CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 13:15. To thee will I give it, and to thy seed] Perhaps a better rendering would be, “To thee will I give it, even to thy seed.” The Heb. particle translated “and” has frequently the signification of “even.” 1 Chronicles 21:12: “The Lord’s sword, and the pestilence,” i.e., even the pestilence. It is certain that the promise was never fulfilled to Abram personally.—
Genesis 13:18. Plain of Mamre] Heb. word denotes a tree or grove. Mamre is also a personal name (Genesis 14:13)—a person described as an Amorite.—Which is in Hebron] The first mention of this name. It is one of the most ancient cities in the world. In Numbers 13:22 it is said to have been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. The ancient name was Kirjath-Arba. Here Sarah and Abraham died.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 13:14-18
THE SAINTS’ COMFORT IN SOLITUDE
Abram and Lot, who had so long lived together in loving companionship, are now parted from each other. It was necessary that he to whom the promises were made should stand by himself, as the head of a race chosen of God to illustrate the ways of His providence and to be the channels of His grace to mankind. Human companionship would have been grateful to such a nature as Abram’s, but now he must dwell alone. Such solitude has wonderful compensations.
I. The Divine voice is more distinctly heard. With his friend separated from him, and the painful memory of trials so lately endured, Abram stood in need of encouragement. This was graciously granted. God spoke to him, and showed him his large inheritance. God still speaks to the souls of men. Every strong conviction of the reality of eternal truths is a fresh communication of God to the soul. But in the crowded ways of life, with its distractions, the strife of tongues and tumult of the passions, God’s voice is seldom heard. It is with us as it was with Abram. When all is taken from us and we are alone, then God draws near to us and speaks. We need this consolation.
1. To confirm our faith. Every grace of God in us must partake of our own imperfection, and we cannot expect that the grace of faith will prove an exception. All that we do, know, or feel must be tainted by our own earthliness. There are also grievous trials to faith, and when they press most heavily there is danger lest the soul should faint. We need the felt experience of a Presence greater than ourselves, and bidding us be of good cheer. Appearances often seem to be against us in this world until we are almost tempted to suspect that our very religion is a delusion. The facts of physical science have the advantage of verification. They can be assured as coming out clear from every fair trial. But in spiritual things we must venture much, and the effort of doing this sometimes severely taxes our strength. The sense of our own past failures oppresses us, lowers the tone of our spiritual life, and weakens the effort of our will. Therefore our faith needs frequent encouragement. God gave the life of faith at first, and His visitation is still needed to preserve it from destruction. Spiritual life, as the natural, draws breath in a suitable atmosphere. The loving presence of God is the very breath of our life. We must acknowledge the fact that the soul depends wholly upon God for its life. Again, it is necessary for us to hear God’s voice speaking to the soul, because—
2. We require a renewed sense of the Divine approval. It is a gracious sign of His favour when God speaks loving words to our souls. It is the light of His countenance which is our true joy—the very life of our life. It is in this way—speaking in Bible language—that God “knoweth the righteous,” or recognises them as His own. He knows their works, their struggles with temptation, their strong desire to do His will in the face of all difficulties. Though their obedience is imperfect He approves of them in the tenderness of His goodness, for they are true at heart. “He remembereth that they are dust.” We need this renewed sense of the Divine approval, in order that we may justify to ourselves our conduct as spiritual men. On the strength of our belief in God we have committed ourselves to a new course of life. We have laid hold of certain truths, which, when they are really considered, impose upon us a kind of conduct different from the rest of mankind. We should be able to justify ourselves in the ways of our life, and this we can only do by assuring ourselves that we are well-pleasing to God.
3. We require comfort for the evils we have suffered on account of religion. It is true that like the angels we should do “all for love, and nothing for reward.” This is the purest and noblest form of obedience. Still the approving love of God is in itself a reward, having infinite compensations. Our hearts would fail in the midst of the most exalted duty unless we were assured that our labour was not in vain in the Lord. Abram at this time needed strong consolation and the recompense of God’s approving voice. He had yielded to Lot, apparently to his own disadvantage. He had been obliged to part from his friend, the loving companion of many years. One would expect to find him in great sorrow, but in the midst of it God appears and brings comfort. Thus our extremity is often God’s opportunity for giving us special consolations. The darkest hour of our night is that just before the dawn of a day which brings us light, and peace, and prosperity.
