was then in the land. And the LORD a ch. 13. 15. 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.

(8) 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.

b ch. 13. 4

He goes down into Egypt..

sequently we find frequent mention of the Amaor and the Kheta-that is, the Amorites and Hittites, evidently in Abram's time the two most powerful races of Canaan. (See Tomkins' Studies, 82ff.) For their previous wanderings, see on chap. x. 15-19.

(7) The Lord appeared unto Abram.—This is the first time that any appearance of the Deity is mentioned. Always previously the communications between God and man had been direct, without the intervention of any visible medium. Thus, God commanded Adam (chap. ii. 16); Adam and Eve heard His voice (chap. iii. 8), and He called them (ib. 9); He said unto Cain (chap.iv. 6-9); unto Noah (chaps. vi. 13, vii. 1), and spake unto him (chaps. viii. 15, ix. 8): but henceforward we read repeatedly of a Divine appearance, and this visible manifestation is subsequently connected with the phrase

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an angel of Jehovah " (see chaps. xvi. 7, xxii. 11, &c.), and less frequently "an angel of God" (chap. xxi. 17; Judges vi. 20, xiii. 9). Upon the question whether this was a created angel, or whether it was an anticipation of the incarnation of Christ, see Excursus on Angel of Jehovah" at end of this book.

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There builded he an altar unto the Lord.— By so doing he took possession of the land for Jehovah, and consecrated it to Him. The altar would, further, be a place of public worship and of sacrifice. In a similar spirit Noah had taken possession of the renovated earth (chap. viii. 20).

(8) He removed.-Broke up his encampment. No special reason for this need be sought; it was the usual condition of the nomad life, and Abram's wealth in cattle would make frequent changes necessary. His first long halt was in the hill country between Beth-el and Hai, or rather Ai, as in Josh. viii. 1-3. The numerous almond-trees, whence the former town took its early name of Luz, the remains of aqueducts and other works for irrigation, and the strength of the town of Ai in Joshua's days bear witness to the ancient fertility of the district, though said now to be uninviting. Here, too, Abram made open profession of his faith, and worshipped with his household at an altar dedicated to Jehovah.

(9) Toward the south.-The Negeb, or dry land, so called because the soil being a soft white chalk, the rains sink through it, and even in the valleys run below the surface of the ground. Though treeless, it is still rich in flocks and herds, but the water has to be collected in tanks and cisterns (Conder, Tent Work, ii. 87).

ABRAM'S VISIT TO EGYPT.

(10) There was a famine in the land.-This famine must have happened within a few years after Abram reached Canaan; for he was seventy-five years of age on leaving Haran, and as Ishmael, his son by an

Egyptian slave-woman, was thirteen years old when Abram was ninety-nine, only about eight years are left for the events recorded in chaps. xii.-xvi. As rain falls in Palestine only at two periods of the year, the failure of either of these seasons would be immediately felt, especially in a dry region like the Negeb, and at a time when, with no means of bringing food from a distance, men had to depend upon the annual products of the land. As Egypt is watered by the flooding of the Nile, caused by the heavy rains which fall in Abyssinia, it probably had not suffered from what was a mere local failure in South Palestine; and Abram, already far on his way to Egypt, was forced by the necessity of providing fodder for his cattle to run the risk of proceeding thither. In Canaan he had found a thinly scattered Canaanite population, for whom probably he would have been a match in war; in Egypt he would find a powerful empire, and would be at the mercy of its rulers. It is a proof of Abram's faith that in this necessity he neither retraced his steps (Heb. xi. 15), nor sought a new home. For he went to Egypt with no intention of settling, but only "to sojourn there," to remain there for a brief period, after which with returning rains he would go back to Canaan.

