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Patriarchs and Prophets
will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not
take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram
rich.” He would give them no occasion to think that he had engaged in
warfare for the sake of gain, or to attribute his prosperity to their gifts
or favor. God had promised to bless Abraham, and to Him the glory
should be ascribed.
Another who came out to welcome the victorious patriarch was
Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine for
the refreshment of his army. As “priest of the most high God,” he
pronounced a blessing upon Abraham, and gave thanks to the Lord,
who had wrought so great a deliverance by His servant. And Abraham
“gave him tithes of all.”
Abraham gladly returned to his tents and his flocks, but his mind
was disturbed by harassing thoughts. He had been a man of peace, so
far as possible shunning enmity and strife; and with horror he recalled
the scene of carnage he had witnessed. But the nations whose forces he
had defeated would doubtless renew the invasion of Canaan, and make
him the special object of their vengeance. Becoming thus involved
in national quarrels, the peaceful quiet of his life would be broken.
Furthermore, he had not entered upon the possession of Canaan, nor
could he now hope for an heir, to whom the promise might be fulfilled.
In a vision of the night the divine Voice was again heard. “Fear
not, Abram,” were the words of the Prince of princes; “I am thy shield,
and thy exceeding great reward.” But his mind was so oppressed by
forebodings that he could not now grasp the promise with unquestion-
ing confidence as heretofore. He prayed for some tangible evidence
that it would be fulfilled. And how was the covenant promise to be
realized, while the gift of a son was withheld? “What wilt thou give
me,” he said, “seeing I go childless?” “And, lo, one born in my house
is mine heir.” He proposed to make his trusty servant Eliezer his son by
adoption, and the inheritor of his possessions. But he was assured that
a child of his own was to be his heir. Then he was led outside his tent,
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and told to look up to the unnumbered stars glittering in the heavens;
and as he did so, the words were spoken, “So shall thy seed be.” “Abra-
ham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:3
.
Still the patriarch begged for some visible token as a confirma-
tion of his faith and as an evidence to after-generations that God’s