the secrecy as to his antecedents, and the functions which he exercised, were providentially ordered to make him a type of Christ, the priest of all mankind, whose eternal generation and continual office are thus so strikingly adumbrated.

A vision bringing comfort-Promise of a son and numerous posterityAbram's faith counted for righteousness-Jehovah's covenant with him-Nature of such covenant-Mode of ratification-Prophecy of the future-Chronology of the period of four hundred years-Dispossession and destruction of the Canaanites-Boundaries of the Promised Land-Tribes to be dispossessed.

ABRAM returned from his expedition and took up his abode at Mamre. He had increased in power, he had shown himself a valiant warrior and a skilful leader; but war was not his trade; he had no desire for military renown or triumphs won by blood. His very success in the late enterprise might lead to reprisals which would bring danger and suffering; that arm which had struck the revolting Cities of the Plain might easily be outstretched to reach him, and revenge the late rout at Dan. He had not made a friend of the Sodomite king, or improved the opportunity of securing an influential position among the peoples of the Plain; and he had no son to uphold his cause or support him in his old age. The prospect seemed dreary-one that might well try the faith of this servant of God. And the Lord interposed to cheer and comfort him by a new revelation. In announcing this the writer uses an expression ("the word of the Lord") not found hitherto in the pages of the Bible, though very frequent in later books. We read (Gen. xv. 1): After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision." It was no mere dream of the night that clung to his memory when he awoke; a subjective impression, perhaps, but one that was made in waking moments. He is led forth by "the

word," he is bidden look upon the stars, he offers sacrifice. It is a waking vision which is vouchsafed, and it begins with the tender injunction with which angel voices have familiarized us in the New Testament: "Fear not." The terror which frail man must feel thus brought mysteriously near unto God, is subdued by these two words, and the seer is encouraged to listen to the Divine communication. "I am thy shield,” said God; 66 you need not fear what man can do unto you." The great deliverance lately wrought proved this. "And thy reward shall be exceeding great.” 2 And Abram is perplexed and disquieted by these promises, which look to the dim future for accomplishment. He sees not how in his childless condition the word can be fulfilled. "Lord God" (Adonai Jehovah), he sadly cries, combining for the first time these two names, What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus ? To me Thou hast given no seed; and lo, one born in my house is mine heir." With no son of his own, he had conceived the idea of making this dependent the inheritor of his possessions; and it was not a design calculated to satisfy his longings, or to comfort his heart. His loneliness and desolation struck more forcibly on his soul as he heard of rich blessings laid up for him. He would go to his grave childless: what good were they to a solitary man who had none to whom to hand them down but a foreigner and a servant? He may have been a tried and trusty follower, one who had accompanied him from his first arrival in Syria, and had managed his household with skill and honour; yet he was not of the holy race, and in his hands the wealth gotten during these years would pass to aliens, and not help to keep alive his master's name and family; nay, it might all be carried away to Damascus, and enrich a godless people far from the promised land. Such thoughts passed through Abram's mind. He did not repine; he was not impatient under this gloomy prospect; it saddened his reflections; it did not obscure his faith. And God had pity on his perplexity, while He made further trial of this faith. The astounding promise is given that his very own son shall be his heir. This aged man,

1 Matt. xxviii. 5; Luke i. 13, 30, ii. 10. Comp. John xii. 15. Wordsworth in loc.

2 This seems the best translation if we take into consideration Abram's See "Speaker's Commentary" in loc.

answer.

.

The

whose wife was barren, should be the father of a male child, from whom should spring a posterity as numberless as the stars of heaven, which he was bidden to go forth and observe. Often in his old home, among the Chaldaic astronomers, had he watched the heavens, and acquired large notions of the number and magnitude of the bodies that revolved therein; he is henceforth to see in them a type of his own progeny, no longer compared as before (chap. xiii. 16) to the dust of the earth, but likened to the glorious lights of the firmament on high. Such promise against all experience and probability could only be believed on the authority of Him who gave it, and in perfect dependence upon His word. Human wisdom must resign its pride and own its impotence before it could receive such an announcement unquestioning and contented. And Abram "believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." His faith made him righteous before God. Levitical law was not yet given; the covenant of circumcision was not yet established; it was not by obedience to a formal code of enactments that righteousness was won, but by trust in God, by self-surrender, by absolute dependence upon the revealed will of God. The word rendered "believed” implies a building upon a sure foundation, and gives a true notion of the ground on which the whole edifice of Abram's life was raised. This faith was not barren of good works; it taught him to walk with God, to obey without questioning, to offer all his actions to the Lord whom he knew, to endeavour always to please Him who had vouchsafed to reveal Himself to His servant. This faith carried him back to the righteousness of Adam as first created, because by it his will was conformed to God's will, he had no desire but to hear what was the Lord's pleasure, and then forthwith to put it in execution.

Now the promise of a son is given, and God reminds Abram how he has been His special care from the time that he was called to leave the home at Ur, that he might receive the possession of the land whereon he stood. We have seen that Abram believed God's word, yet he answers this promise by a question "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?"-a question not conceived in the spirit of Zacharias, who doubted the angel's word (Luke i. 18), but rather in that of the Virgin Mary, who, giving full credence to the annunciation, asked concerning the mode of its fulfilment (Luke i. 34). He

wanted some outward sign or token that what he heard or saw was real no dream or baseless vision, but a formal revelation, which might leave a firm conviction when the immediate impression had faded away. Thus Gideon prayed for the sign of the wet and dry fleece to prove that the Lord had talked with him (Judges vi. 17, 36 ff.); thus Hezekiah obtained the sign of the returning shadow that he might realize his wonderful recovery from impending death (2 Kings xx. 8 ff.). And God granted Abram what he desired, and added more. He announced to him that he was to be henceforward honoured by a new connection with the Lord, to be taken into covenant with Jehovah, to be himself the prince of that peculiar people who were specially dedicated to the Lord, and who were to receive His special guidance and care. But this high privilege was to be won by suffering. Abram should be beset by trials, in bearing which his faith should be purified and strengthened; the people should be trained by hard discipline, and under foreign bondage work out their destined consecration; they should meet with reverses, afflictions, delays, oppression, in which they must learn to recognize the hand Divine that led them, and wait His good time for relief. And thus the formal covenant was made, and the future with its sufferings unfolded. This promise with the prediction is called a covenant, though rather by way of accommodation than strictly; for man under such circumstances cannot be conceived as an independent contracting party, or as conferring benefits proportionate to those which he receives. At the same time, he has his part to play in the transaction. Though all the benefits are found on God's side, man must own and act up to the obligations which he incurs. God engages of His own good pleasure to communicate certain favours to man, but the latter must observe the conditions upon which he receives these favours, and upon obedience to which the retaining of them depends. This is not, indeed, the first time that the word "covenant" is used in Scripture; the term is applied (Gen. ix. 9) to the Divine promise after the Flood, that the ordinary course of nature should never again be interrupted by such a catastrophe. But the Noachic covenant was universal, and accompanied by no moral or spiritual blessing. At this moment, on the other hand, God makes a covenant with one man and his posterity, agreeing to confer certain great privileges on certain conditions; and it is in conformity to man's