Family pictures from the Bible

Contents

D.D

I. THE FIRST HUMAN FAMILY, II. THE FAMILY OF. NOAH,

III. ABRAHAM AND HIS FAMILY, .

II. The Family Of Noah

The families of the earth had grown corrupt before God, and filled with violence ; but Noah found favor, because he was a just man, and lived in obedience to his Maker. He was given at his birth a name that signified repose, or refreshing, perhaps by the spirit of prophecy, revealing his extraordinary destiny, and the blessings that were to flow through him to his posterity. Having the " righteousness of faith," he enjoyed the Divine protection and support, both during the progress of human corruption, and when, by reason of the great wickedness that filled the earth, the end of all flesh was come, and everything wherein was the breath of life was to be destroyed from under heaven. Noah and his wife, and his sons, and his sons' wives, were appointed to be saved in the ark, when the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deer> were broken up, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. In the enumeration of the persons who took refuge in the Ark, it should be remarked that Noah and his three sons had each but one wife ; although the destruction impending over the whole race of mankind, and their want of children as yet — for their sons were not born till after the flood — might have excused polygamy, could it have been excused. They acted, doubtless, under the immediate direction of the Deity, who thus testified his regard for the sacredness of the institution He had established in Paradise.

After the warning given so many years before, the tedious building of the vessel, and the preparations at which the unbelieving scoffed and sneered — while Noah " did according to all that the

THE FAMILY OF NOAH. 9

Lord commanded him " — the day of wrath arrived ; the obedient family were shut in, and the waters increased upon the earth.

" Sole, mid the storms, above the drear abyss, Mid rolling thunders, and the whirl of winds, And lightning's flash, revered and safe from all, The ark went on ; while swelling o'er the cries Of drowning men, and the resounding roar Of billows lashed to rage, from hearts within Rose the loud hymn to Heaven's all-ruling Lord." *

And fervent indeed must have been the tribute of gratitude that ascended to the Father of mercy, as, amid a world's destruction, the ark, bearing its freight of rescued souls, floated over the dark waste of waters.

As in Adam and Eve we saw an example of the disruption of the ties ordained in the primary constitution of a family, the confusion of its relations, and the disturbance of its peace by disobedience to the Divine command ; in that of Noah we may see how the principles essential to its life and happiness were preserved from the contamination of universal corruption, and may observe the restoration of that peace, so far as it can be restored in this mortal state, by self-denying and persistent obedience. Thus must the world-old truth, that evil produces its natural fruits, while the tendency of virtue is to elevate and bless, be illustrated in the daily experience of life. May we emulate the righteous Patriarch, whose soul was still cleaving to good in the midst of a perverse generation ! No more floods are to desolate the earth ; but the waters of peril and sorrow are often rising around us, and we are only safe when borne above them in the ark of salvation.

The waters were abated, and returned from off the face of the earth. The saved family went forth from the ark, " and Noah

* From " The Deluge " of Gabriello Chiabrera. 1* builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." This passage strikingly shows the religious principle as the spring of his actions. His first act, on his deliverance from danger, was thus to express his gratitude to the Power who had preserved him so wondrously. The sole inheritor and lord of this lower world ventured not to take possession of the rich domain lying at his feet, before he had paid his vows of fealty to the Sovereign from whom he received all. His children joined in the service of praise and thanksgiving. The only surviving family of the whole human race was thus assembled and consecrated to God ; and God established his covenant with them, and placed his bow in the cloud for a token, and bestowed on them his blessing, — saying, " Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." The gift of every beast of the earth, and every fowl of the air, and the fishes of the sea, and the green herb, and every moving thing, was formally made over to them ; and the smile of Divine favor, brighter than the sun, beaming once more in a cloudless heaven, shone upon this new beginning of the race. Happy, had the religious principles instilled and cultivated by Noah, with such careful training, produced congenial fruits in all the members of his family ! But the blight of Adam's sin was not yet removed ; the root of wickedness not yet destroyed ; the curse not yet taken away. The pious father had been seen righteous before the Lord in an evil generation ; two virtuous sons were the joy of his heart, but in Ham prevailed the spirit of unkindness and mockery; and the prophetic curse pronounced on his son was visited upon his descendants.

Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, and died at the age of nine hundred and fifty. He saw the generations of his sons, and the division of the land after their families, and the working of the blessing he had received — the blessing continued from father to son, unto thousands of those who love God, and keep his commandments.

