THE TOWER OF BABEL.

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stance of real good, and toil after the shadow of what they do not understand. God in this instance showed His displeasure

at the presumption of men, by punishing them in that dangerous member, the tongue, which was, and still continues to be, the active instrument of sin. The diversity of languages which then began, and which still subsists between nations, is, as it were, a voice that continually makes itself heard over the whole earth, and intimates to all, as St. Augustine says, that the shortest and the surest way to heaven lies, not in building lofty edifices to their vanity, nor in forming vast projects in the mind, but in humbly submitting to the decrees of God: not in pretending to elude His justice by an obstinate resistance, but in endeavouring to deserve His mercy by a timely repentance.

Names and Ages of the Ten Patriarchs of the Second Age. Gen. xi.

THIRD AGE OF THE WORLD.

FROM THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, A.M. 2083, TO THE DELIVERY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, A.M. 2513, COMPRISING THE SPACE OF 430 YEARS.

The Call of Abram.-Gen. xii.

A.M. 2083.] [A.C. 1921. FROM the dispersion of mankind into different parts of the universe, is dated the origin of the different states and kingdoms that were formed by their enterprising chiefs.* No longer awed by the presence of their Patriarchs, men soon forgot the principles, and laid aside the practice of the religion in which they had been instructed. Instead of God, they began to worship creatures. A corruption of morals became almost universal, and the true religion remained only with a few of the descendants of Sem, chiefly of the branch of Heber. Idolatry had begun to spread even amongst these, when God was pleased to select from among them a man more deserving than the rest, whom He destined to be the founder of a more faithful race.

This extraordinary man was Abraham, or as he was at first called, Abram. He was the tenth in lineal descent from Noe, and lived with his father, Thare, in Ur, a city of the

* We find in the 10th chapter of Genesis a detailed statement of the territories occupied by the various races descended from Noe. (See the Map of Distribution of Nations, in the Bible Atlas.)

1. The descendants of Sem colonised the country both to the east and west of their original dwelling-place-thus occupying the districts afterwards known ns Syria, Lydia, Chaldea, and Persia, with portions of Assyria and of Arabia.

2. The descendants of Cham proceeded towards the south, and occupied the whole of Africa, as well as India, and a portion of Arabia-his son Chanaan settling in the territory afterwards peopled by the Canaanite nations, of whom he was the progenitor. (See Map of the Distribution of the Sons of Chanaan.)

3. The descendants of Japheth migrated chiefly in a north-westerly direction, towards Asia Minor, whence they eventually spread over Europe and the northern regions of Africa

The Dispersion took place in the lifetime of Phaleg, the great-great-grandson of Sem. (See Table, page 19.) He was called Phaleg, which in the Hebrew language signifies Division; for, as we read (Gen. x. 25), "In his days was the earth divided."

THE CALL OF ABRAM.

21

Chaldeans.* Here God appeared and imparted his orders to him: "Go forth from thy native country, from thy kindred and thy father's house, and pass into the land that I will show thee. I will make thee the father and the head of a great people, and thy name shall be famous amongst them. Those that bless thee, I will bless, and those that curse thee, will I likewise curse; and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Abram gave implicit credit to the words he heard, and immediately prepared to execute the Divine order. He communicated it to his wife, Sarai, and to his father, who agreed to go along with him. He, therefore, bade an eternal adieu to the place that gave him birth, and without knowing, as St. Paul tells us (Heb. xi. 8), whither he went, began his journey towards the country that God should point out to him.† Lot, his brother's son, was of the company. Abram advanced as far as Haran, a city of

* Various conjectures have been made by modern writers, as to the precise locality of the city thus designated.

It is considered by many that the place of Ur is marked by the modern Orfah, once known by the Greeks as Edessa, in Upper Mesopotamia. Others, however, and with much greater probability, place Ur at the modern Mugheyr, much farther to the south, on the right bank of the Euphrates, and about six miles from the present course of the stream.

Equally conflicting views have been adopted as to the precise position and extent of the territory designated in the Bible as Chaldea. It is now, however, generally accepted that by this name we are to understand the district lying around and below the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris. Thus it was bounded on the west by the Arabian Desert, on the south by the Persian Gulf, on the east by the Tigris, and on the north by Babylonia. Probably," says Kitto, "a line drawn across Mesopotamia through the ruins of Niffer would form its northern boundary."-Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, art. CHALDEA.

This at once determines the position of Ur, in accordance with the second of the two views mentioned above.

+ The course of Abram's journey is clearly marked on the map of the Lands of the Jewish Captivities, in the Bible Atlas.

It may be useful to state here the view more commonly adopted by commentators as to the relationship of the various persons referred to in this portion of the Sacred Narrative.

It is generally considered, in the first place, that Abram, although first mentioned (Gen. xi. 26, 27), was the youngest of Thare's sons, the order of birth being-Aran, Nachor, Abram. The eldest son, Aran, was born when his father was seventy years old; Abram, the youngest, and most probably the offspring of another marriage, was not born for sixty years afterwards.

