20 his tent, having Beth-el' on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.

Jehovah Forbidding Human Sacrifice2

Another story associated with Abraham, the great ancestor of the Hebrews, is inserted here not only because of its purpose, to depict the wonderful character of the forerunner of the race and to arraign the barbarous custom of human sacrifice, resorted to in Israel in great emergencies, and common among the surrounding nations, but also because of the perfection of the story as such.

5

And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, "Abraham"; and he said, "Here am I." And he said, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah;3 and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young

1 * Bethel: This word means the House of God. By tradition it was associated with Jacob and his dream. This story does not mean that the name of the place was Bethel at the time when Abram settled there. In 28:19, we see that the old name of the place was Luz. Its sacred name seems to have been given by the Israelites themselves.

2 Gen. 22:1-19 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).

3 The land of Moriah: Considerable trouble has been taken to locate the spot where this offering was intended to take place. In the innermost part of the mosque in Jerusalem which stands upon the supposed site of the ancient Temple of Solomon is a great stone upon which the offerings of the Hebrews were made for centuries. Tradition has said that this stone marked the spot where Isaac was placed upon the altar, but in the time of Abraham Jerusalem was already a city, and there is no suggestion in the story that Abraham went to a city to make his offering. We are quite in the dark as to the facts, however, and speculation is useless.

4 Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, while testifying strongly to his faith in Jehovah, was not unique. Such sacrifices were a familiar fact to him even among his immediate neighbors, especially as a last resort in extreme distress or fanaticism. In II Kings 3: 27, it is related of the king of Moab that he offered his son for a burntoffering upon the city wall, when under siege. Judg. 11:39 suggests that the daughter of Jephthah suffered the same fate. Two centuries later we find Ahaz of Judea offering his son, “in accordance with the abominations of the heathen," II Kings 16: 3. Doubtless this story stood for centuries as the classic denunciation of the prophets against the practice. That it was a favorite story and was retold and rewritten numberless times is apparent in the perfection of the story. Not a detail is omitted, not a non-essential included, and the story moves on from start to finish smoothly and with just the right regard for climax. An effort to improve it will convince one of this.

men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which IO God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, "Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you." And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid 15 it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire' and the knife; and they went both of them together.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, "My father": and' he said, "Here am I, my son." And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for 20 a burnt-offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering, my son": so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, 25 and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham”: and he said, "Here am I." And he said, "Lay not thy hand upon the 30 lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and 35 offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided. And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, "By myself have I sworn, 40 saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy 45 seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned unto his young

1 The fire: Kindling a fire would be difficult, so Abraham takes with him glowing embers. It was sometimes customary to kindle the sacrifice with some ceremonial fire. Perhaps this was fire from some sacred place, or kindled in some way deemed sacred.

men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

The Wooing of Isaac and Rebekah'

The romantic story of Abraham's care in finding a wife for Isaac from among his own kinsfolk presents in a most attractive way a precedent for preserving the blood of the nation from corruption through intermarriage with foreigners, a condition which seemed to the prophets essential to the preservation of both state and religion.

And Abraham2 was old, and well stricken in age: and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had, "Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 5 and I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou wilt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac." And the servant said unto 10 him, "Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?" And Abraham said unto him, "Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. Jehovah, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's 15 house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spake unto me, and who sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife for my son from thence. And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my

1 Gen. 24:1–67 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).

2 *Note the interesting features of this story, the custom of seeking a wife from some distant but related tribe, the trusty slave, probably of as good blood and breeding as his master, the women at the common well and their service to the strangers, the formalities of the betrothal, the marriage arranged entirely with the members of the bride's family, the immediate journey of the betrothed to her prospective husband, the meeting, and the installing of the bride. It is worth while to dwell upon this picture of primitive oriental life until the feeling of the simplicity and childlike spirit of it impresses itself upon the mind, and reveals to us the affection with which such a story would be passed on from generation to generation. This story occupies the longest chapter in the Book of Genesis and is illustrative of the importance attached by these prophetic writers to the necessity of preserving the Israelitish race from mixture with other people's.

20 oath; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again." And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning this matter.

And

And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed, having all goodly things of his master's 25 in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, “O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray 30 thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water; and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I 35 may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master." it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, 40 Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And 45 the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher." And she said, 'Drink, my lord," and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said "I will draw for thy camels also, 50 until they have done drinking." And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw and drew for all his camels. And the man looked stedfastly on her, holding his peace, to know whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the 55 camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten shekels weight of gold, and said, "Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in ?" And she said unto him, "I am the daughter 60 of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bare unto Nahor." She said moreover unto him, "We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in." And the man

bowed his head, and worshipped Jehovah. And he said, "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who 65 hath not forsaken his lovingkindness and his truth toward my master: as for me, Jehovah hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren."

And the damsel ran, and told her mother's house according to these words. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name 70 was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the fountain. And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the• bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he was standing by 75 the camels at the fountain. And he said, "Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels." And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels; and he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to 80 wash his feet and the feet of the men that were with him. And there was set food before him to eat: but he said, "I will not eat, until I have told mine errand." And he said, "Speak on." And he said, "I am Abraham's servant.' And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and 85 he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for 90 my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son. And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send his angel 95 with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house: then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O 100 Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go: behold, I am standing by the foun

1 I am Abraham's servant: According to Arab etiquette the host does not ask the name of his guest until he has eaten of his food, lest a blood feud should be found to exist between the tribes to which they belong. After the guest has partaken of food he is safe with his host.