(11-13) Thou art a fair woman.-For the word yephath, rendered "fair," see on chap. ix. 27. Though its general meaning is beautiful, yet there can be no doubt that the light colour of Sarai's complexion was that which would chiefly commend her to the Egyptians; for she was now past sixty, and though vigorous enough to bear a son at ninety, yet that was by the special favour of God. As she lived to the age of 127 (chap. xxiii. 1), she was now about middle age, and evidently had retained much of her early beauty; and this, added to the difference of tint, would make her still attractive to the swarthy descendants of Ham, especially as they were not a handsome race, but had flat foreheads, high cheek-bones, large mouths, and thick lips. Twenty years later we find Abram still haunted by fears of the effects of her personal appearance (chap. xx. 2), even when living among a better-featured race. From chap. xx. 13 it appears that on leaving Haran Abram and Sarai had agreed upon adopting this expedient, which seems to us so strangely contrary to the faith which the patriarch was at that very time displaying. He abandons his birthplace at the Divine command, and starts upon endless wanderings; and yet, to protect his own life, he makes an arrangement which involves the possible sacrifice of the chastity of his wife; and twice, but for God's interference, this painful result would actually have happened. Perhaps Abram may have depended upon Sarai's cleverness to help herself out of the difficulty; but such a mixture of faith and weakness, of trust in God in abandoning so much and trust in worldly policy for preservation in a foreseen

Sarai Pretends to be

shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. (13) Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

(14) And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. (15) The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. (16) And he

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danger, cannot but make us feel how much of infirmity there was even in a character otherwise so noble.

(13) My sister.-True literally, as Sarai was Terah's daughter (chap. xx. 12), but absolutely false, as it implied that she was wholly his sister, and therefore not his wife.

(14, 15) Pharaoh is not the name of a person, but was the title borne by all the Egyptian monarchs.

(15) The princes. commended her before Pharaoh.-In the days of Abram Canaan was the highway to Egypt, and so large an immigration of men of the Semitic stock found their way thither that they overspread the whole Delta, and finally, under the name of the Hyksôs, made themselves masters of the throne of the Pharaohs, and retained their supremacy for several centuries. To keep out these hordes, Amenemhai had built a chain of fortresses, with a connecting wall; and though probably, as M. Chabas concludes (Rev. Arch., XVe Année, Livr. i. 7), the Hyksôs had already in Abram's time attained to empire, nevertheless, on arriving at this wall, so powerful a sheik, with so large a following, would be interrogated by the Egyptian scribes, and a report sent to the Pharaoh. The word sar, translated here prince, is common to the Babylonian, Egyptian, and Hebrew languages; but while in Babylonia it was the title of the sovereign, in Egypt it was applied to subordinate officers, such as those in command at these fortresses. By one of these Abram would, no doubt, be conducted into Pharaoh's presence; and on one of the sepulchres at Benihassan we find an exactly parallel occurrence in the presentation of a nomad prince, evidently of Semitic origin, who, with his family and dependents, is seeking the Pharaoh's protection, and is received by him with honour. As women did not at that time go veiled in Egypt, this custom not having been introduced there till the Persian conquest, the officers at the frontier would have full opportunity of seeing Sarai, and would, no doubt, mention the extraordinary lightness of her complexion.

The most probable derivation of the word Pharaoh is that which identifies it with a symbol constantly used in inscriptions to indicate the king, and which may be read per-ao or phar-ao. It signifies, literally, the double house, or palace. This would be a title of respect, veiling the person of the monarch under the name of his dwelling, in much the same manner as we include the sovereign and his attendants under the name of the Court. For the arguments in favour of this derivation, see Canon Cook's Excursus on the Egyptian words in the Pentateuch, at the end of Vol. I. of the Speaker's Commentary. He also gives there

Abram's Sister. entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. (17) And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. (18) And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? (19) Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. (20) And

the reasons for his opinion, in opposition to that of M. Chabas, that the Pharaoh in whose days Abram visited Egypt was an early king of the twelfth dynasty, some time anterior to the usurpation of the Hyksôs.

