Abram Dwelling in Canaan, and Removing to Egypt on Account of the Famine

Ver. 6. Abrani and his company having entered into the country, on its north-eastern quarter, penetrate as iar southward as Sichem, M’here, meeting with a spacious plain, the plain of Moreh, they pitched their tents. This place was afterwards much accounted of. Jacob came thither on his return from Haran, and bought of the Shechemites a parcel of a field.* It might be the same spot where Abram dwelt, and perhaps on that account. After this it seems to have been taken from him by the Amorites, the descendents of Hamor, of Mhom he had bought it; and he was obliged to recover it by the sword and by the bow. This v,as the portion Mhich he gave to his son Joseph, f There seems to be something in the history of this place very much resembling that of the country in general. In the grand division of the earth, this whole land was assigned to the posterity of Shem: but the

* Gen, xxxiii. Ip. f Chap, xlviii, 22.

155 ABRAM IN CANAAK. [DlS. I9.

Canaanites bad seized on it, and as is here noticed, “dwelt in the land.” As soon therefore as the right fid owners are in a capacity to make use of the sword and the bow, they must be dispossessed of it.*

/er. 7. Abraui having pitched his tent at Sichem, the Lord renews to him the promise of the whole land, or rather to his seed after him; for with respect to himself, he was never given to expect any liighcr character than that of a sojourner. But considering the great ends to be answered by his seed possessing it, he is well satisfied, and rears an altar to Jehovah. One sees here .the difference between the conduct of the men of this world, and that of the Lord’s servants. The former no sooner find a fruitful plain, than they fall to building a city, and a tower, to perpetuate their fame. The first concern of the latter is to raise an altar to God. It was thus that the new M’orld Mas consecrated by Noah, and now the land of promise by Abram. The rearing of an altar in the land was like taking possession of it, in right, for Jehovah.

Cer. 8, 9. The patriarchs seldom continued long at a place, for they were sojourners. Abram vcmoves from the plain of ]Joreh to a mountain

* Sfc on clinp. 7i, 25, p. 130.

Gen. 12. J AERAM IX EGYPT. 157”

on the cast of what was afterwards called Bethel; and here he built an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord. This place was also much accounted of in after times. It was not far from hence that Jacob slept and dreamed, and anointed the pillar.* We may on various occasions change places, provided we carry the true relio-ion with us: in this we must never chana-e.

Ver. 10 — 20. Abram was under the necessity of removing again, and that on account of a. grievous famine in the land. He must now leave Canaan for awhile, and journey into Egypt, where corn, it seems, was generally plentiful, even when it was scarce in other countries, because that country was watered not so much by rain as by the waters of the Nile. Hither therefore the patriarch repaired with his little company. Here we see new trials for his faith. Observe,

1. The famine itself being in the land of pyomise, must be a trial to him. Had he been of the spirit of the unbelieving spies in the times of Aloses, he would have said, ‘Would God we had staid at Haran, if not at Ur! Surely this is a land that eateth up the inhabitants.’ But thus far Abram sinned not.

* Geu. xxviii. Q,

158 ABRAM IN EGYPT. [Dis. 19.

2. The beauty of Sarai was another trial to him; and here he fell into the sin of dissimulation, or at least of equivocation. She was half-sister to him, it seems ;* but not in such a sense as he meant to convey. This was one of the iirst faults in Abram’s life; and the worst of it is, it was repeated, as we shall see hereafter. It is remarkable, that there is only one faultless character on record; and more so, that in several instances of persons who have been distinguished for some one excellency, their principal failure has been in that particular. Thus Peter, the bold, sins through fear; Solomon, the wise, by folly; ]Ioses, the meek, by speaking unadvisedly with his lips; and Abram, the faithful, by a kind of dissimulation arising from timid distrust. Such things would almost seem designed of God to stain the pride of all flesh, and to check all dependence upon the most eminent or confirmed habits of godliness.

3. Yet from these trials, and from the difficulties into which he brought himself by his own misconduct, the Lord mercifully delivered him. He feared they would kill him for his wife’s sake; but Ciod, by introducing plagues amongst them, inspired them with fear, and induced tlicm to send him and his wife away in

* See on Gen. xi. 27 — 29- PP-Gen. 12.] ABRAM Ilf EGYPT. 159

safety. It was thus that he rebuked kings for their sakes, and suffered no man to hurt them. In how many instances has God, by his kind providence, extricated us from situations into which our own sin and folly had phinged us I