1.154
Now Abram, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran's
son, and his wife Sarai's brother; and he left the land of Chaldea when
he was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God went into Canaan,
and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his posterity. He was a person
of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading his
hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to
have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew
and to change the opinion all men happened then to have concerning God;
for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, That there was
but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other [gods],
if they contributed any thing to the happiness of men, that each of them
afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their own power.
This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible
both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun,
and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus: - "If [said he] these
bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their
own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they
make it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they
do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that
commands them, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving."
For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans, and other people of Mesopotamia,
raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country; and
at the command and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land
of Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an altar, and performed
a sacrifice to God.
1.158
Berosus mentions our father Abram without naming him, when he says
thus: "In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among
the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial
science." But Hecatseus does more than barely mention him; for he
composed, and left behind him, a book concerning him. And Nicolaus of Damascus,
in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abram reigned at Damascus,
being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon,
called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up,
and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the
land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this
when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his,
we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abram is even
still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village named
from him, The Habitation of Abram."
note
1.161
NOW, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and
Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition,
he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they
enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what they
said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had
better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own
notions proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with him, and
was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women, lest the
king should kill him on occasion of his wife's great beauty, he contrived
this device : - he pretended to be her brother, and directed her in a dissembling
way to pretend the same, for he said it would be for their benefit. Now,
as soon as he came into Egypt, it happened to Abram as he supposed it would;
for the fame of his wife's beauty was greatly talked of; for which reason
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would not be satisfied with what was reported
of her, but would needs see her himself, and was preparing to enjoy her;
but God put a stop to his unjust inclinations, by sending upon him a distemper,
and a sedition against his government. And when he inquired of the priests
how he might be freed from these calamities, they told him that this his
miserable condition was derived from the wrath of God, upon account of
his inclinations to abuse the stranger's wife. He then, out of fear, asked
Sarai who she was, and who it was that she brought along with her. And
when he had found out the truth, he excused himself to Abram, that supposing
the woman to be his sister, and not his wife, he set his affections on
her, as desiring an affinity with him by marrying her, but not as incited
by lust to abuse her. He also made him a large present in money, and gave
him leave to enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians;
from which conversation his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous
than they had been before.