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(16) He entreated Abram well.-Heb., did good to Abram. It was usual to give the relatives a sum of money when taking a daughter or sister to wife. The presents here show that Pharaoh fully believed that he was acting lawfully, while the largeness of them proves that Sarai, in spite of her years, was looked upon as a valuable acquisition. Among the presents are asses." The charge on this account brought against the author of inaccuracy," as if asses were not known at this time in Egypt, is disproved by the occurrence of representations of this animal on the tombs of Benihassan we have proof even that they were numerous as far back as when the Pyramids of Gizeh were built. The horse is not mentioned, and the earliest representation of one is in the war-chariot of Ahmes, the first Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, who expelled the Hyksôs. Male and female slaves are, curiously enough, introduced between "he-asses" and "she-asses." As she-asses were especially valuable, perhaps these and the camels were looked upon as the monarch's choicest gifts.

Camels are not represented on the monuments, and are said not to thrive well in Egypt; but the Semitic hordes who were peopling the Delta would certainly bring camels with them. Many, too, of the Egyptian monarchs-as, for instance, those of the twelfth dynasty -held rule over a great part of the Sinaitic peninsula, and must have known the value of the camel for transporting heavy burdens in the desert, and its usefulness to a nomad sheik like Abram. (See chap. xxiv. 10.)

(19) So I might have taken her to me to wife. -The Hebrew is, and I took her to me to wife: that is, I took her with the intention of making her my wife. During the interval before the marriage Pharaoh and his household were visited with such marked troubles that he became alarmed, and possibly Sarai then revealed to him her true relationship to Abram. We find in Esth. ii. 12 that in the case of maidens there was a probation of twelve months duration before the marriage took place, and Sarai was probably saved by some such formality. The conduct of Pharaoh is upright and dignified; nor ought we to disbelieve his assurance that he had acted upon the supposition that Sarai might lawfully be his. The silence of Abram seems to indicate his consciousness that Pharaoh had acted more righteously than himself, and yet his repetition of the offence (chap. xx.) shows that he did not feel much self-reproach at what he had done; nor, possibly, ought we to judge

Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

CHAPTER XIII. (1) And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. (2) And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. (3) And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; (4) unto the a place of the altar, which he had made

a ch. 12. 7.

Lot Parts from Him.

for their substance was great, so that they could 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.

(8) 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 1brethren. (9) 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

(5) And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. (6) And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together;

his conduct from the high standpoint of Christian morality. When, however, commentators speak of it as Abram's fall, they forget that he arranged this matter with Sarai at the very time when he was quitting Haran (chap. xx. 13).

XIII.

ABRAM'S RETURN FROM EGYPT AND HIS SEPARATION FROM LOT.

(1-4) He went on his journeys.-Or, according to his stations, which the Vulgate very reasonably translates, "by the same route by which he had come." This route was first into the south, the Negeb, which is virtually a proper name, and thence to the spot between Beth-el and Ai mentioned in chap. xii. 8.

At the first does not mean that this was the first altar erected by Abram, but that he built it on his first arrival there. His first altar was at Shechem. As regards his wealth, while his cattle had been greatly increased in Egypt, he had probably brought the silver and gold with him from Mesopotamia. Gold, however, was plentiful at that time in Egypt, but silver rare.

(5, 6) Lot.-He, too, had possibly received presents in Egypt, for we find him rivalling his uncle in wealth; and the "tents" show that he had numerous followers, and, like Abram, was the chief of a powerful clan. The repetition that the land was not able to bear them," and that "they could not dwell together," implies that the difficulty had long been felt before it led to an open rupture.

(7) The Perizzite.-We find mention in the Bible both of Perazites, translated villages, in 1 Sam. vi. 18, Esth. ix. 19; and of Perizzites, who are sometimes opposed to the Canaanites, as here and in chap. xxxiv. 30, and sometimes described as one of the tribes settled in Palestine (Exod. iii. 8, 17; Josh. xvii. 15; Judges iii. 5). They are not mentioned among the races descended from Canaan, and probably were the earlier inhabitants of the country, who, being a pastoral people, possessed of no towns, were not able to make head against the Hamite settlers, but maintained themselves in the open country. Perazite and Perizzite are probably the same word, and both signify lowlander,

(10) 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

though finally they were driven to the mountains (Josh. xi. 3). As the Canaanites devoted their main strength to a maritime life and trade, they would not attempt to extirpate these natives, but would be content with driv. ing them into the interior. As thus some districts would be occupied by the dominant Canaanites, and others by these aborigines, two such large clans as those of Abram and Lot would find it difficult to discover unoccupied land enough to provide pasture for their cattle. The land must have been very thinly peopled for it to have been possible for them to do this, even when they had arranged to dwell apart.

