Bethel. Abram and Lot both had large flocks and herds. So they separated, and Lot lived in the rich meadows by the Jordan where the cities Sodom and Gomorrah and Zoar were, and Abram made his home by the oaks of Mamre or Hebron, which was an old city high up among the hills. There is an old tree near Hebron which is still called "Abram's Oak," and perhaps it may be descended from trees that were there in those days. (From stereograph, copyright by Underwood & Underwood, Listen while we read the story. Bedouin tents in the plain of Esdraelon. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew 1 (Copyright, 1903, by William H. Rau, Phila.) Plain of Shechem (Maknah) and Mount Ebal, from Jacob's well; Joseph's tomb in centre of picture. thee and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. . . . And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from *The Revised Version reads "unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh." The Canaanites or "lowlanders" were native people who lived in the low country by the sea and by the Jordan. The Perizzites were the native villagers of the middle country. 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. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then 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 XII. 1-10; XIII. * ABRAM'S FIRST BATTLE. BEFORE reading about Abram's first battle, let us look at the map. Here is the land of Canaan, and here is the country beyond the river Euphrates, where Abram lived before he was called to the Holy Land. There were four kings in this eastern country, and Chedorlaomer was the chief. His rule reached from Elam, east of the Tigris, to the Mediterranean Sea. Ellasar was probably near to Elam; Shinar was the district afterwards called Babylon; and "nations" "By the oaks of Mamre." mean probably the tribes of northern Mesopotamia,-this country between the two rivers. Cities in the west, which had served the king of Elam for twelve years, rebelled and refused to pay their tribute. After two years the king of Elam came with others from the east. He must move as Abram did, northward along the rivers, to go around the desert. Near Charchemish he would cross the Euphrates, and march southward by Hamath and Damascus, and down the eastern side of the Jordan. Mountains of Edom. Several tribes that lived east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea tried to stop him, but the army moved on. Now they came into the mountain gorge which leads from the Dead Sea southward. By the side of this gorge is Mount Seir, where people lived in caves in the rocks. They are called Horites, which means "cave-dwellers." Afterwards the strongholds of the people of Edom were in these mountains, |