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his family in Mesopotamia, and his descendants adhered to the worship of images.

Josephus says: "After this, when famine invaded the land of Canaan, and Abraham had discovered the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition, he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, to know what they said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own notions proved the truest." He conversed with the most learned among the Egyptians, and conferred with various sects, by whom "he was admired as a very wise man, and one of very great sagacity."

Among ancient nations and tribes, it was a general custom to marry very near relatives, with a view to sustain. particular families, by strengthening the bond between them. According to the testimony of Josephus, Abraham married his own niece; but in Genesis he himself is recorded as saying: "She is my sister; the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." We are told he returned from Egypt "with sheep and oxen, he-asses and she-asses, men-servants and maid-servants." Sarah, his wife, being childless, requested him to take one of these bond women for a concubine. Her name was Hagar, which signifies a stranger. She bore Abraham a son, and they called his name Ishmael. Sarah at first loved the child, as if it were her own; but when she herself gave birth to a son, she became jealous of the older boy, and dealt hardly with his mother. She said to her husband: "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." Hebrew Scriptures inform us that "the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son. But God said, Hearken unto the voice of Sarah in all she has said unto thee." So the poor stranger from a foreign land was sent forth with her child into the wilderness, where they came

near perishing with thirst. After Sarah's death, Abraham married Keturah, by whom he had sons. That he likewise had descendants from mothers whose names are not mentioned, is implied by the record in Genesis: "Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. Unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, he gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, unto the east country, while he was yet alive.”

Little is known concerning the religious views of Abraham, except his belief in one Supreme God. Faith in subordinate Spirits is implied by the frequent mention of angels. In Hebrew, the word angel simply means a messenger. The young men who ate bread and veal in Abraham's tent, and seized Lot by the hand to hurry him away from Sodom, appear by their proceedings to have been mortal messengers; but Josephus calls them "angels of God." When Hagar and Ishmael were perishing in the wilderness, it is said "the angel of God called to her out of heaven;" and when she raised her eyes, she perceived a fountain. On several occasions, we are told that "the angel of God called to Abraham out of heaven." God himself is represented as talking familiarly with him. That he appeared in some visible form, seems to be implied by the words: "And God left off talking with him and went up from Abraham."

Wherever Abraham sojourned, he erected an altar and sacrificed to the Lord. A heifer, a ram, a goat, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, are mentioned among his offerings. It was a prevailing opinion with ancient nations, that human sacrifices were acceptable to the deities, and of higher value than the sacrifice of animals. That Abraham admitted such an idea, is implied by his belief that the Divine Being required him to sacrifice his gentle and virtuous son Isaac, then twenty-five years old. Hebrew Sacred Writings, as they have come down to us, merely state that "God did tempt Abraham, and said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains I will

tell thee of." But when all was in readiness, the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, to say that his willingness was a sufficient proof of his obedient faith. "And Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and he offered him up for a burntoffering instead of his son." Josephus gives a more amplified account of the transaction. He says: "God being desirous to make an experiment of Abraham's religious disposition toward himself, appeared to him, and enumerated all the blessings he had bestowed on him; how he had made him superior to all his enemies, and that his son Isaac, who was a principal part of his present happiness, was derived from him; and he said he required this son of his as a sacrifice and holy oblation. Accordingly, he commanded him to carry him to Mount Moriah, build an altar, and offer him for a burnt-offering upon it. Abraham, who thought it was not right to disobey God in anything, prepared to follow the injunction. When it became necessary to make his intentions known to the unconscious victim, he said: 'O my son, I poured out a vast number of prayers that I might have thee; and when thou wast come into the world, I was greatly solicitous for everything that could contribute to thy support. There was nothing wherein I thought myself happier than to see thee grown up to man's estate, that I might leave thee successor to my dominions. It was by God's will that I became thy father, and since it is now his will that I should relinquish thee, bear this consecration to God with a generous mind. I resign thee up to God, who has thought fit to require this testimony of honour to himself, on account of the favours he has conferred on me, in being to me a supporter and defender. Accordingly, thou, my son, will now die, not in any common way of going out of the world, but sent beforehand to God, the Father of all men, by thy own father, in the nature of a sacrifice. I suppose he thinks thee worthy to get clear of this world, not by disease, or war, or any of the severe modes by which death usually comes upon men; but he will receive VOL. I.-33

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thy soul with prayers and holy offices of religion, and will place thee near to himself, and thou wilt there be to me a succour and support to my old age, on which account I principally brought thee up, and will thereby procure me God for my comforter, instead of thyself Isuse replied that he was not worthy to be born at first, if be should oppose the will of God and his father; since it would have been wrong not to obey even his father alote, if he had so resolved. So he went immediately to the altar to be sacrificed. But God called loudly to Abraham by name, and forbade him to slay his son: saying he was satisfied by the surprising readiness he showed in this s piety, and was now delighted that he had bestowed so many blessings upon him. He foretold also that his family should increase into many nations; that those patriarchs should obtain possession of the land of Canaan, be envied by all men, and leave behind them an everlasting name When God had said this, he produced a ram for the sacr fice, which did not appear before."

The common idea of the sacredness of groves seems to have been inherited by Abraham; for we are told that st Beersheba he planted a grove, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God." Of the rite of cirvam cision no mention is made until twenty-four years after is visit to Egypt, and fourteen years after he had taken az Egyptian concubine. Hebrew Scriptures inform us that when her child was thirteen years old, and Abraham was ninety-nine, God made a covenant with him, saying Every male child among you shall be circumcised;" and the rite was accordingly performed on Abraham and all is household.

Jewish traditions say the soul of Adam passed into Abraham; the same soul afterward inhabited the form of king David; and it will again animate the Mos viz they expect. Some Rabbis relate that the mere sight fa precious stone hung about Abraham's neck, cured a ma ner of diseases; and after his death, God hung that jowai on the sun.

Abraham was the first who was called a Hebrew, from Hibri, meaning beyond the Euphrates. Some derive the appellation from Heber, one of the ancestors of Abraham; but this is probably erroneous.

In the times of Isaac and Jacob, the Hebrews were merely one nomadic family of herdsmen and hunters. The oldest in every family performed their simple religious ceremonies; for as yet they had no priesthood. Isaac and Jacob both married descendants of Abraham's brother Nahor, who had remained in Mesopotamia when other members of the family departed for Canaan. The nature of their worship is indicated by the fact that when Rachel left her father's house, she stole his images of the gods. Similar ideas were doubtless mingled with the education of her children, who were men and women when Jacob removed to Bethel. Before he sacrificed to the God of Abraham on the altar he had erected there, "he said to his household, and to those that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you. And he gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hands, and he hid them under the oak."

The patriarchal modes of worship resembled those of all the nations round about. That ablution was practised before they performed religious ceremonies, is shown by Jacob's injunction to his household to make themselves clean and change their garments before they sacrificed to the Lord. Wherever they had a remarkable adventure, or a prophetic dream, they set up a pillar of stone, anointed it with oil, and "poured a drink-offering thereon." Altars were generally built on mountains or hills, where they sacrificed animals, or offered oblations of fruit and grain. Jacob vowed a place for worship called Bethel, which means God's house; and there he promised to pay tithes. of all God should give him.

Angels are spoken of as appearing to the patriarchs not only in dreams, but visibly in waking moments. "Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him; and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host."

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