II. The Divine promises are more clearly apprehended.—God spake to Abram in words which promised good things to come. He chose the time when the patriarch was alone. “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:14-15.) In like manner it is with us in our solitude, when the world is shut out and our souls commune with God.
1. We are more free to survey the greatness of our inheritance. Abram is commanded to look around him on every side, and even to walk through the length and breadth of the land that he might see how large was his inheritance. It is only when we realise God’s presence, and His voice speaking within us, that we become really aware how goodly is our heritage and how pleasant is the land which God gives us to possess. In the great architectural works of man’s skill, some composure of mind and intentness of vision are necessary to enable us to take in their true grandeur. That elevation of soul which God imparts when He appears and speaks gives us the power to see how great are His gifts, and to imagine what the reserves of His goodness must be.
2. We have an enhanced idea of the plentifulness of the Divine resources. This is the third occasion on which the Lord appeared to Abram, but it is the first time that it is distinctly promised that he himself is ultimately to possess the land. When the Lord first appeared to Abram, before he left the country of his fathers, he was assured that signal blessings were to be enjoyed by him, and that he was to be the channel of their conveyance to the rest of mankind. On his arrival in Canaan he is told that the land is to be given to his seed. Now, when God visits him for a third time, he is invested with the lordship of the land. The promise becomes clearer and more definite as time advances. It would seem—speaking after the manner of men—that God is never weary of showing Abram the land which He had made over to him as an inheritance. The good things which God promises cannot be taken in at one view. The riches of their glory are revealed in succession. They are from the fulness of God, but they can only be apprehended by us as we receive one degree of grace after another. What happened to Abram is illustrated in the case of every faithful believer. In the solitudes of our soul, when meditating upon God, His promises seem to multiply as we bring them to mind. They grow clearer, and evermore suggest to us higher and better things. In this, as in every grace of God, “To him that hath shall be given.” Every promise realised is a pledge of greater good—the sure foundation of eternal riches.
III. We are led on to perceive the spiritual significance of life. The promises made to Abram seem to relate entirely to the present world. But, in this regard, they were never fulfilled. Abram, to the very end of his life, was a wanderer in Canaan. He possessed no part of it, except a place to bury his dead, and this he obtained by purchase. Thus he was led, by the disappointment of any earthly hopes he may have indulged in, to feel that the spiritual is the only reality. He “received not the promises,” but by the discipline of Providence the conviction grew stronger from day to day within him, that God has better things in reserve for His children than this world can bestow. Life’s hopes become delusive as we proceed, and this is intended to lead us to seek “the better country.” If failure and disappointment here produce not that blessed result, we must become the victims of dark despair. As the promises which this life gave, and which we foolishly trusted, prove to be deceitful, we should feel that our true home is in heaven. There ruined hopes are repaired, and all things completed that concern our eternal good. Such is the spiritual education which the experience of human life imparts, if we only learn to interpret it by God’s teaching. We have to acknowledge the fact that in this life we are the victims of delusions, which are only gradually cleared away as our higher faculties grow stronger and more enlightened.
1. Our senses deceive us. In early life we are under the tyranny of appearances. In the distant horizon the earth seems to touch the sky. Our world appears to be still, and the sun, moon, and stars to travel round it. The ideas which man in early ages had of external nature were only those of children. As we grow older, and become acquainted with the true principles of science, we learn to correct the reports of sense. We can only know the ultimate facts of nature through study and long observation. We have to get rid of many delusions and misconceptions before we can attain true science.
2. Our youthful hopes deceive us. Life promises much to the young. The future is bright and plentiful; but as life passes on, and the hard lessons of experience have to be learned, the pleasing dream vanishes. The world’s happiness is seen to be unsubstantial, deceitful, and leading to no permanent good. Could the young fully realise how delusive life’s promise is, that ghastly thought would take away all gladness from their hearts. Who, when life opens so full of promise before him, could live an hour, were the sad reality of things fully to come home to him! Thus God teaches us, by the experience of human life, that all real and enduring good is beyond and above us. Like Abram, we are led on, gradually and painfully it may be, to higher things. We are leaving what is unreal and shadowy for “a better and an enduring substance.” We shall find in the end that all has failed with us, unless we have learned what is the spiritual significance of life, how we ought to employ it to glorify God and to prepare ourselves for all He shall unfold hereafter. Since the promises of life deceive us, let us learn that “there is nothing sure but heaven.”
