Plain of Abraham

“ And Abraham had obtained of God that if in Zoar, the smallest of the cities, five righteous could be found, and forty-five in all the rest of the country, God would spare them. Then God ceased talking with Abraham. Next morning early, Abraham arose and took his staff, and went to the place where God had met him, to make further intercession for the cities of the plain, but the smoke of them rose as from a furnace, for brimstone and fire had been rained upon them out of heaven, and they had been consumed along with their inhabitants. ”

“ He left the land, the kingdom, Abraham, and all the prophets, behind him. In after years, the land was reduced to a wilderness, its cities laid waste, and the Hebrew commonwealth dissolved. It became the battle ground of Crusaders, Saracens, and Turks; and until this day has been subjected to the worst of the heathen. Forty centuries have passed away since God confirmed His promise of the land to Christ, who has been waiting nineteen hundred years at His right hand for its fulfilment. Is Jesus never to possess the land from sea to sea, and from the rivers to its extremities? ”

“ His whole life from his entry into manhood was a succession of adventures. His father, who had instructed him in the Bible and the Talmud, died when his son was a youth of eighteen, and two years later Abraham undertook a journey of adventure, as he relates, in order to discover the mythical river Sabbation or Sambation, and to become acquainted with the supposed Israelite tribes dwelling on its banks, no doubt with a Messianic purpose. ”

“ For this reason also he received the promise from Jehovah, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Abraham was to become a people, and that people must attain the righteousness of Abraham. But with a people such a change must be progressive: Israel first of all received the law on Sinai, 55then the promised land and a temple; and only through a long course of discipline learnt to obey the law willingly. These three periods, together with the end which is yet to come, and the beginning in Abraham, form the series of Jewish history. ”

“ So far, one may be tempted to say, no very unusual faith was required. Many a poor girl has followed a weakly brother or a dissipated father to Australia or the wild west of America; many a lad has gone to the deadly west coast of Africa with no such prospects as Abraham. For Abraham had the double prospect which makes migration desirable. Assure the colonist that he will find land and have strong sons to till and hold and leave it to, and you give him all the motive he requires. These were the promises made to Abraham—a land and a seed. ”

“ The Judæan text places the abode of Abraham mainly in the south of Canaan, at Hebron; the south belonged mainly to the tribe of Judah, and Hebron was David's royal abode till he conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites. The Ephraimitic text placed Abraham mainly at Shechem, the chief city of the tribe of Ephraim, and gives especial prominence to the sacred place at Bethel. The wandering of Abraham from the south of Canaan to Egypt, where the Pharaoh, warned by plagues from Jehovah, sends him away with valuable presents and in peace, is the work of the reviser. ”

“ Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave by the side of Sarah; and he was followed to his grave by all the inhabitants of Canaan, and Shem and Eber went before the bier. And all the people wailed and said, "Woe to the vessel when the pilot is gone! woe to the pilgrims when their guide is lost!"
A whole year was Abraham lamented by the inhabitants of the land; men, and women, and young children joined in bewailing him.
Never was there a man like Abraham in perfect righteousness, serving God, and walking in His way from the earliest youth to the day of his death. ”

“ Abraham offers to God the life of his only son. If Paul was right, and if the children of Abraham mean the men that do such things as these in such a spirit as this, and if “the seed of Abraham” is the man that incarnates this spirit, then, I thought, there was perhaps no egotism when the prophet of [113] Israel represented God as saying to the descendant of Abraham, “Thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.” For it may mean “I have not chosen the rich, I have not chosen the great and strong. ”

“ In the still later Jewish traditions, of which many have been preserved, he is pictured sometimes as an invincible warrior, before whom even the great city of Damascus fell, sometimes as an ardent foe of idolatry, the incarnation of the spirit of later Judaism, or else he is thought of as having been borne to heaven on a fiery chariot, where he receives to his bosom the faithful of his race. Thus each succeeding generation or group of writers made Abraham, as the traditional father of their race, the embodiment of their highest ideals. ”

“ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. ”

“ 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. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it."
And Abraham moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
§6. Abraham's Deliverance of Lot (Gen. 14:10-24)
And there came five kings from the East and made war against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. ”

“ Worship the wind, then, and we will pardon thy former profanations." "Be not angry, great king," said Abraham; "I cannot worship the fire, nor the water, nor the clouds, nor the wind, nor any of the things thou callest gods. The power they possess is derived from a Being, not only most powerful, but full of mercy and love. The Creator of heaven and earth, him alone will I worship." "Well, then," said the tyrant, "since thou refusest to adore the fire, thou shalt speedily be made sensible of its mighty force." He ordered Abraham to be thrown into a fiery furnace. ”

“ Those who are ignorant of the biographies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be ignorant of the gospel; for these patriarchs were the depositories of the promises (Heb 11:17) which constitute the gospel-hope; and of them, Abraham is especially designated as him that hath the promises (Heb. 7:6) . It is for this reason that a man must become of Abraham's seed by adoption through Jesus Christ. Unless a son of Abraham by a like faith and disposition with him, neither Jew nor Gentile can share in Abraham's estate. It is only Abraham's spiritual family that can divide with him the promises he holds. ”

