CHAPTER XI.

GERAR AND BEERSHEBA.

Removal to Gerar--Philistines-Abraham's evasion-Sarah taken by Abimelech ; saved by God's interposition-Abimelech's conduct-His rebuke-Beersheba-Treaty between Abimelech and Abraham-Origin of the name Beersheba-Isaac born; signification of his nameIshmael's conduct- He and his mother cast out-Reason of this expulsion-Peril in the wilderness; relieved by the angel of GodIshmael's subsequent history-Tribes sprung from him.

FOR fifteen years Abraham had dwelt at Mamre, but now he moves his camp to the south country. It was probably not merely for the requirements of his flocks and herds that he took this step. The terrible catastrophe in the Plain, the sight of that desolated region, the thought of the calamity of Lot and his family, rendered the whole neighbourhood hateful to the tender-hearted patriarch. If he knew of Lot's own safety he could have no comfort in intercourse with him, especially should any intimation of his nephew's crime have reached him. So he left his old home, and took his way into that region whither Hagar had fled from her mistress' tyranny, between Kadesh and Shur, and which Abraham himself had traversed on his road to and from Egypt. Here he roamed from spot to spot, and finally pitched his tent near a town called Gerar. This place lay in a valley running towards Beersheba, from which it is some twentyfive miles distant. It is identified with the heap of ruins called Umm el Jerrâr, ten miles south of Gaza, thirty from Eleutheropolis, where are remains of cisterns and large quantities of broken pottery. Here the patriarch first came in contact with the Philistines, who, in after years, inhabited the Shephelah

or maritime plain of Canaan, waging unceasing war with the Israelites. They had not at present formed that confederacy of five cities which was found so formidable in the days of the Judges, but were a pastoral tribe, living under the chieftainship of a king who bore the official title of Abimelech, "Father King." Succeeding years were to add so greatly to their strength and importance that from them the whole land was called Palestine, this appellation quite superseding the old name of Canaan under Greek rule. Neither numerous, nor warlike, at this period of their history, they, though not of Semitic descent, received the stranger cordially, and seem to have understood his language. At least, the word Abi-melek is Semitic, and there is no trace of the need of an interpreter in their intercourse with the Hebrews. Probably when they dispossessed the original Semitic settlers they adopted the language of the conquered race, as we ourselves saw Saxon prevail over Norman French. The friendly relation between them and Abraham seemed at first in danger of being interrupted from the same cause that had led to the difficulty with Pharaoh in Egypt, some twenty years before. Again Abraham gave out that Sarah was his sister; “for,” as the Septuagint Version adds, "he feared to say she is my wife, lest the men of the city should slay him because of her" (chap. xx. 2); and again the same result followed, for Abimelech sent and took her." If it was for her beauty that he desired her, this creates a difficulty, as she was now ninety years old; and hence some critics have asserted that this episode is merely a repetition of that in chap. xii. introduced by the Elohist, as the earlier was by the Jehovist. However, the whole details of the two histories are different, and there is nothing improbable in the fact that the same danger twice beset Sarah while sojourning among heathen peoples. And as to the cause which led Abimelech to take her; it must be remembered that her youthful powers had been renewed since the visit of the three angels, when she was made capable of bearing a child, and so her comeliness may have been retained even to this advanced age. On the other hand; Abimelech may have merely desired to ally himself by the ties of affinity to a powerful chieftain, and to make, what would be termed in modern society, a mariage de convénance. The astonishing thing is that Abraham should a second time have had recourse to this unworthy

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* Comp. 1 Sam. xvii.

subterfuge, as if he thought that God had already sanctioned the artifice, and would again interfere to secure its success. He certainly had not yet learned the high morality which we expect in this righteous man ; but, as we said before, we must not judge him by the Christian standard in this respect. The Oriental idea of veracity was of a very low order; and considering the Philistines to have no fear of God, and to be likely to exercise their power without regard to right, Abraham took that means of self-defence which naturally occurred to him. But could he have been blind to the possible result of his action ? Sarah was promised a son within a year; and yet he was exposing her to sin and pollution, and endangering the fulfilment of his own hopes on which so momentous a result depended. He could not have forgotten the solemn visit of the angels; he could not have disregarded the claims of his unborn child. What was it that led him to play so mean a part? It was somewhat of that spirit which appeared so strongly in his posterity, only in his case it was free from pride; but it was not wholly free from presumption. God had once intervened for his wife's protection; He would do so again. The promise of an heir from his own body, lawfully begotten, must be fulfilled; no untoward event could mar God's design; however perilous the course, however inextricable the dilemma, a way of escape would be found. Thus Abraham may have reasoned. His conscience was not troubled by the deceit; the half-truth he told in saying that Sarah was his sister was not a cowardly falsehood in his eyes, but a clever evasion of a difficulty; and his trust in God's overruling Providence, and in his own high destiny, left him calm and confident in the midst of most critical circumstances. As the event proved, he was right in his expectation. The mighty future that centred in Sarah's son was not to be emperilled by man's frailty. God warned Abimelech in a dream not to commit the crime which he had meditated. "Thou art but a dead man," said the Divine voice, "for the woman thou hast taken is a man's wife." The written law against adultery had not been given (Deut. xxii. 22), yet the grievous nature of that sin had long been recognized in society, and here God Himself gives His sentence about it. He had let Pharaoh learn his iniquity by consequences, and had not personally warned him of his error; but there was some good in this prince of Gerar; he knew right from wrong, and desired to

