The Washington times., 1913-02-15
Sunday School lesson
By REXFORD L. HOLMES

Topic for Sunday, God Calls Abra-
ham''-Gen.. II: Is Golden text: Il
will bless thee. and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing
Gen., II: 2
Abraham was born, according TO
Ussher's reckoning. in B. c. 1895. or in
the year of the world 20OS. 352 years
after the Flood, and almost exactly
halfway between Adam and Christ He
migrated in B. c. 1926, when seventy
years of age. and entered Canaan five
years later, 1921. The ruins of ancient
Mugheir. or Ur of the Chaldees, the
birthplace of Abraham, are six miles
west of the Euphrates and 120 miles
southeast of Babylon. Wonderful re-
suits have ATTENDED the labors of ex-
cavators among these ruins-mute testi-
moniais to the authenticity of the
Scriptures. The commercial city of
Mesopotamia. called Haran. also men,
TONED in the lesson, was about 500
miles north Of Ur and go miles north
east of Damascus The epoch of the
lesson Is a most important one in
Biblical history, marking the beginning
Of the Jewish race and religion. Two
other eras in the development of man
pf1Or 10 Ine 1nCeptlOn OF lne jewish
race might well be noted: The Crea-
ton, and the Flood. Two other great
characters before the time of Abraham
stand out pre-eminently as representa-
tive of those preceding epochs-Adam
and Noah. About four centuries had
elapsed between the second and third
great epochs, a period of progress and
enlightenment. At the time of the
lesson we find the world populated by
three entirely separate lines of inhab-
10
races. the colored race. and the races
that later scattered over Europe, de-
scended, respectively, from Shem, Ham,
and Japheth-an sons of Noah. These
three lines of Inhabitants may be said
70 have constituted the hub from
which have radiated the spokes repre-
senting all the races and the nationali-
ties of the globe in later times. The
beginnings of many languages from the
one primitive language was at Babel,
near the present site of Babylon, and
from this early diversity of tongues
have sprung more than three thousand
languages and dialects of the world, al
though there are less than three hun
time all tribes and nations shall again
speak in one tongue is assured from
Rev, 4: $40. Not long after the time
of Noah the people began scattering
in various directions over the earth.
each little group or tribe or nation
working out its own problems of civil-
xatfon and government
Abraham, meaning father of a null
titude," first called Abram, exalted
father" was of the tenth generation
from Noah, of the line of Shem, if the
ancestral list contains all the names of
his direct ancestors, and not merely
some of the chief men, as often occurs
in ancestral lists given. in the Bible. He
was born in ancient Ur, mentioned
above, then a city of great commercial
impoTtance~-1Here he, was married to
sarah meaning princess queenlyS
beautiful. somewhat dominating, bot
witfraf sympathetic. To this union was
born but one child, Isaac Abrahams
other son, Ishmael. was by second
wife. Abrahams education, as has
been evidenced by excavations and dis
coveries, consisted of knowledge of the
laws similar to the Levitical codes of
Moses, the Babylonian literature, and
the history and religion of his ances-
tors Surrounded by a rich worldly at
mosphere, a spirit of idolatry in the
capital city Ur, and by the immortality
and decadence of his generation, Abra-
ham must have developed strong in
dividualistic nature to shut from his
heart the vices and superstitions of his
age. It was amid such surroundings,
and after such an education, that at the
age Of seventy Abraham received his
cali from God. Briefly. the lesson story
is as follows:
The Lord told Abraham to leave this
country and his relatives and to go into
the land that He would indicate, and