consisting in an inward process by which the old association of ideas connected with words was taken away, and new and utterly different modes of expression were immediately implanted. The confusion was so complete that the people could no longer understand one another, and all working together was excluded. V. 8. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. That was the consequence of the miracle. A great migration of families and tribes over the whole earth began, by which men were scattered to the four winds. The great project as planned naturally had to be abandoned. Even if some few people, whom we may now term Babylonians, remained in the city, to be conquered afterward by Nimrod, the purpose of the human race in its blasphemous pride was not realized. V. 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Babel means confusion, and the result of the confusion of tongues is before our eyes to this day. The human race is divided, one nation separated from the other by the difference of speech. Even to-day, however, the blasphemous arrogance of mankind is apparent. In the erection of many great buildings, in the invention of many new arts, man is not seeking the welfare of his neighbor and the honor of God, but his own glory. It is necessary, time and again, for the Lord to interfere with a mighty hand, even as the day of the Lord will finally be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and he shall be brought low, Is. 2, 12.

THE GENERATION OF SHEM.-V. 10. These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the Flood. The genealogical table of Shem is now repeated in detail, because the narrative gradually tends toward the story of the people of God, whose progenitor was Abraham, a descendant of Shem through Eber. V. 11. And Shem lived, after he begat Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. V. 12. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah; v. 13. and Arphaxad lived, after he begat Salah, four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. V. 14. And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber; v. 15. and Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. Up to this point the ancestry of the Joktanites and of the Abrahamites follows the same line. V. 16. And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg; v. 17. and Eber lived, after he begat Peleg, four hundred and thirty years and begat sons and daughters. V. 18. And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu; v. 19. and Peleg lived, after he begat Reu,

two hundred and nine years and begat sons and daughters. V. 20. And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug; v. 21. and Reu lived, after he begat Serug, two hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters. V. 22. And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor; v. 23. and Serug lived, after he begat Nahor, two hundred years and begat sons and daughters. V. 24. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begat Terah; v. 25. and Nahor lived, after he begat Terah, an hundred and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters. A careful comparison of this list with the genealogical table of chap. 5 shows a very decided shortening of the average life of man after the Flood. While Noah still reached the age of 950 years, the age of man, with Arphaxad, sank down below 500 years; this again, was reduced, with Peleg, to 239 years and with Nahor to 148 years. In the short space of eight generations, therefore, the average age of man was reduced almost to the level which it has maintained since. This was due partly to the change of climate on the surface of the earth, partly to the different mode of living. V. 26. And Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. That is, the oldest son of Terah was born when he was seventy years old, and three sons are mentioned in this instance, Abram, afterward Abraham, as the father of the Jewish race, Nahor as the grandfather of Rebekah, and Haran as the father of Lot.

THE GENERATIONS OF TERAH.-V. 27. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. Haran may have been the oldest son, and his son Lot was nearer to Abraham's age. V. 28. And Haran died before, that is, during the lifetime of, his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. This, then, was the ancestral home of this family of the descendants of Shem. V. 29. And Abram and Nahor took them wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. Marriages of comparatively close relatives were still the rule at that time, for Nahor married his niece, and Abram his half-sister, chap. 20, 12. V. 30. But Sarai was barren; she had no child, a fact which was, among the Jews, considered a great calamity, almost a curse, just as the fruitfulness of the mother was considered a great blessing. V. 31. And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. These all went forth together,

or with one another, under the leadership of Terah and Abram. In the case of Abram, he had, even now, received God's command to journey forth, Acts 7, 3, while in the case of Terah the migration was a part of God's dispensation, the first step of the journey which would bring Abram to the land of his inheritance. V. 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran. This notice rounds out the story of Terah, for

he evidently died after Abram had gone forth to Canaan. Thus the less important personage is disposed of before the main history proceeds. It is the story of Abraham which now follows, for it was his generation and people that the Lord chose for His own; and from the seed of Abraham, in the fulness of time, the salvation which had been promised to the patriarchs before the Flood was to come upon the whole world.

Abraham's Call; His Journey to Canaan and to Egypt.

