house, to bring forth the men that were come to him, and to cast them
out of the city, having shamefully entreated them. They would not listen
to the remonstrances of Lot, but went near to break in his door.
Then the three angels stepped forth and passed their hands over the
faces of all who drew near, and they were struck blind, and fled from
their presence.
Now, long before the day began to break, the angels rose up and called
Lot, his wife and daughters, and bade them take their clothes and all
that they had that was most precious, and escape out of the city.
Therefore Lot and his family went forth.
And when they were escaped, the angel Gabriel went through the cities,
and passed his wing over the soil on which they were built, and the
cities were carried up into heaven; and they came so near thereto that
those on the confines of heaven could hear the crowing of the cocks in
Sodom, and the barking of the dogs in Gomorrah. And then they were
overthrown, so that their foundations were towards the sky and their
roofs towards the earth. And God rained on them stones heated in the
fire of Hell; and on each stone was written the name of him whom it was
destined to slay. Now there were many natives of these accursed cities
in other parts of the land, and where they were, there they were sought
out by the red-hot stones, and were struck down. But some were within
the sacred enclosure of the temple at Mecca, and the stones waited for
them in the air; and at the expiration of forty days they came forth,
and as they came forth the stones whistled through the air, and smote
them, and they were slain.
Now Lot’s wife turned, as she went forth, to look back upon the city,
and a stone fell on her, and she died.[314]
It is related further of Lot that, after he had escaped, he committed in
ignorance a very great sin; and Abraham sent him to expiate his crime to
the sources of the Nile, to fetch thence three sorts of wood, which he
named to him. Abraham thought, “He will be slain by ravenous beasts, and
so will he atone for the sin that he has committed.”
But Lot after a while returned, bringing with him the woods which
Abraham had demanded—a cypress plant, a young cedar, and a young pine.
Abraham planted the three trees in the shape of a triangle, on a
mountain, and charged Lot with watering them every day from Jordan. Now
the mountain was twenty-four thousand paces from Jordan, and this
penance was laid on Lot to expiate his sin.
At the end of three months the trees blossomed; Lot announced this to
Abraham, who visited the spot, and saw to his surprise that the three
trees had grown together to form one trunk, but with three distinct
roots of different natures.
At the sight of this miracle he bowed his face to the ground and said,
“This tree will abolish sin.”
And by that he knew that God had pardoned Lot.
The tree grew and subsisted till the reign of Solomon, when it was cut
down, and this was the tree which the Jews employed to form the Cross of
Christ.[315]
This tradition is, of course, Christian; though Jewish in origin, it has
been adapted to the Gospel story.
6. THE BIRTH OF ISAAC.
The country was wasted; travellers were few; those who passed by, and
accepted Abraham’s hospitality, spoke with scorn of the sin of Lot, his
nephew; and the neighbourhood became intolerable to the patriarch, who
resolved to change his place of residence for a while.
He therefore went south, between Kadesh and Sur, and dwelt in Gerar.
Now Sarah had bloomed again as fair as in her youth, as the angel
Michael had foretold; and Abraham persuaded her to pretend again to be
his sister, though Sarah, remembering the ill-success of this deceit
before, hesitated to comply.
Abimelech, king of Gerar, hearing of Sarah’s beauty, sent for her to his
palace. He asked Abraham, “Who is this woman?” and he answered, “She is
my sister.” Then Abimelech inquired of the camels and of the asses, and
they answered the same, “She is his sister.” But that same evening, as
it grew towards dusk, as he sat on his throne, he fell asleep; and in
dream saw an angel of God approach him with a drawn sword in his hand to
slay him. The king in his dream cried out to know why he was doomed to
death; and the angel answered, “Because thou hast received into thy
house the wife of another man, the mistress of a house.”
Abimelech excused himself, saying that Abraham had concealed the truth
from him, and had said Sarah was his sister.
“The All-Holy knows that thou hast sinned in ignorance,” said the angel;
“but is it seemly, when strangers enter thy land, to be questioning
closely into their connexions? Know that Abraham is a prophet, and
foreseeing that thy people would entreat his wife ill, he resolved to
call her his sister, and he knew, being a prophet, that thou couldst not
harm her.”[316]
That night—it was the Paschal eve,—the angel with the drawn sword
traversed all the streets of the city, and closed the wombs of those
about to bear.
