The Bible Story Part 127

And he said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake." And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had done communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN.

_The Fate of Sodom and Gomorrah_.

And the two angels came to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; and he said, "Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way."

And they said, "Nay; but we will abide in the street all night."

And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

And the men said unto Lot, "Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has grown great before the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it."

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THE DEAD SEA

The five "Cities of the Plain" are supposed to have been situated to the north of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is 47 miles long, with an extreme breadth of about 10 miles. It lies 1290 feet below the sea level and is itself 1300 feet deep in the deepest part. (See note on page 257) [End ill.u.s.tration]

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And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons in law as one who mocked.

And when the morning came, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, "Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city."

But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

And it came to pa.s.s, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."

And Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord: behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."

And he said unto him, "See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.

Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar, that is, "Little."

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah {36} brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

And it came to pa.s.s, when G.o.d destroyed the cities of the Plain, that G.o.d remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

BIRTH OF ISAAC.

_Hagar and Ishmael Are Cast Out. Treaty with Abimelech_.

And a child was born to Sarah, according as the Lord had promised, and Abraham called the name of his son, Isaac. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

HAGAR AND ISHMAEL By Cazin [End ill.u.s.tration]

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And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. And G.o.d said unto Abraham, "Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy family be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy son."

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child."

And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. And G.o.d heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of G.o.d called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, "What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for G.o.d hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation."

And G.o.d opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And G.o.d was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

And it came to pa.s.s at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, "G.o.d is with thee in all that thou doest: now therefore swear {40} unto me here by G.o.d that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned."

And Abraham said, "I will swear."

And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, "I know not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to-day."

And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, "What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?"

And he said, "These seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well."

Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them. So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol, the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting G.o.d. And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

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THE TESTING OF ABRAHAM.

_G.o.d Provides the Sacrifice_.

And it came to pa.s.s after these things, that G.o.d proved Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!"

And he said, "Here am I."

And he said, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his a.s.s, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which G.o.d had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Abide ye here with the a.s.s, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you."

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac, his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spoke unto Abraham, his father, and said, "My father": and he said, "Here am I, my son."

And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

And Abraham said, "G.o.d will himself provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son": so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which G.o.d had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in {42} order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham."