Righteous Abraham the Patriarch and His Nephew Lot (2000 Years Before the Nativity of Christ)
The righteous Abraham the Patriarch and his nephew Lot lived two thousand years before the Nativity of Christ. Abram, the son of Terah, was born in the land of the Chaldeans, where idol-worship was very widespread. God chose him to be the father of the true believers, the forefather of the nation from which Christ was to be born, and said to him: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee.” Abram, who was then seventy-five years old, obeyed the heavenly command and set off southwards with his whole household and his nephew Lot.
In Canaan the Lord appeared again to the blessed one and told him: “Unto thy seed will I give this land,” and the chosen one of God offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Canaan, present-day Palestine, was afterwards called the Promised Land).
While living in the land of Canaan, Abram and his nephew Lot grew rich. They had so many flocks and herds that the pastures could not hold the animals, and Abram’s and Lot’s herdsmen often quarrelled with one another. To avoid unpleasantness Abram suggested to his nephew that they part: Lot went east and settled by the Jordan, near Sodom and Gomorrah, while Abram, at the Lord’s direction, moved to Hebron and settled by the oak of Mamre. Not long after uncle and nephew had parted, the allied kings of the land of Shinar attacked the king of Sodom, defeated him, plundered the place, and among others took Lot captive. When Abram learned of this, he gathered his three hundred and eighteen servants, called in the help of his neighbours, and rescued all the captives and the cattle that had been carried off.
The king of Sodom came out to meet the Lord’s chosen one as he returned victorious. Melchizedek too, king of Salem, who was “the priest of the most high God”, met him with bread and wine and blessed him. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils, as to a priest.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God repeated to him all His former promises and changed his name Abram, “great father”, to Abraham, which means “father of many”.
A year later the Lord appeared in the form of three angels to the Patriarch as he sat at the door of his tent by the oak of Mamre. When the hospitable Abraham saw the unknown travellers, “he ran to meet them”, bowed down and humbly invited them home. And they accepted the invitation and sat down at table. Then one of them asked after his host’s wife, Sarah, and said: “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” Sarah, who was standing at the door and was already ninety years old, laughed, and the Lord said to Abraham: “Wherefore did Sarah laugh within herself? Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” Then God told Abraham that the sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah grieved Him, that their foulness could no longer be borne, and that He must destroy them. Abraham besought God: if fifty righteous are found in “the city of Sodom”, wilt Thou destroy it? The Lord answered: if I find fifty righteous, “I will spare all the place for their sakes”. Then Abraham besought God to spare the city for forty-five righteous. The Lord promised mercy to the city even for ten righteous.
In the evening two angels came to Sodom. Lot, who was sitting at the city gate, went to meet them, bowed down to the ground and took them home as guests. When the Sodomites learned of this, all of them, “both old and young”, surrounded his house and roared: “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.” Lot went out “at the door” and addressed the crazed mob: “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly!” and offered his two pure daughters in exchange for the travellers who had taken shelter under his roof; but the attackers still would not calm down. Then the guests “put forth their hand”, brought Lot into the house and shut the door, and the lawless men crowding round were struck blind.
The next day, at dawn, the angels told Lot to leave with his household the lawless city that was to be destroyed; but since the Lord’s chosen one lingered, they themselves took him by the hand, led him out of Sodom with his wife and daughters, and said to him: “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee.” Lot’s wife, who could not resist the temptation and looked back, was punished: she was turned into a pillar of salt.
Soon the Lord’s prophecy came true: in her old age Sarah conceived and bore a son, Isaac. The joy of the hundred-year-old Patriarch knew no bounds, but a great test lay before him: the Lord commanded him to offer his only son to Him as a burnt offering. Abraham’s faith did not waver: on the third day he came near the place appointed for the sacrifice, laid the wood on Isaac, took the fire and the knife in his own hands, and climbed the slopes of the mountain. At last Abraham stopped; he built an altar, laid the wood on it, laid Isaac, bound, upon the wood, and raised the knife to slay him; at that moment he heard a voice from on high: “Abraham, Abraham! Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” The righteous Patriarch looked round and saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns; he brought it and, full of gratitude, offered it to the Lord in place of Isaac. God blessed His faithful servant thus: “Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, for My sake, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice.”
After this Abraham lived a long time more. He buried his wife Sarah with his own hands at Hebron, in a cave near the oak of Mamre; he married Isaac off, and at last, at the age of a hundred and seventy-five, committed his soul to the Lord in peace. The righteous Patriarch was buried beside his wife Sarah.