Next morning early, while it was yet dark, Abimelech sent for Abraham
and Sarah, and gave Sarah back to her husband, and paid him a thousand
ounces of silver, and to Sarah he gave a costly robe, which might
conceal her from her eyes to her feet, that none might henceforth be
bewitched by her beauty. “But,” said Abimelech to Abraham, “because thou
didst deceive me, and blind my eyes with a lie, therefore thou shalt
bear a son, whose eyes shall be dim so that he shall be deceived.” And
Abraham prayed to the Lord, and all the women that were with child in
Gerar were delivered of men-children, without the pangs of maternity,
and those who were barren felt themselves with child. The angel hosts
besought the Lord to look upon Sarah, and to remember His covenant. “O
Lord of the whole world! Thou didst hear the cry of Abraham, and grant
his petitions when he prayed for the barren women of Gerar; and his own
wife, from whom Thou didst promise him a son, is unfruitful and
despised. Does it beseem a Lord, when he prepares a fleet, to free his
subjects from pirates, but to leave the vessel of his best friend in
bondage?”
Now it was the first day of the seventh month, Tischri, the day on
which, at the close of the world’s history, the Lord will come to judge
the quick and the dead, that the Lord God remembered Sarah, and the
promise He had made, and looked upon her, and she conceived a son in her
old age, one year and four months after her sojourn in Gerar; and nine
months after, say some, but, say others, six months and two days after;
at mid-day say some, others say in the evening of the fifteenth of
Nisan; or, as others affirm, on the first of Nisan she was delivered of
a son, without suffering any pains in the bringing forth. And the same
time that Sarah’s womb was blessed, God looked upon many other barren
women and blessed them also; and on the day that the child was born they
were delivered likewise; and the blind saw, the dumb spake, the deaf
heard, and the lame walked, and the crazed recovered their senses. Also,
the sun shone forty-eight times brighter than he shines at Midsummer,
even with the splendour that he had on the day of his creation.
And when eight days were accomplished, Abraham circumcised his son, and
called him Isaac.
But many thought it was an incredible thing that Abraham and Sarah
should have a son in their old age, and they said, “This is a foundling,
or it is the child of one of the slaves, which they pass off as their
own.” Now Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned,
and he invited thereto all the princes and great men of the country. And
there came Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Og, king of Basan, and all the
princes of Canaan, sixty-two princes in all. Such an assembly was not
seen before, yet all these princes fell in after-years by the hands of
Joshua.[317]
Of this feast it is related that Og’s companions said to him, “Do you
believe that that old mule, Abraham, can be the father of this child?”
Og replied with scorn, “I could crack this imp with the nail of my
little finger.”
Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, “Thou despisest this little
child, but know thou that tens of thousands shall spring from his loins,
and that before them thy pride shall be humbled.”
Also, Abraham’s ancestors, Shem and Eber, and his father, Terah—though
some say he was dead—and Nahor, Abraham’s brother, attended the feast,
and the Shekinah, the glory of the Lord, appeared to grace it.
But Satan also appeared in the form of a poor beggar-man, and he stood
at the door and asked an alms. Now Abraham and Sarah were busy attending
to their guests, so they perceived him not, but the servants thrust him
away, and Satan received nothing; therefore he presented himself before
the Most High, and laid an accusation of inhospitality and churlishness
against the Friend of God.
In the meantime Sarah had assembled, and was entertaining all the wives
of the guests of Abraham. And it happened that the women found that they
had no milk in their bosoms to give their infants, and the babes
screamed that no one could hear the voice of another. The mothers were
in despair, for the children were hungry, and they were all dry. Then
Sarah uncovered her breasts, and there spurted from them jets of milk,
and all the babes were nourished at her bosom, and yet there was more.
Now when they saw this, the women, who had doubted that the child was
really the offspring of Sarah, doubted no more, and cried, “We are not
worthy that our little ones should be nourished at thy bosom!” And the
story goes that all those who afterwards joined themselves to the people
of Israel, and all those in every nation who in after-times became
proselytes, were descended from those who sucked the breasts of Sarah.
