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 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

verbially, so that the more exact rendering may be, "Thy reward exceeding abundantly." The LXX. render "Thy reward shall be exceeding great," which is approved by Roediger (in Ges. 'Thes.' p. 1257), Rosenm., Delitzsch.

2. Lord GOD] Adonai JEHOVAH. This is the first use of these two words together. When separate, both are rendered by versions, ancient and modern, by the same word LORD. Except in v. 8, the same combination occurs again in the Pentateuch, only in Deut. iii. 24, ix. 26. In all these passages it is in the vocative case, and JEHOVAH alone does not occur in Genesis as a vocative (Quarry, 'Genesis,' P. 234).

seeing Igo childless] Abram, though blessed personally, feels that the promises of God seem to extend into the future, and does not understand that they can be fulfilled in him alone.

the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus] The literal rendering is "The son of the business" (or perhaps "of the possession") "of my house, he is Damascus Eliezer." It is most probable that "Damascus" is put for "a man of Damascus," as the Authorized Version. The words rendered "steward of my house" are very obscure, so that some ancient versions leave them untranslated. The older critics generally render "son of the business," i. e. "steward;" the majority of modern commentators, after the Syriac, preferring "son of possession," i.e. "heir." The passage, therefore, must be read either "the steward," or "the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus." The tradition of Abram's connection with Damascus has already been referred to (see Nicol. Damasc. Ap. Joseph. 'Ant.' I. 7; Justin. XXXVI. 2). If Abram came into Palestine by the way of Damascus, it is not unlikely that he should have taken his principal retainer from that place.

3. one born in my house] Lit. "son of my house." The expression is like, but not necessarily equivalent to that in ch. xvii. 12, 27 (♫7-72"), be that is born in the house, as opposed to those bought with money of any stranVOL. I.

ger. It is quite possible that the title "son of my house," was applied to inmates of the house, especially those in honourable office in the household, whether born in the family, or afterwards adopted into it. The relation of the head of a family to his retainers was, in the case of Abram at least, truly paternal. It evidently more resembled the connection between a feudal chief and his vassals than that between a master and his slaves. That some of them were "bought with money," appears indeed from the passages above referred to; but they were evidently not in the abject condition which attached to slavery in marked out in default of his own offspring as later days, and the principal among them was heir to his master, though Abram had near relations, and some of them at no greater distance from him than Lot and his family, then living in the plains of Jordan.

5. tell the stars] In the promise to Noah the rainbow had been the sign given from on high, a sacramental promise of mercy to mankind. Now to Abram the still brighter and more enduring token is the starry firmament. His seed should abide as "the faithful witness in heaven." There is the pledge of a brilliant future for his house, even as regards material prosperity; the pledge of still greater blessings to that spiritual family, which by baptism into Christ became "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. iii. 27, 29).

6. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness] The root of the word rendered believed has the sense of supporting, sustaining, strengthening. Hence in the Hiphil conjugation (as here), it signifies to hold as firm, to rest upon as firm, hence to believe and rely upon as true and stable (Ges. 'Thes.' p. 114). The promise here made by the LORD to Abram was given to him before circumcision, whilst there was yet not even the germ of Levitical Law. It contained

in it the promise of Christ. It elicited from Abram the great evangelical principle of faith. God promised that which was opposed to all appearance and likelihood. Abram relied on that promise. He surrendered his own wisdom

H

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.

three years old, and a turtledove, 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.

to the wisdom of God, and so gave up his own will to the will of God. So he became the heir of the promises; and the internal principle of faith became to him the true principle of righteousness. It was the only righteousness possible for the feeble and the sinful; for it was a reposing on the power and the love of the Almighty and the Holy One. It was therefore reckoned to him as what may be called a passive righteousness, and at the same time it was productive in him of an active righteousness: for the soul which relies on the truth, power, and goodness of another, in the strength of that truth, power, and goodness, can itself be active in them all: taking advantage of the power and goodness relied upon, it becomes itself powerful and good and true. The Apostles naturally dwell upon this first recorded instance of faith, faith in God, implied faith in Christ, and consequent accounting of righteousness, recorded before all legal enactments, as illustrative of the great evangelical grace of faith, its power as resting on One who is all powerful, and its sanctifying energy, as containing in itself the principle of holiness and the germ of every right eous act. (Rom. iv. v.; Gal. iii.; Heb. xi.; Jas. ii., &c. &c.)

