Chapter 30: Mamre

Mamre, of Hebron

Setting: Genesis 14:15-16

Scouts from Laish reported that the Mesopotamians and their captives continued to march slowly north along the Kings Highway.  With this report, we skirted Mount Hermon on her west, rather than her east side.  This was by far a more treacherous route, but by it we avoided the detection of whatever Elamite scouts might be stationed along the King’s Highway, and we avoided the precarious situation of crossing the Pharpar while in proximity to the enemy. 

As it turned out, this strategy worked strongly in our favor, for it was not we, but they, that were bound by the Pharpar when our paths did cross.  When we saw that evening was falling and they did not cross, we concluded that they would wait until the next day to do so, and so we lay in silent wait until nightfall.  Then we descended upon them from the hills, our attack having been completely unanticipated by the enemy.

We were nearly within their camp before we were detected at all, and we fell upon the enemy fiercely, slaying those in Mesopotamian military garb with ferocity.  The men of Abram and of Kiriath-Arba were well trained in comparison to Cheforlaomer’s wicked army.  We lost a few men, but the enemy, though armed with then times the number of fighting men, was put to flight by our surprise attack and our skill and ferocity with sword and spear.

We pushed them into the river where they stumbled and fled, and we continued pursuing them hotly unto the great city of Damascus.  It was a pitiful sight, that they should keep to the road as the slaughter continued, yet those who would turn aside to the wilderness on the left or the right were intercepted by Mamre or by Eschol, who designated themselves for this purpose.

Damascus was of course by no means interested in harboring the fleeing army, and so we routed them westward, into the hill country.  There at last, night having given way to day, and day to afternoon, we made a final end of them, in utter exhaustion at the heat of the day, outside of the town of Hobah.  The inhabitants of that town offered them no sanctuary either, for the armies of Mesopotamia are not likely to be viewed favorably by Canaanites nor by Syrians.

I saw Abram pursue Chedorlaomer himself, and thrust him through with a great spear so that he fell and died with a great cry.  His army was ruined.  We had won.

Chapter 29: Enau

Enau, Friend of Abram

Setting: Genesis 14:1-14 Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 42:12 , 
Zevachim 113b

The messengers of Bera and Birsha were but a precursor of things to come.  Next came an Egyptian mercenary dispatched by Amraphel of Shinar to twist our arms, that we might join the ranks of Chedorlaomer.  He was a giant of a man and he claimed to be a personal friend of Mardon.  I cannot imagine what gave him the audacity to visit us, seeing that his fellow mercenaries had put our Amorites brothers to the edge of the sword in Hazezon-Tamar not one month prior, as they marched north for Laish.

Mabug spoke peacefully to him and indicated that we would pledge full support to his master.  But as our visitor slept in Hebron that night, a dispatch was sent to the tent of Abram, who in turn assembled my brothers and I, and we entered the city while he slept and subdued him and bound him in chains.  For it was certain that to refuse this man’s demands would be to incur the full wrath of his allies, and at least in binding him we might buy some time to prepare for the conflict ahead.

The man was bound among us many days and yet no one came to retrieve him or to besiege Hebron.  We would soon learn the reason why conflict was delayed in reaching us, for the friends of this Egyptian were engaged in a great battle that required their full attention.  

Who should stride into my camp that summer but Og son of Anak, that infamous giant of a man who made even our Egyptian messenger seem small by comparison.  They say that Og stowed away with Noach on the ark during the great flood, but I have it on the authority of Melchizedek that no one survived the flood save Noach and his closest relatives.  

He came with important news from the North, and he requested to speak with Abram at once.  According to Og, after the Elamites and their mercenaries had plundered Hazezon-Tamar, they intended to march all the way to their homeland.  But upon reaching the regions of Sodom and Gomorrah, they found the armies of these towns, accompanied by the forces of Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar arrayed against them to cut them off from Mesopotamia.

The two sides joined battle in the vale of Siddim, the four northern kings of the Mesopotamian alliance against the five southern kings of Canaan.  There the Elamites prevailed, and they drove the men of Sodom and Gomorrah so hard that they fell into the tar pits that are common in the valley.  Those who died in the tar pits that day were more than those who died by the sword, so said Og.