In allusion to this incident it is said in the Book of Psalms: “_Thou
makest the barren woman to keep house, and to be the joyful mother of_
(i.e. giving suck to) _children_.”[318]
The child Isaac was shown to every visitor, and all were astonished at
his resemblance to Abraham. Both the babe and his father were so much
alike that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other, and all
doubt as to whose it was vanished before such evidence of likeness to
the father, and before the fulness of Sarah’s breasts. But as confusion
was likely to arise through the striking similarity between father and
son, Abraham besought God to give him wrinkles and white hair, that he
might not be mistaken for the babe Isaac, or the babe Isaac be mistaken
for him.[319]
7. THE EXPULSION OF HAGAR AND ISHMAEL.
Ishmael grew up, and became skilful with his bow; he was rough and
undisciplined, and he occasionally lapsed into idolatry, but without his
father knowing it. But Sarah was aware of his sin, and was grieved
thereat.
Ishmael often boasted, “I am the eldest son, and I shall have a double
portion of my father’s inheritance.” These words were reported to Sarah,
and she hated Ishmael for them in her heart.
One day when Isaac was five years old, but others say fifteen, Ishmael
said to him, “Come forth into the field and let us shoot.” Isaac was
well pleased. And when they were in the field, Ishmael turned his bow
against his brother, but he did it in jest. Sarah saw him from the tent
door, and she ran out, and caught away her son Isaac, and she went to
Abraham and told him all the evil she knew of Ishmael; how he had gone
after idols and had learnt the ways of the Canaanites that were in the
land, how he had boasted of his majority, and how he had sought Isaac’s
life. And she said, “Give the maid-servant a writing of divorcement, and
send her away. _Cast out this bond-woman and her son; for the son of
this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac._ Then
she will no more vex Isaac. Do thou leave to Isaac all thy possessions.
Never shall Ishmael inherit anything from thee, for he is not my son.”
Abraham was grieved at heart, for he loved Ishmael his son, but nothing
that he said could alter Sarah’s determination. She insisted on the
expulsion of Hagar and her son, and she stirred up the wrath of Abraham
against Ishmael, because he had fallen into idolatry.
Sarah, say the Mussulmans, was so fierce in her jealousy, that she would
not be satisfied till she had washed her hands in the blood of Hagar.
Then Abraham quickly pierced Hagar’s ears, and drew a ring through them,
so that Sarah could fulfil her oath, without endangering the life of
Hagar.[320]
It was long before Abraham could be brought to consent to Sarah’s
desire, but God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Fear not to obey
the voice of Sarah, for she is the wife of thy youth, and was chosen for
thee from her mother’s womb. But Hagar is not thy wife; she is but a
bond-woman. Sarah also is a prophetess, and sees into things that shall
be in the latter days, further than thou. Unto Isaac and those of his
seed who believe in the Two Worlds are the promises made; and they alone
shall be accounted as thy seed.”[321]
Abraham now did what he was commanded. Next morning he gave Hagar a
writing of dismissal, and took twelve loaves of bread and a pitcher of
water, and laid them upon Hagar, for Sarah had cast an evil eye upon
Ishmael, so that he was ill, and unable to carry any burden. And Abraham
attached the pitcher by a cord to the hips of Hagar, that all might know
she was a slave, and the pitcher hung down and trailed on the sand.
Ishmael was sent away without garments; he went forth naked as he came
into the world: thus it may be seen how implacable was the anger of
Sarah, because he had boasted of his birthright, and the wrath of
Abraham, because he had fallen into idolatry.
But when they went along their way, Abraham looked after them for long,
standing in the door of his tent, for his bowels yearned after his son,
and he saw the trail in the sand of the water pitcher which Hagar had
dragged sadly along, and thereby Abraham knew the direction which they
had taken.
Now God forsook not the outcast in her affliction, but filled the
pitcher with water as fast as she and her son drank out of it, and the
water was always sweet and cold. Thus they penetrated the wilderness,
and there they lost their way, and Hagar forgot the God of Abraham, and
in her distress turned to the false gods of her father Pharaoh, and
besought their protection, for she said, “Where are the promises of the
God of Abraham, that of Ishmael would He make a great nation?”
Now Ishmael was sick of a burning fever, and the water in the pitcher
failed when Hagar forsook the God of Abraham. So she cast him under a
thorn bush, and went from him the space of two thousand ells, that she
might not hear his cries. But Ishmael prayed to the Lord God of Heaven
and Earth, and said, “O Lord God of my father Abraham! thou canst send
death in so many forms; take my life speedily or give me a drop of
water, that I suffer this agony no longer.”
