country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

Besides the general blessing, there were three special points pledged in this promise :

1. That Abraham's seed should be very numerous, and be a great nation.

2. That they should have a land in possession; and,

3. That in Abraham "all families of the earth should be blessed."

Abraham obeyed the command to seek a certain land to be pointed out to him. He took his journey, and when he had entered upon the land, Jehovah appeared to him again, and fixed the former indefinite promise to that particular country: "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him."† Having been driven by a famine out of this country for a season, he presently returned to it. Circum

* Gen. xii. 1-3.

† Gen. xii. 7.

stances separated him from the only one of his kindred who travelled with him; and as soon as he was alone, Jehovah appeared to him, and giving him a view of the land, he repeated the promise which assured him not only of the possession, but of a multitude of offspring to possess it: "And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee."

An occasion subsequently occurred, in which Abraham's faith being shaken by the delay which took place in the first miraculous approach to the possibility of having offspring, he ventured to suggest the adoption of his steward in the place of a son; upon which Jehovah was pleased, first to repeat the promise, then to confirm it with the forms of a solemn oath, and then to encourage his faith, by informing him of some of the details * Gen. xiii. 14-17.

concerning the offspring that should be born to him. Jehovah closed this condescending statement, by marking out the defined boundaries of this promised land from the south to the north, and stating the names of the nations which at that time inhabited it, According to this Divine grant, the promised land was to reach from the Nile, in the south, to the Euphrates, in the north: "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."*

The faith of the Patriarch was kept under a continual trial, but was supported by repeated assurances of the Lord's promise, each more defined than the last. A distinct and enlarged statement was made by Jehovah at the time he was pleased to add a sacramental seal to establish his covenant, the terms of which were upon that occasion fully declared with reference to the family and the land that was to be an everlasting possession: "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, * Gen. xv. 18-21.

and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God, And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised."*

At length a child was born to Abraham, through whom the faith of the Patriarch was still * Gen. xvii. 1-10.

more severely tried than upon any former occasion, and then for the last time Jehovah added an oath to his covenant, repeating the terms of it in all its particulars, including now at the end that special point which was distinctly stated in the beginning, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." "And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice."*

God condescends to call Himself the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, as though he would place these three links between himself and the peculiar people whom he had chosen for a special purpose, rendering the election and promise more tangible, more settled by accumulated covenant, than if the great matter had been transacted with but one generation. He confirmed his covenant with Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 24), * Gen. xxii. 15-18.