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154]
Now
Abram, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother
Haran's
son, and his wife
Sarai's brother; and he left the land of Chaldea when
he was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God went into
Canaan,
and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his posterity. He was a person
of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading his
hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to
have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew
and to change the opinion all men happened then to have concerning God;
for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, That there was
but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other [gods],
if they contributed any thing to the happiness of men, that each of them
afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their own power.
This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible
both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the sun
,
and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus: - "If [said he] these
bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their
own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they
make it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage, they
do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that
commands them, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving."
For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans, and other people of
Mesopotamia,
raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country; and
at the command and by the assistance of God, he came and lived in the land
of
Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an altar, and performed
a sacrifice to God.
[158]
Berosus mentions our father Abram without naming him, when he says
thus: "In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among
the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial
science." But Hecatseus does more than barely mention him; for he
composed, and left behind him, a book concerning him. And Nicolaus of Damascus,
in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abram reigned at Damascus,
being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon,
called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up,
and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the
land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this
when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his,
we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abram is even
still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village named
from him, The Habitation of Abram."
