Story 9: The Parting Of Lot And Ab'ram ll

   The choice proved to be very unfortunate for Lot, though he had only himself to blame. It was a choice determined solely by material gain and worldly advantages, guided entirely by worldly wisdom, and devoid of all spiritual sensitivity. The dangers to his moral and spiritual welfare were completely overlooked in his inordinate desire for riches and fame. He purchased worldly prosperity at a fearful cost; for it nourished his selfishness and pride, exposed him to the contagion of evil associates, and deprived him of the benefits of religious ordinances.
   Lot no doubt thought that he was doing a clever thing in apparently taking advantage of his uncle, but his fancied shrewdness resulted in his own undoing. Instead of overreaching Ab'ram, he overreached himself; in the lust for worldly gains he suffered immeasurable spiritual loss. No doubt his worldly goods were increased, but in the sight of God he became a spiritual pauper.
   There was no altar to the true God in Sod'om, and Lot was too much embarrassed by the sinfulness of his surroundings to erect one. Though Lot may have been vexed in his better moments by the vileness of the people of Sod'om and Go-mor'rah, he failed to protest against the proud luxury and idleness which vaunted itself on every side. He appears to have avoided the grosser immoralities of Sod'om, but his wife and a number of his children became fatally entangled. Some of his daughters married men of Sod'om, and in their lack of faith declined to leave the city when its destruction was announced by the messengers of God. Lot's wife lost her life during the flight from the city because she paused to look back upon the worldliness to which her heart had become attached. Lot and his two daughters who escaped the destruction of Sod'om and Go-mor'rah were later guilty of shameful deeds which brought disgrace to his name and a curse upon his descendants.

Story 9: The Parting Of Lot And Ab'ram l

   Ab'ram and Lot were prosperous before they went into E'gypt, and when they returned to Ca'naan they were rich in cattle, silver, and gold. In the vicinity of Bethel, where Ab'ram again built an altar and worshiped God, the shepherds of these two kinsmen searched the hill country for sufficient pasturage to feed their greatly increased flocks and herds. Some of the land was occupied by herdsmen of the native people, so the servants of Ab'ram and Lot found difficulty in securing grass for their sheep and cattle. Quarrels and contention arose between the two groups of herdsmen, and when Ab'ram learned of the unhappy situation he said to Lot:
   "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: 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."
   In these generous words Ab'ram displayed the spirit of true meekness and recognized the obligations of kinship. Rather than permit another to be injured he was willing to yield his own rights and privileges, even to suffer loss. The grasping, assertive spirit so common among other men in similar circumstances was wholly lacking; his conduct was marked by generosity and self-denial, and by a spirit of true humility. As the elder, more prominent of the partners, and as Lot's uncle and benefactor he had the right to choose his part of the country first, but he yielded the privilege to Lot. He could have claimed the entire country for himself, or selected the best parts of it, but he deferred to Lot's preference, taking the land which Lot had refused.
   From the vantage point afforded by the high hills around Bethel, where Ab'ram and Lot resided, one could look eastward toward the Jor'dan, beholding a beautiful plain, fertile and covered with luxuriant vegetation. Beyond the plain and within the immediate vicinity of the Jor'dan, perhaps on what now constitutes a part of the bed of the northern end of the Dead Sea, stood the wealthy and wicked cities of Sod'om and Go-mor'rah. The fame of this area for beauty and fertility was comparable to that of the Garden of Ed'en or the valley of the Nile in E'gypt. No crust of salt, volcanic action, or curse from God had yet blasted its verdure, or wrecked the civilization of the Phoenician settlements which had developed into these two great cities. All that here takes place was before the Lord had destroyed the cities of Sod'om and Go-mor'rah, and the country was wholly unlike the present barren waste.
   Lot was attracted by the fertility of this plain, and impressed also by the commercial advantages offered by the two great cities. Disregarding the moral contamination and spiritual disaster that might result from contact with immoral neighbors, he chose the plains for himself. Going down from the mountains where God was known and worshiped, Lot took all his possessions and "pitched his tent toward Sod'om." He did not settle within either of the wicked cities at first, but gradually moved closer and closer, becoming more and more involved in their low standards of morality and gross paganism.

