chapter v

we had the ten generations from Adam to Noah inclusive, these 20 generations being on the line of the righteous and leading on to Christ. Man apart from God ever degenerates. Sin turned Adam and Eve from Eden, sin brought the deluge and destroyed all except those in the ark, sin brought the confusion of tongues, and now after 2,000 years sin again prevails, and from the idol worshipers beyond the river the Lord takes Abram that He may bless him and make him a blessing to all people on earth (Joshua xxiv, 2, 3).

1-3. I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. These are some of the words of the Lord to Abram while yet in Ur of the Chaldees, by which He would draw him from country and kindred and perform through him all His pleasure by separating him unto Himself and placing him in a land which He would in due time give him as an inheritance. Stephen said in his discourse that the God of glory appeared to Abram, and it is evident from another record that something more than the earthly inheritance was set before him, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God (Acts vii, 2; Heb. xi, 10). Notice in these opening verses of our lesson the fourfold “I will” of the Lord—“I will shew,” “I will make” and the double “I will bless.” The promises and assurances are all from God. Abram hears, believes, obeys. He died in faith, not having received the promise, for God gave him none inheritance in it, yet He promised that He would (Heb. xi, 13; Acts vii. 5).

4, 5. “Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” In