very great.' But Abram answered the Lord despondingly and with a bitter outburst of sorrow. 'Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, since I go childless, and the proprietor of my house will be Dammesek Eliezer?' What could that great reward be, if a stranger were to succeed him as the master of his household? It was the first word of complaint that had fallen from Abram's lips, the first doubt in God's unfailing truth. The answer full of comfort came to him forthwith, that no stranger should be his heir, but his own child. To enhance the force of these words, the Lord called Abram from his tent, and bid him look upwards to the heavens. Brilliantly beautiful, more beautiful than we in our western lands can imagine, is an eastern night; the sky is of a deeper blue; the air lighter and purer, and laden with fragrance; the stars shine with a more resplendent, and yet a softer light. We see the figure of the patriarch standing at the door of his tent, gazing upwards and listening to the Divine words: 'Look now towards heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them; so shall thy seed be.' Thus encouraged, Abram grew stronger in faith, and he believed in God. But lest he be uncertain to whom he was to look for the fulfilment of the great promise, God spoke again: I am the Lord who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.' Yet Abram relapsed into his doubts, and forgetting that nothing is impossible to the Divine will, he asked for a sign to assure him of the certainty of the promise. Full of mercy for human weakness, God granted the prayer. It was, as it is still, an eastern custom to ratify treaties and compacts by killing animals and dividing them in pieces, through which the contracting parties pass. In accordance with that custom, God commanded Abram to slay a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, each three years old, together with a turtle-dove and a young pigeon,

to divide the quadrupeds, and to place the halves opposite each other. Birds of prey came down upon the flesh, but Abram scared them anxiously away. Yet at nightfall, a profound sleep came upon Abram, and again a vision was vouchsafed to him, but this time one not altogether of a comforting nature. 'Know of a surety,' said the Lord, 'that thy seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and will serve them, and they will afflict them— four hundred years. But that nation also which they will serve, I will judge, and afterwards they shall return hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.' As the voice of the Lord ceased in the midst of the dense darkness, a flame of fire descended upon the sacrifice; and while the animals were consumed, the Lord repeated solemnly: To thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates-the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'

But Abram was still childless, and saw no heir to his house but his servant Eliezer. Now Sarai had a handmaid, called Hagar, an Egyptian woman; this maid she gave as a second wife to the patriarch, and at last his long-cherished wish seemed about to be realised. But Hagar, so favoured by God, despised her mistress, and distrust and jealousy sprang up in Abram's peaceful household. Sarai appealed at last, in terms of angry reproof, to her husband, who would not step between his wife and her servant, but relying upon Sarai's sense of justice, merely said, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand, do to her as it pleases thee.' But the unfortunate Hagar was illtreated by her mistress, and fled from Mamre, determinep to return to her own country. She wandered on southwards from Hebron to the desert of Shur, and stayed, to

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rest and to refresh herself, at a fountain in the wilderness. Here an angel of the Lord appeared to her, asking, whence she had come and whither she was bound? She answered in all the bitterness of her spirit, 'I flee from my mistress Sarai.' Then the angel of the Lord bade her return again to her mistress and humble herself before her. But Hagar must indeed have rejoiced at the promise then conveyed to her by the words of the Lord; for the angel continued: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. Behold, thou wilt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard thy affliction; and he will be a wild ass of a man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell before all his brethren '-the true and pithy description of the Bedouin, bold, lawless, undaunted, and free. Full of amazement at this strange but glorious prophecy, Hagar called the name of the well Beer-lahairoi, that is, the well where she had seen the Divine presence and yet lived. She returned forthwith to Mamre, where her child was born. Abram, then eighty-six years old, in his joy and gratitude, called the child Ishmael, or "God has heard me.'

In due time all that the angel foretold of Ishmael's descendants was realised: the Arabs have indeed been, as they still are, comparable only to the zebra of the deserts which they inhabit. 'Against them alone time seems to have no sickle, and the conqueror's sword no edge. They have defied the softening influence of civilisation, and mocked the attacks of the invader. Ungovernable and roaming, obeying no law but their spirit of adventure, regarding all mankind as their enemies, whom they must either attack with their spears or elude with their faithful steeds, and cherishing their deserts as heartily as they despise the constraint of towns and communities, the Be

douins are the outlaws among the nations. Plunder is legitimate gain, and daring robbery is praised as valour. Liberty is the element which the Arabs breathe; and if they were thrown into servitude, they would either break the yoke or perish in the attempt. They cannot indeed be better compared than with a wild ass. . . . They may be hunted like game, but they cannot be caught; their wants are few, they neither covet wealth, nor tempt the conqueror's avarice; and the waste tracts shunned by other nations are their terrestrial paradise. "In the desert everybody is everybody's enemy," is among thema proverbial saying; and they express, therefore, only in other words, the sense of our text: "His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." Their love of liberty is frequently carried to the utmost pitch of unbridled ferocity; they seek danger for its own sake; they delight in the excitement of combat and pursuit; and even among themselves sanguinary feuds are often carried on during centuries; the fearful custom of avenging of blood has a decided influence upon their characters; it renders them suspicious and vindictive; it teaches them cunning and treachery; and the cruelty and bloodthirstiness which it engenders, arm friend against friend, and relative against relative. Thus the prediction of our text has also its sad application: the Bedouin's hand is uplifted not only against the unwary pilgrim who happens to traverse his deserts, but against the descendants of his own tribes, and against those who speak his own tongue.'1

Abram was being constantly comforted and strengthened by Divine revelation; few of his descendants were so frequently favoured with visions, were so incessantly reminded of the fulfilment of the Divine promises. He had no outward symbols of faith. No holy Temple, no

1 Kalisch, Commentary on Genesis, pp. 378, 379.

sacred Ark, no regular worship or sacrifice were there to attest the presence of God; but the spirit of the Lord dwelt among the oak-groves of Mamre.

When Abram had attained the age of ninety-nine years, the Lord appeared to him again, repeating the assurance He had so often given him before. But no longer satisfied with a passive faith, since He intended to conclude a covenant with the patriarch, He exhorted him at the same time to walk before God and be perfect.' Abram, awed by the Divine presence, fell upon his face, and God spoke to him, saying, As for Me, behold My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of a multitude of nations, and thy name shall no more be Abram, but Abraham, for a father of a multitude of nations I have made thee.'

The name Abram,' meaning only great father, was altered into Abraham,' father of a numerous progenya change which implied that the appointed time was drawing near, when God's promises were to find their earliest fulfilment. To strengthen the covenant between the Lord and Abraham, the rite of circumcision was commanded as a Divine law.

Sarai now received for the first time the direct blessing of God; hitherto she had been called Sarai, the struggling woman;' but henceforth she should be known by the noble and proud name of Sarah,' Queen: I shall bless her,' said God, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.'

But Abraham marvelled at the promise and doubted. He could not believe in that child of his old age, and he tremblingly said to God: 'O that Ishmael might live before Thee!' But God mercifully repeated His promise: 'Indeed, Sarah thy wife will bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant with his seed