Story 8: The Divine Call Of Abraham ll

   The Lord appeared to Ab'ram in Ha'ran and directed him once again to take his family and all his possessions and resume the journey to the distant land of promise. God then blessed Ab'ram, assuring him that his family would become a great people; the entire land would be given to his descendants, from whom there was to spring a great nation. Though the blessing was given to Ab'ram, all the families of the earth were to be blessed through his future generations.
   Ab'ram did not grasp the full meaning of these promises, nor did he know the course which was to bring him at last to the promised land, but he promptly obeyed the voice of God. Accompanied by his nephew Lot and all the servants gathered in Ha'ran, Ab'ram started at once on the long journey. Over the plains, and hills, and mountains they journeyed with all their possessions, not knowing where the journey would lead, but safely guided by Divine Providence.
   Ab'ram's journey began at his native city of Ur, going up the river Eu-phra'tes more than five hundred miles to the mountainous region of Mes-o-po-ta'mia, and then turning southwest from Ha'ran, with lofty ranges of mountains on the west, and the great desert to the east. The travelers crossed many rivers and hills, passing through narrow valleys for another five hundred miles until they entered the narrow strip of country between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. This country was then known as Ca'naan, now called Pal'es-tine, and is appropriately named the Holy Land because of its historic identity with true religion and the birth of the Sav'ior.
   Upon reaching the land of Ca'naan, Ab'ram passed well into the center of the territory, setting up his tent under an oak tree on a plain not far from the city of She'chem. Here the Lord appeared to him and renewed the promise to give this land to him and his descendants. Ab'ram built an altar, offered sacrifices unto the Lord, and worshiped Him. He then moved to a mountain east of Bethel, to the south of She'chem, and once again built an altar and worshiped God. He loved the Lord, believed His promises, and faithfully served Him wherever he stopped, even when surrounded by heathens.

Story 8: The Divine Call Of Abraham l

   On the plains of the great Ti'gris and Eu'phra'tes rivers, to the south of Mt. Ar'a-rat where No'ah and his sons came out of the Ark, and not far from the site of the unfinished tower of Ba'bel, there stood the city called Ur of the Chal-dees'. There lived in this city the family of Te'rah, who was a direct descendant of Shem. Among the sons of this family was a man named Ab'ram, afterward called A'bra-ham.
   Abram was chosen by God to found the nation later known as Is'ra-el, a people who, in the main trend of history, should worship the one God of Heaven and earth, to whom the revealed Word of God should be committed, and through whom a Savior should be provided for the entire race. Beginning with the story of his call by God and his long journey to the land of Ca'naan, the remainder of the Old Testament Scriptures is confined almost entirely to the history of that race. The references to other nations which sprang from the descendants of the three sons of No'ah are purely incidental, relating to matters in which these nations played some part in the history of Is'ra-el. It was not the purpose of the Bible to trace the development of the kingdoms of this world, but rather to unfold the spiritual dealings of God with man, and to make known the plan of human redemption.
   The people who lived in Ur were not as a rule worshipers of the true God. They made gods of the sun and moon, and bowed in prayer before idols made of wood and stone. Although his father was an idolater, Ab'ram worshiped God. He sought in every way to know and do His will, led an upright life in the midst of idolatry and wickedness, and sought to guide his neighbors in the way of truth. The Lord talked with Ab'ram from time to time, and one day directed him to move from Ur to a land which He would afterwards show him.
   Ab'ram told his father and the entire family of the message which he had received from God, and they were so greatly impressed by his earnestness and deep religious convictions that they went with him on the journey to Ca'naan. After traveling several hundred miles in a northwesterly direction they came to Ha'ran, where they established a home. This city located in what was known as A'ram, or Mes-o-po-ta'mia, and was about five hundred miles northeast of the land which the Lord later gave to Ab'ram.
   After living in Ha'ran for a time Ab'ram's father Te'rah, died, and was buried in this city. Ab'ram's brother Ha'ran, who was the father of Lot, had died before they left the City of Ur. Ab'ram and Na'hor, who was another brother, prospered in the land of Mes-o-pot-ta'mia; their herds of sheep and cattle were greatly increased, and they had gathered many servants. Na'hor and his wife were blessed with several children, but Ab'ram and Sa'rai remained childless.
  
