males of his house were circumcised (Genesis 17). Three months after this,
as Abraham sat in his tent door, he saw three men approaching. They
accepted his proffered hospitality, and, seated under an oak-tree, partook
of the fare which Abraham and Sarah provided. One of the three visitants
was none other than the Lord, and the other two were angels in the guise of
men. The Lord renewed on this occasion his promise of a son by Sarah,
who was rebuked for her unbelief. Abraham accompanied the three as they
proceeded on their journey. The two angels went on toward Sodom; while
the Lord tarried behind and talked with Abraham, making known to him
the destruction that was about to fall on that guilty city. The patriarch
interceded earnestly in behalf of the doomed city. But as not even ten
righteous persons were found in it, for whose sake the city would have
been spared, the threatened destruction fell upon it; and early next morning
Abraham saw the smoke of the fire that consumed it as the “smoke of a
furnace” (Genesis 19:1-28).
After fifteen years’ residence at Mamre, Abraham moved southward, and
pitched his tent among the Philistines, near to Gerar. Here occurred that
sad instance of prevarication on his part in his relation to Abimelech the
King (Genesis 20). (See ABIMELECH.) Soon after this event, the
patriarch left the vicinity of Gerar, and moved down the fertile valley
about 25 miles to Beer-sheba. It was probably here that Isaac was born,
Abraham being now an hundred years old. A feeling of jealousy now arose
between Sarah and Hagar, whose son, Ishmael, was no longer to be
regarded as Abraham’s heir. Sarah insisted that both Hagar and her son
should be sent away. This was done, although it was a hard trial to
Abraham (Genesis 21:12). (See HAGAR; ISHMAEL.)
At this point there is a blank in the patriarch’s history of perhaps
twenty-five years. These years of peace and happiness were spent at
Beer-sheba. The next time we see him his faith is put to a severe test by
the command that suddenly came to him to go and offer up Isaac, the heir
of all the promises, as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah. His
faith stood the test (Hebrews 11:17-19). He proceeded in a spirit of
unhesitating obedience to carry out the command; and when about to slay
his son, whom he had laid on the altar, his uplifted hand was arrested by
the angel of Jehovah, and a ram, which was entangled in a thicket near at
hand, was seized and offered in his stead. From this circumstance that
place was called Jehovah-jireh, i.e., “The Lord will provide.” The promises