(8, 9) Let there be no strife.-It is evident that Lot was beginning to take part with his herdmen, and regard himself as an injured man. But Abram meets him with the utmost generosity, acknowledges that their growth in wealth rendered a separation necessary, and gives him his choice. And Lot accepts it. Instead of feeling that it was due to his uncle's age and rank to yield to him the preference, he greedily accepts the offer, selects the region that seemed to offer the greatest earthly advantages, but finds in the long run that it has perils which far outweigh its promises of wealth and pleasure.

(10) The plain of Jordan.-This word, Ciccar, literally means the circuit, or, as it is translated in St. Matt. iii. 5, the region round about Jordan," and, according to Mr. Conder (Tent Work, ii., p. 14), is the proper name of the Jordan valley, and especially of the plain of Jericho. It is now called the Ghor, or depression, and is one of the most remarkable districts in the world, being a deep crack or fissure, with chalk rocks upon the western and sandstone on the eastern side, over which lies limestone, geologically of the age of our greensand formation. It is thus what is technically called by miners a fault, the formations on the two sides having been displaced by some tremendous convulsion of nature. Most of the valley lies below the level of the Mediterranean, the Sea of Galilee being, by Mr. Conder's observations, about 682 feet below it, and the Dead Sea no less than 1,292 feet. As the watershed to the south rises to a level of 200 feet above the Mediterranean, all egress for the waters is thereby cut off, and there are numerous proofs that at some distant period the whole

land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. (1) Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves

Abram goes to Mamre.

southward, and eastward, and westward : (15) For all the land which thou seest, "to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (16) And I will make thy seed

dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. (13) But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

valley, about 150 miles in length, was a succession of large lakes. But even in Abram's days the Jordan poured down a far larger volume of water than at present; for by the loss of its forests the climate of Palestine has become much more dry than of old, and regions once fertile are now barren. And as the supply of water has become less than that lost by evaporation, the Dead Sea has gradually receded, and left around it arid wastes covered over with incrustations of salt. As the garden of the Lord. Mr. Palmer (Desert of the Exodus, p. 465) describes the fertility of the Jordan valley as follows:-"Although the immediate vicinity of the Dead Sea is barren enough, the Ghor, or deep depression at the northern and southern extremities, teems with life and vegetation; and even where the cliffs rise sheer up from the water's edge, streams of fresh water dash down the ravines, and bring the verdure with them almost to the Salt Sea's brink." The same writer (p. 480) has also shown conclusively, with Mr. Grove, Dr. Tristram, and others, that Sodom and Gomorrha were at the northern end of the lake, and not, as was previously supposed, at the southern. For the Ciccar is strictly the part of the Ghor near Jericho, and as the Dead Sea is forty-six miles in length, its southern extremity was far away out of sight. Moreover, Lot was standing some miles away to the north-west, on the high ground between Beth-el and Ai, whence "the northern end of the Dead Sea, and the barren tract which extends from the oasis of Jericho to it and the Jordan, are distinctly visible" (Dr. Tristram, Sunday at Home, 1872, p. 215). This "barren tract was once the Ciccar, and the traces of ancient irrigation and aqueducts attest its former fertility. It was upon this district," well watered everywhere," that Lot gazed so covetously, and its richness is indicated by a double comparison: for, first, it was like Jehovah's garden in Eden, watered by its four rivers; and next, it was like Egypt, rendered fertile by artificial means.

