Sarai should represent herself as his sister, which her actual relationship to him, as probably the
daughter of his brother Haran, allowed her to do with some semblance of truth. But her beauty was
reported to the king, and she was taken into the royal harem. The deception was discovered, and
Pharaoh with some indignation dismissed Abram from the country. (Genesis 12:10-20) He left
Egypt with great possessions, and, accompanied by Lot, returned by the south of Palestine to his
former encampment between Bethel and Ai. The increased wealth of the two kinsmen was the
ultimate cause of their separation. Lot chose the fertile plain of the Jordan near Sodom, while Abram
pitched his tent among the groves of Mamre, close to Hebron. (Genesis 13:1) ... Lot with his family
and possessions having been carried away captive by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, who had invaded
Sodom, Abram pursued the conquerors and utterly routed them not far from Damascus. The captives
and plunder were all recovered, and Abram was greeted on his return by the king of Sodom, and
by Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who mysteriously appears upon the
scene to bless the patriarch and receive from him a tenth of the spoil. (Genesis 14:1) ... After this
the thrice-repeated promise that his descendants should become a mighty nation and possess the
land in which he was a stranger was confirmed with all the solemnity of a religious ceremony.
(Genesis 15:1) ... Ten years had passed since he had left his father’s house, and the fulfillment of
the promise was apparently more distant than at first. At the suggestion of Sarai, who despaired of
having children of her own, he took as his concubine Hagar, her Egyptian main, who bore him
Ishmael in the 86th year of his age. (Genesis 16:1) ... [Hagar; Ishmael] But this was not the
accomplishment of the promise. Thirteen years elapsed, during which Abram still dwelt in Hebron,
when the covenant was renewed, and the rite of circumcision established as its sign. This most
important crisis in Abram’s life, when he was 99 years old, is marked by the significant change of
his name to Abraham, “father of a multitude;” while his wife’s from Sarai became Sarah. The
promise that Sarah should have a son was repeated in the remarkable scene described in ch. 18.
Three men stood before Abraham as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. The patriarch,
with true Eastern hospitality, welcomed the strangers, and bade them rest and refresh themselves.
The meal ended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, and went on their way to Sodom. Abraham
accompanied them, and is represented as an interlocutor in a dialogue with Jehovah, in which he
pleaded in vain to avert the vengeance threatened to the devoted cities of the plain. (Genesis
18:17-33) In remarkable contrast with Abraham’s firm faith with regard to the magnificent fortunes
of his posterity stand the incident which occurred during his temporary residence among the
Philistines in Gerar, whither he had for some cause removed after the destruction of Sodom. It was
almost a repetition of what took place in Egypt a few years before. At length Isaac, the long-looked
for child, was born. Sarah’s jealousy aroused by the mockery of Ishmael at the “great banquet”
which Abram made to celebrate the weaning of her son, (Genesis 21:9) demanded that, with his
mother Hagar, he should be driven out. (Genesis 21:10) But the severest trial of his faith was yet
to come. For a long period the history is almost silent. At length he receives the strange command
to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him for a burnt offering at an appointed place Abraham hesitated
not to obey. His faith, hitherto unshaken, supported him in this final trial, “accounting that God
was able to raise up his son, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.”
(Hebrews 11:19) The sacrifice was stayed by the angel of Jehovah, the promise of spiritual blessing
made for the first time, and Abraham with his son returned to Beersheba, and for a time dwelt there.
(Genesis 22:1) ... But we find him after a few years in his original residence at Hebron, for there
Sarah died, (Genesis 23:2) and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. The remaining years of
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