The History of the Old Testament Methodized, Chapter 3 · Section 1 – Section 2
SECT. I.
THe Lord having called Abram (as we ſhewed in the foregoing Chapter) when he lived at Ʋr of the Chaldees to leave that Countrey, and to go to a place that he ſhould ſhew him, promiſing to bleſs him, and that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth ſhould be bleſſed. Abram readily obeyed this Call, and accordingly removed from thence, and went to Charran. From which Promiſe and Abrams departure (which immediately followed) are to be deduced the 430 years which Abram and his Poſterity were to ſpend in foreign Lands. See Exod. 12.40, 41. And from this Promiſe and Covenant to the giving of the Law (which was three months after the Iſraelites departure out of Egypt, and which could not diſannul this Covenant, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, Gal. 3.17, 18) were 430 years.
At Charran Abram ſtayed about five years till his Father died; and then following the Call of God (being 75 years of age) he took Sarai his Wife, and Lot his Nephew, with all the ſubſtance they had gotten, and the Men-ſervants and Maid-ſervants they had acquired(o)Animas quas ſibi comparaverant vel Emerant, & quas de idololatria converterant. Tenent Hebraei Abram viros, Saram mulleres in Dei cultu inſtituiſſe, atque ita eos Deo procreaſſe. Non enim alios ſervos habere voluerunt praeter cultores Dei. Hic primum fit ſervitutis mentio. Vatablus. in Charran, and journied on till at laſt they came into the Land of Canaan, (the Canaanites a curſed Idolatrous people being now the Inhabitants thereof) thorow which they paſſed till they came to a place called Sichem, and the plain of Moreh, where God appearing to Abram, promiſed him that to his Seed he would give that Land. (p)Hence called the Land of Promiſe, Heb. 11.9. The Lords Land, Hoſ. 9.3. The holy Land, Zach. 2.12. The Land of Emmanuel, Iſa. 8.8. And this was a Type of Heaven which Abram looked for, Heb. 11.9, 10.Whereupon in that place he built an Altar *See Gen. 8.20.to the Lord, that He might offer up his Sacrifices, Prayers and Thanksgivings, and perform the outward Worſhip God requir'd of Him among his own Company, in oppoſition to the Idolatry of the Canaanites. From thence he removed into the Hill-Countrey calld Luz (and in after-times known by the name of Bethel, Gen. 28.19.) where again he built an Altar, and called upon the Name of the Lord. And from thence holding on his Journey he came at laſt into the South part of the Countrey which looks towards Egypt.
Gen. 12. from 4. to 10.
SECT. II.
IT pleaſed the Lord now to put Abrams Faith upon a new Trial. For not long after this God viſited this Land of Canaan (which of it ſelf was very fruitful) with a ſore Famine, being provoked thereunto by the Iniquity of the Inhabitants thereof. See Pſal. 107. v. 33, 34. Hereupon to avoid this Calamity, Abram was forc'd to go down from thence into Egypt, where (as Joſephus tells us) he taught the Egyptians Aſtrology and Arimethick, which before they were ignorant of. When he came near unto Egypt, he began to be in great apprehenſions of the danger his life was in by reaſon of Sarai, if the Egyptians ſhould take her to be his Wife. For though ſhe was at this time 65 years old, yet ſhe was very fair and beautiful in her ſelf, and much more if compared with the ſwarthy Complexions of the Egyptian-Women. Hereupon, to prevent danger to himſelf, he deſired her to ſay, if ſhe were ask'd, That ſhe was his Siſter. (q)Nepotes Nepteſ que ab Hebraeis fratres & ſorores vocantur, Gen. 13.8. & 14.14.16.Now though this was in a ſenſe true (as Abraham afterwards told Abimelech upon another occaſion, Gen. 20.12.) becauſe ſhe was his Brothers Daughter, (and ſuch in thoſe days were uſually called Brothers and Siſters,) yet by her ſaying, She was his Siſter, Abram intended the Egyptians ſhould underſtand that ſhe was not his wife, but free to be married to another. And ſo thorow his over great fear and ſollicitude for himſelf, and too much diſtruſting Gods Providence and Care over him. He expoſed her to great and evident danger. For Pharaoh King of Egypt being informed of her by his Courtiers, He ſent for Her to his houſe,(r)In Domum] non ad ſtuprum ſed ut eſſet uxor ſaltem ſecundaria. Ad ſe Reges non ſtatim admittebant niſi prius purgatas & praeparatas, ut patet ex lib. Eſter. that is, (as 'tis probable) ordered Her to be brought to the Royal Seraglio of his Women, to be fitted and prepared there for ſome time, according to the cuſtom of thoſe Countries, that the King might afterwards take her to wife (ſee Eſter 2.9.) In the mean time Pharaoh was very kind and munificent to Abram for her ſake, and much inriched him by many great Gifts and Preſents. But now on a ſudden God plagued Pharoah and his Houſe. What thoſe Plagues were he inflicted on them, the Scripture being ſilent, 'tis a fooliſh Curioſity too nicely to enquire, but they were ſuch(s)Plagae immiſſae quaecun que fuerunt, ardorem ejus repreſſerunt. as by the over-ruling Providence of God preſerved the Chaſtity of Sarai, and brought Pharoah to underſtand that ſhe was Abrams wife. Whereupon He reſtored her to him again, and quietly diſmiſſed them, giving his Servants charge to ſee them ſafely conducted out of his Dominions.
Gen. 12. from 10. to the end.