Abram Leaves Egypt, Expelled By Soldiers

Pharaoh, we glean from the story, was not particularly pleased at the trick played on him by Abram, though we are not told how it was revealed. The Egyptian police of this totalitarian State, as we know from the history of the valley of the Nile, were well organized and given to prying into everything. In any case, reading between the lines, it looks as if the final interview was stormy. 'What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister so that I took her for my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go !' Pharaoh committed him to men who escorted him back to the frontier with his wife and all he possessed (Bereshith 12:18-20).

Abram left Egypt and, it is hardly astonishing, never returned there. He set out for the Negeb and on arrival at Bethel found there again the altar which he had set up to YAHWEH. There once more he called on YAHWEH to whom, during his sojourn in the idolatrous land of the Pharaohs, he had remained unwaveringly faithful.

Abram, A Nomad Shepherd

From Egypt Abram returned to the Negeb with his wife and all he possessed, and Lot with him. Abram was a very rich man, with livestock, silver and gold. By stages he went from the Negeb to Bethel, where he had first pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, at the place where he had formerly erected the altar. Here Abram invoked the name of YAHWEH. Lot who was traveling with Abram, had flocks and cattle of his own, and tents too. The land was not sufficient to accommodate them both at once, for they had too many possessions to be able to live together. Dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. ... Accordingly Abram said to Lot 'Let there be no dispute between me and you, nor between my herdsmen and yours, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land open before you? Part company with me; if you take the left I will go right; if you take the right I will go left' (Bereshith 13:1-9).

Here for the first time the Scriptures furnishes us with some details about Abram's pastoral life as a shepherd. It is explained by the fact that he who shortly before was the poor wandering shepherd, whose flocks had certainly been greatly reduced by the terrible drought mentioned above, had now returned from the Nile delta with considerably more livestock. Such details could not be passed over in silence in a pastoral civilization by storytellers who acted as guardians of the historical tradition. Abram and his nephew Lot (whom he calls his brother) from now on appear in the Scriptural narrative as important chieftains, rich in flocks and precious metals.

It will be of advantage at this point to consider shortly the customs of these nomads, to observe their daily life and follow their daily existence.

How The Patriarch Abram Was Dressed

Next to his skin the Hebrew of the nomadic period, just like his contemporaries who were settled on the banks of the Euphrates or the Nile, wore a sort of loin cloth. This was the saq, a rough and primitive garment, made of wool from sheep, goats or even camels, fastened round the waist by a belt. Memory of the ancient saq persisted for long among the people of Yisrael; from time to time it reappeared on days of mourning or penance.

Thus at the time of Abram the wandering shepherd wore a garment covering him from the waist to the upper thigh. There was nothing in the nature of a shirt. The sadin , which came into use at a much later period, was always reserved to the wealthy and, more especially, to elegant women.

Over the loincloth, the Hebrew of Abram's time had a choice of two garments. Either, for the poorest or for those who had heavy physical labour to perform, a sort of skirt fastened at the waist and reaching a little lower than the knees, the upper part of the body remaining unclothed, or else a tunic, made of a large square of cloth falling from the neck to the calves. Usually this tunic was fastened over the left shoulder, it then went down crosswise over the chest and under the right arm, to which it left freedom of movement. It was a woolen garment often woven of many colours and adorned with embroidery. For boys and girls this tunic was fairly long, coming down almost to the ankles.

The mantle was the outer garment. At first it was a single piece of cloth, though in Abram's time it would already have been provided with holes for the head and arms. In any case, it was the forerunner of the modern Arab's burnous. It was absolutely indispensable for protection against the low temperatures at night in the open air or in a tent. Thus, even at periods nearer our own the law forbade a creditor to keep a mantle, received as a pledge, after sunset; the lender was obliged to return, at least for the night this garment which, serving both as a cloak and a blanket was wrapped round the body for sleeping. At the early period with which we are concerned the cloak must often have been made of the skin of an animal, since speaking of Esau (the third generation after Abram) Bereshith informs us that he was red...as though he were completely wrapped in a hairy cloak (Bereshith 25:25).

Women's clothes differed from men's by being of an appreciably ampler cut with a gaudier colour scheme. Generally, a woman covered her head with a veil but the law imposed no obligation to lower it. Frequently in the Scriptures women appear with their faces uncovered, even before strangers.

Shoes had soles of wood, reed or palm bark. An arrangement of straps attached them to the feet as we can learn from more than one allusion (see Bereshith 14:23).

Abram and all his family were provided with clothes as protection against the sun in summer, the rain of winter and the cold nights. They were shod for long journeys on foot across the pebbly stretches and the burning sands of the Negeb, or when they had to go from one oasis to another over the desert trails.

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