28. B.C. 1909 to 1893

B.C. 1909 to 1893

Chapter II

Timeline View:

1. Abraham had been promised a numerous posterity. The promise was of some standing, but as yet there were no signs of its fulfillment: he had no child, nor seemed likely to have any. When he thought of this he was sometimes discouraged; but the Lord condescended to enter into a formal covenant with him, not only to assure him that a son of his own should inherit his substance, but that the posterity of that son should become a nation, which, after being afflicted many years in a strange land, should return to take possession of the beautiful country in which he himself lived as a stranger. But although Abraham was to be the father of this promised son, Sarah had not at any time been named as the mother. She had always been reputed barren; and now that she was advanced in years, had given over all hope of children. She therefore recommended a course which was sanctioned by the ideas and usages of the time. She proposed that the patriarch should receive her own handmaid, Hagar, as a secondary and inferior wife, and that any child which this bond-woman might have, should be counted as the child of the mistress. Abraham did not object to this course, and it soon became plain that Hagar would give birth to a child. This consideration appears to have made her behave unbecomingly towards Sarah, who, in return, treated her so harshly, that she fled, and wandered into the southern wilderness. But an angel met her there, and encouraged her to return to the tents of Abraham, where, in due season, she gave birth to a son, who was called Ishmael, and who became the founder of a large portion of the Arabian tribes.

2. Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, when Sarah was ninety years old, and Abraham ninety and nine, the Lord again appeared to the patriarch, and solemnly renewed his covenant to be, in an especial manner, The God of him and of his numerous race. And as a ratification of this covenant on their part, the ceremony of circumcision was instituted, that every male in that race should bear upon him a token of this covenant with God. And further, when Abraham so spoke as to spew that his hope of posterity was resting on Ishmael, be was assured that the heir of the covenant was not yet born, and that Sarah herself was his destined mother. Even the name (Isaac) by which he should be called was given; and it was on this occasion that the patriarch himself had his name changed from Abram to Abraham, and his wife’s name was altered from Sarai to Sarah.

3. It was not long after this that three heavenly beings, in the guise of travellers, accepted the hospitality of Abraham. When they arose to depart, the patriarch went with them a little way. They directed their course towards Sodom; and as they proceeded, the Chief Person, as a mark of his confidence and favor, opened to Abraham the design of his present appearance in these parts. He declared that the iniquity of Sodom and of the other cities of the Plain, was very great; and that such enormous wickedness could be no longer allowed to pollute the earth, if their present conduct answered to the grievous cry which had come before His throne. The two avenging angels then went on, and Abraham, remaining alone with the Lord, and, touchingly describing himself as “but dust and ashes,” deprecated his anger, while he took upon him to intercede for the devoted cities. This he did with reverential earnestness, until the Lord said, that if but ten upright men were found in Sodom, it should be saved for their sake. The same evening the two angels came to Sodom, and were invited by Lot to spend the night under his roof. They yielded to his hospitable importunity; and before the night was over, they had full reason to be satisfied that the wickedness of the inhabitants was fully answerable to the cry which had ascended unto God. The doom of these cities was therefore sealed; yet that the innocent might not perish with the guilty, the angels warned Lot of the impending destruction, and urged his immediate departure from the place. Pressed and led by them, he left the town, with big wife and two daughters; and at his intercession, the small city of Bela, thenceforth called Zoar, was spared, that it might be a place of refuge to him. As they sped over the plain, Sodom and the other cities received their doom—“The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire,” whereby the cities and all their inhabitants were utterly consumed, and the waters of the Dead Sea came over the ground on which they had stood. The family of Lot did not wholly escape; for as his wife lingered regretfully behind the rest, she was overwhelmed by the destroying shower, which encrusting her body, left it standing like “a pillar of salt.” Lot went to Zoar, but withdrew to a cave in the neighboring mountains, where he became the father of two sons, Moab and Ammon.

4. Very soon after the destruction of Sodom, Abraham removed his encampment to the south-west, into that part of the country where the Philistines had already established themselves. Here an adventure happened very similar to that which had occurred in Egypt. Uninstructed by experience, Abraham pretended that Sarah was his sister. As such she was seen and admired by Abimelech, king of Gerar, who sent and took her to his own house; but being warned by God in a dream that she was another man’s wife, he restored her to Abraham with valuable gifts, but not without a keen rebuke.

5. The time at length arrived when Sarah gave to her husband the long-promised blessing of a son. On the eighth day he was circumcised, and the name of Isaac was given to him. About three years the mother nourished him at her own breast, and then a great feast marked the day in which the child was weaned (b.c. 1893). The birth of Isaac, the great attention which was paid to him, and the consciousness that by him Ishmael was cut off from the heritage of Abraham, were matters very distasteful to Hagar and her son, and at this great feast they took no pains to hide their feelings. At this Sarah was highly provoked, and insisted with Abraham that they should be sent away from the camp. The patriarch was very reluctant to take so harsh a course; but on receiving an intimation from Heaven that this was in accordance with the divine intentions, and that the Lord would care for the prosperity of Ishmael, he resisted no longer, but sent both the mother and son away, with suitable provisions for the journey.

6. They had not, however, travelled farther than the wilderness of Beersheba when their supply of water failed, and Ishmael, overcome with beat, thirst, and weariness, declared himself unable to proceed any further. Hagar assisted him to reach some shrubs, under the shade of which he lay down; and his mother, not being able to endure the anguish of seeing him die, withdrew to a distance. In her grief, an angel of God called to her with words of comfort; he made known to her that there was a well of fresh water not far off, and encouraged her by renewed predictions of the prosperity of Ishmael. Thus relieved, they remained among the tribes of the Desert; and, in clue time, Ishmael was married to a woman of Egypt, became a person of note, and was the father of several sons, the founders of families and tribes, which formed, and no doubt still form, a large portion of the Arabian people.