7. I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees] In ch. xi. 31, Terah is represented as having left Ur of the Chaldees and settled in Haran with Abram, Sarai and Lot; whilst in ch. xii. 1, Abram is represented as having been called by the Lord to go out of Haran, cp. v. 4. These different statements are thought to be inconsistent with each other and referable to three different hands. Whether there was a distinct command to Abram

to leave Ur does not appear. The LORD by His Providence may have led him and his father out of Ur to Haran, with the design of leading him further onward, and afterwards by special revelation have called him to leave Haran and to go to Canaan (see Quarry, P. 430).

8. whereby shall I know] Abram believed God; but there may have been some misgiving as to the reality of what he saw and heard; like St Peter, who "wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but

II And when the fowls came down Abram drove them carcases,

thought he saw a vision" (Acts xii. 9): and even where there is much faith, a man may distrust himself, may feel that though now the belief is strong, yet ere long the first impression and so the firm conviction may fade away. Thus Gideon (Jud. vi, 17), Hezekiah (2 K. xx. 8), the Blessed Virgin (Luk. i. 34) asked a sign in confirmation of their faith, and, as here to Abram, it was graciously given them.

9. Take me an heifer of three years old] The age chosen was probably because then the animals were in full age and vigour The (Chrysost. 'in Gen. Hom, xxvI.'). the staple of Abram's wealth: they were also animals were those which specially formed those, which in after times were specially ordained for sacrificial offerings. It has been sacrifice, as there was no sprinkling of blood, said, that the transaction was not a real the true Hebrew sacrifice was in the slaying nor offering on an altar: but the essence of of the victim, for the very word na (Zerather with the shedding of blood than with bach, sacrifice) signifies slaying: and it was its sprinkling that atonement was made (Heb. ix. 22). The covenant was made according

to the custom of ancient nations. The sacrificed victims were cut into two pieces, and the covenanting parties passed between them (see Jerem. xxxiv. 18, 19). The very word covenant in Hebrew, Berith, is supposed by Gesenius to be from a root signifying to cut

Thes.' p. 238); and the common formula for "to make a covenant" is carath berith, "to cut a covenant" (so v. 18), comp. the Greek öрkia Téμvei (Hom. 'Il.' v. 124) and the Lat. fœdus ferire (see Bochart, ‘Hieroz.' I. 332). The division into two is supposed to represent the two parties to the covenant; and their passing between the divided pieces to signify their union into one. In this case Abram was there in person to pass between passed between them under the semblance of the pieces, and the manifested presence of God fire (v. 17).

10. the birds divided he not] So under the Law the doves offered as burnt offerings were not cleft in two (Lev. i. 17).

11. the fowls] The birds of prey. The

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 Acts 7. 6. 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

word used (ait) means any rapacious animal, especially vultures or other birds of prey. It is probably of the same root as the Greek derós, eagle.

Abram drove them away] It is generally thought, that the vultures seeking to devour

the sacrifice before the covenant was ratified typified the enemies of Israel, especially the Egyptians; and in a spiritual sense they represent the spiritual enemies, which seek to destroy the soul, keeping it from union with God through the accepted sacrifice of His Son (see Knobel in loc.).

12. when the sun was going down] The evening came on before all the preparations were made, a solemn time for concluding the covenant between God and the seed of Abram; but it may have been said that it was evening, not night, in order to shew that the great darkness was preternatural (V. Gerlach).

a deep sleep] The same word as that used Gen. ii. 21, when Eve was taken from Adam's side. The constant translation, ekσtaσis (ecstasy), by the LXX, shews the belief that the sleep was sent by God for purposes of Divine revelation.

an horror of great darkness] Lit, a horror, a great darkness. The prophets were frequently appalled when admitted to the special presence of God: but here perhaps the horror was connected also with the announcement about to be made to Abram of the sufferings of his posterity.