GOD CALLS ABRAHAM. — V. 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. Here the real story of Abram, or Abraham, begins, to which the author has led up in a very skilful manner. God gave him a command which imposed upon him a threefold renunciation. Abram was to leave his fatherland, both Haran and Ur of the Chaldees being included in Mesopotamia. He was to forsake the members of his tribe, the other Chaldaic descendants of Shem, all of them now addicted to heathenism. He was to go forth even from his father's house, that of Terah and his family. The expressions are purposely heaped to indicate that it meant for Abram a complete severing of family ties: leaving everything behind that he had ever held near and dear but his wife, he was to journey, as a stranger, into a land which he would see by and by. V. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; v. 3. and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Here are promises of both temporal and spiritual blessings. To the first belongs the fact that Abram's descendants were to be so great in number as to be a great nation. But of far greater importance are the promises that refer to spiritual gifts. For that Abram's name should be great, that the blessing of the Lord should rest upon him, that he should be distinguished so highly among men as to receive the thankful praises and the blessings of men and be shielded against any curse, that in him should be blessed all the families and tribes of the earth, all mankind: all this does not refer to any mere outward wealth which the Lord intended to shower upon Abram. The blessing rather, as the repetitions and extensions show, chap. 18, 18; 22, 18; 26, 4, indicated that Abram (or Abraham) was to be a source of everlasting spiritual gifts and blessings through his seed, through one descendant in the great and blessed

nation which would call him father, namely, through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Acts 3, 25. 26; Gal. 3, 16. The prophecy of the Seed of the woman, which had been narrowed down in a general way in the blessing upon Shem, was here given expressly to Abram and to the nation which was to descend from him.

ABRAHAM'S JOURNEY TO CANAAN.-V. 4. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Abram put his faith in the promise of the Lord and was obedient to His command, forsaking his fatherland, his acquaintances, and even his nearest relatives, to journey with his wife and his nephew to the new country of which the Lord had spoken. V. 5. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. Accustomed as they were to a nomadic life, they traveled by easy stages, until they came to Canaan, the entire journey being under God's direction, and therefore successful, Heb. 11, 8. All their wealth in cattle and servants, which they had acquired in Mesopotamia, they brought along with them. V. 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh.

So the caravan of which Abram was the head evidently entered the land of Canaan from the north, through what was afterward Galilee, passing down through the country in which his descendants were later to live, until he reached Sichem, or Shechem, approximately in the center of the land. Here he pitched his tent in a grove, under a terebinth, a tree similar to an oak, which belonged to one Moreh. Cp. Deut. 11, 30. And the Canaanite was then in the land. So Abram could not take possession of the land at once, but was only suffered to sojourn there as a stranger, Heb. 11, 9. V. 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

Although a member of a race that had forsaken the true God, the call of the Lord had turned the heart of Abram to Him in simple faith. When, therefore, the Lord appeared to him in a vision in Sichem and assured him that the entire land would some time belong to his descendants, Abram believed the Lord and worshiped Him by the erection of an altar. V. 8. And he removed from thence, broke up his encampment, and went unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east; and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. The geographical notation in many cases is that of the later age, in which the author lived, for the sake of a quicker understanding. Abram's new encampment was in the hill country of what was afterwards Ephraim, between Ai on the west and Lus, or Bethel, on the east.

Here again he inaugurated the worship of the true God by preaching and prayer, for he felt responsible for his whole household and therefore taught also his slaves and houseservants the way of salvation. V. 9. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. Once more he struck his tent and removed with all his possessions to the southernmost district of Canaan, where it borders upon the Arabian desert.

ABRAHAM DISSEMBLES IN EGYPT. V. 10. And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. The frequent moves of Abram which the text indicate point to a growing scarcity of food; and the famine finally became so heavy that he removed to the land of Egypt with his herds. V. 11. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai, his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon; v. 12. therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. V. 13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. The Bible, for our comfort and warning, relates the weaknesses of the saints as well as their acts of faith. Although Sarai was now some sixty-five years old, she still had her youthful bloom and beauty, and, since women in Egypt at that time went unveiled, Abram feared that his wife's beauty would tempt some powerful Egyptian to covet her for himself and, Abram as the husband being in the way, he would be disposed of by an execution. As his caravan was about to enter Egyptian territory, therefore, Abram arranged with his wife that they be known in Egypt as brother and sister. He felt that the Egyptians might take Sarai from him, but that his own life would be spared

through his stratagem and that he would even be treated well for the sake of her whom the people believed to be his sister. This counsel of Abraham was the outgrowth of human weakness and doubt in the divine protection; it was an indication of temporary wavering on the part of Abram, for though the declaration was not altogether false, chap. 20, 12, neither was it the whole truth.