“ And Abraham went out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Ai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. ”

“ This prophet of the Captivity was the first who clearly grasped and demonstrated that a creed of general salvation was promised through Abraham to future generations. The past was to be forgotten and forgiven; a new social order was to spring up; heaven and earth were to be re-created. All people from all the ends of the earth would be included in this universal salvation, and every knee would bend and every tongue swear homage to the God adored by Israel. It was for this purpose that Abraham had been called from a distant land, and that his descendants had been chosen before their birth. ”

“ I will bless you and make you a great nation. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All families on earth will be blessed because of you.”
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So Abram obeyed God. He took his wife, Sarai, together with all of his servants and everything he owned and went to the land God showed him, the land of Canaan.
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When Abram arrived in Canaan, God said, “Look all around you. I will give to you all this land, and your descendants will always possess it.” Then Abram settled in the land. ”

“ Splendid herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were pastured in the meadows. In the city were beautiful homes, for the people were prosperous. They painted fine pictures and cut beautiful figures out of marble blocks, and were fond of music. But Abraham was not so much interested in the city as in the country, for he belonged to a family of shepherds. He did not care so much for walled cities as for meadow lands, forest trees and running streams. When Abraham grew a little older he became very thoughtful, and began to dislike the ways of the people of Ur, for they were idolaters. ”

“ When the true religion began to give way before the false, even in Ur of the Chaldees, where Abram the son of Terahof Terah lived, Jehovah bade him leave his native country and his father’s house, to go to a land which the Lord should show him. That land was Canaan. This Abram is our father Abraham, who, when he arrived at Bethel, erected a tabernacle there, and built an altar, 62and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord appeared often unto him and proved his faith: ten of these trials are recorded in scripture. ”

“ Let us now survey the progress of the city of God from the era of the patriarch Abraham, from whose time it begins to be more conspicuous, and the divine promises which are now fulfilled in Christ are more fully revealed. We learn, then, from the intimations of holy Scripture, that Abraham was born in the country of the Chaldeans, a land belonging to the Assyrian empire. ”

“ So the chief-captain, turning the chariot and the cloud, brought Abraham to his house, and going into his chamber he sat upon his couch. And Sarah his wife came and embraced the feet of the Incorporeal, and spoke humbly, saying, I give thee thanks, my Lord, that thou hast brought my Lord Abraham, for behold we thought he had been taken up from us. And his son Isaac also came and fell upon his neck, and in the same way all his men-slaves and women-slaves surrounded Abraham and embraced him, glorifying God. ”

“ When Abraham saw that the power appointed over the land did not supply it with might and holy strength as it merited, then "Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there" (Gen. 12:10) . How did Abraham know (that the land still needed correction) ? From the verse, "To your seed I will give this land." Abraham then knew that the only way to amend the land was through the holy grades of his descendants. Abraham then understood the secret of Wisdom - the land will not be properly mended in holiness, except as we have said. He therefore went down to Egypt, from there to correct that which was lacking. ”

“ The phrase " the seed " is therefore used in an individual and federal acceptation. Hence, whatever is promised to Abraham and Christ is also promised to their federal constituents-to the sons of Abraham, and brethren of Christ, by adoption into the family of God.
But the formula of national, or political, adoption has not yet been promulgated to the world. No people has ever been politically in God but Israel. The natural descendants of Abraham in the line of Isaac and Jacob became the people of God in a national sense by the adoption provided in the Mosaic law. ”

“ The place still exists, as a small town on the road from Jerusalem to Beersheba, in a valley surrounded by several mountains, and is called by the Arabs, with allusion to Abraham's stay there, el Khalil, i.e., the friend (of God) , which is the title given to Abraham by the Mohammedans. The clause “ in the land of Canaan” denotes, that not only did Sarah die in the land of promise, but Abraham as a foreigner acquired a burial-place by purchase there. ”

“ That there was a very ancient shrine in Hebron, that the great Tree of Mamre was the abode of a local deity, may be conceded, but to my mind there is no more real figure in history than Abraham. Especially when one compares the modern legends with the Biblical story does the substantial truth of the narrative in Genesis manifest itself. The narrative may contain elements of folk poetry, but the hero Abraham is a genuine personality. ”

“ There were seven children in the family. How hard it must be for Abraham to bring them up as Christians, in the midst of his heathen neighbors. Even his brothers hate him, wound his cattle, and break down his fences. Once they pointed a gun at him, but it did not go off. Abraham's comfort is to walk over to Kandy every Saturday, to worship God there on Sunday with the Christians; and he does not find fifteen miles too far for his willing feet. May the Lord preserve Abraham, faithful in the midst of the wicked.
BORNEO.
This is the largest island in the world, except one. ”

“ Abraham begins as a homeless wanderer, going forth from his kindred at the bidding of the one true God; and a homeless wanderer he remains to the end. He is a father of kings but no king himself, not even a landowner! He has to buy with money land enough to bury his dead! His life is one of intercession as well as concession. Abraham intercedes for the dwellers in Sodom and Gomorrah, feeling it a painful thing that even a few righteous should suffer with the many. Once indeed Abraham becomes a soldier. ”