Now when Abimelech heard of the strife, he came with Phicol, his chief captain, to seek Abraham, and to be reconciled with him. “God is with all that thou doest,” said Abimelech; “He protected thee when Sodom was destroyed. He has given thee a son in thine old age. He rescued thy first-born when perishing in the desert. Swear to me, as I have offered thee my whole land, my own palace not excepted, in which to dwell, that thou wilt show equal love and liberality to my descendants to the third generation.”
Abraham swore to him, and they made a covenant together.[323]
And Abraham set apart seven lambs as a witness and token, that just as the well had sprung up when his flocks had come to water at it, so, in after days should it spring up to water the descendants of Abraham; as it is said, “From thence they went to Beer, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.”[324]
But such condescension and courtesy ill became Abraham in his dealings with a rude and savage people, and therefore there came to him a voice from heaven which said: “Because thou hast given these seven innocent lambs into the hands of a barbarous nation, therefore seven of thy descendants shall be slain by their hands (Samson, Hophni and Phinehas, Saul and his three sons); also seven dwellings that thy people shall raise to my Name shall they destroy (the Tabernacle, Gilgal, Nob, Gibeon, Shiloh, and twice the Temple at Jerusalem), and seven months shall the ark of my covenant remain in the land of the Philistines.”
9. THE GROVE IN BEER-SHEBA.
“And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord.”[325] The reason was as follows:—
Once Abraham asked Shem the son of Noah, otherwise called Melchizedek, king of Salem, what service he and his father and brethren rendered to the Lord in the ark, which was so acceptable to God that He preserved them alive and brought them in safety to Ararat; and Shem answered, “The service we rendered to God, all the time of our sojourn in the ark, was charity.”
And when Abraham wondered and asked how that could possibly be, as there were none in the ark save themselves and the beasts, Shem answered,—
“Even so; we showed charity and forethought and hospitality to the animals. We fed them regularly, and we slept not at night; so busy were we with them in making them comfortable. Once, when we had delayed somewhat, the lion was hungry and bit Noah, my father.”
Then said Abraham to himself, “In very truth, if it was reckoned to Noah and his sons as so great righteousness, that they fed and tended the dumb and senseless beasts, how much more pleasing must it be to the Most High, to be kind and generous to men who are made in His image, after His likeness!”