whom such crime prevails has sunk to the lowest depths of evil and is ripe for destruction. God's hand has written His utter detestation of this vice upon every page of history; inhabitants thus guilty the land "spues out." Sodom had its warning before its final destruction, but did not profit by it, becoming only more openly sinful, more unblushingly vile.

Sad and lonely felt Abram at the departure of Lot, so long his companion and friend. He could not but grieve at the careless selfishness which had led his nephew into the midst of the seductions of the godless inhabitants of the plain; he must have felt a solitary man when this last link which bound him to his family beyond the flood was snapped asunder, when he, with none to help him or to confirm his acts and words, was left the only witness for God in all the land. He, whom in default of his own issue he had regarded as his heir and the inheritor of the great promise, had proved himself unworthy of the privilege, had recklessly cast it aside for the ease and comfort of an earthly home. The generous offer had been eagerly seized; and without regard to consequences Lot had taken up his abode where the name of Jehovah was unknown, and in a place whose inhabitants were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And now to comfort Abram in this trial, and to show him that the separation for which he grieved was a providential arrangement, the Lord made unto him a new revelation, containing a more formal and distinct reiteration of the promises originally given. Some have thought that a glorious vision of the land in all its extent was vouchsafed to him, even as Christ in His temptation was shown "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;" but the record merely says thus: "The Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 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 I will give it unto thee." Thus largely is his disinterestedness rewarded. He had unselfishly given Lot the choice of the land; he receives the promise of the whole of it. He need have no fear that he had parted with him who was Corn. a Lap. in loc.

to be his heir. His own seed should possess the country, and should be a multidude which none could number, Not as now, mere nomad chiefs, should they range the hills and plains; they should be settled firmly in this territory for ever. Such a promise, of course, was conditional; its fulfilment depended on the continued faith and obedience of the recipients.' What Abram could not foresee, God foreknew ; and this great promise was only fulfilled in Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, who has the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession (Psa. ii. 8). “They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham," and his blessing "has come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ" (Gal. iii. 9, 14). Still as yet Abram possessed not a foot of land in all the country. It was his inheritance, it was given to his seed, but they must wait God's good time before entering into possession.

God had said to Abram : 66 Arise, walk through the land;" but this was not a command, but rather an offer, as if He had said, "If thou wouldst see how fair and wide is this possession which I give to thy posterity, go forth and examine it for thyself." And, in fact, Abram never took it for a command; for henceforward he changed his former plan of shifting his own abode whenever the exigencies of food and water necessitated a change of quarters. He now sends forth his trusty retainers to take his flocks to fresh pasture grounds, while he himself remains in some fixed locality. From his second station at Bethel he now removes his tent, and comes and dwells "in the oak-grove of Mamre, which is in Hebron" (Gen. xiii. 18). Turning southward along the great watershed, passing what was afterwards Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, he arrived at a spot near Hebron or Kirjath-Arba, where stood a famous oak or terebinth-tree, named after the Amorite chief, Mamre. Tradition has located this encampment at Er Râmeh, some three miles north of Hebron, where Constantine built a large church in commemoration of the patriarch, and where a perennial spring supplies the neighbourhood with water. town of Hebron is beautifully situated on the side of a narrow valley clothed with luxuriant vineyards, whence, it is supposed, that Joshua's spies obtained the huge bunch of grapes which gave the place the name of "the valley of Eshcol." There are also groves of olive and other fruit-trees. "The appearance

The

I See Levit. xxvi.

I

of these vineyards is quite peculiar and very striking a veritable wilderness of hills and rocks, rough garden-walls, bushes, small trees, and an infinite number of crooked sticks inclined in every possible attitude except the perpendicular." But, what is the most important of all points in the position of an Eastern town, there is a good water supply at Hebron. In the vale below are two pools never dry. The larger is one hundred and thirty feet square and twenty-two feet deep, and there are other fountains at no great distance. The town and district were occupied by a Hittite tribe, and by a warlike clan of Amorites under three brothers-Aner, Mamre, and Eshcol. These at once received Abram with friendly ardour, and continued to be his staunch allies and supporters. Indeed, we have reason to suppose that they found their advantage in his help, and were very thankful to welcome among them a prince with a powerful following, who, in return for certain concessions, would aid their feeble community with wise counsel and material support. Accordingly, in the neighbourhood of this most ancient city, the patriarch made a more permanent abode than hitherto he had done. In the broad valley, extending for some thirty or forty miles southward, and remarkable for its fertility, his numerous flocks and herds found ample pasture. This was his third resting-place in the land that was to be his own. First Shechem, then Bethel received him; and now Hebron or Mamre is his home, and will be his resting-place when his pilgrimage is done. It is probable that he cultivated the land in these more permanent settlements as his son Isaac did after him (Gen. xxvi. 12). For all such purposes he possessed slaves in abundance; and these indeed were necessary for the due care of his flocks in a country unenclosed and exposed to the inroads of predatory tribes and the attacks of wild beasts.

