27. B.C. 2348 to 1909

B.C. 2348 to 1909

Chapter I

Timeline View:

1. Early after the Flood, the country which we now call Palestine became the habitation of a portion of the tribes descended from Canaan, the youngest son of Ham. Hence the country acquired its earliest name, the Land of Canaan; and the inhabitants were, collectively, called Canaanites. At the time of Abraham the country was but thinly peopled, and the inhabitants were separated into the various nations, enumerated in the first section of the Introduction. These several nations were not united under a common head; but each was kept together by a common name and parentage, and by local connection. In all these nations every town, with its vicinage, appears to have formed a separate commonwealth under its own Melek or “king.” These kings appear to have been no other than the chief magistrates of the place, who were also leaders in war, and sometimes priests. Their authority was small, and they seem to have been unable to transact any important matter without the direct consent of their citizens. As there was abundant room in the land, the vacant pasturages were abandoned to the pastoral chiefs of other tribes or nations, with whom the Canaanites exchanged their goods and the produce of their fields for the products of the flocks and herds. Their language, with probably some difference of dialect, was the same with that which Abraham brought from Mesopotamia. Their moral practices had become very offensive, and their notions of God and his government were wild and uncertain; but there is no evidence that they were idolaters in the time of the Patriarchs.

2. Our only knowledge of the social condition of the Canaanites is to be gathered from the few intimations contained in the Book of Genesis. They lived in walled towns, at the gates of which public business was transacted; they cultivated the ground, and raised corn and wine. Silver by weight was their medium of exchange, and it would seem that every adult male was acquainted with the use of arms. Such were the people of Canaan, when their country was visited by the illustrious stranger whose descendants were to become its most celebrated inhabitants. The circumstances of that visit must now be explained.

3. One thousand six hundred and fifty-six years after the Creation, the race of Man had become so guilty before God, that he swept them from the earth by a flood of waters. Only one family, of which Noah was the father, was saved. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, through whom the vacant world was again replenished with inhabitants. In about 400 years after the flood, the new races of mankind had also forgotten God, and had only some vague remembrance of that ancient promise of a Deliverer, who should crush the head of the Serpent, by whose seducements sin and sorrow were brought into the world (Genesis 3). The world then seemed fast ripening for a new desolation; but God had sworn not again to destroy the earth for man’s iniquities (Gen 8:21-22). He chose rather to take one of the numerous tribes of men, and commit to its care the great truths which it was needful to keep alive in the world, until the time should come in which he purposed to make his will more fully known. These truths were, the knowledge of himself as the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and of his promise to provide a Redeemer for mankind.

4. The founder of this favored tribe was Abraham (at first called Abram), a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, in the line of Heber. He belonged to a wealthy pastoral family dwelling beyond the Euphrates, in that district in which the town of Ur (now Urfah) was situated. This family was not free from the general taint of idol-worship; for we are told that Terah, the father of Abraham, and probably also his sons, “served other gods” beyond the Euphrates. Nevertheless, the God of Noah does not appear to have been altogether unknown; and while the world at large lay in darkness, the last rays of departing truth still lingered upon the tents of Terah. Abraham was the youngest of three sons, the others being Haran and Nahor. Haran, the eldest, died early, leaving one son called Lot, and two daughters, Milcah and Sarah (at first called Sarai). Milcah became the wife of Nahor, and Sarah of Abraham. Nahor had children, but Abraham had none.

5. Before the flood, the life of man had been very long; after the flood, it gradually shortened; but in the times of which we write, it was not yet reduced to its present limit of three score and ten years. Abraham, therefore, although sixty years of age, was still in the prime of life when God made himself known to him in a vision, and required him to leave his own country for another which should be made known to him (Acts 7:2-4). He must have disclosed this mandate to his family; for they all went with him from the land of their birth. But they proceeded no further than Haran, in another part of Mesopotamia. The cause we know not; but in that neighborhood they remained sixteen years, when Terah died, at the age of 205 years. (Gen 11:27-32).

6. When Terah was dead, a second and more special call was received by Abraham, requiring him not only to quit his country, but his kindred, for a strange land. But this more strict requirement was accompanied with encouraging promises of blessedness and renown; and with the obscure intimation of some great distant blessing which the families of men should receive through him. With that undoubting faith and prompt and unquestioning obedience which he always exhibited, and for which he is much commended in the sacred books, Abraham separated himself from his brother Nahor, and departed. He was accompanied by his nephew Lot, the son of his deceased brother Haran; and as both had great possessions of flocks, and herds, and slaves, a large caravan was doubtless formed by their union. They crossed the river Euphrates, and, traversing the deserts to the west, at length entered the land of Canaan, and first pitched their tents in the beautiful valley of Moreh, lying between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, in which the city of Shechem was afterwards built.

