Part 5 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: EMPIRE OF AMRAPHEL OR HAMMURABI.]

6. =The Settlement at Beersheba.= (Gen. 20-25.) After the destruction of the cities of the plain, Abraham moved southward, and made his home at Beersheba, on the desert border, now _Bir es Seba_. Here he spent most of his later years, as after various journeys we find him each time encamped at Beersheba.

7. =The Offering of Isaac.= (Gen. 22.) From Beersheba Abraham took his son Isaac, at G.o.d's command, to offer him as a burnt offering in ”the land of Moriah.” Some authorities accept the Samaritan tradition, that this place was Mount Gerizim; but we see no sufficient reason to dissent from the general view, that it was Mount Moriah, at Jerusalem, ten centuries afterward the site of the Temple. After this sublime token of his faith in G.o.d, the patriarch returned to his tent at Beersheba.

8. =The Burial of Sarah.= (Gen. 23.) We find Abraham again at Hebron, in his old age. Here Sarah died and was buried in the cave of Machpelah.

This is undoubtedly covered by the Mohammedan mosque so sacredly guarded against the intrusion of travelers. The after events of Abraham's history may have taken place at Hebron or at Beersheba, as neither place is named as his residence at the time of Isaac's marriage or his own death. He was buried in the family sepulchre at Hebron, beside the body of Sarah.

II. THE JOURNEYS OF ISAAC.

The life of Isaac, though longer than the lives of Abraham and Jacob, was spent in a comparatively small range of territory, and with comparatively few events. We have not noted upon the map the lines of his journeyings; but the localities may be seen, as far as they are identified, upon the map of Palestine, on page 58.

The homes of Isaac were as follows: 1. Beer-lahai-roi, ”Well of the Life of Vision,” _i. e._, where life remained after seeing G.o.d; an unknown locality in the south of Canaan, between Bered and Kadesh. It was so named by Hagar, after meeting an angel, before the birth of Ishmael.

(Gen. 16:13.) 2. Gerar. (Gen. 26:1.) This was the chief city of the Philistines in that age; and is now called _Kirbet el Gerar_. The wells dug by Isaac, and seized by the Philistines, were probably in the region near this city. 3. Rehoboth (Gen. 26:22) is probably at the _Wady_ (Valley) _er Ruhaibeh_, south of Beersheba. 4. Beersheba. (Gen.

26:23-35.) Here he made a treaty of peace with the Philistine king, and remained for many years. It was his home during the strife of Jacob and Esau, and from this place Jacob departed on his long visit to Haran.

(Gen. 28:10.) 5. Hebron. (Gen. 35:27.) Here, beside the tomb of his parents, Isaac at last met his son Jacob, and here he died and was buried, at the age of 180 years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMPARATIVE AGE OF THE PATRIARCHS BEFORE AND AFTER THE DELUGE.]

III. THE JOURNEYS OF JACOB.

The life of Jacob is related with more of detail than that of any other person in Old Testament history; yet there is great uncertainty concerning the division of its periods. His first sixty years were pa.s.sed near Beersheba; then twenty years in Haran, and fifty years in Canaan (though some of the best chronologers allow _forty_ years in Haran, and _thirty_ years in Canaan); and seventeen years in Egypt. The princ.i.p.al places named in Jacob's journeys are: 1. Beersheba, now _Bir es Seba_, a well-known place in the south of Palestine. 2. Bethel, now _Beitin_, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. 3. Haran, now bearing the same name. (See under Abraham's life, Journey No. 1.) 4. Mizpah, called also Jegar-sahadutha, ”the heap of witness,” perhaps the important place afterward known as Ramoth-gilead, now _es Salt_, 13 miles south of the Jabbok. But this seems too far south to represent the event, and we are inclined to place it at some unknown mountain between the Jabbok and the Hieromax. 5. Mahanaim, probably at _Mahneh_, 10 miles north of the Jabbok. 6. Peniel, afterward Penuel, unknown, but somewhere on the brook Jabbok. 7. Succoth, ”booths,” recently identified as _Tell Darala_, a mile north of the Jabbok, in the Jordan Valley. 8. Shalem, ”peace.” If this refers to a place, it is _Salim_, 3 miles east of Shechem. But some read the sentence, ”Jacob came in peace [_i. e._, in safety] to Shechem.” (Gen. 33:18.) 9. Ephrath, the place of Rachel's death and burial, near Bethlehem.

The Journeys of Jacob may be arranged as follows:

1. =The Flight to Haran.= (Gen. 28:10-29:14.) Fearing the vengeance of Esau after the stolen blessing, Jacob hastily left his home at Beersheba, and journeyed northward to Haran. At Bethel he saw the vision of the heavenly ladder, and arrived safely at Haran, distant 450 miles from Beersheba. Here he remained either 20 or 40 years, according to different views, and married his two wives.

2. =The Return to Canaan.= (Gen. 31-33.) At Mizpah he made a treaty with Laban; at Mahanaim was comforted by a vision of angels; at Peniel wrestled with ”the angel of G.o.d,” and was reconciled to his brother Esau; and at Salim (if that be the name of a place), near Shechem, he rested in the Land of Promise.

3. =The Residence in Canaan.= (Gen. 34-45.) The slaughter of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, caused Jacob to move his increasing clan further south. At Bethel he renewed the covenant with G.o.d. (Gen.

35:1-15.) Near Ephrath, or Bethlehem, his beloved wife Rachel died and was buried. (Gen. 35:10-20.) At Hebron he met once more his aged father, and remained during most of his after-life in the land. (Gen. 35:27.) While Jacob was living at Hebron, Joseph was sold a slave to the Midianites, at Dothan, on the southern slopes of Mount Gilboa, and by them taken down to Egypt. (Gen. 37.)

4. =The Descent into Egypt.= (Gen. 45-50.) At the invitation of Joseph, then prince in Egypt, Jacob left Hebron to go down into Egypt. At Beersheba he offered sacrifices, and received divine guidance. His home was fixed in the Land of Goshen, a small but fertile district between the eastern channel of the Nile and the desert, the modern province of _es Shurkiyeh_, including the _Wady Tumilat_. Here the family of Jacob remained until they became ”a great nation,” a period variously estimated at from 200 to 400 years, or even longer.

5. =The Burial Procession.= (Gen. 50.) After the death of Jacob, his embalmed body was borne from Egypt to Hebron. The direct route was not taken, probably on account of the hostility of the Philistine and Amorite tribes; but the procession pa.s.sed around the south of the Dead Sea, through the land of Moab, and crossed the Jordan at Abel-mizraim, near Jericho, a place afterward known as Beth-hoglah; and thence to Hebron, where the last of the three fathers of the chosen people was laid to rest in the ancestral sepulchre.

OUTLINE FOR REVIEW.

I. _Journeys of Abraham._ 1. Ur to Haran. 2. Haran to Canaan. (Shechem, Bethel.) 3. Visit to Egypt. (Return to Bethel.) 4. Removal to Hebron. 5.

Pursuit of Elamites. (Dan, Hobah, Salem.) 6. Settlement at Beersheba. 7.

Offering of Isaac. (Moriah.) 8. Burial of Sarah. (Hebron.)

II. _Journeys of Isaac._ 1. Beer-lahai-roi. 2. Gerar. 3. Rehoboth. 4.

Beersheba. 5. Hebron.