Among those who were driven so that they fell or were cast into the tar pits was Bera, king of Sodom.  They say that the tar of those pits will drag a man straight to sheol, and not a few have suffered this fate due to carelessness or misfortune when extracting the bituminous substance as a building material.  Yet whether for better or for worse, the mighty king dragged himself out of the pit and fled to Og with the news that the Canaanites were utterly defeated.

I sounded one long blast of the ram’s horn, a signal to my brothers and Abram that there was important news in the camp, and by nightfall we were assembled.

It was clear when Abram arrived at my camp that Og was chiefly interested in speaking with him.  He made inquiries about Sarai’s wellbeing, and it seemed he was a bit too interested, in fact, to know if she was as well and as beautiful as ever.  He then wasted no time in informing Abram that his nephew Lot had been taken, along with all of Lot’s household, and that they were now prisoners of war in the camp of Elam.

Abram assembled his chief men at once.  We had as it were five commanders: Abram, Eliezer, Mamre, Eschol, and myself.  Abram’s 318 men, and 700 that comprised the rest of our force, sharpened their swords and made provisions that night, and all the next day, and the women of the entire Kiriath-Arba prepared victuals for us to take as we might have need.  

The men rested in the afternoon heat, and the next evening we set out, to travel light and fast in the nocturnal cool of the desert.  That night we traversed the hills unto Salem, where we descended eastward to the plains of Jericho.  In Salem I asked if we should not seek out Melchizedek, to know if it might go well with us or if he might give us a blessing on our way.  Abram said simply, “do not wake him, for he sleeps peacefully,” and strangely enough the watchmen of the town agreed readily, so that we skirted the town quietly in the darkness, and descended without entering that city or conversing with its leaders.

We rested in the plains of Jericho until the heat of the next day had passed, and then followed the Jordan River valley as far as Beth-Shan, where we camped outside the city, within sight of Mount Gilboa.

In another day we reached Hazor, where we camped opposite the city, and far from its view.  Hazor is no city to be trifled with, and while they certainly were no sympathizers with the Elamites, nor did we judge them likely to welcome our own army with warm hospitality.  Given their advantaged position of trade and military might, they are apt to remain neutral from any conflict that they can, favoring neither side in the conflicts around them.

It was the following day, when we came to Laish, that the residents of that beautiful village informed us that the Elamites had passed by not two days before, moving slowly with the women and children they had taken as spoils of war.

As we rested that day, we prepared our souls for war.

Chapter 28: Eshcol

Eshcol, Friend of Abram

Setting: Genesis 13:14-18

Abram is beloved in the Kiriath-Arba.  Our little nation is so named because it comprises four settlements: Hebron at its center, with the households of my brothers - Enau and Mamre - and my own household surrounding and protecting her.  It is a land of beautiful oak trees, the most magnificent of which - the Oak of Mamre - having been planted by Adonai Himself even as the waters of the great flood receded.

Beneath the branches of that exemplary tree the men of our households met often.  We would trade information about the surrounding streams and pastures, or share ancient poems dedicated to El, or spar with wooden swords and spears to keep our skills sharp.  There were 318 fighting men in Abram’s house in those days, but I never saw any man best Abram save his slave Eleazer.  What a strange sight to see a slave dare to out-spar his master, but the bond between Abram and Eliezer was as father and son, or as man to man, and not as slave and master.

To watch Abram use a sword was a most beautiful and inspiring sight.  His movements were slower than his opponent’s, yet they were so skilfully premeditated, and so consistently did he anticipate the movements of his foe, that he managed to make the other arrive late with each thrust.

Those were golden days, before we were inevitably drawn into the war between Mardon and Chedorlaomer.  We worked hard but we found plenty of time to rest as well.  El whispered to us in the breeze, and laughed with us in the babbling brooks, and sang with us as the stars filled the black sky at night.

Perhaps those days were so precious to us because we knew that they could not last.  Emissaries from Sodom and Gomorrah came to Hebron selling their protection.  Our elders, Mabug chief among them, were in all respects polite but firm with these men, in informing them that we wanted no involvement with their conflict.  They left cursing and it is perhaps fortunate that they did not encounter Abram or my brothers or I as they departed.