13. four hundred years] In Ex. xii. 40 it is called 430. Possibly here the reckoning is in round numbers; also the Hebrews were not ill-treated during the whole 430 years,

15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace] A similar expression occurs ch. xxv. 8, xxxv, 29, xlix. 33. It is interpreted to

mean either going to the grave, in which his father or his people had been buried, or, (as by Knobel and others) going to that place, where the souls of his ancestors are in the the former here seems to follow from the fact, state of separate spirits. That it cannot mean that Abram was not to be buried in his father's burying-place, but in a grave which he himself purchased in the land of his adoption,

16. in the fourth generation] On the chronology from the Descent into Egypt to the Exodus, see note on Exod.

the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full] The Amorites, the most powerful people in Canaan, are here put for the Canaanites in general. Their state of moral corruption is abundantly manifest in the early chapters of Genesis; and in the Divine foreknowledge it was seen that they would add sin to sin, and so at length be destroyed by the Divine vengeance. Still the long-suffering of God waited for them, giving time for repentance, if they would be converted and live.

17. when the sun went down, and it was dark] Or, "when the sun had gone down, that there was a thick darkness," So the Vulgate.

a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire] This was the token of the presence of God, as when He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and to the Israelites in a pillar of fire. The word lamp may very probably here signify a flame or tongue of fire. The Hebrew word which is cognate with lamp, and the other Aryan words of like sound (Xáμw, λaμràs, &c.) has probably its radical significance a lambendo, a lambent flame, Compare labium, lip, &c. (see Ges, 'Th' P. 759)

land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

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

rizzites, and the Rephaims,

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

CHAPTER XVI.

I Sarai, being barren, giveth Hagar to Abram. 4 Hagar, being afflicted for despising her mistress, runneth away. An angel sendeth her

the river of Egypt] Many understand not the Nile but the Wady-El-Arisch which, however, is called "the brook or stream of Egypt" as in Is. xxvii. 12, not "the river of Egypt." The boundaries of the future possession are not described with minute accuracy, but they are marked as reaching from the valley of the Euphrates to the valley of the Nile. And in 2 Chron. ix. 26, it is distinctly stated that "all the Kings from the river (i.e. Euphrates) even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt" were tributary to Solomon, Cp. 2 S. viii. 3.

19. The Kenites] An ancient people inhabiting rocky and mountainous regions to the south of Canaan, near the Amalekites (Num. xxiv. 21 seq.; 1 S. xv. 6, xxvii. 10, xxx. 29), a portion of which afterwards migrated to Canaan (Judg. i. 16, iv. 11, 17).

the Kenizzites] Mentioned only here. Bochart (Phaleg,' IV. 36) conjectures that they had become extinct in the period between Abraham and Moses.

the Kadmonites] i. e. "the Eastern people." They are not elsewhere named. Bochart thought they might be the Hivites, elsewhere enumerated among the Canaanites, and spoken of as inhabiting the neighbourhood of Mount Hermon (Josh, xiii. 3; Judg. iii. 3), which was to the east of Canaan,

20. the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims] See on ch. x. 15, xiii. 7, xiv. 5.

21. the Amorites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.] See on ch. x. 15, 16.

the Canaanites] here distinguished from the kindred tribes, are described as inhabiting the low country "from Sodom to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrha, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha" (Gen. x, 19).

CHAP. XVI. 1. Now Sarai, &c.] The recapitulatory character of this verse is consistent with the general style of the book of

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 Heb. Abram hearkened to the voice of by her. Sarai.

Genesis, and the connection of the first four verses perfectly natural. The promise of offspring had been made to Abram, and he believed the promise. It had not, however, been distinctly assured to him that Sarai should be the mother of the promised seed. The expedient devised by Sarai was according to a custom still prevalent in the east. Laws concerning marriage had not been so expressly given to the patriarchs as they afterwards were. Yet the compliance of Abram with Sarai's suggestion may be considered as a proof of the imperfection of his faith; and it is justly observed, that this departure from the primeval principle of monogamy by Abraham has been an example followed by his descendents in the line of Ishmael, and has proved, morally and physically, a curse to their race.

an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar] Hagar, no doubt, followed Sarai from xii., when it is said that Abraham obtained Egypt after the sojourn there recorded in ch. great possessions, among other things, in "menservants and maidservants," v. 16. It is generally thought that the name Hagar signifies flight, a name which may have been given her after her flight from her mistress, recorded in this chapter, in which case the name is here given her proleptically, a thing not uncommon in Scripture history. Others suppose that she derived her name from having fled with Egyptian, it is not likely that the Hebrew or her mistress out of Egypt. As she was an Arabic name of Hagar should have been given her by her own parents.

