is expressly mentioned to have taken place in the days of Heber's two sons, Peleg and Joktan (y), seem to render it more probable that the name of Hebrew was derived from the patriarch Heber, than from the circumstance of Abraham's passing over the river Euphrates (z).

Terah, the father of Abraham, was the ninth in descent from Shem, the son of Noah.

1921.

He removed with his family from Ur in Chaldæa (a) to Haran in Mesopotamia, and there died. "Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed (b)." This is the second promise of a future Saviour of the world, in which it was declared that he should be a descendant of Abraham. Abraham departed, and went by divine direction into the land of Canaan, with Sarah his wife, Lot his brother's son, and all their substance. After the removal of Abraham into Canaan, which is generally denominated the Call of Abraham, God gave him this farther promise, "Unto thy seed will I give this land (c).” In consequence of a famine which arose in Canaan, Abraham went and resided in Egypt; but it is not recorded how long he remained in that country. At length Pharaoh (d), the king, commanded him to leave it, and he returned to (y) Gen. c. 10. v. 25.

(*) Heber, in the Hebrew language, signifies beyond, or on the other side.

(a) This Chaldæa was in or near Armenia, and must not be confounded with the country afterwards called Chaldæa, the capital of which was Babylon.--Maurice.

(b) Gen. c. 12. v. 1, 2, and 3.

(c) Gen. c. 12. v. 7.

(d) It is certain that the name of Pharaoh was common to all the kings of Egypt from this time till the Babylonian captivity;

his former habitation in Canaan, where he became very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And God said to Abraham, "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered (e).”—And again, God said, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be (ƒ)." These promises of numerous descendants were made to Abraham at the time he had no children, but he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness (g)."—" And God said unto Abraham in a dream, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 (h) years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards shall they come out with great substance; but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again (i)." And God having again promised numerous descendants to Abraham, instituted the rite but how much longer it continued, or when the first Pharaoh reigned, is not known. Pharaoh, in the Ethiopic language, signifies Father of the Country.

Gen. c. 13. v. 15 and 16.

Gen. c. 15. v. 5.

Gen. c. 15. v. 6.

(h) The affliction here foretold was partly in Canaan and partly in Egypt, which were neighbouring countries, and both inhabited by the descendants of Ham. It began at the birth of Isaac, and ended at the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The precise time was 405 years, but odd numbers are frequently omitted upon such occasions. In Exodus, c. 12. v. 40, this affliction or sojourning is said to have lasted 430 years. This difference is accounted for by considering, that in the latter case the 25 years, during which Abraham was in the land of Canaan, before Isaac was born, are included; and these 25 years, which began when the promise was given, added to 405, make exactly 430 years. (i) Gen. c. 15. v. 13, &c.

of circumcision (k) as the sign of a covenant between himself and the seed of Abraham. He commanded that on the eighth day every man-child should be circumcised (1).

When Abraham and Sarah were far advanced in years, their son Isaac was born; and God declared to Abraham, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called (m).”

1896.

Isaac was born twenty-five years after Abraham's arrival in Canaan; and fourteen years before the birth of Isaac, Abraham had a son by Hagar, an Egyptian bond-woman, the handmaid of his wife Sarah (n). This son was called Ishmael; and from him are descended the Arabians, whose character, even to this day, answers to the description of their ancestor; "He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him (o).” God was pleased to make trial of Abraham's faith and obedience, by commanding him to take his son Isaac, when he was about twenty-five (k) See Home's Scripture History of the Jews, vol. 2. for the origin of circumcision, and Shuckford's Connexion, from whose examination it appears evident that the Egyptians did not practise circumcision till after Abraham had been in Egypt.

1871.

(1) The eighth day is the time of circumcision among the Jews, that is, the descendants of Abraham and Sarah; but because Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised, the descendants of Ishmael are not circumcised till that age. Circumcision was a type of baptism. Abraham was the first person circumcised, and he is also the first person called a prophet in Scripture.

(m) Gen. c. 21. v. 12.

(n) St. Paul points out a material difference between these two sons of Abraham. He says, that Ishmael, the son of Hagar the bond-woman, was born only according to the flesh, in the common course of nature; but that Isaac was born by virtue of the promise, and by the particular interposition of divine power : and that these two sons of Abraham were designed to represent the two covenants of the law and the gospel, the former a state of bondage, the latter of freedom.-Gal. c. 4.

(0) Gen. c. 16. v. 12.

years of age, and offer him as a burnt-offering upon Mount Moriah. Abraham rose early the next morning, and went with Isaac to the appointed place. He built an altar there; and every preparation being made, just as he was about to slay his son, an angel of the Lord called to him, and said, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing 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 beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son (p)." The mountain, on which Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac, was the same as that on which the temple of Solomon was afterwards built, and on which Christ was crucified; and the whole transaction is to be considered as typical of the sacrifice of Christ (q).

1856.

Isaac, who was expressly prohibited by his father from taking a Canaanitish woman to wife, married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and had by her two sons, Esau and Jacob. God renewed to Isaac the promises which he had made to Abraham; "I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven; and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (r)." In those days the head of the family or tribe was considered as the

(p) Gen. c. 22. v. 12, 13.

Abraham's answer to Isaac's question, "Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" may be looked upon as prophetical. "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." Gen. c. 22. v. 8.

(r) Gen. c. 26. v. 4.

governor whom God had placed over them (s); in him were vested the offices of king and priest; to him were entrusted the promises of God, and the care of preserving his people obedient and happy. Voluntarily to resign this station, was then to desert the charge assigned to him by God (t). Accordingly we find, that after Esau (s) This opinion and this custom have been preserved among many of the Arabian tribes to the present hour.

(t) "The patriarchal form of government (so called from πατρια familia and αρχων princeps) is defined by Godwin to consist in the fathers of families, and their first-born after them, exercising all kinds of ecclesiastical and civil authority in their respective households; blessing, cursing, casting out of doors, disinheriting and punishing with death.' It is natural to suppose that Adam, the father of all mankind, would be considered as supreme among them, and have special honour paid him so long as he lived; and that when his posterity separated into distinct families and tribes, their respective fathers would be acknowledged by them as their princes. For as they could not, in any tolerable manner, live together without some kind of government, and no government can subsist without some head in which the executive power is lodged; whom were the children so likely, after they grew up, to acknowledge in this capacity as their father, to whose authority they had been used to submit in their early years; and hence, those, who were at first only acknowledged as kings over their own households, grew insensibly into monarchs of larger communities, by claiming the same authority over the families which branched out of them, as they had exercised over their own. However, the proper patriarchal government is supposed to have continued among the people of God until the time of the Israelites dwelling in Egypt, for then we have the first intimation of a different form of government among them. Our author hath perhaps assigned greater authority to the patriarchs than they reasonably could or did claim and exercise; at least the instances he produces to prove they were ordinarily invested with such a despotic power in civilibus et sacris, as he ascribes to them, are not sufficiently convincing." Jennings's Jewish Ant. vol. 1. p. 1. -Whether we suppose that the patriarchs derived their authority immediately from God, or that it was the natural result of situation, it will, I think, seem probable that their power was not defined, but was exerted according to circumstances. It never, however, appears to have been disputed in those early ages, and the ideas of king and father were long intimately blended. Even when the corruptions of time, and the aggressions of tyranny, had separated