The Garden of Eden 3

The Garden of Eden 3

But, after a while, they had so many sheep and lambs, and cows and

calves, that it was hard to find a pasture big enough to feed them all.

When they came to a spring of water, and all wanted to drink at the same

time, there was great confusion; and sometimes the herdsmen fought about

it. So one day Abraham said to Lot, “There are now so many cattle that

we had better divide them into two companies, and pasture them in

different places. You take yours and go your way, and I will take mine

and go my way. Here is a high hill, from which we may see all the land.

Let us climb up and look, and you shall choose which part you will

take.” So they climbed up the hill, and looked out over the land. To

the north were rocky hills, to the south were wild deserts, to the west

was the sea, but to the east was a green plain. In the plain were rich

pastures, and groves of trees with the white houses of little towns

among them, and a river flowing by, so that it looked like the Garden of

Eden. This pleased Lot. He said to himself, “My Uncle Abraham has given

me my choice, and I will choose the best there is.” So he chose the

plain, leaving Abraham the stony hills.

 

Now, people who think only of themselves, and take the best without

regard to others, sometimes get the worst. And this is very likely to be

the case with those who choose that which is easy instead of that which

is hard. So it was with Lot. The plain was not so pleasant as he

thought. It had once been the bed of a salt sea, and in some places the

salt lay upon the ground, and there were salt springs. And near by there

was a dreadful swamp where the mud was mixed with oil. Before Lot had

been long at Sodom,--for this was the name of the town in which he

lived,--there came four kings with long names and fierce soldiers, and

they drove the people out of their houses, and back into the swamp, and

they captured them and carried them away. Abraham, when he heard of it,

took all his herdsmen, and armed them with swords and clubs, and they

attacked the four kings by night when they were asleep, and rescued Lot

and his neighbors. But it was all very unpleasant for Lot.

 

The people of Sodom had never been good people, but after this they were

worse than ever. It troubled Lot greatly. Sometimes he thought of moving

away, but his wife liked the place, and so did their two daughters: so

he stayed. He reproved his bad neighbors, but that did no good; he only

made himself unpopular.

 

At last, one hot day, as Abraham sat in the door of his tent under the

shade of the oaks, he saw three men coming. And he rose up and ran to

meet them, for he was very kind to strangers. “Come,” he said, “and rest

here in the cool shade, and my wife shall get you something to eat.” So

the strangers stopped, and Sarah made a fire and baked some cakes and

broiled some meat, and brought out curds and whey, and set the table.

And after supper, the men looked towards Sodom, and one of them said,

“What kind of a place is that? We hear sad things about it.” And Abraham

said, “I have a nephew who lives there, and he tells me that it is a

very wicked place indeed.” And the men said, “We are going to see with

our own eyes and hear with our own ears.” So they went on down the road

to Sodom.

 

Now, when they came to the town, there was Lot sitting by the gate, and

he was glad to see them, and took them to his house and was very nice to

them. But that night, when Lot’s neighbors found that he had company,

they came about the house, a great crowd of them, hooting and throwing

stones, and tried to break in the door to kill them. So the strangers

saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears.

 

Then, early in the morning before the sun was up, the visitors wakened

Lot. “Come,” they cried, “get up and escape out of this place, for this

very day it shall be destroyed.” And the visitors hurried them, pointing

to the sky, and crying that the storm was coming and the time was short.

“Quick!” they said; “run for your lives! Do not even look back. Go to

the mountain.” And as they came out of the house, the sky was of the

color of copper and of iron, and a fearful wind began to blow, and the

lightning flashed and the thunder roared. And, as they came out of the

town, the earth quaked, and the springs of salt and of oil were broken,

and salt and oil and pitch burst up into the air in the great swamp, and

the lightning set them on fire, and the wind blew them on the town.

 

So Lot ran and his daughters ran, and at first his wife ran with them.

But Lot’s wife was very fond of Sodom. Bad as it was, she liked it. She

could not bear to leave it. She stopped and looked back, only for a

moment, but in that moment the storm of fire and brimstone overtook her.

There she fell, and the drifting sand and whirling salt of the tempest

buried her.

 

The next day, as soon as it was light, Abraham arose and looked toward

Sodom, and all the sky was black with smoke. As for Lot’s wife, nothing

was left of her but a pillar of salt.

 

 

 

 

IV

 

ISAAC AND REBEKAH

 

 

Abraham had a son named Isaac. One time, when Isaac was but a little

lad, he had a strange adventure in which he very nearly lost his life.