2. it may be that I may obtain children by ber] Lit. "I may be built up by her." The words "house" and "family" are in most languages used figuratively the one of the other. The house, considered as representing the family, is built up by the addition of children to it, and so the very word for son, in Hebrew, Ben, is most probably connected with the root banah, "to build" (see Ges. 'Th.' p. 215). Comp. ch. xxx. 3, where also it appears that the wife, when she gave her handmaid to her

be builded

+ Heb.

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 my 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.

6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to that which her as it pleaseth thee. And when is good in Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled + Heb. from her face. afflicted

thine eyes.

her.

7¶ And the angel of the LORD

husband, esteemed the handmaid's children as her own.

3. after Abram bad dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan] Abram was now 85 and Sarai 75 years old (cp. xii. 4, xvi. 16, xvii. 17). These words are doubtless intended to account for the impatience produced in them by the delay of the Divine promise.

4. ber mistress was despised in her eyes] Among the Hebrews barrenness was esteemed a reproach (see ch. xix. 31, xxx. 1, 23; Lev. xx. 20, &c.): and fecundity a special honour and blessing of God (ch. xxi. 6, xxiv. 60; Ex. xxiii. 26; Deut. vii, 14): and such is still the feeling in the east. But, moreover, very probably Hagar may have thought that now Abram would love and honour her more than her mistress (cp. ch, xxix. 33).

5. My wrong be upon thee] i.e. "my wrong, the injury done to me is due to thee, must be imputed to thee, thou art to be blamed for it, inasmuch as thou sufferest it and dost not punish the aggressor." So in effect all the versions, LXX., Vulg., Targg.,

&c.

7. the angel of the LORD] In v. 13 distinctly called the LORD. See on ch. xii. 7.

Shur] according to Joseph. ('Ant.' VI. 7) is Pelusium, near the mouth of the Nile, which, however, seems more probably to be the equivalent for Sin (see Ges. 'Thes.' p. 947). Onkelos renders here "Hagra." The desert of Shur is generally thought to be the north eastern part of the wilderness of Paran, called at present Al-jifar. Hagar, no doubt, in her

found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

II And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name 'Ishmael; because the LORD I That is, hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and

God shall hear.

flight from Sarai, took the route most likely to lead her back to her native land of Egypt; and Gesenius supposes that Shur very probably corresponded with the modern Suez,

8. Hagar, Sarai's maid] The words of the angel recal to Hagar's mind that she was the servant of Sarai, and therefore owed her obedience.

11. Ishmael; because the LORD bath heard i.e. "God heareth, because JEHOVAH hath heard." The name of God, by which all nations might acknowledge Him, is expressed in the name Ishmael, but the name JEHOVAH, the covenant God of Abraham, is specially mentioned, that she may understand the promise to come to her from Him, who had already assured Abraham of the blessing to be poured upon his race.

12.

a wild man] Lit. "a wild ass of, or among men;" i.e. wild and fierce as a wild ass of the desert. A rendering has been suggested, "a wild ass, a man, whose hand is against every man.' The suggestion is very ingenious; but for such a rendering we should have expected to find the word Ish (vir) not, as it is in the original, Adam (bomo). The word pere, wild ass, is probably from the root para, signifying "to run swiftly." This animal is frequently mentioned in Scripture, and often as a type of lawless, restless, unbridled dispositions in human beings (see Job xi. 12, xxiv. 5; Ps. civ. 11; Is. xxxii. 14; Jer. ii. 24; Dan. v. 21; Hos. viii. 9). Job xxxix. 5, another Hebrew word is used, but most commentators consider that the same animal is meant. The description of their

In