ABRAHAM'S STRATAGEM EXPOSED. V. 14. And it came to pass that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. V. 15. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. What Abram had feared came to pass, and at the same time the weakness of his scheme was exposed, for he had apparently not taken into consideration how he could keep his wife for himself and save her honor. The report of Sarai's beauty soon spread; the Egyptian princes praised her in the presence of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and without much ceremony she was taken to Pharaoh's harem. V. 16. And he entreated Abram'well for her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels. These were the rich gifts of Pharaoh to the supposed brother of the woman whom he coveted for his wife, or one of his wives. These presents placed Abram into a peculiar predicament, for he must have felt that he was obtaining them under false pretenses, and yet he could not refuse them without exposing his scheme. V. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. It was, literally, great blows which the Lord inflicted, and apparently of a kind as to shield the honor of Sarai. Cp. chap. 20, 4. 6. In some manner also it was revealed to Pharaoh what the real situation was. V. 18. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? V. 19. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to me to wife. Now, therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. When Pharaoh summoned Abram, the reproaches which he heaped upon him were well taken, and Abram was unable to say anything in his defense. The last words of the king were spoken in great anger: Take and go! V. 20. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. The orders of Pharaoh were carried out in the sense in which they were given. His men saw to it that Abram and Sarai and all their possessions were safely, but surely, taken to the borders of the country. It was probably only a kind of

reverential fear of the God of Abram which restrained Pharaoh from taking revenge upon Abram in a very summary way. But we see here that the Lord turns even the mistakes and weaknesses of His believers to their advantage, guarding and protecting them against the vari

ous dangers into which their own foolishness tends to plunge them. The lesson teaches us that we, as the Lord's strangers and pilgrims here on earth, should make use of all circumspection, and constantly keep before our eyes the goal which He wants us to reach.

The Peaceful Settlement between

Abraham and Lot.

ABRAHAM RETURNS TO CANAAN. — V. 1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. Together with Lot, who, as we learn here, had accompanied him into Egypt, Abram now returns to Canaan with all his great possessions, choosing the same route for his return which he had taken in coming down. His first stopping-place was on the great plateau in the southern part of Canaan. V. 2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. This remark is here inserted in order to explain the difficulty which later arose between him and Lot. V. 3. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; v. 4. unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. The journey northward naturally had to be made by easy stages, for it was slow traveling with large herds that were dependent for their food upon the pasturage along the way. But the caravans finally reached the neighborhood of their earlier sojourn once more, where their encampment had been before the famine, between Bethel and Ai. It is emphasized in the story that this was the place of the altar which Abram had made at his first stay in that country. That was the important point in the history of Abram, that his experience in Egypt had taught him to turn back to the Lord with all his heart. His desire was now centered in Him who was promised as his descendant, the Messiah, who was to bring blessing and salvation to the world. Therefore Abram again instituted services with prayer and preaching; he set up the worship of Jehovah with his family. He thus confessed the true God and the hope of his heart also before the heathen. Temporal, earthly gain does not constitute the real happiness of the believers, but the fact that they possess Christ and His salvation.

