In the ancient Babylonian city called Ur of the Chaldees lived the patriarch Terah, who was the father of three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran.  Lot was the son of Haran, who died in Ur.  Terah, accompanied by Abram, Sarai, and Lot, started for “the land of Canaan,” but they “came unto Haran and dwelt there,” “and Terah died in Haran.”  “Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee:  and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing:  and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse:  and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  So Abram, Sarai, and Lot came into the land of Canaan about 2300 B.C., and dwelt first at Shechem, but “he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.”  Abram did not remain here, but journeyed to the south, and when a famine came, he entered Egypt.  Afterwards he returned to the southern part of Canaan, and still later he returned “unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. * * * And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.”  On account of some discord between the herdsmen of the two parties, “Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren.”  Accepting his uncle’s proposition, Lot chose the well watered Plain of the Jordan, “journeyed east,” “and moved his tent as far as Sodom,” but “Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron.”

Some time after this Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, entered the region occupied by Lot, and overcame the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela, carrying away the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, “and they took Lot * * * and his goods.”  “And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew,” who “led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.”  As a result of this hasty pursuit, Abram “brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”  “The king of Sodom went out to meet” Abram after his great victory, and offered him the goods for his services, but the offer was refused.  Abram was also met by “Melchizedek, king of Salem,” who “brought forth bread and wine,” and “blessed him.”  Before his death, the first Hebrew saw the smoke from Sodom and Gomorrah going up “as the smoke of a furnace,” and he also passed through the severe trial of sacrificing his son Isaac.  At the age of one hundred and seventy-five “the father of the faithful” “gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, * * * and Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah,” at Hebron, where Sarah had been laid to rest when the toils and cares of life were over.