have been a general term, comprehending the Anakim, Rephaim, Zuzim, Horim, &c. who were Phenician or Cuthic emigrants.

14. The Rephaim.

This name is agreed, by those learned in Hebrew, to mean men of extraordinary stature or strength. They were situated east of the Jordan, adjoining the Emim and Zuzim. The valley of Rephaim, or valley of giants, lay near Jerusalem, and was probably once inhabited by some of these people detached from their chief settlement on the east side of Jordan. 15. The well Lahai-roi, Bered and Gerar.

After Hagar had fled into the wilderness, she was found by the angel of the Lord at a fountain in the way to Shur. This fountain was between Kadesh and Bered, and was called Lahai-roi, i. e. the fountain of him that lives and sees me. Shur was the name of that part of Arabia which adjoins Egypt and the Red Sea. Kadesh was a city near the southern boundary of Canaan: Bered is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, but was probably not far from Gerar, the place where Abraham sojourned after his removal southward from the neighbourhood of Hebron. Gerar was probably not far from Gaza, being in the land of the Philistines. Gen. xxi. 32. 34.

16. Beersheba, and the Land of Moriah.

Beersheba, in Hebrew, means the well of the oath, and was so named from the covenant made concerning it between Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar. This place, in which a city was afterwards built called by heathen writers Bersabe, or Berzimma, was situated at the southern extremity of the land of Israel. Hence the expression so often used "from Dan even unto Beersheba," to express the greatest length of the Holy Land; Dan being at the extreme northern border, and Beersheba at the southern.

While Abraham sojourned at Beersheba, he was required of God, as a trial of his obedience, to go into the Land of Moriah, and there to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. (Gen. xxii. 2.) It is generally thought that this land of Moriah was the mount so called, upon which Solomon afterwards built the temple, and on part of which, namely, Mount Calvary, our Saviour afterwards offered himself for the redemption of mankind. Instead, however, of Moriah, the Samaritans in this passage read Moreh, and say that it was to Mount Gerizim, near the plain of Moreh and Sichem, where Isaac was

brought to be sacrificed. According to Maimonides, the place where Abraham built the altar for this purpose was the same where David afterwards built his, in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, near Jerusalem.

17. Abraham's sons by Keturah.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham took to wife Keturah, whose children are named, Gen. xxv. 1-4. To these children Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from his son Isaac, into the east country, i. e. into the eastern part of Arabia, where we find some of their descendants afterwards mentioned in the sacred history.

A Midian, one of these, was the progenitor of the Midianites, who were settled chiefly south-east of the Dead Sea, adjoining the Moabites, with whom we afterwards find them sometimes mentioned in conjunction as neighbours. Numb. xxii. 4. From this place it is probable that the Midianites spread abroad into the adjacent countries, as we read of them afterwards as being in the vicinity of Mount Sinai, near the Red Sea, where Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, and priest of Midian, had his residence.

Jokshan, another son of Abraham by Keturah, had two sons named Sheba and Dedan, who must be distinguished from the two descendants of Cush, of the same name, settled in Arabia Felix; while the sons of Jokshan were settled to the northward of them in Arabia Deserta.

18. Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar.

Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, (Gen. xxi. 21.) which was the desert and mountainous tract between the wilderness of Shur on the west, and Mount Seir or the land of Edom, on the east; having the land of Canaan on the north, and the Red Sea on the south. He became the father of twelve sons, (Gen. xxv. 13.) whose posterity "dwelt from Havilah unto Shur," that is, in Arabia Petræa, of which the western part, towards Egypt, is called Shur, and the eastern part, towards the Persian Gulf, Havilah. The modern Arabians value themselves on being descended from Ishmael, of whom it was foretold that he should be a wild man, the father of a great nation; and that his hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against him. Gen. xvi. 12. xxi. 18. 18. Descendants of Lot, the Moabites and Ammonites. The posterity of Moab, the elder son of Lot, settled east of. the Lake Asphaltites or Dead Sea, and in the adjacent country, east of the Jordan; for we learn by Numb. xxi. 26. that

the Amorites had conquered that country from the Moabites, as far as the river Arnon.

The descendants of Ammon, the younger son of Lot, possessed the country adjoining the Moabites, on the northward and eastward; from the Arnon to the river Jabbok, being the northern part of what was afterwards the kingdom of Sihon. Numb. xxi. 13. Josh. xiii. 25. and Judges xi. 13-23.

CHAPTER V.

THE SETTLEMENT OF ESAU, AND THE SOJOURNING OF JACOB.

I. Mount Seir or Edom, the dwelling of Esau. AESAU and Jacob having separated on account of their riches, and the number of their cattle, which were more than the country could bear; Esau went from the face of his brother Jacob, and dwelt in Mount Seir. Gen. xxxvi. 6–9.

Edom, afterwards called Idumea, was situated south of the Land of Canaan, and the Dead Sea, and extended as far as some branches of the Red Sea; having the land of Midian on the east, and the Amalekites on the west.

