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w^ >Tly upon liin ProviJ.-nce, by romo-.Injj at his fpecial 

 c^>!.ir. 1 v1, from li'n own kinjral and cou:Ur:, to an vin- 

 knou ' vul, wliich hj would llicw him, aii'.iriiig him 



of I t'ul fjKcial bk-ffiig. Acioi-dinjly, fooa 



af'.srr hii I 1 Ca:nan, probably within two or three 



yiT.^, 'HI' ' th-> renewal of the divine pi-omilo, 



that'. .■ntohi<! pofterity, he was forced 



by a :. ivc into Ejrjpt. Many chrono- 



lo.;.i > li.v liic co.ii lie Kciiu-nt of the 430 years, during which 

 t!i • P'ri.-I't-: cj"': uitd in this country, at this period. Here 

 '. previoufly confented, for her own fecii- 

 1 lam, lobe called his filler, was forcibly 



t.itten away by the king of K2;\-pt ; who captivat':d by her 

 bj.uity, d.iiijncd to have made her his wife. But the king 

 was punilhti in an cxtraordinar)' manner for the injullicc 

 of his conduct, rcllored her without violation, and gave ot- 

 ders, that Abraham, and his wife, with all that belonged to 

 them, might fafely depart from his dominions. Tho ramme 

 having ccafed in Canaan, he returned to the fituation near 

 Bethel, which he had left, and where he had ercftcd an altar, 

 and devoutly acknowledged hi-; happy deliverance . Abra- 

 ham, being under the necelTity of feparating from Lot, h'.s 

 nephew, on account of the increafe of their fubilance, and 

 the contention of their refpec^ive herdfmen, removed to the 

 plain of Mamrc, in Hebron. Here he formed an alliance 

 »vith three of the principal perfons of the country', by 

 whofe alTillance hercfcued Lot, who had been taken captive, 

 and reHored him, his family, and his whole property, to his 

 former habitation. A.M. 2092. At his return, as he paffed 

 near Salem, fuppofed to be the city afterwards called Jeru- 

 falem, he met Melchi/edek, who was king of that city, and 

 " pried of the Moil High God,'i and received from him 

 tokens of fpecial favour. Soon after this event the divine 

 promife was again renewed to him, and accompanied with 

 circumllances of peculiar encou-.-agement. It was particu- 

 larly revealed to him, that his pollerity fliould fojourn, and 

 be a'Hicled in a itrange land 400 years ; at the expiration of 

 which, God would iiiterpofe for the punifhment of their 

 opprenbi-s, and for their refcuc. Thefe years are to be rec- 

 koned, not from their coming into Egypt, but from the 

 birth of Ifaac. For during the whole time of their fojourn- 

 ing in the land of Canaan and elfewhere, they were in a 

 ftrangc land, in which they had not a foot of ground, if we 

 except the cave of Machpclah. The meaning of this prophecy 

 10 Abi-aham, therefore, can only be this, that his feed from 

 Ifaac forward Ihoiiid be. ftrangcrs m a land that was not 

 theirs, for the fpace of 400 years, during fome part of 

 which they (ho'ald be oppreiTed, and at length brought un- 

 der bondage ; which term being expired, they (hould find 

 a happy deli-.erance. After the renewal of this promife, 

 Abraham married Hagar, who was recommended to hitn by 

 Sarah, and whoie children (lie defigncd to adopt and educate 

 a? her own, according to the cuflom whicii was common in 

 thofe times. By Hagar he had a fon, who was called Iftmael. 

 A. M. 2094. When the patriaich had attained the age of 99 

 years, A. M. 2 1 07. A. D. 1 897. God was pleafed to ratify his 

 former covenant with him, by changing his name from Mram, 

 »ormed of 3 {.f ,////vr and oS exallal, to ^//'rrt/'rtw!, derived from 

 P£3n OT D ^f > fcthcr of a great mulutudc, affuring him that 

 he would make him the father of many nations. Gen. xvii. 5. 