Thomson, "The Land and the Book," p. 277

CHAPTER VII.

CHEDORLAOMER.

Invasion from Shinar-Kings engaged-Chedorlaomer; his expedition against the West-Battle in the vale of Siddim-Defeat of the Sodomites and capture of Lot-His rescue by Abram-Dan-The King of Sodom-Melchizedek; Abram's dealings with him; his office and typical character.

A NEW Scene opens in the life of Abram. The father of the faithful appears himself as a powerful chief, and as the head of a confederacy of Canaanite princes, contesting with the great world-p -power of Elam. It is a most interesting and important episode, and, from internal evidence, seems to have been introduced by Moses into his narrative from some ancient Canaanitish or Babylonian document. Its accuracy, which had been questioned by sceptical writers, has been wonderfully confirmed by monumental discoveries, and we can now trace the personages and events of the history, and give its approximate date, with all the certainty that can be expected in a time

so remote.

Fourteen years before the period at which we have arrived, while Abram was still in Chaldæa, the kings of the East, under Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, had made an expedition into Syria, and, among other conquests, had reduced to subjection the inhabitants of the five cities in the Arabah-Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela or Zoar-called afterwards Pentapolis (Wisd. x. 6). Elam was a country on the east of Babylonia, including what is known as Susiana, and lying partly in the mountains and partly in the plain. It was occupied by a Turanian race of character totally distinct from the

Babylonians, with whom they were continually at war. Babylonia was itself split up into various kingdoms and unable to combine against the invading force; hence, it often happened that the Elamites obtained the superiority, and, for a time, exercised supreme power over the whole country. An Assyrian. monarch, Assur-bani-pal, who is identified with Sardanapalus, records in one of his inscriptions how that 1635 years before his own time, i.e., about B.C. 2280, a king of Elam, named Kurdur-nankhundi, had invaded Babylonia and carried away an image of the goddess Nana who was worshipped there. For many years subsequent to this event the Elamites retained their supremacy, and Chedorlaomer was probably a descendant of Kurdur-nankhundi, and was sovereign of the Babylonian kings who are mentioned with him in Gen. xiv. I. These kings are evidently named from accurate accounts in national annals. First comes Amraphel, king of Shinar, or Southern Babylonia, whom the Septuagint calls Amarphal, and whose name, though not actually identified in any inscription, contains, according to Professor Sayce, the same element as that of a monumental king called Amar-Aku. Priority is given to him as representative of the great kingdom founded by Nimrod, from whom some writers make him fourth in succession. Next, we have Arioch, king of Ellasar, whom the Vulgate calls "Rex Ponti." Ellasar is Larsa, a town on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, a little to the south-east of Erech or Warka, and now marked by the mounds of Senkereh.3 Arioch ruled over that portion of Southern Chaldæa not comprised in the kingdom of Amraphel. The name Arioch occurs as that of a Babylonian in Dan. ii. 14. It is, with some reason, supposed to be identified with the Accadian Eri-Aku, servant of the Moon-god," who, in an inscription found at Mugheir, and now in the British Museum, calls himself the son of Kudur-Mabuk, "King of Elam," and " Father of the West," i.e. Syria. Kudur and Eri are equivalent terms, meaning " servant "; the former being an Elamite word, the latter an Accadian. 4 Kudur ap

1 G. Smith, "History of Babylonia," p. 97 f. Sayce, from the Monuments," p. 47 f.; "Monthly Interpreter," iii. 463 f.

2 Schrader, "Die Keilinschriften des Alt. Test.," p. 135 ff. Rawlinson,

3 Loftus, pp. 240, 256. Schrader, p. 135. See above, p. 20.

4"Monthly Interpreter," ubi supra.