Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-04-03
Golden Text: abraham believed
God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness" Romans 4:3.

Our studies during. the next three
months will take us over wide field
of Old Testament literature as we
Gull from here and there bits in the
biographies of some of the worthless
/ of old. 1t is taking us into a new
| line of Bible study, topical rather
| than Bible study. 1t will serve among
other things to show us the unity
Of the Bible. And as we study the
| lives Of these men and women, let
us not forget that the real aim Of
this study Of ours must be to learn
to know better, not Abraham, but
| the God of Abraham; not Ruth, but
the God of Ruth; and so on.
Abraham is an interesting charac-
| ter. The fact that he is regarded as
| the father of three religious bodies
| is enough to make US want to know
him better. He was born and grew
to mature manhood in the Chaldean
county amid a people that believed
in gods many. In some way the age
old truth of there being only one
| God dawned on Abrams mind and
gripped his heart One of the inter
esting facts of the world is that in
|
supreme being, one great spirit, one
dominant influence. From this de-
veloped, undoubtedly through Sa.
tanic influence, polytheism and pan
theism. Men did not originally be-
lieve in many gods or gods in every
thing, but in one God. The charac-
teristic of Abrams belief in one god
was that he believed in Him as the
one God. a supreme personality VINO
is the Creator and the Lord Of the
heavens and the earth.
His faith may have made him un-
comfortable among his kindred and
country. At any rate God spoke to
Abram one day and said to him,
Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy
fathers house, unto land that !
shall show thee. And [ will make
of thee a great nation, and L Will
bless thee, and make thy name great,
and be thou a blessing. And L Will
bless them that bless thee, and him
that curseth thee, l will curse; and
IN thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed"
Terah, his father; Major, his
brother, Lot, his nephew, and Abram
with his wife Sarai had all left Ur
of the Childees and tarveled as far
as Haran-the "city of Major" to
which Eliezer afterward returned to
find a bride for Isaac. Here Terah
died; and Major remained, probably
| because he was a Worshipper OF SIN,
the moon-god whose temple was To-
Gated at Haran. But from Haran
| A 10 into
known country, among a strange
people, to inherit a land that God
had promised to give him. Abram
was. then seventy-five years old!
His first stopping place in the
land of Canaan was Shechem a1d
there he builded an altar to God.
| Thence he moved to Bethel, and
there he built an altar to God.
Thence he journeycd going on to
the south. A famine drove him into
! Egypt for grain and sustenance for
his retinue-but there is no record
of any altar built there. He had not
trusted in God to provide for him,
but was making provision for him
self he was outside the will of God,
and no worship is recorded. Instead,
the record is one of weakness, of ly-
| lIlS, VI 1SdI LII Ills wv IL me- VI 90
| ing his own life at the cost Of his
wife's honor. He went away rich
but at what a cost! He came back
to Bethel, and to the altar again and
called on the name of the Lord.
Then he pitched his tent in Heb
ron and dwelt there a long time.
For some reason ne went down to
| Gerar and repeated his lie to Abime-
L. IL, Il liz
and Sarai added shame by plagueing
the Philstine king. Thence he re-
| turned to Hebron. After his test on
Mt Moriah, he changed again his
| dwelling place and came to Beershe-
| ba.
Sarai died in Hebron and was
buried in the cave of Macpelah i'll
the field OF Ephron, which Abraham
| bought and paid for from Ephron
| the Hitite. Twenty eight wears Ia.
ter Abraham was buried in this same
cave, having died at a ripe old age,
165 years old. 1t was the only piece
of ground that Abraham ever owned,
although God had promised to give
him and his seed the whole land of
Canaan forever.
His Surroundings
we can SOMETIMES make an eStl
mate of man if we know how he
lives, his surroundings. Abraham
lived in a time when in Canaan
there was no central government
but when there were many city.
states each with its own king. The
king of a city would be strong
enough to subdue some surrounding
territory, but not a great amount
1t was advisable, therefore, for him
to make alliances with the neigh
boring city-kings either by inter.
marriage or by the payment of a
subsidy. This situation was the
| cause Of constant unrest. One par.
ticular "war" between these city.
kings lasted fourteen years. We
have q recO. of it because at its
peak Lot W? captured and deport
ed, and thu" Lew Abraham into the
conflict. Organizing an offensive
party of his own men, ne went
forth as far north as Damascus and
rescued Lot and his women and his
goods from the hands of their cap
tors Abrams life was that of a
nomad. Although God had given
him the whole land of Palestine, he
never possessed any of it until his
| wife died and then only the cave OF
Macpelah which he bought. He had
10 home. no city. He lived in tents
all his life, and as we have noted he
moved about from time to time. He
was q large owner of flocks and
herds, and this fact accounts in