surveyed the waters as far as my eye could reach; but neither could I discern any heaps of ruins, nor any smoke ascending above the surface of the water, as is usually described in the writings and maps of geographers. But yet I must not amit, what was confidently attested to me by the father-guardian and procurator of Jerusalem, both men in years, and seemingly not destitute either of sense or probity, that they had once actually seen one of these ruins; that it was so near the shore, and the waters so shallow at that time, that they went to it, and found there several pillars, and other fragments of buildings. The cause of our being deprived of this sight was, I suppose, the height of the water." (Travels, p. 85.) The account which The venot gives is much to the same purpose. "There is no sort of fish in this sea, by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it, which burns like fire when one tastes of it. And when the fish of the water Jordan come down so low, they return back again against the stream; and such as are carried into it by the current of the water immediately die. The land within three leagues round is not cultivated, but is white, and mingled with salt and ashes. In short, we must think that there is a heavy curse of God upon that place, seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a country." (Travels, vol. 1. p. 194.) See also Pococke's Trarels, vol. 2. p. 1. ch. 9. and Shaw's Travels, p. 346, 4to.-ED. The curious Wormius tells of the raining of brimstone, May 16, 1646. 64 Here, at Copenhagen, when the whole town was overflowed by a great fall of rain, so that the streets became impassable, the air was infected with a sulphureous smell; and when the waters were a little subsided, one might have collected in some places a sulphureous powder, of which I have preserved a part, and which, in colour and every other quality, appeared to be real sulphur."-Mus. Worm, b. 1. c. 2. sec. 1.-ED.

After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he removed from Mamre (probably to avoid the stench of the vale of Siddim), and came and dwelt not far from e Gerar, a city of the Philistines, at a place named afterwards Beersheba, between Kadesh and Shur, where the same adventure happened to him which he had met with in Egypt. The king of Gerar, supposing Sarah to be no more than Abraham's sister (for here likewise she passed under that character), notwithstanding her advanced age, saw charins enough in her to invite her unto his bed; but God appeared to him in a dream, and

b Moab settled himself in the parts adjoining eastward to the Salt Sea, or Lacus Asphaltites, and in the neighbouring tract on the river Jordan eastward; for we plainly learn, that great part of the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, did formerly belong to the Moabites, Numb. xxi. 21. Ammon seated himself in the parts adjoining to Moab; for it is evident from Scripture, that the Ammonites were formerly possessed of the parts on the east of Jordan, about the river Jabbok, or of the northern part of that which was afterwards the kingdom of Sihon. See Numb. xxi. 13.; Josh. xiii. 25.; and Judg. xi. 13, 23. But these things we shall have occasion to illustrate more fully, when we come to describe the course of the travels of the Israelites out of Egypt into the land of Canaan.—Wells' Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1.

c Gerar was a regal city, situate not far from the angle where the south and west sides of Palestine meet, twenty-five miles from Eleutheropolis, beyond Daroma, in the south of Juda; and the country, to which it gave the name, extended itself pretty far into Arabia Petræa. Beersheba signifies the well of the oath,' because here Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech king of Gerar, concerning a well which he had digged hard by. Here he likewise planted a grove, and instituted an oratory, or place of divine worship; and in process of time here was a city or considerable town built, which is taken notice of by heathen authors under the name of Berzimma or Bersaba. Kadesh was a city, lying on the edge of the land of Canaan, to the south of Hebron; Shur was the name of that part of Arabia Petræa which joins Egypt and the Red sea; and somewhere between these two was that well near which Abraham, when he left Mamre, fixed his habitation.-Wells' Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1.

d Sarah was now ninety years old when Abimelech took her into his family; whence it may seem very strange, that a woman of her age should look so very well, as to be desired by a king, who in those days might have commanded the most youthful beauties in his whole dominions. But, according to some interpreters, people of ninety then were as fresh and vigorous as those of forty now; and Sarah might, even in that respect, excel her coevals, by reason of her sterility, which is a great preserver of beauty; though others are of opinion, that God, having taken away her sterility, her beauty returned with her fruitfulness; for by this time it is computed that she had conceived her son. -Howell's History, b. 1.