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broad surface above. From this height, thus offering a natural base for the patriarchal
altar, and a fitting shade for the patriarchal tent, Abram and Lot must be conceived as
taking the wide survey of the country.. such as can be enjoyed from no other point
in the neighborhood." What met their astonished gaze from this point will be
described in the following chapter. Meantime, we note that here, also, Abram
"builded an altar unto Jehovah;" and, though He does not seem to have visibly
appeared unto him, yet the patriarch called upon the name of Jehovah. After a
residence, probably of some time, Abram continued his journey, "going on still
toward the south," - a pilgrim and a stranger "in the land of promise;" his possession
of it only marked by the altars which he left on his track.
A fresh trial now awaited the faith of Abram. Strong as it always proved in what
concerned the kingdom of God, it failed again and again in matters personal to
himself. A famine was desolating the land, and, as is still the case with the Bedouin
tribes under similar circumstances, Abram and his family "went down into Egypt,"
which has at all times been the granary of other nations. It does not become us to
speculate whether this removal was lawful, without previous special directions from
God; but we know that it exposed him to the greatest danger. As we must not
underrate the difficulties of the patriarchs, so neither must we overrate their faith and
their strength. Abram "was a man of like passions with us," and of like weaknesses.
When God spoke to him he believed, and when he believed then he obeyed. But God
had said nothing as yet to him, directly, about Sarai; and, in the absence of any
special direction, he seems to have taken the matter into his own hands, after the
manner of those times and countries. From Genesis 20:13 we learn that when he first
set out from his father's house, an agreement had been made between the two, that
Sarai was to pass as his sister, because, as he said, "the fear of God" was not among
the nations with whom they would be brought in contact; and they might slay Abram
for his wife's sake.^32
The deceit - for such it really was - seemed scarcely such in their eyes, since Sarai
was so closely related to her husband that she might almost be called his sister. In
short, as we all too oftentimes do, it was deception, commencing with self-deception;
and though what he said might be true in the letter, it was false in the spirit of it. But
we must not imagine that Abram was so heartless as to endanger his wife for the sake
of his own safety. On the contrary, it seemed the readiest means of guarding her
honor also; since, if she were looked upon as the sister of a mighty chief, her hand
would be sought, and certain formalities have to be gone through, which would give
Abram time to escape with his wife. This is not said in apology, but in explanation of
the matter.
Ancient Egyptian monuments here again remarkably confirm the scriptural narrative.
They prove that the immigration of distinguished foreigners, with their families and
(^)