Among the sons of Shem (called Hebrews after his descendant Heber, who
dwelt in Mesopotamia) was Abram, the good and faithful man, whom God
chose out to be the father of the people in whom He was going to set His
Light. In the year 1921, He tried Abram's faith by calling on him to
leave his home, and go into a land which he knew not, but which should
belong to his children after him--Abram, who had no child at all.

Yet he obeyed and believed, and was led into the beautiful hilly land
then held by the sons of Canaan, where he was a stranger, wandering with
his flocks and herds and servants from one green pasture to another,
without a loot of land to call his own. For showing his faith by thus
doing as he was commanded, Abram was rewarded by the promise that in
his Seed should all the families of the earth be blessed; his name was
changed to Abraham, which means a father of a great multitude; and as a
sign that he had entered into a covenant with God, he was commanded to
circumcise his children.

One son, Ishmael, had by this time been born to him of the bondmaid
Hagar; but the child of promise, Isaac, the son of his wife Sarah, was
not given till he was a hundred years old. Ishmael was cast out for
mocking at his half-brother, the heir of the promises; but in answer to
his father's prayers, he too became the father of a great nation, namely
the Arabs, who still live in the desert, with their tents, their flocks,
herds, and fine horses, much as Ishmael himself must have lived. They
are still circumcised, and honour Abraham as their father; and with them
are joined the Midianites and other tribes descended from Abraham's last
wife, Keturah.

Isaac alone was to inherit the promise, and it was renewed to him and