And the Lord in His compassion heard the prayer of the weeping child,
and He sent His angel and showed Hagar that fountain which He had
created on the sixth day at dusk, and of which the children of Israel
were destined to drink when they came forth out of Egypt.
But the accusing angel murmured against this judgment of God, and said,
“O Lord of the whole earth! shall this one, of whom a nation of robbers
shall arise, who will war upon thine elect people, and be a scourge upon
the face of the earth, shall he be delivered now, and given to drink of
a fountain destined for thine elect?”
The Lord answered, “Is the youth guilty, or is he not guilty?”
The angel answered, “He is not himself guilty, but his posterity will
sin.”
Then God said, “I punish men for what they have done, and not for what
their children will do. Ishmael hath not merited a death of suffering,
therefore shall he not die.” And God opened the eyes of Hagar, and she
saw the spring of water, and filled her pitcher, and took it to Ishmael
to drink. She filled the pitcher before she gave her son a draught of
water, for she had little faith, and thought that the fountain would be
withdrawn before she could return to it again.
Then Ishmael was strengthened and could go, and he and his mother went
further, and were fed by the shepherds; and they reached Paran, and
there they found springs of water, and they settled there. Ishmael took
a wife, a daughter of Moab, named Aischa, or Aifa, or Asiah; but others
say she was an Egyptian woman, and was named Meriba (the quarrelsome),
and by her he had four sons and one daughter.
Ishmael lived a wandering life in tents with his wife and cattle; and
the Lord blessed his flocks, and he had great possessions. But his heart
remained the same; and he was a master of archery, and instructed his
neighbours in making bows.
After three years, Abraham, whose heart longed after his son, said to
Sarah, “I must see how my son Ishmael fares.” And she answered, “Thou
shalt go if thou wilt swear to me not to alight from off thy camel,” for
she hated Hagar, and feared to suffer her husband to meet her once more.
So Abraham swore. Then he went to Paran, over the desert, seeking
Ishmael’s tent; and he reached it at noon, but neither Hagar nor her son
were at home. Only Ishmael’s wife was within, and she was scolding and
beating the children.
So Abraham halted on his camel before the tent door, and the sun was hot
in the blue sky above, and the sand was white and glaring beneath. And
he called to her, “Is thy husband within?”
She answered, without rising from her seat, “He is hunting.” Or, say
others, she said without looking at him or rising, “He is gathering
dates.”
Then Abraham said, “I am faint and hungry; bring me a little bread and a
drop of water.”
But the woman answered, “I have none for such as thee.”
So Abraham said to her, “Say to thy husband, even to Ishmael, these
words: ‘An old man hath come to see thee out of the land of the
Philistines, and he says, The nail that fastens thy tent is bad; cast it
away or thy tent will fall, and get thee a better nail.’” Then he
departed, and went home.
Now when Ishmael returned, his wife told him all these words, and he
knew that his father had been there, and he understood the tenor of his
words, so he sent away his wife, and he took another, with his mother’s
advice, out of Egypt, and her name was Fatima.
And after three years, Abraham’s bowels yearned once more after his son,
and he said to Sarah, “I must see how Ishmael fares.” And she answered,
“Thou shalt go, if thou wilt swear to me not to alight from off thy
camel.” So Abraham swore.
Then he went to Paran, over the desert, seeking Ishmael’s tent, and he
reached it at noon; but neither Hagar nor her son was at home. Only
Ishmael’s wife, Fatima, was within, and she was singing to the children.
So Abraham halted on his camel before the tent door, and the sun was hot
in the blue sky above, and the sand was white and glaring beneath. And
when Fatima saw a stranger at the door, she rose from her seat, and
veiled her face, and came out and greeted him.
Then said Abraham, “Is thy husband within?”
She answered, “My lord, he is pasturing the camels in the desert;” and
she added, “Enter, my lord, into the cool of the tent and rest, and
suffer me to bring thee a little meat.”
But Abraham said, “I may not alight from off my camel, for my journey is
hasty; but bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread and a drop of water,
for I am hungry and faint.”
Then she ran and brought him of the best of all that she had in the
tent, and he ate and drank, and was glad.
