have supposed he was Shem, who was yet living. Others have conjectured that he was the Son of God, from what the apostle says of him (Heb. vii. 3), that he was without father or mother, &c. But the meaning of this very plainly is, that his father and mother are not mentioned in Scripture. Several ancient heathen writers use the same language of persons whose ancestors were unknown. His being without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, is to be understood in the same manner with reference to his priestly office. This one circumstance is sufficient to prove that he was not Jesus Christ; viz., his being mentioned as an illustrious type of him. Compare Psalm cx. 4 with Heb. vii. 17.-Orton.

Let us remember our King of Righteousness and King of Peace, our 'Priest upon His throne;' let us rejoice in His equitable and peaceful administration, and declare war against His and our enemies-sin, the world, and Satan. Invisibly He will assist us in every conflict, and manifest Himself to us after every victory, refresh us with His gracious provisions, and bless us with the earnest of His love. And shortly, when the final victory is won, and He hath made us more than conquerors, He will applaud our achievements, accept and reward our poor services, and place us with Himself upon His throne, while we rejoice in His love and give Him the glory.Scott.

CHAP. XV.

AFTER these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus ? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. Till we have some comfortable evi- the other I have; but what will all dence of our interest in Christ and the this avail me if I go Christless ?'New Covenant, we should not rest saM. Henry. tisfied with anything else: 'this and

4

And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir: but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD: and he counted it to him for right

eousness.

V. 6. It is no uncommon thing in Scripture to put the act for the object, especially with regard to faith and hope. Thus hope signifies the object of hope (Jer. xiv. 8, 1 Tim. i. 1, Heb. vi. 18); and faith is often put for the object or doctrine of faith, or that which is believed in (Gal. i. 23). Thus, when Abraham is said to believe in the Lord, the meaning is, he believed in the promise of God, that

he should have a seed, and a numerous one; he believed that the Messiah would spring from his seed, he believed in Him as his Saviour; he believed in Him for righteousness, and he believed in His righteousness as justifying him before God. It was not the act of his faith, but the object of it; not the promise he believed, but what was promised; and his faith received even Christ and His righteousness. Reader,

mark well how Abraham was justified before God, not by faith as a work, but as apprehending Christ; and follow this example of the father of the faithful. It is by faith in Christ alone that we can be justified before God; by

faith all the Old Testament saints were justified, as well as the New. This distinguishes the Christian religion from all systems of morality; and to err in this is to err in the fundamentals of Christianity.—Bogatzky.

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And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

V. 11. Great care should be taken by us in reference to our spiritual sacrifices, that nothing be suffered to prey upon them and render them unfit for God's acceptance. In Persia, the priest, whilst conducting the service of the temple, stands before the altar on which the sacred fire is kept perpetually burning, dressed in a white habit and a mitre, with a gauze or cloth passing before his mouth, to prevent his breathing on the sacred element.Universal History.

When vain thoughts then, like these fowls, come down upon our sacrifices, we must drive them away, and not suf

fer them to lodge within us, so that we may attend upon God without distraction.-M. Henry.

I have read of some place, where such multitudes of locusts are seen, that they almost darken the air as they fly, and devour every green thing where they alight. The inhabitants, therefore, when they perceive this army hovering over them, by making fires in their fields, keep them from alighting by the smoke. Thou canst not hinder thy roving thoughts from flying now and then over thy head; but surely thou mightest do something to prevent their settling.-Gurnall.

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12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

Four hundred years; that is,' says Mr. Locke, from the birth of Isaac, the seed to whom the promise was given; and from that birth to the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt were just 400 years.'

God is very exact to His own numbers, as the fulfilment of this prophecy shows. (Exod. xii. 41.) God did not only not fail them a day, but He did not fail them a piece of a day; for they came out in the night, because

the 430 years-the time that had
elapsed since the promise was made to
Abram-were expired that night; and
when the time was out, though it were
night, God would not stay till morning
or break of day; but His word must be
fulfilled in its perfect season.
have a saying, 'A day breaks no
square;' but it is not so with God;
He keeps time with us to an hour.-
Caryl.

We

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

If a man would hope to enjoy 'a good old age,' the foundation for it must be laid beforehand. A certain preparation is requisite; and that preparation consists chiefly in three particulars: 1. The acquisition of knowledge. If he bring into the solitary retreat of age a vacant, uninformed mind, where no knowledge dawns, where no ideas rise, which has nothing to feed upon within itself, many a heavy and comfortless day he must necessarily pass. 2. The acquisition of friends. When a man declines into the vale of years, he depends more on the aid of his friends than in any other period of his life. Then is the time when he would especially wish to find himself surrounded by some who love and respect him; who will

bear with his infirmities, relieve him

of his labours, and cheer him with their society. 3. The acquisition of virtue and religion. A good conscience, peace with God, and the hope of heaven will be found to be the most effectual consolations he can possess when the evil days come,' when otherwise he is likely to find little pleasure.Rev. Dr. H. Blair.

When a man passes 60, the ten years remaining to complete the threescore and ten of the psalmist should be spent as the Sabbath of life; not, of course, by going into anything like conventual existence, but retiring from the bustle and strife that sit well upon manhood, and devoting the time to quieter works of usefulness. Dr. Chalmers.

16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

There is a certain measure that God has set to the sin of every wicked man. God says concerning the sin of man, as He says to the raging waves of the sea, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further.' The measure of some is much greater than of others. Some commit but a little sin in comparison of others, and so will endure proportionally a smaller punishment. Sometimes, when we see men go to dreadful lengths, and become very heinously wicked, we are ready to won

der that God lets them alone. But sometimes the reason why God lets them alone is, because they have not filled up the measure of their sins. When they live in dreadful wickedness, they are but filling up the measure which God hath limited for them. This is sometimes the reason why God suffers very wicked men to live so long, because their iniquity is not full. Such a grant of life, though for a thousand years, is worse than a thousand deaths.-President Edwards.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 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: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

When God solemnly renewed His covenant with Abram, and he had prepared the sacrifice whereby it was to be ratified and confirmed, God made a smoking furnace to pass between the pieces of the sacrifice. This was

to let him know that there was a furnace of affliction attending the covenant of grace and peace. And so He tells Zion that He chose her in the furnace of affliction' (Isa. xlviii. 10), that is, in Egyptian affliction; burn

ing, flaming afflictions; 'fiery trials,' as Peter calls them. (1 Pet. iv. 12.) There can, then, no argument be drawn from affliction, from any kind of it, from any aggravating circum

NOW

stances attending it, that should any way discourage the soul in the comforting, supporting persuasion of an interest in the love of God, and forgiveness thereby.-Dr. Owen.

CHAP. XVI.

W Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

By these quarrels in the family, God was pleased to correct both Abram and Sarai for seeking children in such an unwarrantable way.-Orton.

Loud and passionate appeals to God, instead of indicating a good cause, are commonly the marks of a bad one.-A. Fuller.

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand: do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. 10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

V. 12. The word rendered 'wild' denotes also the wild ass;' the admirable description of which animal in Job xxxix. 5-8 affords the best possible representation of the wandering, lawless, freebooting life of the Bedouin and other Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael.-Comp. Bible.

This is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the whole Scriptures. The Hagarenes, Saracens, and Arabians all descended from Ishmael. They called themselves Hagarenes, as coming from Hagar; but, being reproached for this, they changed their names to Saracens, as coming from

13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? 14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.