 As a token and confirmation of the covenant -flow made 

 with him, he enjoined him to be circumcifed, and to circum- 

 cife all the males cf his family ; and he promifed that, with- 

 in a year, he Ihould have a fon by his wife, whofe name -was 

 row changed from Sara'i, q. d. my prw.ceft, to Sarah, the 

 princefs. This fon was to be called Ifaac ; to him belonged 

 the cov€na:it and promife ; aud in his feed all the nations of 



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th^ earth were to b; bletTed. Ths promife of a fon waj 

 again renewed by thofe celeftial mefltngers, who announced 

 to him the deftradion of Sodom. His interccffion on be- 

 half of this devoted city, th'jugh in the iflue unavaihng, 

 forms a dillinguidiing circumtlance in his hiftoiy. Soon 

 after this event, Abraham remo'.'ed to the country of the 

 PhiliiUnes, and fojourned in Gerar, where an incident oc- 

 curred limilar to that which had happened in Egypt. See 

 Abimelech. Ifaac was born at the appointed feafon, 452 

 years afier the flood, and A.M. 2108. But within 25 

 years after this joyful event, upon wiiich depended the ac- 

 co.mplifhm;nt of the divine promife, and of the patriarch's 

 hopes, Ifaac was demanded as a biirnt-facrifice, and Abraham 

 was ordered to prefent the offering on mount Moriah. The 

 event, with all the circumftances that attended it, is well 

 known. Tlie order was countermanded, and the patriarch, 

 in confequence of this fignal trial of his faith and obedience, 

 obtained a folemn renewal of all the divine covenants and 

 promifes. In the year 48S after the flood, A.M. 2144, 

 Sarah died at Hebron, and was buried in the cave of Mach- 

 pelah, which Abraham purchafed as a burying-place, of the 

 fons of Heth, for 400 pieces of filver, amounting at the 

 rate of 3 s. for a fiiekel, to 60 1. of our money. This pur- 

 chafe was made, according to the cullom of ancient times, at 

 the GATES of Hebron. Abraham having mairied his fon 

 Ifaac to Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor, his brother, at 

 the age of 141 years, took another wife, named Keturah, 

 by whom he had fix fons. Thefe he portioned, that they 

 might not interfere with Ifaac's inheritance ; and they went 

 to the ea(t of Beerdieba, and the land of Canaan, and 

 fettled in both Arabias, the Petnea and Deferta, where 

 fome traces of their names are ftill to be perceived. This 

 venerable patriarch died in the 175th year of his age, 527 

 years after the flood, A.M. 2183, A. D. 1821. and was 

 buried by his two fons, Ifaac and Illimael,in the cave of Mach- 

 pelah, near Sarah, his wife. 



To the above abftraft of the hiftory of Abraham, recorded 

 in the book of Genefis, it may not be improper to fubjoin a 

 few particulars coUefted from other fources. Terah, the 

 father of Abraham, it is faid, (Suidas in voc. A'S^aajx and 

 Ssja;)^, Lex. torn. i. & ii.) made ftatues and images for 

 the purpofes of that idolatrous worfliip, which had been 

 tranfmitted to him from his anceftor Senig, and which lie 

 encouraged by example and exhortation. Some Jewilh au- 

 thors relate, (apud Genebrand. in Chron.) that Abraham 

 purfued the fame occupation; and Maimonidcs (More Ne- 

 vochim, c. 29.) fays, that he was educated in the religion 

 of the Sabxans, who acknowledged no deity but the ftars, 

 and that he was led by his own refleftion to the belief of an 

 intelligent Creator and Governor of the uiiiverfe ; but that 

 he did not renounce paganifm till the 50th year of his age 

 That he was brought up in the religion of the Sabaeans is 

 an opinion adopted by Spencer, de Leg. Heb. Ritual, lib. 

 ii. c. I. ji 2. vol. i. 279. See Sabaism. Suidas {uii 

 fupra,) informs us, that at 16 years of age he cautioned his 

 father againll feducing men to idolatry for the fake of per- 

 nicious gain, and taught him that there is no other Gotl 

 bcfides him who dwells ' in heaven, atid created the wliole 

 world. It is added, that he deftroyed the ftatues and 

 images of his father, and departed with him from Chaldaea. 

 Others relate (Heidegger Hill. Patriarch, torn. iii. p. 36,) 

 that his father deputed Abraham to fell his ilatues in his 

 abfence, and that a man, who pretended to be a purchafer, 

 having afcertained that he was 50 years of age, remon- 

 flrated with him for adoring at fuch an age, a being which 

 is but a day old. Abraham, impref\ and confounded by this 

 remonftrance, deilroycd tliera all, excepting the laigeft, 

 3 before 