The settlement of Esau was in the mountains of Seir, to the south-east of the Dead Sea. This mountainous tract was possessed by the Horites, probably the family of Hor, after whom Mount Hor may have been named; as this mountain, on which Aaron died, was on the borders of Edom. This region appears to have received the name of Mount Seir afterwards, from the family of Seir, the Horite, (Gen. xxxvi. 20.) who seems to have been a person of consequence in that land. After the children of Esau had succeeded the Horites, the country was called Edom, a name by which Esau was distinguished, after he had sold his birth-right to Jacob. The Edomites were first governed by dukes or princes, and afterwards by kings. They were conquered by David, (2 Sam. viii. 14.) and the prophecy that Jacob should rule Esau completely fulfilled.

II. The Sojourning of Jacob.

After Jacob, the younger son of Isaac, had received the blessing from his father, instead of Esau, he was hated by his elder brother, who even sought his life. He was therefore

sent by his mother to her brother Laban, who dwelt at Haran in Padan Aram or Mesopotamia. On his way thither from Beersheba, he came to a certain place, and lay down to sleep. It was here that he had the vision in which God renewed to him the promise already made to Abraham and Isaac: hence this place was named by Jacob Bethel, the house of God. Of its situation we have already spoken in our account of the sojourning of Abraham.

1. Gilead and Mizpah.

After remaining several years at Haran, during which time he married the two daughters of Laban, Jacob desiring to return to Canaan, stole away from Laban, and, with his family and his flocks, set out on his journey homewards. He crossed the river (probably the Euphrates) and came to Mount Gilead, where Laban, having pursued, overtook him. Here they made a covenant, raising a heap of stones, from which the place was called Galeed, i. e. the heap of witness. The mountain where this was done was afterwards called Galeed or Gilead by the Israelites. It was situated east of the Sea of Galilee, being part of that ridge of mountains which runs from Lebanon southward, on the east of the Holy Land, and included in the mountainous region called Trachonitis in the New Testament. Mizpah was another name given this heap of stones, from which the town of Mizpah, belonging to the tribe of Gad, and lying near this famous place of the covenant, took its name. 2. Mahanaim, the Brook Jabbok, and Penuel.

Having gone on his way some distance into Canaan, Jacob was met by the angels of God. And when he saw them he said, This is God's host; and hence he called the place Mahanaim, i. e. the hosts. From this the city near this place was afterwards called Mahanaim. It was situated near the river Jabbok, on the way from Mount Gilead.

This brook or river Jabbok ran from the Mountains of Gilead, and probably emptied into the Jordan, south of the Sea of Galilee; some, however, think that it emptied into that

sea.

* Near this brook was also the place named Peniel, i. e. the face of God: so called from Jacob's wrestling there with an angel; at which time he received the name of Israel. Hence, the adjoining city was called Penuel.

Not far from this last place, and near the river Jordan, was Succoth, where Jacob "built him an house, and made booths for his cattle." Gen. xxxiii. 17.

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3. Ephrath, or Ephratah, afterwards called Bethlehem. After leaving Succoth, Jacob crossed the Jordan and came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, where he bought a parcel of ground. He next passed on to Bethel, where he built an altar, and held communion with God.

* After this, when they had come near to Ephrath, Benjamin was born, and Rachel died. She was buried here, and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, which probably stood a long time, as it is mentioned in 1 Sam. x. 2. That Ephrath was the same as Bethlehem, we learn from Gen. xxxv. 19. So that the same place, remarkable for the birth of Benjamin, was no less so for that of king David, and more famous still as the birth-place of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

4. The Tower of Edar.

From the last mentioned place Israel journeyed again, and spread his tent beyond the Tower of Edar. The word Eder or Edar, in Hebrew, signifies a flock; and in Micah iv. 8. the Tower of Edar is translated the Tower of the Flock; whence, as it is termed "the strong hold of the daughter of Sion," some have supposed that it denotes a place near Jerusalem. Others think it means the field near Bethlehem, where the shepherds were keeping their flocks when the angel appeared, and announced to them the birth of Christ.

From this place Jacob went to Isaac, his father, in Mamre or Hebron, where Isaac died and was buried. Jacob remained there, and from this place he sent Joseph to see his brethren who had gone to feed their father's flocks in Shechem, where he had before bought a piece of ground.

5. Dothan.

Joseph, having come to Shechem, was not able to find his brethren, who had gone to Dothan; but being at length informed of it, he went thither. When his brethren at Dothan saw him coming, they conspired against him, because of his dreams; and sold him to some Ishmaelites and Midianites, who were going down from Gilead to Egypt with merchandise. These took Joseph with them to Egypt, where they sold him to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard. According to Eusebius, Dothan was situated about twelve miles north of the city of Samaria.

6. Adullam, Chezib, and Timnath.

These places are mentioned (Gen. xxxviii.) in relating certain transactions of Judah, the son of Jacob. Adullam was a city in the northern part of the tract afterwards allotted to