nis life prior to the age of 60; and respecting a person living in times so remote no authentic information can be derived from any other source. There are indeed traditions, but they are too manifestly built up on the foundation of a few obscure intimations in Scripture to be entitled to any credit. Thus it is intimated in Josh. xxiv. 2, that Terah and his family 'served other gods' beyond the Euphrates: and on this has been founded the romance that Terah was not only a worshipper, but a maker of idols; that the youthful Abraham, discovering the futility of such gods, destroyed all those his father had made, and justified the act in various conversations and arguments with Terah, which we find repeated at length. Again, 'Ur of the Chaldees' was the name of the place where Abraham was born, and from which he went forth to go, he knew not whither, at the call of God. Now Ur (N) means fire; and we may therefore read that he came forth from the fire of the Chaldees; on which has been built the story that Abraham was, for his disbelief in the established idols, cast by king Nimrod into a burning furnace, from which he was by special miracle delivered. And to this the premature death of Haran has suggested the addition that he, by way of punishment for his disbelief of the truths for which Abraham suffered, was marvellously destroyed by the same fire from which his brother was still more marvellously preserved. Again, the fact that Chaldea was the region in which astronomy was reputed to have been first cultivated, suggested that Abraham brought astronomy westward, and that he even taught that science to the Egyptians (Joseph. Antiq. i. 8). These are goodly specimens of tradition-building; and more of them may be found in the alleged history of Abraham by those who think them worth the trouble of the search. It is just to Josephus to state that most of these stories are rejected by him, although the tone of some of his remarks is in agreement with them.

Although Abraham is, by way of eminence, named first, it appears probable that he was the youngest of Terah's sons, and born by a second wife, when his father was 130 years old. Terah was seventy years old when the eldest son was born (Gen. xi. 32; xii. 4; xx. 12: comp. Hales, ii. 107); and that eldest son appears to have been Haran, from the fact that his brothers married his daughters, and that his daughter Sarai was only ten years younger than his brother Abraham (Gen. xvii. 17). It is shown by Hales (ii. 107), that Abraham was 60 years old when the family quitted their native city of Ur, and went and abode in Charran. The reason for this movement does not appear in the Old Testament. Josephus alleges that Terah could not bear to remain in the place where Haran had died (Antiq. i. 6.5); while the apocryphal book of Judith, in conformity with the traditions still current among the Jews and Moslems, affirms that they were cast forth because they would no longer worship the gods of the land (Judith v. 6-8). The real cause transpires in Acts vii. 24: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and come hither to a land (y) which I will shew thee. Then departing from the land of the Chaldees, he dwelt

in Charran.' This first call is not recorded, but only implied in Gen. xii.: and it is distinguished by several pointed circumstances from the second, which alone is there mentioned. Accordingly Abraham departed, and his family, including his aged father, removed with him. They proceeded not at once to the land of Canaan, which indeed had not been yet indicated to Abraham as his destination; but they came to Charran, and tarried at that convenient station for fifteen current years, until Terah died, at the age of 205 years. Being free from his filial duties, Abraham, now 75 years of age, received a second and more pointed call to pursue his destination: 'Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land (. Tu y), which I will shew thee' (Gen. xii. 1). The difference of the two calls is obvious: in the former the land is indefinite, being designed only for a temporary residence; in the latter it is definite, intimating a permanent abode. A third condition was also annexed to the latter call, that he should separate from his father's house, and leave his brother Nahor's family behind him in Charran. This must have intimated to him that the Divine call was personal to himself, and required that he should be isolated not only from his nation, but from his family. He however took with him his nephew Lot, whom, having no children of his own, he appears to have regarded as his heir, and then went forth 'not knowing whither he went' (Heb. xi. 8), but trusting implicitly to the Divine guidance. And it seems to have been the intention of Him by whom he had been called, to open gradually to him the high destinies which awaited him and his race, as we perceive that every successive communication with which he was favoured rendered more sure and definite to him the objects for which he had been called from the land of his birth.