So he said to her, “Say to thy husband, even to Ishmael, that an old man
out of the land of the Philistines hath been here, and he says, The nail
that fastens thy tent is very good; let it not be stirred out of its
place, and thy tent will stand.”
And he returned. And when Ishmael came home, Fatima related to him all
the words that the old man had spoken, and he understood the tenor of
the words.
Ishmael was glad that his father had visited him, for he knew thereby
that his love to him was not extinguished.[322]
Shortly after, he left his wife and children, and went across the desert
to see his father in the land of the Philistines. And Abraham related to
him all that had taken place with the first wife, and why he had
exhorted him to put her away.
8. THE STRIFE BETWEEN THE SHEPHERDS.
Abraham lived twenty-six years in the land of the Philistines; then he
went to Hebron, and there his servants dug wells, and there they
encamped.
When Abimelech’s servants heard of these wells that they had dug, they
came with their flocks, and desired to use them also, and the largest of
the wells they claimed as their own. But Abraham’s shepherds said, “Let
the well belong to those to whom it gives water. The Lord shall decide
between us!”
To this the servants of Abimelech agreed. And when the flocks of Abraham
came to drink, the well sprang up and overflowed; but when the flocks of
Abimelech drew near, the water sank and disappeared.
Now when Abimelech heard of the strife, he came with Phicol, his chief
captain, to seek Abraham, and to be reconciled with him. “God is with
all that thou doest,” said Abimelech; “He protected thee when Sodom was
destroyed. He has given thee a son in thine old age. He rescued thy
first-born when perishing in the desert. Swear to me, as I have offered
thee my whole land, my own palace not excepted, in which to dwell, that
thou wilt show equal love and liberality to my descendants to the third
generation.”
Abraham swore to him, and they made a covenant together.[323]
And Abraham set apart seven lambs as a witness and token, that just as
the well had sprung up when his flocks had come to water at it, so, in
after days should it spring up to water the descendants of Abraham; as
it is said, “_From thence they went to Beer, that is, the well whereof
the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give
them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto
it._”[324]
But such condescension and courtesy ill became Abraham in his dealings
with a rude and savage people, and therefore there came to him a voice
from heaven which said: “Because thou hast given these seven innocent
lambs into the hands of a barbarous nation, therefore seven of thy
descendants shall be slain by their hands (Samson, Hophni and Phinehas,
Saul and his three sons); also seven dwellings that thy people shall
raise to my Name shall they destroy (the Tabernacle, Gilgal, Nob,
Gibeon, Shiloh, and twice the Temple at Jerusalem), and seven months
shall the ark of my covenant remain in the land of the Philistines.”
9. THE GROVE IN BEER-SHEBA.
“_And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the
name of the Lord._”[325] The reason was as follows:—
Once Abraham asked Shem the son of Noah, otherwise called Melchizedek,
king of Salem, what service he and his father and brethren rendered to
the Lord in the ark, which was so acceptable to God that He preserved
them alive and brought them in safety to Ararat; and Shem answered, “The
service we rendered to God, all the time of our sojourn in the ark, was
charity.”
And when Abraham wondered and asked how that could possibly be, as there
were none in the ark save themselves and the beasts, Shem answered,—
“Even so; we showed charity and forethought and hospitality to the
animals. We fed them regularly, and we slept not at night; so busy were
we with them in making them comfortable. Once, when we had delayed
somewhat, the lion was hungry and bit Noah, my father.”
Then said Abraham to himself, “In very truth, if it was reckoned to Noah
and his sons as so great righteousness, that they fed and tended the
dumb and senseless beasts, how much more pleasing must it be to the Most
High, to be kind and generous to men who are made in His image, after
His likeness!”
Filled with this thought, Abraham settled at Beer-sheba, where was an
abundant spring of fresh water, and there he resolved to do service
acceptable to the living God, and to honour His name, as Noah and his
sons had done Him service and honoured Him in the ark.
So Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, one hundred ells long and one
hundred ells broad, and he planted it with vines and figs, pomegranates
and other fruit trees; and he built a guest-house adjoining this garden,
and he made in it four doors, one towards each quarter of the heavens;
and when a hungry man came by, Abraham gave him food; if there came a
man who was thirsty, he gave him drink; if one who was naked, he clothed
him; if one who was sick, he took him in and nursed him; and he gave to
every man who passed by what he most needed for his journey.