Chapter 27: Abram

Abram, servant of El Elyon

Setting: Genesis 13:14-18

Lot lifts up his eyes to the crowded city of Sodom, but I seek the more spacious places.  It is not that I disdain cultured society, but that I would build a society with more room to breathe.  I once heard a man say that in their fear our forefathers gathered too near together, and it may be that that fear shall endure a little longer, so that city walls separate hearths from fields. 

Would that Adonai would gather men’s houses in his hand, and like a sower gently scatter them in forest and meadow.  Would that the valleys were our streets, and the green paths our alleys, that we might seek one another through vineyards, and come with the fragrance of the earth in our garments.

When Lot had departed for the valley of the Jordan and its cities, Adonai came to me and instructed me to lift up my eyes.  This was the very thing that Lot had done; he had lifted up his eyes and in confidence surveyed the land.  I did not want to do the same, but when Adonai speaks, I listen, and so I lifted up my eyes and looked in all directions as I was commanded.

And God said to me “all the land that you see, I will give to you and to your seed forever, and I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the pieces of dust on the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.”  And God said to me “Arise, and walk through the length and the breadth of the land; for I will give it to you.”

I was overwhelmed, for the presence of El Elyon is ever strange and ever terrifying, even if one has experienced it before.  And I was sullen, for Lot, my only blood relative who could possibly be my heir, had departed to be his own separate tribe, so what was all of this talk of “my seed?”  And I was overjoyed, for the God who possesses heaven and earth was reaffirming His decree that this land should be mine.  And I was humbled, even unto dread, that He should say such a thing to a dead dog such as I.

And in my terror and my sullenness and my joy and my dread I arose, in the body or out of the body I cannot say, and walked the length and breadth of the land of Canaan, and saw its transcendent beauty as the very garden of God, and wept and wept and wept.

The next morning I awoke strong and healthy, and I removed my tent and we journeyed to Hebron, encamping in the plain of Mamre, among the three brothers who I had so quickly come to know and love before the famine and our sojourn in Egypt.

And there I built an altar to El Elyon, Possessor of Heaven and Earth, and called upon the name of Adonai who is my shield and my strength. 

And there Mamre and Enau and Eschol knelt with me in prayer from the time the stars appeared in the sky until they disappeared again.  There we also strapped on our swords and studied the art of war, for conflict was breaking forth in Canaan.  We are not concerned with the conflicts of the city-dwellers, except that the Kiriath-Arba must stand in an alliance of self-defense.

And I joined this alliance.  Yes, I cut my hand so the blood ran red, as did the three brothers, and I grasped each man’s hand and embraced him so that our blood was mingled and our lives were not our own but each others, and we ate bread and drank wine and we danced and we sang and I lay with my wife Sarai and in each of these things I could have sworn that heaven was on earth.

Chapter 26: Adith

 

Adith, Lot's Wife

Setting: Genesis 13:13 Extra-biblical Sources: Book of Jasher 19:25-35

I know that Lot visited the tents of the cult prostitutes on at least a few occasions. But I strongly admired in him that generosity with which he lived his life in giving to others, and I was willing therefore to overlook these roguish tendencies. Even in this he was acting with more integrity than most men of Sodom, who visit the male prostitutes more than the female. Lot understands that the dynamic of the cosmos is between the two poles of the masculine and the feminine, and that this dynamism must not be profaned by the indecent acts of men with other men.

Yes, and Lot was a righteous man, for he found his soul greatly vexed by the wicked living of the men of Sodom.  More than anything, he was exasperated by their policy against hospitality toward outsiders.  Not only did this policy require us to live many months in a tent pitched outside of the city, till we should prove our genuine loyalty to the city.  This Lot could bear.  But that the household of Lot should be barred from entertaining important dignitaries who passed through the region was for Lot a cause for much distress.

I have never known a more hospitable family than that of Terah and his sons.  For them, hospitality is the greatest of all moral goods.

Even when I met Lot, lifetimes ago in Chaldea, he was helping his father Haran to prepare a great feast for the arrival of Shulgi, son of Ur-Nammu.  When our marriage was arranged I was glad to be invited into such a powerful and generous family, so practiced in feasting on the best of meat and wine with other important families and officials.  And in the case of the household of Terah, the feasting was not only with the important, but even with the lonely pilgrim of no account.  

For a man to pour out his wealth in hospitality, with prodigal abandon, is for him to sow great blessings for himself that will grow and be harvested in the future.  By faith a man sacrifices greatly in the present to bless the important dignitary, and in the future that dignitary in turn blesses his gracious host.  Or if the man he blesses is not great, the gods see and reward him in turn.

Only the foolish and ignorant man refuses to open his hand to an esteemed guest.

In this regard the men of Sodom are indeed foolish, for they disregard this most fundamental of all values.  Not only do they fail to practice hospitality, but they specifically forbid the entertaining of foreigners and roughly chastise those who do.  It is not proper for me even to describe what they do to men who would dare to pass through Sodom on some journey.  I will only say that they are publicly humiliated on public beds designed for the purpose, and because this is widely known in the region, sojourners have become very rare in Sodom indeed. 

When Eliezer of Damascus visited us, so that he might bring a report back to Abram of how we fared, he was soon found out and led into the square.  By great zeal and valor he escaped with his life, but he was struck on the head by a rock that drew much blood, and to this day he bears the scars of that encounter.

If this vexed my husband’s soul day and night from the moment we were established in Sodom, it would go on to crush my soul in what happened to Paltith.  Paltith is the youngest of our three daughters, and in many ways the most like her father.  It is her delight to share with those in need, especially travelers, should any unwittingly pass through our unwelcoming town.

At the age of twelve, Paltith was seen sharing bread and curds with a Syrian who was passing through on his way to Damascus.  The men of the city stripped her of her clothing and cast her into a pit in retribution, and we were restrained from rescuing her until nightfall by the elders of the city who advised that further trouble would ensue if we involved ourselves before the sun set.  We appealed to Serak, the judge of our city, but his decree was the same as these elders.

I told Lot then and there that we should depart from this godforsaken city, even if it did mean dwelling in tents like Abram.  Or why not dwell in Salem, among the Jebusites, or with Rim-Sin in Luz?  But Lot saw the entire event as a silly tale that we would laugh about later; an experience of growing up for Paltith that she might learn to respect the laws of men.

Would that this was her last encounter with the law, but she was caught providing charity again not one year later, and this time they tied her naked to a post in the town square and all who passed by spat upon her.  I thank God that she survived that day without being cast upon one of those beds in the square.

God have mercy, how can I even tell of what happened next.  I will tell it quickly.  Paltith was caught smuggling bread to a poor man in her water jug, and so they burned her with fire in the square.  Of what use is my life to me now?  God take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

Chapter 25: Lot

Lot, son of Haran

Setting: Genesis 13:12 Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 41:7

With what awe and wonder did I lift up my eyes to behold the plain of Jordan.  Abram himself, the very man of the great God spoke it plainly that this land is mine.  It is well watered everywhere, like the very garden of God, yes even like the fertile land of Egypt with its wondrous Nile.

Yes, and the great cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are themselves much like Egyptian cities.  They are places where man has learned to put down roots and to build a society, even as we once lived in Ur as proper Chaldeans.  Whether Chaldean, or Egyptian, or Canaanite, let me live in a great city such as one of these.  A place of alabaster vases and gold jewelry, statues of beautiful men and animals, and mosaics of precious stones depicting the wisdom of the ages.  Even to live in the least little town of Canaan, as insignificant as Zoar, is better than to live as Abram seems determined to live, in the wild places with flocks that must constantly migrate in search of green pastures.

Furthermore, with war on the horizon, how much better to dwell among these mighty twin cities than in some small and vulnerable village?

And so I decided then and there, as my eyes beheld the plain, that I and my family would dwell in Sodom.  I had met not a few Sodomites when we passed this way before, and could testify that they are a people courageous and free, living life to the full and confronting the nothingness of death with humor and greatness of soul.

I confess I did not mourn to separate from the household of Abram.  It is true that in doing so I forfeited my inheritance, but so did Abram in separating from Terah.  Sometimes a man of great vision must depart from the ways of his fathers and start something fresh and new.  In Sodom, I would live richly and freely as the Sodomites do, and hire others to shepherd my flocks while I remained in the city with my wife and daughters.

So we headed east to the civilized country, and Abram journeyed to the more remote region of Mamre and his brothers, Enau and Eschol, who like him prefer the rugged life of the tent-dwelling outdoorsmen.

