daughter Tyre, the great commercial centers of the ancient world, whose empire was not the land, but the sea. Note that all of these early kingdoms were established by the Hamitic race.

IV. THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. (B. C. 1921?) No other journey in history has the importance of that transfer of the little clan of Abraham from the plain of Shinar to the mountains of Palestine in view of its results to the world. Compare with it the voyage of the Mayflower. Its causes were: 1. Probably the migratory instinct of the age, for it was the epoch of tribal movements. 2. The political cause may have been the desire for liberty from the rule of the Accadian dynasty that had become dominant in Chaldea. 3. But the deepest motive was religious, a purpose to escape from the idolatrous influences of Chaldea, and to find a home for the worship of God in what was then "the new West," where population was thin. It was by the call of God that Abraham set forth on his journey (Gen. 12. 1-3).

V. THE JOURNEYS OF THE PATRIARCHS. (B. C. 1921-1706?) For two centuries the little clan of Abraham's family lived in Palestine as strangers, pitching their tents in various localities, wherever pasturage was abundant, for at this time they were shepherds and herdsmen (Gen. 13. 2; 46. 34). Their home was generally in the southern part of the country, west of the Dead Sea, and their relations with the Amorites, Canaanites, and Philistines on the soil were generally friendly (Gen. 20. 14; 26. 26-31).

VI. THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT. (B. C. 1706-1491?) After three generations the branch of Abraham's family belonging to his grandson Jacob or Israel removed to Egypt (Deut. 26. 5), where they remained either two hundred or four hundred years, according to different opinions.[B] This stay in Egypt is always called "the sojourn." The event which led directly to the descent into Egypt was the selling of Joseph (Gen. 37. 28). But we can trace a providential purpose in the transfer. Its objects were:

1. Preservation. The frequent famines in Palestine (Gen. 12. 10; 26. 1;42. 1-3) showed that as shepherds the Israelites could not be supported in the land. On the fertile soil of Egypt, with three crops each year, they would find food in abundance.

2. Growth. At the end of the stay in Canaan the Israelites counted only seventy souls (Gen. 46. 27); but at the close of the sojourn in Egypt they had increased to nearly two millions (Exod. 12. 37; Num. 1. 45, 46). The hot climate and cheap food of Egypt has always caused an abundant population. In Egypt Israel grew from a family to a nation.

3. Isolation. There was great danger to the morals and religion of the Israelites in the land of Canaan. Abraham had sent to his own relatives at Haran for a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24. 3, 4) in order to keep both the race and the faith pure. One of Isaac's sons married Canaanite wives, and as a result his descendants, the Edomites, lost the faith and became idolaters (Gen. 26. 34, 35). Jacob sought his wives among his own relatives (Gen. 28. 1, 2). We note a dangerous tendency in Jacob's family to ally themselves with the Canaanites (Gen. 34. 8-10; 38. 1, 2). If they had