13.

his Pofterity. And it is very probable that the Hebrews deriv'd their Name from this Heber, fince Abraham, who was but the fixth from him, was call'd Abraham the Gen. xiv. Hebrew, when he dwelt in the Plain of Mamre. Upon the Confufion of Tongues, a Dispersion of Families naturally ensu'd; and the rest of them being scatter'd abroad upon the Face of all the Earth, the Family of Heber ftill continued in Chaldæa and the East; while the Pofterity of Japheth took Poffeffion of the Weft; and that of Ham fat down in the intermediate Country, that lay between the other two.

And here the Sons of Heber continued to live, in Ur, a City of the Chaldees, untill the Time of Terah, the last of this fecond Generation. When Terah, taking with him Abraham his Son, and Lot his Grandfon (by another Son nam'd Haran) and Sarah his Daughter-in-law, his Son Abraham's Wife, remov'd out of Chaldæa, with an Intent of going to settle in the Land of Canaan; but, instead of that, took up his Residence at Haran in the Country of Mefopotamia, lying between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates; and there dwelt the Remainder of his Days.

His

I.

Acts vii.

His Son Abraham was a very righteous, religious Man; to whom the glory of God Gen. xii. had appear'd, fome time before, and warn'd him to leave his country, and his kindred, 2. and his father's house, and to go and fettle in the Land of Canaan. As foon therefore as his Father was dead, he took Sarah his Wife, and Lot his Brother's Son, and all their Substance that they had gather'd, and all the Souls that they had begotten in Haran, and remov'd into the Land of Canaan accordingly. He fettled in Sechem in the Land of Moreh; in that Part of the Country which was afterwards call'd Samaria. Here he fojourn'd some time; here the LORD appear'd to him, and encourag'd him with very favourable Promises; and here he built an Altar to the LORD.

Now the Promifes which God made, and repeated to Abraham, were to this Purpofe; That he should go unto a land that He would fhew him; (which was the Land of Canaan.) And, That He would make of him a Great Nation, and bless him, and make his Name Great; and, That, in him, all the families of the earth should be blessed. Thefe Promiles were therefore three, in

Num

5.

Number; First, a Grant of the Land of Canaan, to him, and his Seed after him; Secondly, That he should be the Father of a Great Nation, fuch as the Ifraelites, at one Time, were; and thirdly, That, in him all the families of the earth should be blessed; that is, by Faith in JESUS CHRIST;. who, according to the Flesh, was to be lineally defcended from him; and was therefore faid to be his Son.

After this, upon Abraham's lamenting the Infelicity of his Condition, in his Want of Children, God comforted him, Gen. xv. as to that Point, by bidding him look toward heaven and tell the stars, if he was a ble to number them; faying, so shall thy feed be. And after, renewing the fame Promife, he tells him that he would multiply. his feed as the fand which is upon the fea Shore. Accordingly, Hagar his Maid bore him one Son, nam'd Ishmael; and his Wife Sarah another, who was call'd Ifaac. From Ishmael descended a Race of People, who forfook the true Religion; from Isaac, those who continued in it, and handed it down to their Posterity. For Ifaac having two Sons, Efau or Edom, and Jacob who

was

was nam'd Ifrael by God himself; from the former of these defcended the Edomites or Idumaans, who apoftatiz'd from God, and from the latter the Ifraelites, who, for fo long a Time, continued, in fome measure, to cultivate the true Worship of Him, and were mightily favour'd and protected by Him.

SECT. III.

Whence called ISRAELITES.

TO Ifrael himself God was fo highly propitious as to renew to him the fame Promises He had made to his Grandfather Abraham. And accordingly he bless'd him with a numerous Offspring; For he had twelve Sons; fix by his Wife Leah, namely, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ifachar, and Zebulun: Two by Bilhah, his Wife Rachel's Maid, Dan and Naphtali: Two by Zilpah, his Wife Leab's Maid, Gad and Afber: And Two by his Wife Rachel, Jofeph and Benjamin.

Of these, Jofeph was fo hopeful and promifing a Child, efpecially in regard to the Particulars of Wisdom and Virtue,

that

that he became, at the fame time, the Object of his Father's Fondness, and of the Envy of his ten elder Brethren; who, therefore, contriv'd to fell him to a Caravan of Egyptian Merchants, and perfuaded their Father that he was flain by fome wild Beast. The Merchants carried him into Egypt, and again fold him to Potiphar, an Officer belonging to Pharaoh, and Captain of his Guard. There, by means of that extraordinary Skill and Address with which God favour'd him, he foon came to be known to Pharaoh himself; who advanc'd him to the highest Dignity, and made him Superintendent of the Granaries of Egypt, during the time of those seven Years of Dearth and Scarcity, which himself had predicted.

This Famine was fo grievous in the Countries bordering upon Egypt, that Ifrael found himself under a Neceffity of fending his Sons thither to buy Corn. Where being presently known by their Brother Jofeph, they were order'd by him to return and bring their Father, and all their Families to Egypt; that fo, they might be supported the more commodiously, out of

the