VIII.

place is frequently mentioned in the history of Abraham CHA P. and Ifaac. It appears from Gen. x. 19. (where Mofes marks out the four fides of the land of Canaan) that Gerar was feated in the angle, where the fouth and weft fides of Canaan met. It may also be inferred from the said text, that it was not far from Gaza, of which I have fpoken in my Geography of the New Testament, Part II. chap. ii. §. 6. It is evident from what is said of Gerar, in relation to the hiftory of Abraham and Ifaac, that it was a regal city, and the usual name of the kings thereof feems to have been Abimelech; as Pharaoh was the ufual name of the kings of Egypt, in those more early times. The kings of Gerar were in all probability Philistines by extraction: for the kingdom of Gerar is exprefsly reckoned within the land of the Philistines, Gen. xxi. 32, 34.

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55.

derness of

During Abraham's fojourning in these parts, Ifaac was born; who fome time after being mocked by Ifhmael, Of the wilHagar's fon, at Sarah's motion, and upon God's approba- Paran. tion, Ishmael with his mother was fent away, and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, adjoining to Kadesh already mentioned; and of which more will be faid, when we.come to fpeak of the travels of the Ifraelites through Arabia Petræa.

During the fame time, Abrahain and Abimelech made a covenant together, concerning a well which Abraham had digged: which well, from the oath mutually taken between the two forementioned perfons, was called BeerSheba, i. e. the well of the oath. Here Abraham planted a grove, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlafting God, Gen. xxi. 33. In procefs of time, there was a city or confiderable town built here, which is taken notice of by Heathen writers, by the name of Berzimma or Berfabe. The greatest length of the land of Ifrael is frequently denoted in Scripture, by the distance from Beersheba in the fouth, to Dan in the north. Dr. Heylin tells us, that it was well fortified by the western Christians, when they were mafters of the Holy Land, as being a border-town of good importance,

56.

Of Beerfhe

PART 1.

57.

The land of
Moriah.

58.

Whilft Abraham fojourned at Beerfheba, it pleased God to make that fignal trial of Abraham's obedience, by requiring him to go into the land of Moriah, and there to offer his only fon Ifaac, whom he loved, for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains, which God should tell him of, Gen. xxii. 2. From comparing this text with 2 Chron. iii. 1. it is, I think, generally received as an opinion not ill-grounded, that the Moriah to which Abraham was ordered to go, and on a mountain whereof he was to offer Ifaac, was no other than the mount Moriah, whereon Solomon built the temple; and on one part whereof, namely, mount Calvary, our Saviour did afterwards actually offer himself up to God for the redemption of mankind. Which offering of our bleffed Saviour, as it seems to have been defignedly prefigured by the intentional offering of Ifaac, (for in this fenfe may perhaps be well enough, if not beft understood, what is faid, Hebr. xi. 17.) fo it might feem good to the divine wisdom to affign the fame place, for the typical offering of Ifaac; where in due time the antitype, our bleffed Redeemer, was to be offered.

In the next chapter, viz. Gen. xxiii. we are informed Of the field of the death of Sarah, at Kirjath-arba or Hebron; and Mach-pe- of Abraham's buying the field of Ephron, which was in

and cave of

lah.

Mach-pelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein :-and how Abraham buried Sarah in the cave of the field of Mach-pelah, before Mamre. Now from what has been faid above, concerning Mamre being another name for Hebron, and also of the adjacent plain of Mamre; it is easy to gather, whereabout was fituated this field and cave in Mach-pelah. There seems however to be one particular worth our obfervation, namely, that here, and in other places of Scripture, Abraham is always related to buy this field and cave in Machpelah, of Ephron the Hittite, and in the presence of the children of Heth: but Gen. xiv. 13. the plain of Mamre, wherein Abraham dwelt, is faid to be the plain of Mamre the Amorite. From this remark, in conjunction with what has been before obferved, concerning the fituation of the

Hittites

VIII.

Hittites and Amorites, in the parts about Hebron, may CHAP. be inferred thus much; that perhaps we have here got some footsteps of the boundary between the Hittites and Amorites in this tract; forafmuch as we hence plainly learn, that the field of Ephron the Hittite did lie before Mamre or Hebron, which, as well as the adjacent plain, did belong to Mamre the Amorite. Where by the word before, may probably be denoted, to the weft or southweft of Mamre, and that on a double account; namely, because it seems probable from the facred history, that Abraham still dwelt at Beertheba, which lay fouth-west of Hebron; and also because it is plain from Scripture, that the Hittites dwelt on the weft or fouth-weft of Hebron.