IV. The spirit of devotion is strengthened. “Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord” (Genesis 13:18). As he did at the first, so he does now. He is alone with God, and the spirit of devotion revives and increases.
1. When God speaks to the soul, our sense of reverence is deepened. When the world is shut out, and all other objects are cleared away and we are alone with God, then we feel true reverence before so great and holy a presence. We are powerfully affected by the thought of the majesty of God and the littleness of ourselves.
2. When God speaks, our sense of duty is deepened. The first duty of all is to adore and worship our God, to build the altar of consecration, and devote ourselves to His service. And this feeling is always strengthened when God appears to our souls. Worship becomes more pleasing and earnest work when we know that we are receiving good, and that the object of it is there to bless. When we are alone with God, it is then that we rise to the summits of devotion and discern somewhat of the glory of that land which God has promised, and which will remain sure to us though all else seem to fail.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 13:14. God is able to compensate His children for the loss of human companionship. His presence—always with them—is often most manifest when they are left alone.
Even so sweet a blessing as friendship has in it, like all other earthly good, an admixture of evil. The parting of friends is one of the sorrows of human life. Hence the importance of forming a friendship with God, whose love knows no change, and who cannot be severed from us. Abram was the friend of God; and now that he is left alone, the value of that sacred bond becomes more manifest.
Lot had “lifted up his eyes,” but only to feed his covetousness. He sought eagerly the goodly land before him, determined to enjoy its plenty, and little caring how he exposed his soul to peril. Now, Abram is commanded to lift up his eyes upon a better inheritance, for God’s blessing rested upon it, and it was the shadow and promise of higher things. “Thus he who sought this world, lost it; and he who was willing to give up anything for the honour of God and religion, found it.”—(Fuller.)
Upon his withdrawment from Lot, the Lord again meets him in mercy, and renews to him His gracious covenant-promise. He bids him lift up his eyes and look around the whole horizon, surveying the land on the north and the south, on the east and the west, and then confirms to him and his posterity the gift of the whole as far as the eye could reach. How striking an instance this of the considerate kindness, of the recompensing mercy, of Him with whom we have to do. At the moment when Abram had been making the greatest sacrifices for peace, and demonstrating how loosely he sat by the richest earthly abundance compared with the desire of securing the Divine favour, the Most High visits him with a fresh manifestation of his favour, and comforts him with renewed assurances of his future inheritance.—(Bush.)
Abram could not with his outward eye see all the land which God was about to give him. He must complete the picture in his imagination, and from what he could see, reason to what he could not. So we can behold but a small portion of our vast inheritance of faith, yet still enough to enable us to divine what God hath prepared for them that love Him.
God says to every believer, “Look from the place where thou art.”
1. We should not dwell despairingly upon our present losses and privations. We ought not to sorrow as men who have no hope.
2. We should look from that World which we must lose some day to that world which is sure, and abides for ever—Paradise. The golden age of humanity is not here, but is ever beyond and above us.
Now that Lot was separated from Abram, the covenant head stands alone, and in a position to be addressed and dealt with in his covenant relations. He is now parted from his kinsman, the companion of his journeyings, and, isolated in the world, he is to receive the special encouragement of his covenant God. Now he is formally constituted the rightful owner of the land, and inducted into the heritage. He is to make a full survey of the land in all directions, and he is assured that it is his to inherit, and a title deed is given to him for his seed for ever—(Jacobus).
Genesis 13:15. The first promise relates to the person of Abram; in him and in his name are embraced all promised blessings. In the second a seed was more definitely promised to Abram, and also the land of Canaan for the seed. But here, in opposition to the narrow limits in which he is with his herds, and to the pre-occupation of the best parts of the land by Lot, there is promised to him the whole land in its extension, and to the boundless territory, an innumerable seed. It should be observed that the whole fulness of the Divine promise is first unreservedly declared to Abram after the separation from Lot. Lot has taken beforehand his part of the good things. His choice appears as a mild or partial example of the choice of Esau (the choice of the lentile-pottage)—(Lange).
