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84 THE

Abraham

.lEWISlI

Hebron, whence he miuie n sureessful expedition apiinst C'hcdorliioinor. kinsr of Elani. and Ids confederate kinirs. finni whom lie rescued Lot, wlioni Cliedorlaonier lia<l captured in tlie course of an atOn )iis return tack upon Sodom and Goniorrali.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

84

could be found therein (I'ft. xvili. 17-32), The cities were destroyed; but Lot and his fandlv, wlio had been warned, fled from Sodom before its destruction. Abraham now journeyed to Genir, between Kadesh and Shur. and for the second time passed Sarah off as

--((ij(Ji*«f*-ii^;i

TKADi;,. (From

It

from this expedition, Abram was blessed by Jlelchizedek, king of Salem, antl refused to retain the recaptured booty offered him by the king of Sodom {ib.

UIA.M.



photograph reproduced by peroiision of th« Palestine Exploration Fund,)

xiv.).

Once more the Lord appeared to Abram with a promise of abimdant olTs])rin,!;, at the same time

his sister. Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her into his house; but, on being rebuked by God, released her precisely as Pharaoh had done (/*. xx.).

At the appointed time Isjiac was born, Abraham being a hundred years old. Soon after. Ishmael, Hagar's son, was seen "mocking" by Birth and Siirah, and at her solicitation he and Sacrifice his mother were biiiiished. Hagar was of Isaac, ciiinforteilin the wilderness by anangcl

foretelling their captivity for four hundred years in a strange land and tlieir subsequent inheritance of the land between "the river of Egypt" and the Euphrates. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" {ib. xv. 6).Sarai had hitherto been barren. She now gave Abram her liandiiiaid Ilagar, an Egyptian, as wife; and the latter boi'e a son. Ishmael, Abram being at the time eighty-six years old (ib. xvi.). Again the Lord appeared to the patriai'ch with the promise of a numerous posterity. At the same time, in token of the promise, Abram 's name Birth of was changed to Abraham ("Father of IshmaeL Many Xations "), iind that of S:iral to Sarah (" Princess "), The Lord also instituted the "covenant of circumcision," and |iromised that Sarah should bear a son, Isjiac, with whom he would establish it. Abraham thei-eupon circumcised himself and Ishmael (ih.xvn. 1-21). Soon after, three angels in human guise were hospitably entertained by Abraham in ilamre. where the Lord iigain foretold Isjjac's Ijirth, and when Sarah doubted the promise, the Lord himself appeared and renewed it

the nations of the earth should be blessed. Instead of Isaac a ram caiight in a thicket was sacrificed (ib. xxii. 1-18). Abraham returned to Beer-sheba. and was sojourning there when Sarah died at Kirjatharba (also called Hebron and ^lamre), at the age of

{ib. xviii. 1-1.5).

one

In recognition of Abraham's piety the Lord now acquainted him with ilis intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their wickedness hut. after several appeals from Abraham, He promised that Sodom should be spared if ten righteous men

Abraham went



of

God

(eh.

xxi. 1-12).

Abraham was

now a powerful man and at the solicitation of Abim;

elech,

king of Gerar, he made a covenant with

Ih.it

monarch at Beer-sheba in the land of the I'liilistines. At Beer-sheba Abraham sojourned many days ((i.xxi, 22-34).

The greatest trial of the patriarch's life came when God bade him offer up his only son as a burnt offering. Without a moments hesitation Abraham took Lsaac and proceeded to the land of Moriali, where he was just about to sacriliee him, when an angel of the Lord restrained him, once more delivering the prophecy that the p.-itriareh's seed shi>iild be "as the .stars of the heaven, and as the siiiid which is upon the sea.shore." and that in them all

hundred and twenty-seven (ib. xxiii. 1. 2), to Mamre and bought the cave of JIachpelah as a bui-ial-place and there he buried

Sarah

(ib.

xxiii. 3-20).

Isaac was now thirty-six years old, and Abraham sent Eliezer. his servant, to bring a wife for him