No particulars of the journey are given. Abra ham arrived in the land of Canaan, which he found occupied by the Canaanites in a large number of small independent communities, which cultivated the districts around their several towns. The country was however but thinly peopled; and, as in the more recent times of its depopulation, it afforded ample pasture-grounds for the wandering pastors. One of that class Abrahar must have appeared in their eyes. In Mesopotamia the family had been pastoral, but dwelling in towns and houses, and sending cut the flocks and herds under the care of shepherds. But the migratory life to which Abraham had now been called, compelled him to take to the tent-dwelling as well as the pastoral life: and the usages which his subsequent history indicates are therefore found to present a condition of manners and habits analogous to that which still exists among the nomade pastoral, or Bedouin tribes of south-western Asia.

The rich pastures in that part of the country tempted Abraham to form his first encampment in the vale of Moreh, which lies between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Here the strong faith which had brought the childless man thus far from his home was rewarded by the grand promise:-'I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse

thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed' (Gen. xii. 2, 3). It was further promised that to his posterity should be given the rich heritage of that beautiful country into which he had come (v. 7). It will be seen that this important promise consisted of two parts, the one temporal, the other spiritual. The temporal was the promise of posterity, that he should be blessed himself, and be the founder of a great nation; the spiritual, that he should be the chosen ancestor of the Redeemer, who had been of old obscurely predicted (Gen. iii. 15), and thereby become the means of blessing all the families of the earth. The implied condition on his part was, that he should publicly profess the worship of the true God in this more tolerant land; and accordingly 'he built there an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.' He soon after removed to the district between Bethel and Ai, where he also built an altar to that 'JEHOVAH' whom the world was then hastening to forget. His farther removals tended southward, until at length a famine in Palestine compelled him to withdraw into Egypt, where corn abounded. Here his apprehension that the beauty of his wife Sarai might bring him into danger with the dusky Egyptians, overcame his faith and rectitude, and he gave out that she was his sister. As he had feared, the beauty of the fair stranger excited the admiration of the Egyptians, and at length reached the ears of the king, who forthwith exercised his regal right of calling her to his harem, and to this Abraham, appearing as only her brother, was obliged to submit. As, however, the king had no intention to act harshly in the exercise of his privilege, he loaded Abraham with valuable gifts, suited to his condition, being chiefly in slaves and cattle. These presents could not have been refused by him without an insult which, under all the circumstances, the king did not deserve. A grievous disease inflicted on Pharaoh and his household relieved Sarai from her danger, by revealing to the king that she was a married woman; on which he sent for Abraham, and, after rebuking him for his conduct, restored his wife to him, and recommended him to withdraw from the country. He accordingly returned to the land of Canaan, much richer than when he left it 'in cattle, in silver, and in gold (Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 2).

Lot also had much increased his possessions: and soon after their return to their previous station near Bethel, the disputes between their respective shepherds about water and pasturage soon taught them that they had better separate. The recent promise of posterity to Abraham himself, although his wife had been accounted barren, probably tended also in some degree to weaken the tie by which the uncle and nephew had hitherto been united. The subject was broached by Abraham, who generously conceded to Lot the choice of pasture-grounds. Lot chose the well-watered plain in which Sodom and other towns were situated, and removed thither [Lor]. Thus was accomplished the dissolution of a connection which had been formed before the promise of children was given, and the disruption of which appears to have been necessary for that complete isolation of the coming race which the Divine purpose required. Immediately afterwards the patriarch was cheered and encouraged by a more distinct and formal reiteration of the promises which had