  

Story 7: The Unfinished "Tower Of Ba'bel"

   When God restored the human race through the three sons of No'ah He clearly revealed the intention of distributing the race all over the world, a process that would form many different nationalities. Before the flood all the people had lived in a small section of the world where the Ti'gris and Eu-phra'tes rivers flowed. No one had crossed the mountains on the east or the great desert on the west.
   After the Flood the families which sprang from Shem, Ham, and Ja'pheth began to move into other lands, some crossing the mountains to the east and to the north, some going further south in the great plains along the two rivers, and others going down into what is now called Africa. In this way the populations of the world began to settle in other parts of Asia, in various parts of eastern Europe, and in northern Africa.
   Presently the families which had drifted into the plains of the two great rivers desired to rule all the rest of the world. Having learned to make brick from the soil of the land, the people began to build houses and cities of this material. In their ambition to rule all the people around them they sought to build a great city, and planned the erection of a tower that would reach far up into the Heavens.
   By building this great tower the people hoped to make a name for themselves, to raise up a monument to their own glory. It was the expression of human ambition in evil form. Their own greatness and fame were the principal objectives in this gigantic enterprise, and it was promoted without regard to the will and honor of God. It was the outward expression of their thirst for universal dominion, a desire which has been the curse of many subsequent nations. It sought the unity of the race upon the false basis of centralized autocracy, whereas the plan of God was to promote this unity by means of variety in human governments, with human rights being shared by all.
   In their unrestrained ambition they designed a tower whose top should reach to Heaven; in their pride they presumed to take the place of God, casting off His rule. The desire to pierce the Heavens above was a symbol of their determination to acknowledge no power above themselves.
   Nim'rod, the mighty hunter and ruler of men, conceived the ambitious plan and gathered about him a few like-minded men. They began to build the tower with bricks, erecting story upon story, and ascending higher and higher into the Heavens. Great throngs of laborers were employed in a work that prospered until God intervened in a strange manner. God brought upon the people a confusion of tongues, so that the various groups of workmen spoke in different tongues. When the instructions of the overseers could not be understood by the laborers, who in turn could not work together intelligently, disorder and chaos reigned. The leaders were obliged to give up in despair, and the great tower was never completed. The city in which the tower was undertaken was known as Ba'bel, which means "confusion"; later it was called Bab'y-lon, one of the world's greatest cities.
   As a result of the confusion of speech many of the people moved to other parts of the world, families and groups speaking the same tongue going together and forming great nations. Some traveled north and built the city of Nin'e-veh, which later became the capitol of the As-syr'ians. Another company went to the west and settled by the river Nile, where the great empire of Egypt was developed. Others moved northwest to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where the cities of Tyre and Si'don were founded. Here there was gradually established the great maritime nation of Phoe-ni'ci-a from which settlers crossed the seas to Europe.
   What became of this tower nobody knows, although tradition relates that it was demolished by lightning, with terrible tempests. One Jewish writer says that fire came down from Heaven and split the tower through to its foundations.
   In the course of the world's history many "towers of Ba'bel" have been erected in mythical and philosophical systems of religion, and all these , like the first tower of Ba'bel, produce confusion, and shall be brought to nought. Jesus Christ and His system of truth provide the only God-appointed way of access to God.
               "O, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise,
               By mountains piled on mountains, to the skies!
               Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys,
               And buries madmen in the heaps they raise."

