GENESIS XV-GOD'S PROMISE TO ABRAM

25

16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17¶ And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.1

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand2 unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Chapter 15

1 God encourageth Abram. 2 Abram complaineth for want of an heir. 4 God promiseth him a son, and a multiplying of his seed. 6 Abram is justified. 7 Canaan is promised, and confirmed by a sign, 12 and a vision.

FTER these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus ?3 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and 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.

6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for right

eousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and

1That is, Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek. "and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer only heir.

2Meaning, I have taken an oath. Revised Version, etc. The meaning is that his steward Eliezer is his

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GENESIS XVI-HAGAR AND ISHMAEL

a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls' came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Chapter 16

1 Sarai, being barren, giveth Hagar to Abram. 4 Hagar, being afflicted for despising her mistress, runneth away. 7 An angel sendeth her back to submit herself, 11 and telleth her of her child. 15 Ishmael is born.

OW Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4 ¶ And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

my

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"Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field."-Gen., 3, 1.

HE third chapter of Genesis tells of the fall

T

of man, the coming of sin into the world. The account has generally been accepted as meaning more than appears upon its surface. The "serpent" is no ordinary "beast of the field." Later portions of the Bible seem to imply that its subtle words were supplied by Satan, or perhaps that the tempter was Satan himself, the power of evil, the rebel against God. Hence the serpent has usually been treated by artists symbolically; Raphael pictures it as partly human, possessed of a woman's head, a woman's brain without her nobler soul. Certainly the serpent's cunning words suggest human. nature arguing with itself; the baser, beastly parts stirring the mind to ambition and rage and fear.

In the center of Eden, God had planted two mysterious trees, one of life and death, the other of "the knowledge of good and evil." Of these two trees He forbade mankind to eat, under penalty of death. The serpent approached Eve alone, and subtly suggested that there was some mistake, of the two trees only one was of death, the other was of knowledge, and "in the day ye eat thereof... ye shall be as gods."

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good

for food. . . she took of the fruit thereof, and
did eat; and gave also unto her hus-

band with her, and he did eat."