argely in Biographies.#--If you know well the
stories of the great Patriarchs, you know the best part of Genesis.
Again, if you know the stories of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel,
David, you will have mastered most of the history of Israel from
Exodus through 2 Samuel. This is the reason why in these lessons we
deal so largely with Bible biographies.

#15. Abraham.#--Abraham was one of the greatest men in all history. He
was the founder of that people through whom we have received all of
the Bible, excepting only what Luke, the beloved Physician, has given
us. This of itself is no small distinction. But more. He is the great
progenitor of him whom we know as the Messiah and the world's
Redeemer.

#16. Abraham and his Call.#--The call came to him in his home in Ur of
the Chaldees. Exactly in what way it came we are not told. It may have
been an inward call, such as believers to this day have at times. Bear
in mind that Abraham's ancestors were idolaters, and that the land in
which he lived was totally idolatrous.

This call was twofold. It was a call "out of," and a call "in to." Out
of home and family and religious antecedent. In to a new environment
geographically, socially, religiously.

This call he obeyed at once, and forth he went, not knowing his
ultimate destination. At Haran he paused until the death of his
father. Then on he went. How he knew what direction to take we are not
told. It may have been that he pushed forward as the migrating bird
pushes ahead, driven by a kind of inward impulse, blindly but surely.
This at least is my idea.

#17. Abraham and the Land.#--At last Abraham comes to Shechem, and
there for the first time God tells him that this is the land of which
he had spoken. There, for the first time in that land, an altar was
raised to the true God. From that day to this, and to the end of time,
that land and the Chosen People have been and will be identified.

#18. Abraham and Egypt.#--Driven by famine, the Patriarch goes down to
Egypt. There is no record that he was divinely guided in this, and
from the fact that there he gets into trouble, and that God does not
appear to him at all in Egypt, we may infer that this was not any part
of the divine plan. God does not appear to his servant again until he
returns to the Land, and builds his altar "where it was at the first"
(Gen. 13:1-18).

#19. Abraham and Lot.#--Lot was Abraham's nephew. His character
differs widely from that of his uncle. M