Story 6: The Ship That Saved Mankind lll

   When No'ah came out of the Ark his first step was to render thanks unto God. He erected  an altar of heaped up stones and made blood offerings upon it. These offerings were accepted by God, who then made a solemn covenant with No'ah. In this covenant God declared that He would not again destroy man and beast by a deluge, and as a sign of this promise He placed in the Heavens what we call the rainbow. This token stands as a reminder to humanity that the seasons will come and go in regular order, that there shall always be planting time and harvest season, and that as time shall last God shall never bring upon the world so great a destruction,
   The covenant which God made with No'ah included other important matters. Provision was made for the continuity and perpetuity of human life upon earth through the institution of marriage, for the sustenance of mankind through the fruitfulness of the earth, for the protection of human life from man's inhumanity to man, and for the perpetuation of religious knowledge to all the unborn posterity.
   No'ah lived for three hundred and fifty years after the deluge, his sons reared large families, and the populating of the world was begun anew.
   There was, however, a tragic sin in the life of this noble patriarch after the effects of the flood had passed away, and before his final blessing upon his children and their descendants.
   He resumed his former vocation of farming, and turned to the cultivation of a vineyard. One sorry day he began to make wine, and was presently tempted into over-indulgence. Though not at first intending to prostrate himself beneath the power of strong drink, he was gradually led on by the gratification which it offered, finally losing all control of himself and becoming intoxicated.
   This sin of drunkenness by No'ah was the occasion of a great wrong by his son Ham which brought him and his descendants under a severe curse from God.

Story 6: The Ship That Saved Mankind ll

Self-denial and whole-hearted obedience, enormous expense and long hours of hard labor were involved in this Divine assignment, but No'ah faithfully met every requirement, and the crude carpenter's name graces the roster of the heroes of faith in Sacred history.
   Presently the Ark was completed, and the prophesies of the noble patriarch began to be fulfilled. Two animals of every kind, male and female, and a larger number of the domestic animals which were used for food, together with large supplies of grain and other food were placed in the Ark by No'ah. He and his wife, his sons and their wives, entered the Ark and closed the doors. The rains came with ever increasing violence, day by day the waters poured out of the overcast clouds until it seemed as though great oceans had been lifted into the sky, pouring their contents down upon the earth. Forty days and forty nights passed without cessation of the downpour; in every valley and on every plain the torrents swept into ruin everything before them until all the land was submerged. The waters rose higher and higher, covering the hills and the mountains. While millions of human beings joined every living creature of the earth in a watery grave, the great boat in which No'ah and his family abode in perfect security glided over the waters.
   For one hundred and fifty days the waters covered the entire face of the earth. Then the rains ceased, the winds began to blow, and the waters gradually receded toward the rivers, and lakes, and oceans. God's judgments had been accomplished: the human race had been destroyed, with the exception of No'ah and his family, and animal life had been exterminated.
   For many months after the waters began to go down, No'ah and his family remained in the Ark. One day No'ah opened the window which he had made in the Ark and sent out a raven. This bird, being capable of long flights without stopping, flew round and round until the waters had gone down from some high point, and never returned. No'ah then sent out a dove, but it failed to find a place to rest, and soon flew back to the Ark. After another week the dove was sent out again, and this time it returned with a leaf from an olive tree, indicating that the waters had sufficiently abated to permit vegetation to grow upon the land. After waiting another seven days No'ah sent forth the dove for the third time, and this time it did not return.
   It was evident that much of the land near the Ark was dry, and on investigation No'ah discovered that the land all around was dry. God then directed that he and his family leave the Ark, liberating all the animals which they had preserved. It is said that the mountain on which the Ark rested was Mt. Ar'a-rat, in the heart of the elevated plateau between the Black and Caspian Sea where the Ti'gris and Eu-phra'tes rivers. The mean elevation of this district is 5000 feet above sea level, and Mt. Ar'a-rat reaches a height of 17,750 feet. South of this mountainous region lies the land of ancient Bab-y-lo'ni-a and Mes-o-po-ta'mia, where the descendants of No'ah later settled.