The SACRED and PROPHANE

HISTORY

W

Of the WORLD Connected.

BOOK VI.

HEN Abram was upon (a) his Entrance into Egypt, he was full of Thoughts of the Evils that might befal him in a sftrange Land; and

confidering the Beauty of his Wife, he was afraid that the King, or fome powerful Perfon of the Country, might fall in Love with her, and kill him in order to marry her: He therefore defired her to call him Brother. They had not been long in Egypt, before the Beauty of Sarai was much talked of, and she was had to Court, and the King of Egypt had Thoughts of marrying her; but in fome Time

(a) Gen. xii. 11.

VOL. II.

E

he

he found out that he was Abram's Wife : Hereupon he fent for him, and expoftulated with him the ill Confequences that might have happened from the Method he had taken, and in a very generous manner he reftored Sarai, and fuffered Abram to leave his Country, and to carry with him all that belonged to him. Abram's Stay in Egypt was about Three Months The Part of Egypt he travelled into, was the Land of Tanis or lower Egypt, for this bordered on Arabia and Philiftia, from whence Abram journeyed, and his coming hither was about the 10th Year of the 5th King of this Country; for Menes or Mizraim being, as has been before said, King of all Egypt until A. M. 1943, and the Reigns of the three next Kings of lower Egypt, taking up [according to Sir John Marsham's Tables of them] 133 Years, the 10th Year of their Succeffor will carry us to A. M. 2086, which was the Year in which Abram came to Egypt (a).

After Abram came out of Egypt, he returned into Canaan, and came to the Place where he formerly made his firft Stop (*) between Bethel and Hai; and here he offered a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving for the happy Events of his Travels.

Lot and Abram had hitherto lived together; but by this time their Substance was so much increased, that they found it inconvenient to be near to one another: Their Cattle (b) mingled, and their Herdfmen quarrelled, and the

(a) See Vol. I. B. 5. p. 275. (*) Gen. xiii. (b) Gen. xiii. 7.

Land

Land was not able to bear them; their Stocks, when together, required a larger Tract of Ground to feed and fupport them, than they could take up, without interfering with the Property of the Inhabitants of the Land in which they fojourned. They agreed therefore to separate: The Land of Canaan had fpare Room fufficient for Abram, and the Plains of Jordan for Lot, and fo upon Lot's choofing to remove towards Jordan, Abram agreed to continue where he was, and thus they parted. After Lot was gone from him, God commanded Abram to lift up his Eyes (c) and view the Country of Canaan, and promised that the whole of it fhould be given to his Seed for ever, and that his Defcendants fhould exceedingly flourish and multiply in it: Soon after this Abram (d) removed his Tent, and dwelt in the Plain of Mamre in Hebron, and there he built an Altar to the Lord. His Settling at Mamre might be about A. M. 2091.

About this time Abram became an Inftrument of great Service to the King in whofe Dominions he fojourned. The Affyrian Empire, as we have obferved, had in these Times extended it felf over the adjacent and remote Countries, and brought the little Nations in Afa under Tribute and Subjection. The Seat of this Empire was at this Time at Elam in Perfia, and Chedorlaomer was King of it; for to him the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the three other Nations mentioned by

(c) Gen. xiii. 14. (d) Ver. 18, E 2

Mofes

Mofes (e) had been in Subjection: They had ferved him twelve Years, but in the thirteenth they rebelled (f). We meet no where in Prophane History the Name Chedorlaomer, nor any of Mofes's Names of the Kings that were confederate with him; but I have formerly obferved how this might be occafioned. Ctefias, from whom the Prophane Hiftorians took the Names of thefe Kings, did not use their Original Affyrian Names in his Hiftory; but rather fuch as he found in the Perfian Records, or as the Greek Language offered instead of them.

If we confider about what time of Abram's Life this Affair happened; (and we must place (g) it about his 84th or 85th Year, i. e. A. M. 2093) it will be eafy to fee who was the fupreme King of the Affyrian Empire at the Time here spoken of. Ninyas the Son of Ninus and Semiramis began his Reign A. M. 2059 (b), and he reigned 38 Years (i), so that the Year of this Tranfaction falls four Years before his Death. Ninyas therefore was the Chedorlaomer of Mofes, Head of the Affyrian Empire, and Amraphel was his Deputy at Babylon in Shinaar, and Arioch and Tidal his Deputies over fome other adjacent Countries. It is remarkable, that Ninyas first appointed under him fuch Deputies (k), and no Abfurdity in Mofes to call them Kings; for it is obfervable

(e) Gen. xiv. 4.

(f) ibid. (g) i. e. about a Year or two before the Birth of Ishmael, who was born when Abram was 86. Gen. xvi. 16. (b) See Vol. I. B. 4. p. 187. (i) Eufeb, in Chron. (k) Diodor, Sic. 1. 2.

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