Outline Studies in the Old Testament for Bible Teachers. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

(Gen. 10. 11). 4. Phœ-ni´cia, on the Med-i-ter-ra´ne-an seacoast, north of Pal´es-tine, having Si´don for its earlier and Tyre for its later capital, and holding its empire not on the land, but on the sea, as its people were sailors and merchants.

      IV. The Migration of A´bra-ham, B. C. 2280?. No other journey in history has the importance of that transfer of the little clan of A´bra-ham from the plain of Bab-y-lo´ni-a to the mountains of Pal´es-tine 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 Ac-ca´di-an dynasty that had become dominant in Chal-de´a. 3. But the deepest motive was religious, a purpose to escape from the idolatrous influences of Chal-de´a, 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 A´bra-ham set forth on his journey (Gen. 12. 1-3).

      V. The Journeys of the Patriarchs. For two centuries the little clan of A´bra-ham's family lived in Pal´es-tine 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 most of the time in the southern part of the country, west of the Dead Sea; and their relations with the Am´o-rites, Ca´naan-ites, and Phi-lis´tines on the soil were generally friendly.