A Class-Book of Biblical History and Geography / with numerous maps

by H. S. Osborn

17. As the pyramids of Gizeh were built in the fourth dynasty (the most recent date of which is given by Wilkinson as 2450 B. C.), they had been in existence more than 400 years before Abram’s visit. The Sphinx was then existing also, as seems probable from an inscription found by M. Mariette,which indicates that there was a “temple of the Sphinx” in the time of Cheops,[51] the builder of the great pyramid. It seems also probable that the rule of the foreigners, called the Shepherd Kings, had begun before Abram’s visit.

18. These foreigners took possession of Lower Egypt and drove the original rulers up the Nile to Thebes and other parts of Upper Egypt. Long before this period emigrants from the East had been admitted to Egypt and had settled in various places upon the rich lands of the Delta, until, finding themselves sufficiently powerful, they usurped all authority without a battle. They were called the Shepherd kings, or Hyksos, from what was supposed to be their employment. They governed Lower Egypt for aboutfive hundred years, until they were finally driven out by the Egyptian royal family.

19. Abram’s first visit seems to have been made at or near the beginning of the Hyksos era. The most recent date of the beginning of the rule of the Shepherd Kings is that of Wilkinson, 2091 B. C., and if the date usually given for the visit of Abram was 1920 B. C., then these invaders had already had possession of the land for over 170 years. Egypt was therefore renowned and its rulers were of a race acquainted with the employments to which Abram was not a stranger. They spoke the dialect of Canaan, as it is very evident that many came from the region of Canaan.

20. In this age the horse is not mentioned as in Egypt. Oxen and asses and sheep are found depicted upon the walls and tablets, but the horse does not appear in Egypt till the reign of Thothmes I., who met with them in his wars in Assyria.This king was the third Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty.[52] This dynasty began immediately after the expulsion of the Hyksos. So that while it is probable that the horse might have been known only as a foreign animal, it was introduced into Lower Egypt by Thothmes I., and Egypt became known after this for its fine breed of horses, which took the place of the asses previously used throughout the land. It is for this reason that Abram’s list of animals excludes the horse, Gen. 12:16.

THE FIRST BATTLE.

21. The next important occurrence in the history of Abram is that of the first battle mentioned in Scripture. Abram had returned to Canaan with large additions to his herds. This increase brought about a necessary separation between Abram and Lot. Abram settled in Hebron, while Lot chose his residence in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain. Soon after four kings from Chaldæa approached Canaan on a tour of conquest, and passing to the south and east of the Dead Sea went down to Mt. Seir and thence to Kadesh, then called En-mishpat, and thence north to Hazezon-tamar. They then met the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah in battle, defeated them, and carried off Lot and others captives. Upon knowledge of this captivity Abram set out to overtake the invaders. He was joined by the forces of the three Amorites confederate with him, and found the kings at Dan, about 140 miles from Hebron northward, as they were leaving the country on their way home to Chaldæa. A battle now took place at night, and the four kings were defeated, and Lot and other captives, together with the stolen goods, were all retaken and brought back in safety.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH.

22. The exact location of these cities has not yet been discovered. They were, with the othercities of the plain, situated very near the Dead Sea, and the traditions place them at the western part of the southern end, where there is a salt hill five miles long, called the hill of Sodom, Jebel Usdum. There are good reasons for supposing that when Abram and Lot stood overlooking the land from the heights near Bethel, Lot chose the region north of the Dead Sea, which was visible, in preference to the southern part, which was more than forty miles distant. But from the Scripture account, considered in view of the evident volcanic nature of this part of Palestine and the fearful earthquakes which have happened in the vicinity in recent times, there is reason to believe that some terrible convulsion not only buried the cities, but submerged the plain at the south end of the sea, and no other interpretation seems to suit the history, which definitely states that the plain and all that grew upon it were destroyed, the water system of the plain being all entirely changed. The submerged plain at the south, therefore, which is covered for the area of about fifty square miles with water only a few feet deep, has given occasion for the theory that the cities of the plain are to be sought beneath these waters, which are by some supposed to cover the vale of Siddim.

23. Hazezon-tamar is the same as En-gedi, 2 Chron. 20:2. It is upon the west shore of the Dead Sea, twenty-three miles south of the mouth of the Jordan. Hobah, whither Abram pursued the kings, is two miles north of Damascus.

24. Abram was near Hebron, twenty miles west of the Dead Sea, when the news reached him of the defeat of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the capture of Lot. Hebron is almost equidistant from the north and south ends of the Dead Sea, at an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean, while the waters of the Dead Sea are 1,293 feet below those of the Mediterranean.