Jehovah hath what He giveth; therefore He giveth freely, He cannot deceive.—(Hughes).
The heavenly Canaan is to believers not as wages for service they have rendered, but the gift of God. It is, strictly speaking, an inheritance which we have lawfully derived by reason of our relationship to our Heavenly Father.
The term “for ever,” as applied to the land of Canaan, can only mean as long as the subject of it lasts. That must come to an end. But the Canaan above can have no end, for, unlike the earthly one, it is pure and unmixed good, and good is in its very nature eternal.
The reasoning of Paul respecting Abram’s heavenly hope cannot possibly refer to anything short of the final and eternal inheritance of glory. To that, according to the Apostle—and to nothing short of that—did the patriarch look forward; certainly not to any merely temporary occupation of the land before the end of all things, nor to the possession of it, for a limited though protracted period, during the ages of millennial prosperity. The land of Canaan, and the earth of which it forms a part, may, for anything we can tell, be the local scene and seat of the inheritance that he means. The whole force of the Apostle’s argument depends on the contrast which he draws between Abram’s condition as a stranger and pilgrim in the land, and his condition as having an eternal abode in heaven. When he formerly dwelt in the land, he confessed that he was a stranger and pilgrim on the earth; so also did his sons, Isaac and Jacob.—(Chandlish.)
Genesis 13:16. The spiritual purport of the promise is here further reached, in the innumerable seed. The literal increase is not excluded, but this was not all that was meant, else it would be of small moment comparatively. God does not so account of the mere earthly progeny. He rebuked their boast of being Abram’s seed according to the flesh. But the spiritual posterity, and the true Israel, after the spirit, this was the grant here made of Abram. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abram’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29.)—(Jacobus.)
Abram’s household is smaller than it was at the first; he is old and childless, and yet he believes that his seed shall be as the dust of the earth.
This multitude of seed, even when we take the ordinary sense which the form of expression bears in popular use, far transcends the productive powers of the promised land in its utmost extent. Yet to Abram, who was accustomed to the petty tribes that then roved over the pastures of Mesopotamia and Palestine, this disproportion would not be apparent. A people who should fill the land of Canaan would seem to him innumerable. But we see that the promise begins already to enlarge itself beyond the bounds of the natural seed of Abram.—(Murphy.)
The multitude of the heirs of salvation must be great, for God will not allow the costly work of our redemption to end in an insignificant result. The fruits of grace must be on a scale with the Divine magnificence. The sons of glory will be many, even in the estimate of the Divine arithmetic. Hence, St. John saw in heaven “A multitude which no man could number.”
Genesis 13:17. God repeats His promises for the support of the faith of His servants.
We are bidden to survey the utmost dimensions of God’s promises (Ephesians 3:19).
It is permitted to us to see and enjoy some portion of our spiritual inheritance; yet this conveys no sufficient idea of its greatness. We have dim suggestions of what we shall be, but the full glory of it “doth not yet appear.”
The largest latitude is thus allowed him, as the proprietor of the soil, to walk over the land in its utmost limits, at his own pleasure, and to call it all his own, and feel himself to be inducted thus, by the Divine grant, into the formal proprietorship of the whole country. And this grant of the earthly Canaan is typical of that higher heritage of the heavenly Canaan—the believer’s land of promise. “For we which have believed do enter into rest” (Hebrews 4:3). “For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?” (Hebrews 4:8). And this is the better country, even an heavenly, which the covenant God of Abram promises to give to him personally.—(Jacobus.)
The promises of God to His children are so great that it seems to us impossible that they shall be fulfilled to us; and, indeed, it is one of the great trials of our faith to believe them. It is said that a certain beggar once made an application to Alexander the Great for alms. The king, upon hearing the request, gave two hundred talents of silver to his servant, and commanded him to convey them to the poor man. The beggar, astonished at so unexpected a charity, said, “Take it back and say, ‘this is too much for a beggar to receive.’ ” Whereupon Alexander said, “Tell him that if it is too much for a beggar to receive, it is not too much for a king to give.” So when God gives He does not do it according to our narrow, niggardly notions, but He gives as a king, as one who is the proprietor of all kings.
What we can see with the spiritual eye we really possess.
Arise, walk through the land.
1. God allows His blessings to be put to the test of experiment. We can verify them one by one by observation and experience. We can feel and know.
2. God allows His blessings to become a vantage ground for faith. What He gives now promises to us higher and better things.
Genesis 13:18. “Abram removed his tent.” He is still a wanderer and pilgrim. Our human habitations are shifting, and there is only one certain dwelling place—our eternal home in heaven.
A third altar is here built by Abram. His wandering course requires a varying place of worship. It is the Omnipresent whom he adores. The previous visits of the Lord had completed the restoration of his inward peace, security, and liberty of access to God, which had been disturbed by his descent into Egypt, and the temptation that had overcome him there. He feels himself again at peace with God, and his fortitude is renewed. He grows in spiritual knowledge and practice under the great teacher.—(Murphy.)
Believers, wherever they go, should provide for the public and private worship of God. In this Abram showed himself “the father of the faithful.” As it is a necessity of our physical nature that we should have some abode, so it is a necessity of our spiritual nature that we should find an abode for the Highest, a place where our own soul has a home, and where we feel the comforting presence of our God.
In all his wanderings through the world, and the varied scenes and changes through which he passes, the believer makes the worship of his God the first and last consideration.
Upon every remove, it is always recorded of Abram that he built an altar unto the Lord. Nothing could hinder him; not the fatigues and journeyings, the approach of age, the presence of enemies, the most difficult duties of life, nor the increase of his possessions. Nothing was allowed to interfere with his devotion to God. He kept up his correspondence with heaven.
Abram’s altar was intended—
1. As a public profession of religion in the midst of enemies;
2. As a constant memorial of God’s presence;
3. As a tribute of gratitude for His mercies;
4. As expressing a sense of obligation to His love, and a desire to enjoy His presence;
5. As a sign of his determination to be fully dedicated to God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Abram and Lot! Genesis 13:1-18. We have here—I. The Contention, which was
(1) unseemly,
(2) untimely, and
(3) unnecessary. II. The Consolation, which was
(1) unbounded,
(2) undoubted, and
(3) unearthly. Or, we have here—I. The Churlishness of the herdsmen. II. The Selfishness of Lot. III. The Unselfishness of Abram, and IV. The Graciousness of God. Or, we have here—I. The Return of Abram,
(1) forgiven and
(2) favoured. II. The Request of Abram,
(1) forbearing, and
(2) foregoing. III. The Reward of Abram (l) forgetting the earthly and
(2) foreshadowing the heavenly inheritance. The Lesson-Links or Truth-Thoughts are—
1. Wealth means
(1) strife,
(2) sorrow, and
(3) separation.
2. Abram manifests
(1) faith,
(2) forbearance, and
(3) forgetfulness of self.
3. Worldly love means
(1) stupidity,
(2) suffering, and
(3) sinfulness.
4. God manifests
(1) favour,
(2) fulness, and
(3) faithfulness to Abram.
“The pilgrim’s step in vain,
Seeks Eden’s sacred ground!
But in Hope’s heav’nly joys again,
An Eden may be found.”—Bowring.
Returns and Reviews! Genesis 13:1-3.
(1) The poet has immortalised the Swiss patriot’s sentiments on returning to the Alpine crags and peaks after strange and perilous experiences in exile. The historian has inscribed on the tablet of Church history the devout emotions of Arnaud on his return from danger and exile to the Vaudois Valleys. The litterateur has depicted on the page of his tale the joyful sensations of the emigrant, returning in safety and wealth to the home from which he had gone forth in peril and poverty.
(2) Abram had been driven by famine into the fruitful fields of Egypt, where he had narrowly escaped reaping death as the fruit of his fears and folly. God had in His wise and merciful Providence brought him back again to Hebron. He, therefore, calls on the name of the Lord. He, no doubt, received with thankfulness the Lord’s intimations of mercy as connected with his previous sojourn; and he, doubtless, acknowledged with gratitude God’s loving interposition with Pharaoh in his behalf.
(3) It is well to go back in review of old spots and past experiences in order to call up instrumentally thereby, says Doudney, the gracious acts, interposing goodness, and boundless benefits of our covenant-God in Christ. The light so shining upon the past prompts us to take down our harp from the willows, and to sing—
“His love in times past forbids me to think,
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink.”
Flocks and Herds! Genesis 13:2.
(1) In a very old Egyptian tomb near the Pyramids the flocks and herds of the principal occupant are pourtrayed. The numbers of them are told as 800 oxen, 200 cows, 2,000 goats, and 1,000 sheep. Job at first had 7,000 sheep, 500 yoke of oxen, 3,000 camels, etc. We can thus form some idea of the number and magnitude of the patriarchal flocks and herds.
(2) At the present day these are no exaggeration, however startling the figures sound. In an Australian sheep-run one grazier has nearly 20,000 sheep. Not long ago an American sheepowner had as many as 9,000 browsing on the heights of Omaha, so that when a traveller looked forth at daybreak the mountains seemed like waves of the sea. In Zululand the flocks and herds of Cetewayo were immense.
“Abram’s well was fann’d by the breeze,
Whose murmur invited to sleep;
His altar was shaded with trees,
And his hills were white over with sheep.”—Shenstone.
Patriarchal Wealth! Genesis 13:2.
(1) Dr. Russell tells us that the people of Aleppo are supplied with the greater part of their butter, cheese, and flesh by the Arabs, Rushmans, or Turcomans, who travel about the country with their flocks and herds, as the patriarchs did of old. Before America became so thickly peopled, its primitive white patriarchs wandered with flocks over the richly-clothed savannahs and prairies. Having collected vast stores of cheese, honey, skins, etc., they would repair to the townships and dispose of them.
(2) The Hebrew patriarchs no doubt supplied the cities of Canaan in like manner. Hamor, in Genesis 34:21, expressly speaks of the patriarchs thus trading with his princes and people. La Rogue says that in the time of Pliny the riches both of the Parthians and Romans were melted down by the Arabs, who thus amassed large treasures of the precious metals. This probably explains how Abraham was rich, not only in cattle, but in silver and gold. Not that Abram trusted in his riches.
“Oh! give me the riches that fade not, nor fly!
A treasure up yonder! a home in the sky!
Where beautiful things in their beauty still stay,
And where riches ne’er fly from the blessed away.”—Hunter.
Communion! Genesis 13:4.
(1) Watson says, that he knows of no pleasure so rich—no pleasure so hallowing in its influences, and no pleasure so constant in its supply of solace and strength, as that which springs from the true and spiritual worship of God. Pleasant as the cool water brooks are to a thirsty hart, so pleasant is it for the soul to live in communion with God.
(2) Rutherford wrote to his friend from the prison of Aberdeen, “The king dineth with his prisoners, and his spikenard casteth a smell; he hath led me to such a pitch and degree of joyful communion with himself as I never before knew.” This reminds us of Trapp’s quaint speech, that a good Christian is ever praying or praising: he drives a constant trade betwixt earth and heaven.
(3) Abram built his altar while the Canaanites looked on. He lifted up a testimony for God, and God honoured him; so that Abimelech was constrained to say, “God is with thee in all that thou doest.” Reader, in Greenland, the salutation of a visitor, when the door is opened, is this, “Is God in this house?” Remember that the home which has no family altar has no Divine delight.
“’Tis that which makes my treasure,
’Tis that which brings my gain;
Converting woe to pleasure,
And reaping joy for pain.”—Guyon.
God’s Gift! Genesis 13:14.
(1) It was a season of depression. One by one she had lost husband and children, save the youngest. Fondly had she nursed and nurtured him. Prayerfully had she trained and tended him. For years he had been her companion, and now earth’s last link was broken. When budding into manhood he had been suddenly taken from her side into the eternal world. A sense of unutterable loneliness was creeping over her heart. One friend—one friend only—had she in the world; but that one friend was a friend indeed. Hastening to the desolate home, she ministered to the lonely and depressed heart—with almost angelic skill and sweetness winning back that heart to sweetness and cheerfulness.
(2) It was a time of depression to Abraham. Separated from country and kindred, he had but one link left to him of the chain of Mesopotamian associations. Now it had been snapped. Lot had gone forth to the plain of Sodom, and Abraham was alone. Sitting on the summit beside his altar and tent, beneath the shadow of Moreh’s wide spreading oak, Abraham prays for strength. One friend—one friend only—had he in the world; but that friend was a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Jehovah-Jesus, whether in human form visibly or only to the inner consciousness we know not, appears, and ministers to him “God’s Gift!”
“Thou whisperest some pleasant word,
I catch the much-loved tone;
I feel Thee near, my gracious Lord,
I know Thou keepest watch and ward,
And all my grief is gone.”—Anon.
Godliness Gain! Genesis 13:14, etc. A philosopher, on being pressed to embrace the promises of the Gospel, demurred on the ground that by professing Christ he would lose friends and fields. A Christian thereupon offered to give him on the spot a bond of security against all losses which he might incur by yielding to the Holy Spirit, and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as all his salvation and all his desire. Thus fortified against contingencies, the philosopher embraced Christianity, erected an altar in his family circle, and proclaimed himself a follower and servant of God. Years passed by, and the hour of the philosopher’s departure for the eternal world drew near. Conscious that his days were numbered, he sent for the Christian, who had given him the bond, and tearing the paper in pieces, he died saying, “There is nothing for you to pay; for the Lord Jesus has made up to me an hundredfold for all I have ever suffered on His account.”
“For men, scanning the surface, count the wicked happy,
Nor heed the compensating bliss which glad-deneth the good in his afflictions.”—Tupper.
Christian Compensation! Genesis 13:14, etc. Abram, walking by faith, receives the promise of an eternal inheritance—compensating for his self-sacrifice of worldly interest in favour of Lot. This is the third occasion of Messiah’s appearance to him; but it is the first time we find explicit mention made of what he himself is ultimately to possess. At the first interview came the Gospel privilege of free justification, on the faith of which Abram starts on pilgrimage. On the second occasion, the patriarch is briefly told that the earthly Canaan is to be the portion of his natural posterity. But on this third manifestation of Himself the Lord Jesus favours Abram with a fuller and more express communication. He is to be “infefted” in the land, says Candlish. He is to take a survey of it—to make a measurement of it—to assume investiture in the lordship of it: “It is thine: to thee I give it.” Yet it was not mere walking by sight over the earthly fields and pastures of Canaan, to which Abram was directed. He was to walk by faith up and down the heavenly plains and waters of Paradise, in the blessed hope and full assurance, of the resurrection of himself and his spiritual children to glory, and their full enjoyment of the everlasting inheritance of the saints in light. He was to survey—
“From every mountain’s rugged peak,
The blessed land of rest;
And from its fields of fadeless bloom
Feel zephyrs laden with perfume,
Cheering his pilgrim breast.”
Abram’s Seed! Genesis 13:16. Sitting one Sunday afternoon in the cosy parlour, warmed pleasantly by the winter’s fire, were mother and two children. Before them was Bible Pictures and Poems. It lay open at Genesis 13, and the conversation flowed upon Abram and his little plot of land known as Palestine. The mother had just read Genesis 13:16, when she was interrupted by her girl inquiring, in child-like curiosity, “Did Abram have so many children as that?” Speaking for the mother, it is well to notice that the prophecies of the Bible often have two or more meanings. This promise was true in two ways—
(1) after the flesh;
(2) after the spirit.
(1) Literally after the flesh there never lived a man, since the days of the heads of the human race, whose children made so many nations as those of Abraham. Limiting the promise even to Isaac, look around over the ages and countries of Christendom alone, and see what myriads upon myriads of children Isaac had.
(2) Metaphorically, after the spirit, there never lived a man whose children were so numerous. Christians—whether Jewish or Gentile converts—are the children of Abram according to the promise. If we be Christ’s, says St. Paul, then are we Abram’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Abram’s seed during all the Christian centuries are to come from all Christian countries and sit down with him in the heavenly country.
“Now, o’er whose acres walk those blessed feet,
Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed
For our advantage to earth’s bitter cross?”
Divine Duty! Genesis 13:17.
(1) Two men stood on a lofty slope in the West of England from which an extensive prospect of woodland and waterland presented itself. It was a charming scene, and the brilliant early summer sunshine added to the charm. The elder of the two was a wealthy merchant prince, who, wandering over seas and lands, had amassed wealth, and purchased the estates around. The lines on his face, the furrows on his brow, the far-away look in his eye, and the silver snows on his head, told that his pilgrimage could not be long. The younger one is his son, to whom he is saying, “Look around, these are thine; to thee and thy children I give them; go forth and survey them to thy heart’s content, as their future, rightful owner.” And the young man, with grateful heart, went hither and thither.