7. In this early age there were no temples. Men worshipped their gods at altars erected in the open air, sometimes amid the shade of umbrageous groves. Their more solemn acts of worship consisted in the sacrifice of victims from their flocks or herds, or oblations of the fruits of the ground-corn, wine, and oil. So did the patriarchs worship God; and many were the monuments of their piety, in the form of altars, which they erected in the land of their sojourning.

8. The year after Abraham’s entrance into Canaan, a great scarcity arose in that land. This was no doubt occasioned by the absence of the customary rains. But Egypt, whose fertility depends upon the overflowing of the Nile, was not affected by this drought, and continued to afford its usual abundance of corn. To Egypt, therefore, the patriarch repaired. Fearing to be slain for the sake of his wife Sarah, who was very beautiful, Abraham desired her to declare that she was his sister. The consequence was, that the king, hearing of her great beauty, sent and took her to his own palace; in return loading her alleged “brother” with valuable gifts, such as befitted his condition—camels, asses, sheep and oxen, and men and women slaves. But the truth was soon made known, through the grievous disorders with which the Lord afflicted the king and his household as soon as Sarah came under his roof. He therefore sent her back, and after reproving Abraham for his conduct, desired him to withdraw from the country, probably fearing what might happen through the presence of a man who so manifestly enjoyed the special protection of God.

9. So Abraham returned to Canaan very rich, not only in cattle, but in silver and gold. Proceeding northward, he came to his former station near Bethel, and encamped there. The increased substance of Abraham and Lot, made it difficult to find sufficient pastures for the flocks of both in the same neighborhood, and this led to frequent contentions between their shepherds. They therefore separated; and Lot removed to the fertile and well-watered plain which the waters of the Dead Sea now cover. Here were the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela (afterwards Zoar). This enforced separation from the last of his kin was doubtless a great grief to Abraham. But he was comforted by the renewed promises of God, who again assured him of a numerous posterity, and directed him to go forth and survey more largely the fine country which was to become their heritage. He went first southward, and pitched his tent under the shade of a terebinth tree, in the pleasant valley of Mamre, near Hebron, where he remained a considerable time.

10. The Assyrian empire, beyond the Euphrates, appears already to have risen to some importance, by reducing many petty kings to the condition of tributaries. The strength of these inferior chiefs appears to have been then employed in distinct and foreign expeditions, for the further aggrandizement of the empire to which they were subject. About four years before Abraham entered the land of Canaan, one of these princes, Chedorlaomer, whose own kingdom was Elam (probably Elymais, a district of south-western Persia), was entrusted with a command to extend the empire in the country west of the Euphrates. This he executed by rendering several nations tributary; and he appears to have remained on this side the great river to keep his conquests in obedience.[4] After twelve years of subjection, and about eight years after the first arrival of Abraham in Canaan, some of the conquered nations revolted; and refused any longer to send their tribute. Among these were the petty “kings,” or chiefs, in the five cities of the plain to which Lot had withdrawn. This brought upon them the vengeance of Chedorlaomer, who, with his former confederates, invaded and ravaged all the country east of the Jordan, defeated the five kings in a pitched battle, and retired with numerous captives and abundant spoil. Lot was among the captives. No sooner was intelligence of this brought to Abraham, who was still in the valley of Mamre, than he called out all his servants who were able to bear arms, in number three hundred and eighteen, and being joined by a few friendly native chiefs, set forth in pursuit. The invaders were overtaken near the source of the Jordan, and Abraham falling upon them suddenly by night, put them to utter rout, and pursued them to the neighborhood of Damascus. Thus was Lot delivered, and with him were recovered all the captives and spoil which had been taken. According to the war-laws of the East, all this prey had, by the act of recovery, become his own. This right was cordially recognized by the king of Sodom; but with a generous pride the patriarch declined to appropriate the smallest portion of the spoil, lest it should be in the power of any one of the native princes to say that he had made Abraham rich.

[4] It is right to apprise the reader that the above, as far as regards the Assyrian empire, and the position of Chedorlaomer and other kings under it, is not certain history; but it is supported by circumstances, and seems to us a better explanation of the obscure intimations in Genesis, than the supposition that the king of Elam and others, from very distinct quarters, were independent kings, acting for themselves, and allied for the occasion.

11. His whole conduct on this occasion won the patriarch the esteem of the well-disposed native princes. One of them, Melchizedek (the just king), of whom we know nothing but that be also was one of the remaining worshippers of the true God, came forth from his town to meet the returning patriarch, blessed him, and supplied his people with victuals;[5] and as the priestly functions were then exercised by kings and chiefs, he offered sacrifices for himself and Abraham to “the most high God, the maker of heaven and earth.” After this the patriarch returned to his encampment at Mamre.

[5] All kinds of victuals are understood as comprehended under the terms “bread,” the chief article of food, and “wine,” the chief article of drink.