been previously made to him, of the occupation of the land in which he lived by a posterity numerous as the dust. Not long after, he removed to the pleasant valley of Mamre, in the neighbourhood of Hebron (then called Arba), and pitched his tent under a terebinth tree (Gen. xiii.). It appears that fourteen years before this time the south and east of Palestine had been invaded by a king called Chedorlaomer, from beyond the Euphrates, who brought several of the small disunited states of those quarters under tribute. Among them were the five cities of the Plain of Sodom, to which Lot had withdrawn. This burden was borne impatiently by these states, and they at length withheld their tribute. This brought upon them a ravaging visitation from Chedorlaomer and four other (perhaps tributary) kings, who scoured the whole country east of the Jordan, and ended by defeating the kings of the plain, plundering their towns, and carrying the people away as slaves. Lot was among the sufferers. When this came to the ears of Abraham, he immediately armed such of his slaves as were fit for war, in number 318, and being joined by the friendly Amoritish chiefs, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, pursued the retiring invaders. They were overtaken near the springs of the Jordan; and their camp being attacked on opposite sides by night, they were thrown into disorder, and fled. Abraham and his men pursued them as far as the neighbourhood of Damascus, and then returned with all the men and goods which had been taken away. Although Abraham had no doubt been chiefly induced to undertake this exploit by his regard for Lot, it involved so large a benefit, that, as the act of a sojourner, it must have tended greatly to enhance the character and power of the patriarch in the view of the inhabitants at large. In fact, we afterwards find him treated by them with high respect and consideration. When they had arrived as far as Salem on their return, the king of that place, Melchizedek, who was one of the few native princes, if not the only one, who retained the knowledge and worship of the Most High God,' whom Abraham served, came forth to meet them with refreshments, in acknowledgment for which, and in recognition of his character, Abraham presented him with a tenth of the spoils. By strict right, founded on the war usages which still subsist in Arabia (Burckhardt's Notes, p. 97), the recovered goods became the property of Abraham, and not of those to whom they originally belonged. This was acknowledged by the king of Sodom, who met the victors in the valley near Salem. He said, 'Give me the persons, and keep the goods to thyself.' But with becoming pride, and with a disinterestedness which in that country would now be most unusual in similar circumstances, he answered, I have lifted up mine hand [i.e. I have sworn] unto Jehovah, the most high God, that I will not take from a thread even to a sandal-thong, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich' (Gen. xiv.).

Soon after his return to Mamre the faith of Abraham was rewarded and encouraged, not only by a more distinct and detailed repetition of the promises formerly made to him, but by the confirmation of a solemn covenant contracted, as nearly as might be, after the manner of men' [COVENANT] between him and God. It was now

that he first understood that his promised posterity were to grow up into a nation under foreign bondage; and that, in 400 years after (or, strictly, 405 years, counting from the birth of Isaac to the Exode), they should come forth from that bondage as a nation, to take possession of the land in which he sojourned (Gen. xiv.).

After ten years' residence in Canaan (B.c. 1913), Sarai, being then 75 years old, and having long been accounted barren, chose to put her own interpretation upon the promised blessing of a progeny to Abraham, and persuaded him to take her woman-slave Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary or concubine-wife, with the view that whatever child might proceed from this union should be accounted her own [HAGAR]. The son who was born to Abraham by Hagar, and who received the name of Ishmael [ISHMAEL], was accordingly brought up as the heir of his father and of the promises (Gen. xvi.). Thirteen years after (B.C. 1900), when Abraham was 99 years old, he was favoured with still more explicit declarations of the Divine purposes. He was reminded that the promise to him was that he should be the father of many nations; and to indicate this intention his name was now changed (as before described) from Abram to Abraham. The Divine Being then solemnly renewed the covenant to be a God to him and to the race that should spring from him; and in token of that covenant directed that he and his should receive in their flesh the sign of circumcision [CIRCUMCISION]. Abundant blessings were promised to Ishmael; but it was then first announced, in distinct terms, that the heir of the special promises was not yet born, and that the barren Sarai, then 90 years old, should twelve months thence be his mother. Then also her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah (the princess); and to commemorate the laughter with which the prostrate patriarch received such strange tidings, it was directed that the name of Isaac (he laughed) should be given to the future child. The very same day, in obedience to the Divine ordinance, Abraham himself, his son Ishmael, and his houseborn and purchased slaves were all circumcised (Gen. xvii.).