(2) So with Abram. He was to arise and walk through the length and breadth of the land. When the Lord Jesus appeared to him beneath the giant oak of Moreh, Abram was able to look round and behold a wonderful country, wonderful in its fairness, fertility, and figuration. That country was God’s gift to him and to his children; and, as its rightful proprietor, he was to walk up and down in it, even as the squire, or nobleman, or prince surveys his wide domains from north to south, and east to west. Yet, after all, that land was itself a figure, and the gift itself a figure. To Abraham and his seed after the spirit was to be given a better country—the wide fair fields and fruits of Gospel grace, the vast rich dells and dales of moral blessing.
“Arrayed in beauteous green,
Its hills and valleys shine,
And to it Abraham is led
By Providence Divine.”—Doddridge.
Hebron-Heights! Genesis 13:18.
(1) It lies higher than any other city in Syria, wanting as it does but 500 feet of being as high as the snowclad summit of Snowdon in Wales. Thus, while it is far south and near the hot, dry desert airs, it is a region of refreshing coolness. Coming from Egypt towards Hebron, it certainly looks a lovely place. It lies in a long, narrow valley, full of vineyards and fruit-trees and gardens, with grey olive groves on the slope of the hills. The city was at the southern end of the valley; and near it, in Abram’s day, was a grove of oaks belonging to one of the Canaanite inhabitants.
(2) Abram had before pitched his pilgrim-tent under the towering trunk of Moreh’s oak—now he does so again. It may sound strange to us that Abram could thus enter and take possession of land so near a mighty city as Hebron. But at the present day, a Bedaween sheikh will bring his tribe and flocks into the immediate vicinity of a Syrian town, and make his pilgrim-home there for a time. Even in our own country, centuries ago, the Egyptian gipsies were free to enter upon lands, and pitch their moving tents or trucks near townships.
(3) Abram was a wealthy chieftain, with a tribal band of servants and followers, whose tents were scattered over the table-land above the valley of Hebron. His immense flocks and herds wandered over all the hill-sides, cropping the sweet wild thyme and browsing on the pastures which abounded there. The people of Hebron dealt more in mercantile pursuits; so that they were less likely to resent Abram’s appearance.
By gentle rivers of refreshment oft
Abram wandering was led; and borne aloft
In arms that failed him not, still fondly watched
From hidden dangers and destruction snatched.
Abram’s Oak! Genesis 13:18.
(1) Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that in his day “Abram’s Oak” stood. It is certain that an oak did stand about two miles from Hebron, on the undulating table land which stretches off from the top of the valley; but it is doubtful whether it really was the oak in Moreh. Under that tree Arabs, Jews, and Christians used to hold a fair every summer, and honour the tree by hanging their different pictures and images on it. The Emperor Constantine destroyed these symbols of tree-worship, but left the tree standing. It has long since gone.
(2) At the present day another oak is called “Abram’s oak,” but this cannot be more than one thousand years old. It is, however, a fine old tree, its branches giving a shadow ninety feet in diameter. It stands some distance up the valley, with nice clean grass underneath, and a well of water near. English and American tourists picnic beneath its shadow. Out of the joints of the stones there are the prettiest dainty little ferns growing.
“He sat him down beneath this tree, whose branches spread so fair,
And many a weary traveller found rest and refreshment there;
He showed the fount that flowed below, and parched lips on him smiled;
Men journeyed on and mutely blessed the patriarch of the wild.”—Shipton.
Abram! Genesis 13:18. The patriarch had his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. Those who are his seed should imitate their father, by putting on what he has bequeathed as the family heir-looms, viz., the greaves and headpiece. The gospel of peace will prepare the children’s feet as it prepared the father’s, for walking as strangers, warring as soldiers, and suffering as pilgrims on earth. The hope of salvation will guard the children’s heads, as it guarded their father’s head from the assaults of the enemy. Raised erect above the smoke and din of this earthly scene, Abram’s children, by faith in Christ Jesus, should fix their steadfast and ever-brightening gaze on the glory to be revealed, looking for that city which hath foundations, their inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
“When the shaded pilgrim-land
Fades before the closing eye,
Then, revealed on either hand,
Heaven’s own scenery shall lie;
Then the veil of flesh shall fall,
Now concealing, darkening all.”—Lange.