CHAPTER VII
The Call of Abraham
Gen. 12-21; Gal. 4
Agnes M. Lawson
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to Bible Study
The Colorado College of Divine
Science
Denver, 1920.
The history
of the Hebrew family begins with Abraham.
It is true that some of the higher
critics begin actual history with Moses
and reduce the Patriarchal period to
“shadows in the mist.” That
the nation and religious organization
begin with Moses cannot be gainsaid; but
before there can be a nation and a
church, there must be a family and a
religion. Undoubtedly the allegories and
stories of the book of Genesis are much
later than Exodus, but they were written
from popular oral tradition or
pre-existing books now lost. A nation
like that of the Hebrews would keep its
traditions distinct and true.
Abraham is
one of the greatest figures in the
religious history of the human race.
Three great religions trace their origin
to him. The Hebrew religion, its child,
the Christian religion, and
Mohammedanism. The world owes to him its
first clear knowledge of the true God and
the manner of service that will be
acceptable to him. Hebrew history
requires the starting point which the
Patriarchal period gives it. It was no
new and unknown God in whose name Moses
spoke to his brethren in Egypt. He had a
basis to work from in the God of their
Fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
The simple
yet stately figures would be alike a loss
to the historian, the literateur, the
religionist and the artist. Their
dignity, magnanimity and graciousness are
examples for all ages. Simple spiritual
guidance is much needed in our complex
civilization. The visits of Jehovah and
His angels are reminders that God and His
angels do visit the children of men.
The country
lying between the Tigris and the
Euphrates, Mesopotamia (between two
rivers), was one of the oldest
civilizations on earth. There were three
nations in this country, in the north
Assyrian, in the center Babylonian, and
in the south Chaldean. Abraham came out
from “Ur of the Chaldees.”
This was a great civilization, advanced
in astronomy, science and arts. Every
time that we look at our clocks, or wrist
watches, we go back to the period of
Chaldean history before Abraham was born.
They had divided time into the year,
month, week and days approximating the
division used by us at the present time.
The day was composed of twenty-four
hours, and the hour sixty minutes, the
minute sixty seconds. We owe to this
great race also our one sacred day in
seven, called by them the “Day of
the Heart.”
With this
heritage back of him Abram was called of
God. One of the greatest features of this
great Book is the “calls” of
leaders and prophets. Now the Lord said
unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy Father’s house, into a land
that I will show thee; and I will make of
thee a great nation; and I will bless
thee and make thy name great; and be thou
a blessing; and I will bless them that
bless thee, and him that curseth thee
will I curse and in thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed.”
God speaks to us through the “still
small voice” in our own souls. He
spake unto Abram as he speaks to you and
me. “There is a guidance for each
of us and by lowly listening we hear the
right word.”
Abram is the
type of character that hears; large,
magnanimous, rich consciousness, of deep
peace, poise and power. There are men who
think in terms of self, others in
villages, yet others in empires, but
Abram held in his consciousness the whole
human race. His ideal was “in thee
shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed.” And this insight was
true, the human family is indebted to
him. This new race, started in the
consciousness of Abram, has given us
religion, and without this human progress
would have been impossible. This race has
given us a knowledge of God and
man’s relation to God. The
relationship of man to God is dependency,
but a relationship of this kind involves
a mutual obligation. God is responsible
for man, and is bound to work with and
for man until he is free.
Abram
emigrated from Chaldea to Canaan (low
region), a distance of about three
hundred miles. With him was Sarai his
wife, Lot his nephew, and a large retinue
of slaves. The end of any life,
enterprise or race is held fast in its
beginning. We find certain
characteristics of Abram in the Jewish
character today: The rich consciousness,
“and Abram was very rich in cattle,
in silver, and in gold”; his love
for his wife and his deference to her
judgment; his love of peace and the
conciliatory method in which he settles
the affair with his nephew, are all still
strong characteristics in the Jewish race
at the present time.
Abram had no
heir, but he was assured of the Lord that
he should have one; “And he
believed in the Lord; and he counted it
unto him for righteousness.”
According to the custom of the day,
Sarai, who was childless, gave her maid
Hagar to her husband for a secondary
wife. Hagar despised her mistress when
she knew that she herself should be
mother of the heir, and Abraham sent her
away at Sarai’s demand. In the
issue here we see the prenatal influence
on the child. Hagar’s ingratitude
and rebellion against her mistress to
whom she owed her position marks the
child. The Angel said to her:
“Behold thou art with child, and
shalt have a son; and thou shalt call his
name Ishmael (God hears) because the Lord
hath heard thy affliction. And he shall
be a wild-ass among men, his hand shall
be against every man’s and every
man’s hand against him.” Here
again the end in the beginning. The
Arabs, Ishmael’s descendants, are
of an untamable nature, always roving.
Hagar could flee from the sight of her
mistress but not from the sight of God,
nor from the consequences of her
rebellion.
Paul calls
this an allegory. It is the first of the
positive lessons of the two brothers.
There is the son of the bond woman and
Isaac, the son of the free woman. When
Abram was ninety-and-nine years
old--remember the Hebrew wrote in
numerical symbolism, this is not to be
taken literally--the Lord appeared unto
him and said, “I am God Almighty;
walk thou before me and be thou
perfect.” God can never speak to us
but through our own consciousness. No
race or person who had not a concept of
the ideal could hear such words as these.
The covenant made with Abram is another
instance of the spiritual development of
the race.
A covenant
is an agreement, the law of prayer, the
means through which we transmit the gifts
of the Spirit to our own consciousness.
Prayer is acceptance of God’s
gifts. In disagreement we repel; in
agreement we open the way for negotiation
and transmission. And Abram was given a
new name, he who had been childless was
to be the father of many nations, Abraham
(father of nations). It is after our
agreement with God that we become
creative and fruitful. There are no
barren lives in God, but out of him we
cannot conceal our unfruitfulness.
Sarai also
received a new name, Sarah (princess).
Her son was the heir and his name was
Isaac (laughter). It is significant that
the son of the free woman should be
spontaneous joy, which is laughter. There
is no heaviness in spiritual life; life,
love and work are all interspersed with
laughter. No one can be a pessimist and
see Principle. Optimism is compulsory to
the one who lives in Spirit and in
Truth.
The son of
the bond woman is born “after the
flesh,” and all flesh is unruly,
unspiritual, untrue. The son of the free
woman is by promise, free, true, real.
“Nevertheless what saith the
scripture? Cast out the bond woman and
her son; for the son of the bond woman
shall not be heir with the son of the
free woman.” Cast it out, the false
concept of yourself. There is the eternal
YOU, and the temporal unreality. Do not
hesitate, temporize nor waver, cast it
out; as long as it lingers with you, you
are an house divided against itself, and
defrauded of your inheritance.
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