Three months after this, as Abraham sat in his tent door during the heat of the day, he saw three travellers approaching, and hastened to meet them, and hospitably pressed upon them refreshment and rest. They assented, and under the shade of a terebinth tree partook of the abundant fare which the patriarch and his wife provided, while Abraham himself stood by in respectful attendance. From the manner in which one of the strangers spoke, Abraham soon gathered that his visitants were no other than the Lord himself and two attendant angels in human form. The prorise of a son by Sarah was renewed; and when Sarah herself, who overheard this within the tent, laughed inwardly at the tidings, which, on account of her great age, she at first disbelieved, she incurred the striking rebuke, 'Is any thing too hard for Jehovah? The strangers then addressed themselves to their journey, and Abraham walked some way with them. The two angels went forward in the direction of Sodom, while the Lord made known to him that, for their enormous iniquities, Sodom and the other cities of the plain' were about to be made signal monuments of his wrath and of his moral government. Moved by com

passion and by remembrance of Lot, the patriarch ventured, reverently but perseveringly, to intercede for the doomed Sodom; and at length obtained a promise that, if but ten righteous men were found therein, the whole city should be saved for their sake. Early the next morning Abraham arose to ascertain the result of this concession: and when he looked towards Sodom, the smoke of its destruction, rising like the smoke of a furnace,' made known to him its terrible overthrow [SODOM]. He probably soon heard of Lot's escape: but the consternation which this event inspired in the neighbourhood induced him, almost immediately after, to remove farther off into the territories of Abimelech, king of Gerar. By a most extraordinary infatuation and lapse of faith, Abraham allowed himself to stoop to the same mean and foolish prevarication in denying his wife, which, twenty-three years before, had occasioned him so much trouble in Egypt. The result was also similar [ABIMILECH], except that Abraham answered to the rebuke of the Philistine by stating the fears by which he had been actuated-adding, And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.' This mends the matter very little, since in calling her his sister he designed to be understood as saying she was not his wife. As he elsewhere calls Lot his brother,' this statement that Sarah was his sister' does not interfere with the probability that she was his niece.

6

The same year* Sarah gave birth to the longpromised son, and, according to previous direc tion, the name of Isaac was given to him [ISAAC]. This greatly altered the position of Ishinael, whe had hitherto appeared as the heir both of the tem poral and the spiritual heritage; whereas he had now to share the former, and could not but know that the latter was limited to Isaac. This appears to have created much ill-feeling both on his part and that of his mother towards the child; which was in some way manifested so pointedly, on occasion of the festivities which attended the weaning, that the wrath of Sarah was awakened, and she insisted that both Hagar and her son should be sent away. This was a very hard matter to a loving father; and Abraham was so much pained that he would probably have refused compliance with Sarah's wish, had he not been apprised in a dream that it was in accordance with the Divine intentions respecting both Ishmael and Isaac. With his habitual uncompromising obe dience, he then hastened them away early in the morning, with provision for the journey. Their adventures belong to the article HAGAR.

When Isaac was about 20 years old (B.c. 1872) it pleased God to subject the faith of Abraham to a severer trial than it had yet sustained, or that has ever fallen to the lot of other mortal man. any He was commanded to go into the mountainous country of Moriah (probably where the temple afterwards stood), and there offer up in sacrifice the son of his affection, and the heir of so many hopes and

It is, however, supposed by some biblical critics that the preceding adventure with Abimelech is related out of its order, and took place at an earlier date. Their chief reason is that Sarah was now 90 years of age. But the very few years by which such a supposition might reduce this age, seem scarcely worth the discussion [SARAH].

opinion that Abrech means a native Egyptian;' and when we consider how important it was that Joseph should cease to be regarded as a foreigner [ABOMINATION], it has in this sense an importance and significance which no other interpretation conveys. It amounts to a proclamation of naturalization, which, among such a people as the Egyptians, was essential to enable Joseph to work out the great plan he had undertaken. We believe however that it is not now possible to determine the signification of the word with certainty.