Chapter 24: Otiartes

Otiartes, herdsman of Lot's cattle

Setting: Genesis 13:8-11 Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 41:7

Eliezer is a snake, as is Abram himself.  Ten times they have cheated us and smiled in our faces when we came to complain.  Between the Canaanite, the Perizzite, and Abram, there is no place for the flocks and the herds, no, not even for the tents, of Lot among them.

Let Abram say that Lot is his son, but his actions tell a different story, in cheating us all day long.  His flocks grow larger and healthier by the day while he sits calmly at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, meanwhile Lot breaks his back in the noonday sun and his animals languish.

Finally Lot could take no more, and he went to Abram personally with his complaint against Eliezer and the rest of Abram’s retched herdsman.  I was there in the midst of their congress when Abram pleaded with Lot that there be no strife between them or between the herdsman.  In my anger I declared that there would always be strife unless Eliezer be deposed to the lowliest position and taught to keep his mouth shut.  Abram seemed not to hear my words and addressed his nephew peaceably again, “for”, he said to him, “we are brothers.”

What a snake is that man, Abram.  Inasmuch as Sarai is his sister, Lot is his brother, whereas in truth they are not his brother and his sister but his slaves.  And yet, what Abram said next I could not believe, for it was admittedly a most gracious offer, if indeed it could be trusted.  “Is not the whole land before us?  Depart from me then, wherever you will.  If you go to the left hand, I will go to the right; if you go to the right hand I will to the left.”

And so my master’s sweetest dreams were fulfilled, and the land of El Elyon lay before him so that wherever he might choose for his foot to trod should be his.

Chapter 23: Eliezer

Eliezer of Damascius, servant of Abram

Setting: Genesis 13:5-7

Extra-biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 41:5

My father Abdhulraman died in the land of Egypt.

Part of his heart he left in Damascus as a boy, and part he left in Ur as a man, and that part of his heart which remained became knit to the struggles of the desert itself.  Life in the wilderness, and the famine which drove us toward Egypt, emaciated my father, but they also gave him something to bear up under and to overcome. 

In Egypt, we sat by pots of meat and ate all that we wanted.  We ate fish at no cost.  We dined on the finest of cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlic.  The man who had survived so many trials did not survive these luxuries.  It seemed that having made it through the famine, he was finally able to rest, and rest he did.

We inquired of Abram what sort of burial El would have us to give Abdhulraman, but God was strangely silent on the matter.  The Egyptians, knowing that this was a great man among Abram’s household, embalmed him after their customs and entombed him in one of their magnificent tombs.  I cannot say that this was not fitting.  He was a man who lived many lives in many places, and so even his death and burial were something strange and new to him.

Thus I became the chief of Abram's servants and so the chief herdsman of his many, many flocks, including that great influx of animals from the hand of Pharaoh.  And thus, in turn, I was drawn into bitter conflict with Otiartes.

There was much land in Egypt that was suitable for our herds and readily available, for keeping sheep in an abomination to the Egyptians, and so the land of Goshen was ours for grazing.  Even so, Otiartes often found reason to quarrel over the movements of Abram’s herds.  In his mind the distinction between the herds of Abram and those of his master Lot was clear and important, and no perceived injustice must be done to the flocks of Lot.  He perceived injustice always, for Abram’s flocks always fared better than Lot’s, and so he always suspected that we were grazing the best lands ahead of him and leaving his flocks with the remnant.

On many an occasion Otiartes came to me demanding that Abram's flocks move to some different area, even an area we had grazed just days before.  When I raised his concerns with Abram, without fail my lord acquiesced to the demands of the household of Lot.  Why the man Lot should even distinguish between his herds and Abram’s was beyond me, as Lot was indisputably Abram’s heir.  But there is much that I do not understand about this family, for neither do I understand why Abram would consistently let his nephew take advantage of him.

If the tension between Otiartes and myself began in Egypt, it grew in intensity during our exodus, for now we must travel together in the same direction, at roughly the same speed, and Lot’s insistence, mediated to me through his servant, to consistently graze ahead of us left us with less than what Abram’s immense flocks needed.