Nahor.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham takes care for a 59. fuitable wife for his fon Ifaac. Whereupon he fends his The city of chief fervant into Aram-Naharaim or Mefopotamia, to the city of Nahor his brother, to take a wife from thence of his own kindred for Ifaac. It is thought, that the city of Nahor here mentioned was the fame with the city Haran or Charran; to which Abraham with his father Terah firft removed from Ur of the Chaldees. But there are confiderations of fome weight to incline one to think, that by the city of Nahor may poffibly be denoted Ur of the Chaldees. For when Terah left that place, we only read, that he took with him Abraham his fon, and Lot his grandfon of the male iffue: and therefore it may be reasonably concluded, that Nahor his other fon ftaid behind at Ur of the Chaldees. If therefore by the city of Nahor is to be understood Haran, then Nahor must remove thither fome time after the removal of his father, though the Scripture is filent as to the matter. Indeed we read, Gen. xxvii. 43. that Laban, the brother of Rebecca, and grandfon of Nahor, did live at Haran. And therefore upon the whole it is probable, that though at first, when Abraham with his father Terah removed, Nahor staid behind at Ur; yet afterwards, when his own family was grown up, he might leave his other fons at

Ur;

PART I. Ur; and he with his younger fon, as it seems, Bethuel, the father of Laban and Rebecca, might remove to Ha

60. Abraham

his heir,

and fends

Keturah

into the

try.

ran.

In Gen. xxv. Mofes informs us, that, after Sarah's makes Ifaac death, Abraham took Keturah to wife, and had several children by her; and that he gave to Ifaac all that he his fons by had, that is, his main estate; but unto the fons of his concubines he gave gifts, and fent them away from Isaac his eaft-coun- fon, while he himself yet lived, eastward, unto the eastcountry. After which the facred Hiftorian concludes the hiftory of Abraham, with telling us at what age he died, namely, at the age of an hundred threefcore and fifteen years; and that he was buried by his fons Ifaac and Ishmael in the cave of Mach-pelah, in the field of Ephron, the fon of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; the field which Abraham purchased of the fons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife, Gen. xxv. 1-10.

61.

The method ob

ferved in

Having gone through the history of the fojourning of Abraham, I shall proceed next to the history of the sojourning of his fon Ifaac; and then I shall speak of the dwellings of his other fons, Ifhmael by Hagar, and the chapters. reft by Keturah; and after that of the places where the two fons of Lot, Moab and Ammon, fettled themselves.

the four following

CHAP.

..

CHAP. IX.

Of the Sojourning of Ifaac.

2

1.

A short narrative of

mentioned

HAVING finished the history of Abraham, the facred Hiftorian proceeds to that of Ifaac; who, he tells us, continued to dwell (after his father's death, as he had done Ifaac's fojourning; before) by Beer-lahai-roi above mentioned. Then giving no place a fhort account of the fons of Ifhmael, the facred Hiftorian being mentioned by gives us next an account of the birth of Efau and Jacob, Mofes, but who therefore were in all probability born at Beer-lahai- what is roi. A famine arifing, Ifaac went to Abimelech king of before. the Philistines, unto Gerar, and dwelt at Gerar, Gen. xxvi. 1,6. Hence he removed into the valley of Gerar, and, pitching his tent, dwelt there; and digged again the wells of water which had been digged in the days of his father; (for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of his father:) and he called their names after the names that his father had called them, ver. 17, 18. Among thefe wells was Beersheba, i. e. the well of the oath; where was a like oath taken between Ifaac and Abimelech, the then king of Gerar, as had been before between Abraham and the Abimelech that then reigned at Gerar. Whence the city, built here in fucceeding times, took the name of Beersheba, as we are expressly told, Gen. xxvi. 33. The facred Hiftorian having just taken notice of Efau's taking two of the daughters of Heth, or Hittite women, to be his wives, acquaints us next with the circumftances of Jacob's getting the bleffing of his father Ifaac away from Efau, and with Jacob's being fent hereupon to Padan-Aram, to Bethuel his mother's brother, then dwelling at Haran; and with his staying there fourteen years and upwards, and then returning to his father Ifaac, who at that time fojourned at Mamre near Hebron, where Abraham had formerly fojourned. After which Mofes presently fhuts up the history of Ifaac, with an account of his age, and VOL. I. death,

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