 

The people of that land believed that God wishes us to give Him the very

best we have. And that is right, if we give Him our best by using it so

as to please Him. But they said that the thing to do with our best is to

burn it. So they would make a heap of stones, and put wood upon it, and

place their best on the wood, and set fire to it, and the flame and

smoke would rise into the sky. That was called a sacrifice. When they

were very glad and wished to thank God, and when they were in great

trouble and desired God to help them, they offered a sacrifice.

 

Now there was nothing in the world for which Abraham and Sarah cared so

much as they did for their little boy Isaac. He was their very best. And

so it came into Abraham’s heart that there was no way by which he could

so plainly show God the greatness of his faith and love as to give Him

Isaac. And early one morning Abraham wakened Isaac, and said, “We are

going on a long journey to-day, my son.” And Isaac was glad, because he

loved to go on journeys with his father.

 

So off they went, along the green road, and Isaac was very happy, but

Abraham was very sad, and Sarah in her tent was crying as if her heart

would break. At last they came to a hill, and Abraham cut a bundle of

wood, and let Isaac carry it on his back; but Abraham carried a knife.

Now Isaac had often seen the sacrifice of lambs, so as they climbed the

hill he said, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the

lamb?”

 

And Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb.”

 

But at the top of the hill, when the wood was piled upon the ground,

Abraham with tears in his eyes took Isaac and tied his hands and his

feet, and laid him on the wood.

 

Then suddenly there came a quick voice in Abraham’s heart, and the voice

called, “Abraham! Abraham!” And Abraham said, “Here am I.” And the voice

said, “Do not touch the lad. Behind you in the thicket is a ram. Take

that.” So Abraham untied his little boy, and kissed him, and sacrificed

the ram. Thus he showed how much he was willing to do for God, but Isaac

was spared. And God taught Abraham that He does not wish for such a

sacrifice as that. The best thing to do with little boys is to love

them, and teach them, and bring them up to be obedient and useful.

 

So Isaac grew to be a fine young man, and his father thought that it was

high time for him to be getting married. In their country the fathers

and mothers attended to all that, but Isaac’s mother was now dead, so

Abraham had to manage by himself. One day he sent for his steward,

Eliezer, who attended to his most important business, and said,

“Eliezer, I want you to go back to the old country, and find a wife for

Isaac. Go to the place where I was brought up, and where my folks still

live, and find a girl who will make him a good wife.”

 

So Eliezer took ten camels and a bag of presents of gold and silver, and

away he went, across the Jordan and across the Euphrates. One day as the

sun was setting he came to a well of water beside a little town. Women

were coming out with pitchers on their shoulders to draw water. The well

was a deep pool, with a cold spring at the bottom of it. There were

stone steps leading down, and at the top of the steps was a trough for

camels. There Eliezer made his camels kneel down, as camels do, and he

said to himself, “I will wait till I see a girl whose looks I like, and

I will ask her for a drink, and if she says, ‘Yes, and I will give your

camels drink also,’ then I will tell her about Isaac.” So he stood and

waited, and one came and another came. At last came a maiden named

Rebekah, who was very fair to look upon. And Eliezer said, “Will you let

me drink a little water from your pitcher?” “Yes,” she said, “and I will

give your camels drink also.” Then Eliezer was very glad, and in his

heart he thanked God, and out of his bag he took two bracelets of gold,

one for each of the girl’s arms. And he said, “Whose daughter are you?

Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”

 

She answered, “My father’s name is Bethuel, and my grandfather’s name is

Nahor.”

 

“What,” said Eliezer, “Nahor the brother of Abraham?”

 

“Yes,” said Rebekah, “and we have plenty of room for you and your men

and your ten camels.”

 

So she ran home before him and showed her mother the bracelets, and her

brother Laban ran out to meet the man, and brought him into the house;

and supper was ready, and they asked him to sit down. But Eliezer said,

“I must not eat till I have told my errand.” So they listened as he

spoke of Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah.

 

“Now,” he said, “what will you do? Will you give Rebekah to be Isaac’s

wife?”

 

And Rebekah’s mother and her brother said, “This is the Lord’s doing.

Take Rebekah, and let her be the wife of Isaac.”

 

Then Eliezer opened his treasures and took out jewels of gold and jewels

of silver, and beautiful embroidered things to wear, and gave them to

Rebekah and her mother. After that he sat down at the table, and they

all had supper, and were very happy.

 

The next day, Eliezer said, “Let me go back now, with Rebekah, to my

master.” But they urged him to stay. “Oh, let Rebekah wait,” they said,“a little while till we can get her ready. In a week or ten days, she may go.” But he said, “We ought to go at once.”