III. The Family Of Abraham

Among the nations that overspread the earth after the flood, the families of the patriarchs stood separate and distinguished by the peculiarity of their religious faith. They were honored by special revelations from time to time, and enjoyed the privilege of familiar intercourse with the Deity, being the chosen objects of his protection and blessing. They were called of God to be unlike those around them, and appointed for the preservation of the true knowledge and worship of Him, and the establishment of religion upon earth. The pastoral simplicity of their lives, and their migratory habits, were calculated to favor their state of immediate dependence on Him by whose revealed will their movements were directed.

Abraham, the first and most eminent of the patriarchs, whose name has figured in eastern traditions — -and whose remarkable history is given in the simple narrative of the Book of Genesis — was one of a pastoral family dwelling in Ur of the Chaldees, a region which afterwards became the seat of the great Babylonian monarchy. The marriages of Abram and Nahor are mentioned as having taken place during their residence . there \ Haran, the father of Lot, dying before his father Terah in the land of his nativity. The migration of Terah and all his family from Ur of the Chaldees followed ; and they fixed their new settlement at Haran, where Terah afterwards died.

The Bible does not inform us how Abram first acquired his knowledge of the unity and providence of the Deity, nor what was the belief of his tribe and family. The legends of other nations represent Terah as an idolater, and even as a maker of images. One of these traditionary fictions relates the surprise of Abram on seeing one of the images broken by an accidental fall, and the reasoning in his own heart, by which he became convinced that a deity incapable of saving itself from humiliation and injury, could not be a proper object of worship. Another, related in the History of the Jews, represents him walking by night over the spacious plain of Chaldea, gazing upon the stars of heaven, the adoration of which was a primitive form of idolatry, and observing the wonderful beauty of the planet Venus. " ' Behold,' said he within himself, ' the God and Lord of the universe !' but the star set and disappeared ; And Abram felt that the Lord of the universe could not thus be liable to change. Shortly after, he beheld the moon at the full : — ' Lo,' he cried — ' the Divine Creator— the manifest Deity !' but the moon sank below the horizon ; and Abram made the same reflection as at the setting of the evening star. All the rest of the night he passed in profound rumination ; at sunrise he stood before the gates of Babylon, and saw the whole people prostrate in adoration. ' Wondrous orb !' he exclaimed, ' thou surely art the Creator and Ruler of all nature ! — but thou, too, hastest like the rest to thy setting ! — neither then art thou my Creator, my Lord, nor my God !' "

Although we know not in what manner the idea of the one Supreme Creator was first acquired by the patriarch, it is pleasing to contemplate him, at this period of his life, alone among those around him as a worshipper of the revealed God. All the descendants of the sons of Noah, it is probable, had preserved some notion of His nature and power, though darkened and corrupted in their traditions, and mingled with their veneration for those works of His hands, the aspect of which most forcibly impressed their senses. It is not likely that they had any worthy conception of the moral attributes of the Deity. They worshipped, therefore, whatever, to their perverted imagination, might seem to represent this unknown and incomprehensible Being.

The time came when Abram, the destined father of a family and tribe chosen from among the families of earth, was to separate himself from his country, and his kindred, and his father's house. The mysterious command was laid upon him, and the promise given, of which then there appeared little prospect of fulfilment — for Sarai had no children. The promise — "I will make of thee a great nation, and will bless thee, and make thy name great" — was one that comprehended every desire of a pastoral chieftain of that age. How great must have been the faith, which, looking beyond the most discouraging improbabilities, relied absolutely and implicitly on the Divine word ! Abram doubted not, questioned not ; his obedience was immediate. Collecting those who constituted his household— his servants and all the substance he had gathered, and accompanied by Lot, his brother's son — he passed across the Euphrates into the land of Canaan. Their first settlement was at Shechem, upon the plain of Moriah, between the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, where he was again favored with a vision of his Heavenly Protector, and the promise that the land before him should belong to his seed ; and where he performed the fundamental duty of the chief of a clan, by building an altar unto the Lord. Moving onward, probably as the native pastures were exhausted, the tribe pitched their tents by a mountain eastward of Bethel ; in every halting-place an altar being erected, and solemn worship offered to the God in whom Abram trusted, and who was the invisible guide of his wanderings. It is worthy of notice, that through all his removals, this was his first act on forming a new settlement. The blessing of the Almighty was sought, as the beginning and crowning of every enterprise, the safeguard and light of his dwelling. When he returned from Egypt, whither a famiue had driven him, and journeyed to the place of his former encampment, near the site where Bethel afterwards stood, he took possession by going to the height where he had at first built an altar, and offering solemn sacrifice thereon, calling upon the name of the Lord. .