Of Aran's children, three are mentioned in Genesis-his son Lot, and his daughters Melsha and Jescha. It is distinctly stated that Melsha became the wife of her uncle Nachor; and, from the concurrent testimony of Jewish

Mesopotamia, where he seems to have made some stay. There it was he buried his father; after which, crossing the Euphrates, he continued his journey southward and westward, until he came to the land of Chanaan. Having entered it, he advanced as far as Sichem,† in the valley between the mountains Hebal and Garizim. Upon his arrival thither, God appeared to him, telling him that this was the Land of Promise, to be possessed by his descendants. Abram erected an altar upon the spot, and adored that Sovereign Power, which bids the empire of nations rise or fall, as it pleases to direct. Then, passing about twenty miles southward, to the mountain country east of Bethel, or, as it was then called, writers, as well as from a variety of circumstances connected with the narrative in Genesis, there can be little doubt that Jescha is to be identified with Sarai, who thus also became the wife of her uncle Abram. (See Kitto, Cyclopædia, art. ABRAHAM.)

*Haran is frequently mentioned in the book of Genesis; and in several instances its position is indicated, with more or less distinctness, by the Hebrew expressions which may be literally translated, "in the arabie plain of Aram,” and "in the plain of Aram of the Two Rivers."

Sacred geographers almost unanimously regard the territory thus designated as a district of Mesopotamia. In this view, which has been adopted in the text, and which is in accordance with that taken by the translators of the Septuagint Version of the Bible, Haran is identified with the Charra or Charra of the Greek and Romans-the modern name of which is Harranwhere the Roman army was cut off, and its leader, Crassus, taken by the Parthians, A.C. 53.

Some few writers, however, are of opinion that the locality designated is in the neighbourhood of Damascus, and that Harran, a village about sixteen miles south-east of that city, marks the true site of the Biblical Haran.

The improbability of this latter view is clearly shown in an interesting and comprehensive note on the subject, in Cassell's Bible Educator, vol. iii., p. 250; also the Map, already referred to, may be usefully consulted on this point.

† Shechem, the Hebrew name of the town, signifies a Shoulder or Ridge; for the town was situated on the ridge of the heights forming the watershed between the Mediterranean on the west and the Jordan on the east. It was rebuilt in the time of Vespasian, then receiving the name Neapolis (or New City), whence its modern name, Nablus, is derived.

It will not be without interest to note that all travellers concur in their praises of the richness and beauty of the valley by which Abram, after crossing the Jordan, thus entered the Land of Promise.

"All at once," says Robinson, "the ground sinks down to a valley running to the west. There a scene of luxuriant and almost unparalleled verdure burst upon our view. The whole valley was filled with gardens of fruit, watered by several fountains, which burst forth in several parts and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon us suddenly like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all palestine,"-Biblical Researches, vol. ii. p. 275.

THE CALL OF ABKAM.

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Luza, he pitched his tent there, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; and there also he built an altar, and offered sacrifice to the Lord.*

He had not been long in that country before a severe famine obliged him to leave it, and to withdraw into Egypt. But whilst he retreated from one danger, he became apprehensive of perishing by another. The comeliness of Sarai's person, he thought, would tempt the men of Egypt to kill the husband, that they might take the wife. For that reason he desired her to say she was his sister, as in effect she might, without any injury to truth.† The event quickly showed that Abram was not wrong in his conjectures, for the Egyptians no sooner saw Sarai, than they were taken with her beauty, and described her to Pharao, their king.‡ Pharao sent for her to his palace, with an intention of making her his wife; ordering at the same time that every mark of civility should be paid to her brother Abram. Sarai was thus placed in a very critical situation, which must have ended. in her shame, if God Himself had not been the guardian of her purity. By the most convincing proofs of His anger, He made Pharao sensible of the wrong he had done, and that the woman he had brought into his palace was the wife of Abram. Pharao, upon this, ordered Abram to be brought before him, and without making any other complaint than that he had not at first told him Sarai was his wife, bade him take her, and go his way. So totally averse to the crime of adultery, says St. Ambrose, was this prince, although an idolator, and so tender was he of a stranger's honour, with whom he had no other connection than that of his having taken refuge within his dominions.

Thus it was that God called the man whom He

* Bethel is now represented by a small Arab village, called Betin. It lies on the high road from Jerusalem to Nablus.

For, as the commentators point out, Sarai, as the daughter of his brother Aran, was niece to Abram. (See Note, pp. 21, 22.) And being thus closely related by blood, she could be truthfully called his sister, according to the style of the Hebrews; just as, in Gen. xiv. 14, Abram's nephew, Lot, is called his brother.

The name Pharao, it may be useful to observe, is used in the Bible as a generic designation of the kings of Egypt. Thus, as we shall afterwards see, the name is applied also to the king who appointed Joseph as his viceroy, to the king "who knew not Joseph" and who so cruelly oppressed the Israelites, and to his successor, in whose reign the Exodus of the Israelites took place.