follow the law of conscience; he had some knowledge of God (Elohim), and was open to receive any intimation of His will. So a dream was sent to him. This channel of communication has often been used when open revelations or Divine messengers were not vouchsafed. Familiar instances will occur to every one. Jacob on the field of Luz, Laban in his pursuit of his defrauded son-in-law, Joseph with his predicted greatness, another Joseph in the case of his betrothed wife Mary, the wise men ere their return to their home, Paul in his shipwreckwith all such God communicated by means of dreams. In the present instance, the dream explained the reason of a divinely sent sickness, which had attacked Abimelech and his household. It was inflicted in order to prevent wrong being offered to Sarah, and a crime committed involuntarily by a people who did not share in the gross vices of the Canaanites, and among whom some remains of true religion still lingered. The king could say with truth that he had acted with no evil motives, with integrity of heart and innocency of hand; he could, in this respect at any rate, call his nation righteous; and God condescended to unfold and to make known the working of His Providence, and to show him how to regard Abraham, and how to make reparation for his offence. He was at once to restore the wife to her husband, and to beg for the intercession of Abraham who was a "Prophet; and he shall pray for thee," said God, "and thou shalt live." In what sense was Abraham a prophet (nabi)? We are too much accustomed to consider this title as applicable only to those inspired persons who predicted future events. But the use of the word in Holy Scripture is not so restricted. Any one inspired by God, or used by Him to communicate His will to men, is so called. Aaron, as the mouthpiece of Moses, is termed (Exod. vii. 1) his prophet; "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm," says the Lord, in Psa. cv. 15, referring to the patriarchs. And so in Christian times religious teachers were named prophets, though they were not possessed of predictive powers.1 Abraham therefore, as one especially favoured by God and in communication with Him, received the title of Prophet here; and Abimelech readily recognized in him a sacred person invested with a sacred office, and besought his advocacy in deprecation of his involuntary error. The office of intercession was not a I See Acts xiii. 1; 1 Cor. xii. 28 f., xiv. 29.

new one to the patriarch. It was one phase of the wonderful relation in which, since the renewal of the Covenant, he stood towards Jehovah. As, when with courageous humility he lifted up his expostulation for the Cities of the Plain, he drew near to God, so now he stood as mediator for Abimelech, and offered prayer in his behalf to that God who had deigned to grant him such familiar access. The intercession was heard; the sickness was removed, and Abimelech and his household were relieved from that fear with which the plague and its heaven-sent explanation had stricken their hearts. The king, mindful of Abraham's unique position, very mildly remonstrates with him on conduct which might have led him and his people into the commission of what he recognized as a great crime. "Why hast thou treated me thus?" he asks. "What didst thou see in me, or in my people, that thou shouldest think of us as adulterers and murderers?" Abraham excuses himself on the plea that he had no confidence in the morality of the inhabitants, who were not, as he supposed, worshippers of the true God, and would not be restrained from injury and oppression by any motives of religion. For the evasion concerning his wife, he asserts that what he said was true, as Sarah was his halfsister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother." The exact parentage of Sarah cannot be determined. If, as was said before, she is the same as Iscah, the child of Haran, the word daughter must be here used for granddaughter. The excuse satisfied Abimelech, who, as was natural, saw nothing to blame in the subterfuge itself. His only anxiety was to stand well with so influential a person, one who not only was possessed of great wealth and a powerful retinue, but by reason of his intercourse with heaven was to be propitiated as something more than human, or at any rate of mysterious and awe-inspiring character. To this end he loads his visitor with presents-slaves, sheep, oxen-and, restoring his wife, bids him select the fairest region in all his territory to dwell in. Besides these gifts he presents Abraham also with money, a thousand pieces of silver, or a thousand didrachmas, according to the Septuagint. This sum might indeed represent the value of the present of slaves and cattle, if we had any proof that a calculation of this kind would be made in those times; more probably it is an additional gift offered to the great Emir to do him special honour.

Of the form and value of this offering we know