How attractive is the picture given of the pastoral life of the first patriarchs, passing from one pleasant locality to another, pitching their tents by some grove or fountain, and acquiring increase of wealth wherever they went — under the abiding influence of the blessing borne with them ! They were rich in flocks and herds — sheep and oxen, and camels and asses, and tents, and men-servants and maid-servants ; the simple possessions naturally exchanged and accumulated in a primitive state of society. Besides these, Abram had silver and gold ; he was prosperous, for his substance had increased greatly during his visit in Egypt ; but it does not appear that wealth made him arrogant, or rendered him less disposed to respect the claims of others. When it became evident, by reason of the increase of Lot's riches also, that they could no longer dwell together without the continuance of strife between their herdsmen — and that " the land was not able to bear them — for their substance was great" — Abram sought not to encroach on the pastures to which the stock of cattle belonging to Lot had an equal right with himself, but proposed a division of the land, and an amicable separation. He gave the choice to his brother's son, though he might have claimed it on the score of seniority, and the grant of the Creator. It was generous, therefore, as well as expressive of his desire to do justly — to ask no advantage for himself. He bids Lot select the portion he would, inhabit : " If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." The fertile and well-watered valley of the Jordan, blooming as the garden of the Lord, attracted the eyes of Lot, and he took his departure eastward, to establish his independent settlement among the cities of the plain. Abram remained in Canaan. After the departure of Lot, the Divine grant of the land was renewed to him and to his seed. He was commanded to survey the country from north to south, and from its eastern to its western boundaries ; to walk through the length and breadth of the land, and to regard it as the heritage of his posterity, which should be countless as the dust of the earth.

The chief was not indifferent, in his own prosperity, to the dangers that beset his kinsman. When informed by a fugitive of the capture of Lot by invaders of the country, he made haste, with three hundred and eighteen of his trained servants, to pursue the enemy; and falling on them by night, rescued Lot and the other captives, and wrested from them the booty they had taken. The conqueror, returning from this excursion, was met by the grateful monarch whose enemies he had routed, and received the blessing of Melchisedek, who presented him and his troops with the refreshment of bread and wine. The magnanimity of Abram, and his jealous regard for the honor of God, are strikingly shown in his answer to the generous proposal of the king of Sodom, that he should take all the spoil, of which he had given a tenth part to the royal priest. He refuses to retain any part, "from a thread even to a shoe-latchet," consenting only that the young men, not of his household, who had joined his expedition, should receive their portion. He would not have it supposed that he had been influenced by a wish to gain booty for himself; nor would he permit one of the native chiefs to boast that his gifts had contributed to his wealth. He was the vassal only of the Most High, and would acknowledge obligation to no other benefactor.

Notwithstanding- the strength of his faith, the mind of the patriarch was disturbed by the apparent prospect — owing to his want of an heir — that his name and dignity would pass into another line. What were his possessions worth in view of the near extinction of his immediate family, and the failure of his hopes of a long line of descendants ! The condescending assurance given in the Divine vision, and the affecting appeal of Abram, show the discontent and apprehension he had cherished. The natural feeling is not reproved ; but he is comforted, and his faith sustained, by a formal ratification of the covenant, according to the usage of primitive nations. At the setting of the sun, in a deep sleep, and amidst " a horror of great darkness" — the patriarch heard the mysterious voice announce the destiny of his posterity — and saw the symbol of Deity — the smoke and fire — pass between the divided victims, over which he had kept watch : the covenant being thus solemnly ratified, as between man and man.

But little is said in the Scriptures, by which we may learn the character of Sarai. She appears to have been wanting in the faith so eminent in her husband, and which " was counted unto him for righteousness." Despairing of the fulfilment of the promise so often and so solemnly repeated, she ventures to propose means for bringing about the desired accomplishment. Perhaps the annoyances she afterwards suffered from the insolent behavior of her maid, the natural consequence of her folly, were intended as a reproof for her want of trust, and irreverent impatience. She seems to have been of a haughty and imperious temper, and felt bitterly the arrogant insults of the servant whom she had elevated to the dignity of a wife. She complains to her husband of the humiliating treatment she has received, and lays to his charge the responsibility. " The Lord judge," she says, " between me and thee." The appeal was answered by Abram with permission to his wife to do with her maid as she pleased. He exhibits none of the feeling shown on a subsequent occasion, when the dissensions in his family rendered it necessary for him to part with his son Ishmael ; for it is evident he had not wronged Sarai by any transfer of his affections.

