The man selected by the Almighty to be the ancestor of a people destined to exert so momentous an influence on the salvation of the world was ABRAHAM, or, as he was first called, _Abram_, the son of Terah, who lived in the eighth generation from Shem, in Ur of the Chaldees. Besides Abram, Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran, but Abram, though mentioned first, was in all probability the youngest of the three. From Ur, which may perhaps be identified with the modern _Orfah_[15], in upper Mesopotamia, where his family had become tainted with the generally prevailing idolatry (Josh. xxiv. 2, 14), Terah removed, and travelling in a southerly direction arrived at Haran or Charran[16], where he stayed. In this journey he was accompanied by his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, and seems to have intended to go into the land of Canaan (Gen. xi. 31), but this was prevented by his death at Haran, when he had reached the age of 205. After this event, a still more distinct intimation of the Divine Will was made to his son Abram, bidding him leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and go to a land which God would shew him. _There_, said the Almighty, _I will make of thee a great nation, and make thy name great, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed_. Severe as were the hardships which this call involved, painful as it must have been to flesh and blood to sever the ties which bound him to his family and his people, Abram did not refuse to follow the Hand which promised him guidance, protection, and a mighty future. At the age of 75, with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all that he possessed, he left Haran, crossed the Euphrates, and commenced his journey southward and westward towards the _Land of Promise_ (Acts vii. 4, 5).