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As thou comest unto Zoar.-This makes no sense whatsoever. No person on the route to Egypt could possibly take Zoar in his way; and of the five cities of the plain this was the least like Paradise. The Syriac has preserved the right reading, namely, Zoan. This city, however, was called Zor, or Zar, by the Egyptians (Records of the Past, viii. 147), and was situated on the eastern side of the Tanaitic branch of the Nile, at the head of a fertile plain, called "the field of Zoan" in Ps. lxxviii. 12. Through this rich and well-watered region Lot had lately travelled in Abram's company, and the luxuriant vegetation there made it not unworthy to be compared with Paradise.

man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (17) Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

(18) Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the 1 plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

(11) Lot journeyed east.-This is the word translated "eastward ” in chap. ii. 8, and “from the east” in chap. xi. 2. Here it can only mean towards the east.

(12, 13) Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain. -Heb., of the Ciccar. Not as yet within their walls, but in their neighbourhood, and evidently with a longing "toward Sodom," where, in chap. xix., we find him sitting in the gate as a citizen, and with his tent changed to a house. While, then, Abram continued to lead a hardy life as a stranger upon the bracing hills, Lot sighed for the less self-denying habits of the city; and probably, when he had descended into the Ghor, the enervating climate, which so developed the sensual vices of the people as to make them "sinners before Jehovah" (see on chap. x. 9), disposed Lot also to quit his tent, and yield himself to a luxurious and easy manner of living.

(14) The Lord said unto Abram.- The departure of Lot was certainly a great grief to Abram; for he lost thereby the companionship of the relative who had shared his abandonment of his country, and whom, probably, in his childless state, he had regarded as his heir. Jehovah, therefore, consoles him by a more definite promise of the possession of the whole land of which he had so generously given Lot the choice, and by the assurance that his own seed should be numerous as the dust of the earth. We may also feel sure that as Lot was deteriorating, so Abram was drawing nearer to God, and walking more closely with Him; and hence the fuller assurance of the Divine blessing.

(17) Walk through the land.-Repeated change of scene is not merely one of the pleasures of the nomad life, but also a necessity; for the uplands, covered with rich herbage in the spring, are usually burnt up in summer, and in the winter are exposed to driving winds and rain-storms. In these journeyings Abram is now to have the tranquil pleasure of feeling that his seed will inherit each beautiful spot that he visits, and that he is taking possession of it, and hallowing it for them.

(18) The plain of Mamre.-(Heb., oaks of Mamre. See on chap. xii. 6). Mamre was an Amorite, then living, and as he was confederate with Abram, it was apparently with the consent of the Amorites, and by virtue of the treaty entered into with them, that Abram made this oak-grove one of his permanent stations.

Hebron. That is, alliance. Hebron was perhaps so called from the confederacy formed between Abram and the Amorites, and was apparently the name not only of a city, but of a district, as the oaks of Mamre are described as being "in Hebron." For its other name, Kirjath-arba, see note on chap. xxiii. 2.

CHAPTER XIV.—(1) And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of

And the Kings of the Plain.

these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. (4) Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they

Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. (3) All

XIV.

INVASION OF THE JORDAN VALLEY BY CHEDOR. LAOMER, KING OF ELAM.

(1) It came to pass.-Connected with the settlement of Lot in the Jordan valley is one of the most remarkable episodes in the whole of the Bible, derived either from Canaanite records, or, as Mr. Sayce thinks (Chald. Genesis, p. 72), from those of Babylon. The latter view is made the more probable by the fact that Amraphel, though but a subject king, is placed first; and the way in which the patriarch is described in it, as "Abram the Hebrew," seems certainly to suggest that we have to do here with a narrative of foreign origin.

Its incorporation with the history admirably sets forth the consequences of Lot's choice in the troubles, and even ruin, which overtook him, the bravery and power of Abram, and his generosity to the rescued kings. It is also most interesting, as showing Abram's relation to the Amorites, among whom he lived, and the existence in Palestine of a Semitic population, who still worshipped "the most high God," and over whom one of the noblest figures in the Old Testament was king. The narrative is Jehovistic, for Abram calls God Jehovah El Elion, but is, nevertheless, of such ancient date as to forbid the acceptance of the theory which regards the occurrence of the name Jehovah as a proof of later authorship. Upon Elam and the conquests and route of Chedorlaomer, see Excursus at end of this book.