stance was great, so that they could not dwell together. Both Abram and Lot had meanwhile grown immensely wealthy, possessing flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle, asses, and camels, together with the necessary slaves of both sexes to take care of the herding and the work in the encampment, which must have had the appearance of a regular tent city. The result was that the land was unable to provide enough food for the two sets of herds and flocks and the households as well; it would not stand for their living together any longer. V. 7. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. Clashes between the herdmen of the two rich men were almost inevitable, since both parties tried to get the best pasturage for their masters. It was an uncomfortable situation, to say the least, and the matter was rendered still more complicated by the fact that the tribe of the Perizzites, of whose descent nothing is known, and the Canaanites were in possession of the best pastures, Lot and Abram being expected to divide between them what was left. V. 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. V. 9. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right band, then I will go to the left. It was impossible, of course, to keep the herdsmen's feud from the masters, and if the latter had not taken steps to remedy the situation, a feud between families might have resulted, as the words of Abraham indicate. Abram's main argument is: "For brethren we are." An altercation, a quarrel, between strangers may yet be understood, even if it cannot be condoned, but between close relatives, never. Although Abram was the older, and Lot's uncle at that, he gave Lot his choice, declaring himself satisfied to take what remained. The word of Abram has thus rightly passed into a proverbial watchword of the peace-loving and yielding disposition, in all cases when a distinction and separation in the circumstances becomes necessary. LOT'S CHOICE; THE SEPARATION. V. 10.

And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Lot selfishly took advantage of Abram in accepting his offer. He made a careful survey and calculation, and the valley of the Jordan appealed to him, since from the Sea of Galilee down to the Vale of Siddim (later the Dead Sea) it was richly watered, like Paradise, the garden of Jehovah, or like Egypt, whose soil was so rich on account of the annual overflow of the Nile. As far as Zoar, in fact, at the far southeastern side of the valley, the land seemed to be unequaled for richness. V. 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east; and they separated themselves the one from the other. V. 12. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan; and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. In spite of the fact that Lot acted so selfishly, Abram's policy resulted in their separating peacefully, like brothers. Lot departed toward the east with his possessions and tented, that is, he journeyed by easy stages, with ever new encampments, until he reached Sodom, where he made his home, while Abram remained in

Canaan proper. Lot's choice may have given evidence of keen business ability, as well as a very selfish disposition, but it certainly was a dangerous choice. V. 13. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. This remark, which ascribes to the inhabitants of Sodom a wickedness in unusual measure, even in the midst of heathendom, not only prepares for the later story of the city's fate, chap. 19, but it also throws some light upon the character of Lot, who chose this city for his home. He may have been one with Abraham in faith till now, but apparently avarice had taken hold of his heart, causing him to disregard the great moral dangers of a notoriously wicked city for his children, only for the sake of greater gain. From this time forth the worldly thoughts and inclinations strove in his heart with his faith and reverence for the true God.

of Lot from Abram was, in a way, prophetical of the relation which would afterwards obtain between his descendants and those of Abram. And just at this time the Lord repeated His promise to Abram, bidding him look from the place where he then was, almost in the center of Canaan, in every direction, since this entire country was to be the possession of his descendants. Thus Abram, in spirit at least, if not in fact, was to claim the land of Canaan for his posterity. V. 16. 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 also be numbered. The double promise, that of possessing the land and that of having such an innumerable offspring, was, of course, addressed to Abram's faith and had to be accepted by him in faith, Heb. 11, 9. 10. V. 17. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. This refers to an ancient custom according to which a person signified his claim to a piece of ground by walking around it. Though Abram did not possess so much as one foot of land, yet God's promise stood that his descendants should occupy the entire country as their own. All this has a wider significance. For, as one commentator has it, through Christ the promise is elevated out of its temporal form to the dignity of substance; through Him the whole world becomes a Canaan. To the numberless seed of Abram belong all men from all generations of the earth that hold the faith of Abram, or Abraham. Abraham is the father of us all, Rom. 4, 16. We that believe the promise concerning Christ belong to that great people of believers which has existed since the time of Adam and has its representatives in all nations of the earth. V. 18. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Abram was obedient to the Lord's word; he journeyed through the land in the course of the next years. He tented by easy stages until he finally made his home at Hebron, about in the center of the southern part of Canaan. There he lived in the grove of terebinths that belonged to the Amorite Mamre, chap. 14, 13. 24. One of his first acts here again was the erection of an altar to the Lord. He could not be without his regular worship, and he and his household met regularly for the service of Jehovah. It would undoubtedly result in much blessing if believers that settle in a new district or city would make the establishment of regular services of worship their first consideration.