his father was dead, he removed him into this land". Terah stand for the old man, and the

old man is a hinderer. Not until we can realize that our old man has been crucified, and

that we are alive unto God, can we proceed.

The flesh.

The second movement sees Abram leaving Haran and his father's house, and actually

entering the land of Canaan. Then to him is made the great sevenfold covenant. Famine,

however, soon puts Abram to the test. A question which perhaps cannot be answered

presents itself. Had Lot not been with Abram, would Abram have stood true? The

analogy of Israel in the wilderness gives light. Just as Abram took Lot with him across

the Euphrates, so we read in Exod. 12: 38, "A mixed multitude went up also with them".

And just as trouble with Lord and the latter's inability to resist the well watered plain of

Sodom was directly connected with flocks and herds, so with this mixed multitude is

enumerated "flock, herds, even very much cattle". Numb. 11: 4, 5 reveals the evil effect

of this company:--

"And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and the children of

Israel ALSO . . . . . we remember the fish we did eat in EGYPT."

Famine tested Abram while Lot was with him, "And Abram went down to Egypt"

(Gen. 12: 10). All this period in Egypt is so much waste of time. Abram returned with

Lot (Gen. 13: 1) unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there

Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot stands for the flesh which clogs and trips the

true child of God. So far as Terah was concerned, Abram moved not from Haran until

Terah was dead. With Lot, however, it was different. Abram began to realize the need of

separation, and the moment the trouble arose about the flocks and the herds Abram

seemed to seize the opportunity: "Separate thyself I pray thee from me" (Gen. 13: 9).

Lot "lifted up his eyes" and chose the plain of Sodom. The Lord spoke to Abram after

that Lot was separated from him, "Lift up now thine eyes". Lot had lifted up his and seen

Sodom. Abram, when separated from Lot, saw his inheritance. Lot pitched his tent

toward Sodom--odious name! Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain

of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Hebron means

fellowship. Abram's fellowship with God was impossible while Lot remained with him.

How would the Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, understand all this? Would

not some of them begin to see the need for the separation from the "Lots" of their

profession? Would they not perceive the true Abrahamic spirit in the call to go outside

the camp?

Faith perfected.

It was after Abram's victory (where Lot met with such humiliating defeat) that he met

the high priest whose name so fills the epistle to the Hebrews (Melchisedec), and it is

immediately after the meeting with Melchisedec that we arrive at the inheritance and

righteousness of faith. This close association of righteousness and inheritance is a feature

lost sight of by too many, for us to pass it by. Gen. 15: 6, the great passage concerning