The jealous pride of the mistress, roused by the presumptuous conduct of Hagar, prompts her to treatment so harsh that the slave flies from the oppression, and wanders in the wilderness. Careless of her own fate, or that of her unborn child, she desires only to escape from present evil ; she can give no answer to the angel who asks whither she would go, but confesses that she has fled from the face of her mistress. It is a touching trait in the character of Hagar, that she makes no attempt to justify herself by complaint of the unkind usage she has received ; indeed the consciousness of the presence and omniscience of God, which she expresses hi the name given to Him who spake to her — seems to imply that her thoughts dwelt on her own faults. The angel comforts her by an assurance that her affliction has been regarded, and a promise of numerous descendants ; and bids her return and submit herself to lawful authority.

The race of which the Messiah was to be born must be " beyond every possible impeachment of its legitimacy ;" and after the lapse of fourteen years another revelation renews the covenant ; and the names of Abram and Sarai are changed by the Divine command, in token of their parentage of many nations. At the announcement that the covenant is to be established with the son whom Sarah was to bear, the father's love for his first-born is touchingly exhibited. His whole heart is poured out in the prayer for Ishmael. The blessing is to be inherited by one unborn. What should become of the boy whose birth had first brought joy to his tent — in whom his soul was bound up ! The strength of the parental feeling in Abraham's bosom is thus shown, in his tender solicitude for the child who had first awakened it. His prayer is answered by the promise of the blessing, though a subordinate one, to Ishmael.

The pastoral simplicity of the world's infancy comes before us, as we contemplate the picture presented in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis — of the aged patriarch sitting in his tent-door in the heat of the day, the approach of the three strangers, and his reception of them with oriental hospitality. We are not told if Abraham perceived at first sight the real character of the mysterious visitors, or if the truth was revealed to him by any after intimation ; but it is probable that his lowly obeisance, when he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and invited thern to rest under the tree and refresh themselves, was an act of respect rather than of worship. The quick preparations for their entertainment, in which the master and mistress are active as well as their servants, and the particulars related, strongly mark the simple and generous character of that ancient hospitality. The meal was partaken of under the spreading tree which shaded the tent ; and then the chief of the three strangers renewed the promise of a son before given, and fixed the time of his birth. The laughter of Sarah, who heard this promise in the tent-door behind, indicated the unbelief of her heart, and was reproved, though mildly, by the Almighty visitant.

It is remarkable, that by a few words in the verses succeeding, light is thrown upon the character of both Abraham and Sarah in their domestic relations. The patriarch's habitual exercise of due authority over his household, and pious zeal in instructing them, is attested by the Lord in the disclosure of his gracious purpose towards him. " I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him," is not said as a reason for the bestowal of the blessing at first promised — for the very fitness to receive it was a gift from above — but it was part of the plan of benevolence. The father of the faithful had once listened to the persuasions of his wife, and obeyed them in espousing Hagar ; instances of misconduct and criminal distrust of God's protection through scenes of peril, are also recorded of him ; but his heart, by the Divine aid, was set to do that which was right, and the same grace would be granted to keep him faithful to the end, and to cause his descendants to " keep the way of the Lord." It appears from several particulars mentioned, that the patriarch was naturally disposed to exercise his own judgment in shaping his course. His disingenuous equivocation concerning his relations to Sarah, in Egypt and in Gerar, strongly evinces this tendency ; but under the appointed discipline, these corrupt inclinations were gradually overcome. The last severe ordeal through which he was called to pass — in the sacrifice required of his only son — was met in a manner that showed him then advancer, in the life of faith bevond the weakness which had marked its early growth ; and thenceforward we hear of no more doubts or shortcomings.