Amraphel.-An Accadian name, which Lenormant has found on Babylonian cylinders, and which he explains as meaning "the circle of the year."

Shinar.-See on chap. x. 10.

Arioch.-i.e., Eriaku, which in Accadian means servant of the moon-god." He was king of Ellasar, i.e., Al-Larsa, the city of Larsa, now called Senkereh. It is situated on the left bank of the Euphrates, in Lower Babylonia, and has contributed some very ancient tablets to the collection in the British Museum. The name occurs again in Dan. ii. 14.

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Tidal.-More correctly in the LXX., Thargal, that is, Tur-gal, the great son (Sayce). In the Syriac he is called Thargil, king of the Gelae," the latter being a mistake, through reading Gelim for Goïm. This word does not mean 66 nations," but is a proper name, spelt Gutium in the inscriptions, "by which the Accadians designated the whole tract of country which extended from the Tigris to the eastern borders of Media, including the district afterwards known as Assyria " (Chald. Gen., p. 197).

(2) Bera king of Sodom.-The failure of the attempt to explain the names of these five kings, and of the cities over which they ruled (with one or two exceptions), by the help of the Hebrew language makes it probable that the inhabitants of the Ciccar were

came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in 1Shaveh

either Canaanites who had come from the sea-coast, or men of some Hamite stock who had colonised this region from the east. The latter is the more probable view, as they do not seem to have had much affinity either with the Amorites or with the Jebusites, their neighbours.

(3) All these were joined together. - Were united in a confederacy, and so formed a pentapolis, or group of five allied towns, like the Philistine league with its five lords (1 Sam. vi. 16—18).

The vale of Siddim.-Mr. Conder (Tent-work, ii. 16) says that the name Sidd is still given by the Arabs to the cliffs or banks of marl which run along the southern edge of the plain of Jericho; and with this agrees Aben-Ezra's explanation, who derives the word from the Hebrew sid, chalk. Mr. Conder searched throughout the Ciccar for traces of the ruined cities, but in vain; and "the gradual rise of the level of the plain, caused by the constant washing down of the soft marl from the western hills, would effectually," he thinks, cover over any such ruins." He found, however, copious springs of water upon the north-western side of the lake, and considers that the five cities were in their neighbourhood.

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Which is the salt sea. From these words com. mentators have rashly concluded that the vale of Sodom was swallowed up by the Dead Sea; but not only is no such convulsion of nature mentioned in chap. xix., but Abram is described as seeing the Ciccar-land_not submerged, but smoking like a furnace (verse 28). Probably "the vale of Siddim was the name of the whole district in which these sidds, or bluffs, are situated, and which extend round all the northern shores of the lake. Mr. Conder, after tracing the lines of former beaches, which show that the Dead Sea has long been shrinking in extent, tells us (Tent-work, ii. 43) that geologists hold that it had reached its present condition long before the days of Abram. It still, indeed, covered a much larger space, for the rains at that time were far more copious in Palestine than at present; but it no longer extended over the whole Arabah, as, by the evidence of these beaches, was once the case.

(4) They served.-That is, paid a yearly tribute, that they might be exempt from Chedorlaomer's marauding expeditions (see 2 Kings xviii. 7). There must, therefore, have been envoys going from time to time to and fro from the Jordan valley to Shinar.

(5) The Rephaims. Described as an Amorite tribe (Amos ii. 9) of great stature, settled in Bashan, where Moses conquered them (Josh. xiii. 12). We find them also on the other side of Jordan, in Mount Ephraim (Josh. xvii. 15), on the western side of Jerusalem (Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 16; 2 Sam. v. 18, 22), and even among the Philistines (2 Sam. xxi. 16, 18). In many of these places the word is wrongly translated giants. From this wide dispersion of them we may safely conclude that they belonged to the earlier settlers in the land,