ABSALOM (Di, father of peace; Sept. 'Aßeσσaλμ; Vulg. Absalon), the third son of David, and his only son by Maachah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3). He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom; and was particularly noted for the profusion of his beautiful hair, which appears to have been regarded with great admiration; but of which we can know nothing with certainty, except that it was very fine and very ample. We are told that when its inconvenient weight compelled him at times (op does not necessarily mean every year,' as in the A.V.) to cut it off, it was found to weigh 200 shekels after the king's weight; but as this has been interpreted as high as 112 ounces (Geddes) and as low as 7 ounces (A. Clarke), we may be content to understand that it means a quantity unusually large. David's other child by Maachah was a daughter named Tamar, who was also very beautiful. She became the object of lustful regard to her halfbrother Amnon, David's eldest son; and was violated by him. In all cases where polygamy is allowed, we find that the honour of a sister is in the guardianship of her full brother, more even than in that of her father, whose interest in her is considered less peculiar and intimate. We trace this notion even in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxiv. 6, 13, 25, sqq.). So in this case the wrong of Tamar was taken up by Absalom, who kept her secluded in his own house, and said nothing for the present, but brooded silently over the wrong he had sustained and the vengeance which devolved upon him. It was not until two years had passed, and when this wound seemed to have been healed, that Absalom found opportunity for the bloody revenge he had meditated. He then held a great sheepshearing feast at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, to which he invited all the king's sons; and, to lull suspicion, he also solicited the presence of his father. As he expected, David declined for himself, but allowed Amnon and the other princes to attend. They feasted together; and, when they were warm with wine, Amnon was set upon and slain by the servants of Absalom, according to the previous directions of their master. Horrorstruck at the deed, and not knowing but that they were included in the doom, the other princes took to their mules and fled to Jerusalem, filling the king with grief and horror by the tidings which they brought. As for Absalom, he hastened to Geshur and remained there three years with his father-in-law, king Talmai.

Now it happened that Absalom, with all his faults, was eminently dear to the heart of his father. His beauty, his spirit, his royal birth, may be supposed to have drawn to him those fond paternal feelings which he knew not how to appreciate. At

all events, David mourned every day after the banished fratricide, whom a regard for public opinion and a just horror of his crime forbade him to recall. His secret wishes to have home his beloved though guilty son were however discerned by Joab, who employed a clever woman of Tekoah to lay a supposed case before him for judg ment; and she applied the anticipated decision so adroitly to the case of Absalom, that the king discovered the object and detected the interposition of Joab. Regarding this as in some degree expressing the sanction of public opinion, David nished." gladly commissioned Joab to call home his ba

Absalom returned; but David, still mindful of his duties as a king and father, controlled the impulse of his feelings, and declined to admit him to his presence. After two years, however, Absalom, impatient of his disgrace, found means to compel the attention of Joab to his case; and through his means a complete reconciliation was effected, and the father once more indulged himself with the presence of his son (2 Sam. xiii. xiv.).

The position at this time occupied by Absalom was very peculiar, and the view of it enables us to discover how far the general Oriental laws of primogeniture were affected by the peculiar conditions of the Hebrew constitution. At the outset he was the third son of David, Amnon and Chileab being his elder brothers. But it was possible that he might even then, while they lived, consider himself entitled to the succession; and Oriental usage would not have discountenanced the pretension. He alone was of royal descent by the side of his mother; and royal or noble descent by the mother is even now (as we see by the recent instance of Abbas Meerza in Persia) of itself a sufficient ground of preference over an elder brother whose maternal descent is less distinguished. This circumstance, illus trated by Absalom's subsequent conduct, may suggest that he early entertained a design upon the succession to the throne, and that the removal of Amnon was quite as much an act of policy as of revenge. The other elder brother, Chileab, appears to have died: and if the clainis of Absalom, or rather his grounds of pretension, were so important while Amnon and Chileab lived, his position must have been greatly strengthened when, on his return from exile, he found himself the eldest surviving son, and, according to the ordinary laws of primogeniture, the heir apparent of the crown. Such being his position, and his father being old, it would seem difficult at the first view to assign a motive for the conspiracy against the crown and life of his indulgent father, in which we soon after find him engaged. It is then to be consi dered that the king had a dispensing power, and was at liberty, according to all Oriental usage, to pass by the eldest son and to nominate a younger to the succession. This could not have affected Absalom, as there is every reason to think that David, if left to himself, would have been glad to have seen the rule of succession take its ordinary course in favour of his best loved

son.

But then, again, under the peculiar theocratical institutions of the Hebrews, the Divine king reserved and exercised a power of dispensation, over which the human king, or viceroy, had no control. The house of David was established as a reigning dynasty; and although the law of