One very sad morning the patient Abraham,for the sake of peace,bade farewell to the faithful slave-girl and to his child.He told Hagar to return to her own people.But it was a long and dangerous voyage from the land of the Philistines to Egypt.Before a week was over,Hagar and Ishmael had almost perished from thirst.They lost their way completely in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba and they would have died of thirst when Jehovah rescued them at the last moment and showed them where to find fresh water.
Eventually Hagar reached the banks of the Nile.She and Ishmael found a welcome home among their relations and when the boy grew up,he became a soldier.As for his father,he never saw Ishmael again,and soon afterwards he almost lost his second son.That,however,came about in a very different way.
Abraham,above all things,had always obeyed the will of Jehovah.He prided himself upon his righteousness and piety.Finally,Jehovah decided to try him once more,and this time,the result was almost deadly.
Suddenly Jehovah appeared to Abraham and told him to take Isaac into the mountains of Moriah,to kill him,and then burn his body as a sacrifice.
The old pioneer was faithful unto the last.He ordered two of his men to get ready for a short trip.He loaded wood on the back of his donkey.He took water and provisions and pushed into the desert.He had not told his wife what he was going to do.Jehovah had spoken.That was enough.
After three days,Abraham and Isaac,who had played happily by the roadside,reached Mount Moriah.
Then Abraham told his two servants to wait.He himself took Isaac by the hand and climbed to the top of the hill.
By now,Isaac was beginning to be curious.He had often seen his father make an offering.This time,however,something was different.He recognised the stone altar.He saw the wood.His father carried the long-bladed knife that was used to cut the throat of the sacrificial lamb.But where was the lamb?He asked his father.
“Jehovah will provide the lamb when the time comes.”Abraham answered.
Then he picked up his son and laid him upon the rough stone of the altar.
Then he took his knife.
He pushed the head of Isaac back,that he might more easily cut the artery of the neck.
And then a voice was heard.
Once more Jehovah spoke.
He now knew that Abraham was the most loyal of all his followers,and he did not insist that the old man give further proof of his devotion.
Isaac was lifted to his feet.A big black ram,who had been caught by his horns in a nearby bush,was caught and sacrificed in his stead.
Three days later,father and son were back with Sarah.
But Abraham seems to have taken a dislike to the country where he had experienced so much unhappiness.He left Beer-Sheba where everything reminded him of Hagar and of Ishmael and of the terrible trip to Mount Moriah.He returned to the old plains of Mamre,where he had lived when he first had reached the west,and he built himself a new home.
Sarah was too old to stand the hardships of another trip.She died,and she was buried in the cave of Machpelah,which Abraham had bought for four hundred shekels from a Hittite farmer by the name of Ephron.
Then Abraham felt very lonely.
He had lived an active life.He had travelled and he had worked and he had fought hard,and now he was tired and wanted to rest.
But the future of Isaac troubled him.The boy,of course,would marry.But all the girls of the neighbourhood belonged to the tribe of the Canaanites,and Abraham did not want a daughter-in-law who would teach his grand-children to worship strange gods,of whom he did not approve.He had heard that his brother Nahor,who had remained in the old country when Abraham had gone west,had raised quite a large family.He liked the idea of Isaac marrying one of his cousins.It would keep the family together and there would not be all this bother about foreign women.
And so Abraham called one of his oldest servants (who for many years had been the manager of his estate)and told him what to do.He explained just what sort of girl he wanted for Isaac.She must be well versed in the art of making a home,she must be a help on the farm,and above all things,she must be kindly and generous.
The servant said that he understood.
He took a dozen camels and loaded them heavily with gifts.For Abraham,his master,had done well in the land of Canaan,and the people of the old home must be made to understand the importance of their former fellow citizen.
For many days the servant travelled eastward,following the same route which Abraham had taken almost eighty years before.When he reached the land of Ur,he went more slowly and tried to discover where the family of Nahor might be living.
One evening,when the heat of the day was giving way to the cool of the desert night,he found himself near the town of Haran.The women were just coming out of the city to fill their pitchers with water and prepare for supper.
The messenger made his camels kneel down.He was hot and tired and asked one of the girls to give him a drink.She said,“Yes,certainly,”and she was most cheerful about it,and when the man had had enough,she asked him to wait a moment,that she might give some water to his poor camels,and when he asked her whether she knew of a place where he could spend the night,she told him that her father would be only too happy to put him up and feed his camels and let him rest until it was time to continue his voyage.All this seemed too good to be true.Here was the perfect image of the woman whom Abraham had described to his servant,and she was alive and young and beautiful.
One more question remained to be asked.Who was she?