The expression of Sarah in the eighteenth chapter, calling Abraham " my lord," seems to be referred to by St. Peter in his commendation of her obedience to him. The life of this couple — growing old in faithful affection, and in expectation of the blessing mysteriously promised — is simply and beautifully delineated. Sarah was subject to Abraham as her head, superior, and guide. Abraham, ; 'the friend of God," leaned on the Divine counsel and support. The son born to them — the child of promise — the heir of unknown blessing — the channel of mercy fore -ordained for the whole race of mankind, was a gift received from the hand of the Creator, and unspeakably precious. The circle of the family life was thus complete. The bondwoman and her son had no proper part therein — and they were to be removed from the association. The custom of men in that primitive age allowing a plurality of wives, it was not expressly censured ; but that the practice was a violation of the principle on which the marriage relation was founded, and tended to the subversion of domestic comfort and peace, is plain from the examples in the case of the patriarchs. Abraham was doomed to suffer the consequences of his own fault, by the necessity of parting with the son borne to him by Hagar. The haughty spirit of Sarah could ill brook the boyish insolence of Ishmael ; and remembering Abraham's former yielding to her complaints, she demanded peremptorily the expulsion of the boy and his mother. It was hard for the father to send from him the child he had first loved, and in whose opening faculties, wild as his nature was, he felt a parent's pride.

" The thing was very grievous in his sight ;" and in his anguish he doubtless sought the direction of that great Being by whom hitherto his steps had been guided. The answer, couched in gracious and comforting terms, commands him to comply with the apparently unreasonable demand, and to yield to his wife the unlimited control over her servant assigned her by the usage of pastoral tribes. An intimation is added of blessing destined Ishmael for Abraham's sake ; and Abraham, obedient to the Divine vision, rose up early to make preparations for the departure of the two. There is- something unspeakably touching in the very simplicity of the account, which leaves room for imagination to dwell upon the melancholy scene. The aged and affectionate father, placing in Hagar's hands the provisions which could sustain them only a brief way on their lonely journey, and sorrowing that he should see the face of his child no more — the Egyptian mother, bowed down in humiliation for this abrupt dismission from the home that had been hers so long ; perhaps reproaching herself for the unseemly pride and arrogance which so provoked her mistress — and the spirited lad, who would naturally feel the separation less keenly, in his youthful love of adventure, to be indulged without restraint in the wild and uninhabited districts where they were to seek their fortune. What a scene, with its deep pathos, for the embellishment of poetry ! We may well believe that tears in abundance were shed as the patriarch bade farewell to Hagar, and strained his son for the last time to his bosom in agonized embrace. The heart of Sarah must have melted at the sight of his grief, and her anger have given way to a willingness for reconciliation. She could not see the suffering of him she loved ; she could not see the handmaid who had served her so long, the boy who had grown from infancy by her side, go forth from her door, driven thence by her severity, to wander through the world, without a revulsion of feeling. But a higher purpose than hers was to be accomplished ; and the words she had uttered in anger were exponents of the decree fulfilled in after ages. Abraham obeyed, not the imperious demand of his wife, but the Divine direction ; and the consciousness of this, and that he was committing Ishmael, not to the uncertainties of a dreary future, but to the care of One who had promised to protect him, took away from the bitterness of parting. The fervent prayer with which he commended the boy to the keeping of his Heavenly

Father, ascended upwards from his pious heart on the wings of faith, and was heard. Then the Egyptian and her son went forth from the patriarch's dwelling.

The wandering of the outcast Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness — their sufferings from the failure of the supply of water, and the anguish of the mother, who lays down her child to die, and retires to weep, that she may not behold his last agonies — are recounted in a description which has never been surpassed in simple pathos. Here again is a scene for the artist, whose fancy could add no coloring more striking than is presented. The familiar story, with its typical meaning, need not be dwelt upon here, as the Egyptian and her son were no longer a portion of the family of Abraham.

When the command came — the keenest trial to the parental feeling as well as to the faith of Abraham — to offer up Isaac in sacrifice, we read of no struggle nor hesitation, as in the case of Ishmael. He utters no murmur, though bidden to cut short, with his own hand, the life on which his expectation depended of a numerous posterity, and the blessing which, through him, was to pervade the whole earth. As before, after the vision, he " rose up early in the morning," and prepared for his journey, having prepared wood for the burnt-offering. Those who were with him knew not of his intention ; and it is not likely that he confided the matter to Sarah, whose feebler faith and maternal anxiety might have interposed obstacles. Through the journey — which did not terminate with their arrival at Mount Moriah till the third day — there appears no objection or want of alacrity on his part to put the fearful command in execution. t This is explained by the Apostle, who says, Abraham believed God could raise his son from the dead ; and that he expected this is evident from the expression to the young men, that he and Isaac would return to them after their worship. He did not doubt the ultimate fulfilment of the promises ; and the miraculous restoration of his son seemed a matter of course, since He who could not lie had said — " In Isaac shall thy seed be called."