The branch representing Abraham was cut immediately below Terah’s portrait and now that branch is presented.Ībraham himself is portrayed on Folio XXII recto by a panel 9-3/4" x 2-1/4", and from him to the opposite page proceed the branches of his family tree. There and on the opposite page his descendants through his other two sons, Haran and Nahor, were portrayed. The genealogies of the Third Age of the World begin with Abraham, third son of Terah, whom we left at Folio XXI recto.
He and his mother were cast out of his father’s house, for From Ishmael descended the Ishmaelites, later called the Hagarites, and finally called the Saracens. Hagar, the concubine of Abraham, was an Egyptian and Sarah’s handmaid and by her Ishmael was born to Abraham. The names of the sons are Zamram (Zimran), Jectan (Jokshan), Medan, Madian (Median), Jesboth (Ishbak), and Shuah (Sue). Keturah, Abraham’s second wife, bore six sons, endowed with wisdom and industry. The beautiful Sarah was long barren, but when she attained the age of ninety she bore Isaac. Melchizedek has been held a suitable type of Christ as High Priest because (1) he was a king-priest, (2) his name means righteousness and he was king of Salem, which means "peace," (3) his birth and death remain unrecorded, and (4) he was not made a High-Priest by human appointment.Īfter this the Lord appeared to Abraham and foretold to him the birth of a son whom he would multiply to the number of stars in the heavens. But if so, why should his name have been changed to Melchizedek, and how could it be said of Shem, with Genesis 11:10-27 before us, that he was without pedigree? Perhaps the better view is to regard him as an exceptional instance in that early time of venerable Hamite, or perhaps, like Abraham, a Shemite, who had kept pure from the prevailing idolatry of the world, and was a worshipper of the true God. Some, like the chronicler, have identified him with Shem, supposing that survivor of the flood to have lived to Abraham’s time.
From the earliest times there have been strange speculations as to this mysterious man. His name and title are significant, "first being by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace." (Hebrews 7:2). This mysterious stranger here suddenly emerges from the dim past, without ancestors and without descendants, "having neither beginning of days nor end of life." (Hebrews 7:3). The Hebrews say that this Melchizedek was Shem, the first son of Noah, and who lived to Abraham’s time. And Melchizedek blessed Abraham for having subjugated his enemies. And to him Abraham gave tithes of all the booty he had taken. When Abraham returned from the slaughter of the five kings of Assyria, who had made Lot a prisoner, Melchizedek, king of Salem and the highest priest of God, came to meet him and he offered bread and wine. And the Lord commanded Abraham, saying, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, and come into a land that I will show thee. He was led forth by his father from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran. He was the first to proclaim God as the Creator of all things, and compelled him to wander forth from Chaldea. Abraham, the father of many people, born of Terah in Ur of the Chaldees, was a wise man and a godly one, and the best informed in human affairs. Here begins the history of our patriarchs, who worshipped the true God. The Third Age begins with the birth of Abraham and continues up to David-according to the Hebrews 292 years, but according to the seventy interpreters 940 years.
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