But the man Abram refused to assert his authority, nor even his right to an equal share of this land that he himself had led us into.  I admit, I took some satisfaction from watching Abram’s herds grow greater and greater, while Lot’s herds remained more or less constant, despite his insistence on putting himself first.  It must surely have been an act of God.  Adonai seems determined to bless the man, and all who are not jealous of his success rejoice to see it.

Chapter 22: Rim-Sin

Rim-Sin, King of Luz

Setting: Genesis 13:3-4

What a joy among joys, to see the face of Abram with my own eyes again.  One would never guess that there had been a famine, for his flocks and herds were innumerable and healthy.  Nor would one guess the age of his wife, for I could swear she was radiant as never before.

His story of their sojourn in Egypt, and his plundering of the Egyptians who desired his beautiful wife, only added to my joy.  Anyone who bests Senusret, or his ruthless commander Khu-Sobek, is a friend of mine.

And Abram’s joy was made complete as well; I am not lying when I say he leapt for joy when I told him of my newfound devotion to El Elyon and He alone.  For as I visited the altar of Adonai with increasing frequency during Abram’s absence, I began to have revelations there of a God unlike Baal or Asherah.  El is a God who seems too good to be true, for His promises come to us unsought and unpurchased.  He has smiled upon Luz and has blessed us with His protection and with the return of the rains to our land.

Abram and I gathered all of Luz and all of Abram’s household to the Altar of Adonai there before the mountain, and we feasted and danced as we never had before.  The name of Adonai, long forgotten in our world, we remembered and called upon once more.

But not all that we discussed was pleasant, for it was my duty to tell Abram that war was seething in the land.  For twelve years at that time the people of Canaan had been in subjection to Chedorlaomer, who resided far to the northeast in the kingdom of Elam.  Abram was well enough acquainted with the Elamites from his days in Ur, and knew better than I what a fat and greedy overlord was this Chedorlaomer.  Now in the thirteenth year of his tribute from Canaan, rebellion was spreading. 

With the encouragement and support of Mardon, son of mighty Nimrod, Bera king of Sodom and Birsha king of Gomorrah, men I must sadly say are no better than Chedorlaomer, incited the smaller cities to open rebellion, while in their own cities they maintained an outward decorum of submission for the time being.  But Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of the little town of Zoar; these rebelled openly.  Yes, and the whole countryside was full of little villages that began refusing to pay tribute, and stoning to death Chedorlaomer’s messengers.  Mardon had no kingdom of his own, and this I am sure was his scheme to build an empire in Canaan.

In retaliation, the king of Elam and his allies, Armaphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, and Tidal who is called "king of nations", marched southward and smote the peasants of the land from Ashteroth-Kamaim, to Shaveh-Kirithaim, as far as mount Seir and El-paran, and returning on the East side of the Jordan they smote the Amalekites and the Amorites in towns such as En-mishpat and Hazezon-Tamar.

Inasmuch as these weaker towns were allies of Sodom and Gomorrah, Bera and Birsha were now amassing provisions and sharpening swords and spears for a retaliatory strike which must surely cast the entire land into utter turmoil.

Abram had little to say about these matters, inasmuch as he seemed to be an otherworldly man altogether.  He was content to live off of those lands which were not under dispute, and trusted El Elyon to decide these matters in His own time.

Chapter 21: Hagar

 

Hagar, Sarai's Maidservant

Setting: Genesis 13:1-2

I know not if Senusret suspected that I had been aware of Sarai’s marriage to Abram, but for one reason or another in anger he instructed me to leave with the house of Abram.  I could scarcely have done otherwise, for they left in haste, and my mistress was in need of my help to collect her things and depart without delay.

What an immense spectacle for the people of Egypt, to see this great man Abram leading flocks without number out of the city and into the wilderness, accompanied by all manner of servants and great riches, and his gorgeous wife riding at his side.  What an embarrassment to Senusret, whatever the magicians may say.

I had never before know the life of shepherds, and it was a great challenge for me to maintain a good attitude as we constantly moved through the harsh wilderness, surrounded by sheep and seemingly always in need of more water.  Sarai was a comfort to me then, for she had spent many nights in the wilderness, and seen many lands, and assured me that Adonai would provide, as He always had.

Abram and his wife and his household are a strange people, who serve a strange God.  But it is undeniable that the God is for the people, for they do succeed wherever they go.