SECTION IV.

Fulfilment.

"This land,"-namely the land of Canaan. Terah, the Father of Abram, went forth with him and the rest of his family, from "Ur" of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. (Gen. xi. 31.)

They sojourned in Haran in Mesopatamia on their way to Canaan; where Terah died.

Thence Abram, with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, with all his family, "went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came." (Gen. xii. 5.)

This land of Canaan became the inheritance of Abram's posterity, at the period, and under the circumstances, which God foretold.

B.C. Two hundred and seven years after this 1706. prophecy, the children of Israel, Abraham's seed, came into Egypt, and were strangers in a land which was not theirs."

"And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge and afterwards shall they come out with great substance." (v. 14.)

They "served" the Egyptians. The Egyptians "set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens "-and "made the children of Israel to serve with rigour. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage; " "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." (Ex. i, 11, 13, 14.

From the birth of Isaac, the first son of the promised seed, to the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt, the interval of time was about 400 years. The Bible chronology fixes the date of Isaac's birth, in the year 1897 B.C., and the Exodus in 1491 B.C. The difference being 406.

Thus, four hundred years from the birth of his first-born was the term assigned to the bondage of his seed in the land of Egypt. They were "strangers in a land which was not theirs," and served them, and were afflicted, until a period limited by God's prediction, namely four hundred years from the first of the promised seed. (See Appendix, Note B.)

The chastisements, which God inflicted upon the Egyptians, on account of their oppression of his chosen people, are well known to all, who have read the book of Exodus. They came forth from that bondage with "great substance." "The children of Israel borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And they spoiled the Egyptians." (Ex. xii. 35, 36.)

"Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. shalt be buried in a good old age.” (v. 15.)

Thou

"In the fourth generation, they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (v. 16.)

"Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river Euphrates.” (v. 18.)

"These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived; an hundred, three score, and fifteen years." "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age; an old man and full of years; and was gathered to his people." (Gen. xxv. 7, 8.)

Some of the principal Israelites, who went out of Egypt, to inherit the land of Canaan, were of the fourth generation, from the twelve patriarchs. Thus Aaron and Moses were sons of Amram, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi. (Ex. vi. 16-20.) Caleb

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was the son of Hezron, the son of Pharez, the son of Judah. (1 Chron. ii. 4-18.) The land of Canaan was promised, not to Abraham individually, but to his seed, namely, to the descendants of his twelve great grandsons, who were the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel and Judah.

They, who constituted the numerous people of Israel, having left the promised land, and sojourned as slaves in Egypt, came thither again in the fourth generation, and executed the righteous judgments of God upon the Amorites and other tribes of Canaan, whose iniquities were then ripe for punishment.

The kingdom of Israel attained the climax of its power and glory, in the reign of Solomon. "King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth, for