"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there" (11:1, 2). These geographical and topographical references have a moral force, just as we read of "going down to Egypt," but "up to Jerusalem." Here we are told that men journeyed "from the east,' i. e., turned their backs upon the sunrise. Note further, "a plain (not a "mountain") in the land of Shinar."

Nimrod is not mentioned at all in Genesis 11, but from the statements made in the previous chapter we learn that he was the "chief" and "king" which organized and headed the movement and rebellion here described.

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (11:4). Here we discover a most blatant defiance of God, a deliberate refusal to obey His command given through Noah. He had said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Gen. 9:1); but they said, "Let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'

As we have seen, Nimrod's ambition was to establish a world-empire. To accomplish this two things were necessary. First, a center of unity, a city headquarters; and second, a motive for the encouragement and inspiration of his followers. This latter was supplied in the "let us make us a name." It was an inordinate desire for fame. Nimrod's aim was to keep mankind all together under his own leadership "lest we be scattered." The idea of the "tower" (considered in the light of its setting) seems to be that of strength a stronghold-rather than eminence.

"And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel (Confusion); because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth" (11: 6-9). Another crisis had arrived in the history of the world.

Once again the human race was guilty of the sin of apostasy. Therefore did God intervene, brought Nimrod's schemes to naught by confounding the speech of his subjects and scattered them throughout the earth. Here was one of the mightiest and most far-reaching miracles of history. It finds no parallel until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost when another miracle of "tongues' was performed. The effect of God's intervention was the origination of the different nations and after the destruction of the Tower of Babel we get the formation of the "world" as we now have it. At this point the nations were abandoned to their own devices-"God gave them up" (Rom. 1)—but not until the race had twice enjoyed a revelation of God's mercy (first to Adam and then to Noah) and had twice forsaken Him before and now, after the Deluge.

To sum up. In Nimrod and his schemes we see Satan's initial attempt to raise up a universal ruler of men. In his inordinate desire for fame, in the mighty power which he wielded, in his ruthless and brutal methods-suggested by the word “hunter”; in his blatant defiance of the Creator, (seen in his utter disregard for His command to replenish the earth,) by determining to prevent his subjects from being scattered abroad; in his founding of the kingdom of Babylon-the Gate of God-thus arrogating to himself Divine honors; inasmuch as the Holy Spirit has placed the record of these things immediately before the inspired account of God's bringing Abram into Canaanpointing forward to the re-gathering of Israel in Palestine immediately after the overthrow of the Lawless One; and finally, in the fact that the destruction of his kingdom is described in the words, "Let us go down and there confound their language" (11:7-foreshadowing so marvellously the descent of Christ from Heaven to vanquish His impious Rival, we cannot fail to see that there is here, beneath the historical narrative, something deeper than that which appears on the surface; yea, that there is here a complete typical picture of the person, work and destruction of the Anti-christ.

Much more might have been written upon this interesting and suggestive incident, but we trust sufficient has been said to indicate the broad outlines of its typical teaching and to stimulate others to further study for the filling in of the details.

17. THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

GENESIS 12

We have now reached a section of this book which is of surpassing interest and one that is full of important lessons for those who are members of the household of faith. The passage for our present consideration introduces us to the third great section of Genesis. As its name intimates, Genesis is the book of Beginnings. Its literary structure is true to its title for the whole of its contents center around three beginnings. First there is the beginning of the human race in Adam; second, there is the new beginning on the post-diluvian earth in Noah and his sons; third, there is the beginning of the Chosen Nation in Abram. Thus in Genesis we have three great "beginnings," and therefore as three is the number of the Godhead, we see how in this first book of the Divine Library, the very autograph of Deity is stamped on the opening pages of Holy Writ as though anticipating and rebuking the modern assaults on this book by the Evolutionists and Higher Critics.

The relative importance (we do not say "value") of the three main divisions of Genesis is indicated by their respective dimensions. The first two divisions cover a period of not less than two thousand years, yet, but eleven chapters are devoted to this section of human history; whereas the third division, covering scarcely four hundred years, contains no less than thirty-nine chapters. More than threefourths of the book is occupied with narrating the lives of Abram and the first three generations of his descendants.

While it is true that the first two divisions of the book are embraced by the first eleven chapters in Genesis, yet, from a literary viewpoint, it would really be more correct to regard these chapters as a preface, not only to the remaining twenty-nine chapters of Genesis, but also to the entire Old Testament, and, we may add, of the Bible as a whole. This Divine "preface" is given to explain that which is made known in all that follows. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are really the foundation on which rests the remainder of the Old Testament. They trace in rapid review the line of descent from Adam to Abram. It has been well said concerning the book of Genesis that "as the

root to the stem so are chapters 1-11 to 12-50, and as the stem to the tree so is Genesis to the rest of the Bible." One of the main purposes of Genesis is to reveal to us the origin and beginnings of the Nation of Israel, and in the first eleven chapters we are shown the different steps by which Israel became a separate and Divinely chosen nation. In Genesis 10 and 11 the entire human race is before us, but from Genesis 12 onwards attention is directed to one man and his descendants.

Genesis 12 brings before us Abram-"the father of all them that believe." Abram whose name was subsequently changed to Abraham the most illustrious personage in ancient history. Abraham! venerated by Jews, Christians and Mohammedans. Abraham! the progenitor of the nation of Israel. Abraham! termed "the friend of God." Abraham! from whom, according to the flesh, our Lord came. Surely we shall be richly repaid if we devote our most diligent attention to the prayerful study of the life of such a man. The present article will serve to introduce a short series of papers which will be given to the consideration of the history of one who, in several respects, was the most eminent of all the patriarchs.

"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. 12:1). The tense of the verb here looks back to an incident which was referred to by Stephen and which is recorded in Acts 7:2, 3-"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee." Three things here call for a brief comment; first, the Divine title used in this connection; second, the fact of the Lord's "appearing," and third, His communication to Abram.

The Divine title which is used here is found in only one other scripture, namely, Psalm 29, which is one of the Millennial Psalms-"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of Glory thundereth" (v. 3). That this is a Millennial Psalm is clear from verse 10-"The Lord sitteth upon the flood yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever." Closely connected with the above Divine title is the one by which the Lord Jesus is designated in Psalm 24 (an

other Millennial Psalm)-"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in" (verse 7). Thus we see that this title is peculiarly a Kingdom title, and therefore, when Jehovah appeared to the father of the Kingdom people, it was as "The God of Glory." The appropriateness of this title is further evident from the religious state of Abram and his fathers at the time that God appeared to him, namely, a state of Idolatry. The "God of Glory" was in vivid contrast from the "other gods" mentioned in Joshua 24:2.

"The God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia." This is the first recorded "appearing" of God after the banishment of our parents from Eden. It was probably the earliest of all the theophanic manifestations that we read of in the Old Testament and which anticipated the Incarnation as well as marked the successive revelations of God to men. We do not hear of God appearing to Abel or Noah. Great then was the privilege thus conferred upon the one who afterwards was termed the "friend of God." We turn now to consider the terms of the Divine communication received by Abram.

And God said unto him "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee." This command from God came to Abram in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, which was situated near to the Persian Gulf. The time of Abram's call is significant. It occurred shortly after the destruction of Babel and dispersion of the nations. As we endeavoured to show in our last paper, even in that early day, men had added to their other offences against God, the sin of idolatry. A scripture which throws considerable light upon the religious conditions that prevailed throughout the earth in the days immediately preceding the Call of Abram is to be found in Roman 1-"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies be