These extend over nearly all the lands of the Old Testament, from Chaldea to Egypt. They represent the separation of a Semitic clan from the great body of the race, which was then ruled by an Elamite dynasty; and they bring to our notice the political relations of the world about two thousand years before Christ, in the early Chaldean period of the East. 1. =From Ur to Haran.= (Gen. 11:27-32.) The family of Abraham (then called Abram) lived at Ur of the Chaldees, probably _Mugheir_, south of the Euphrates, and an early seat of empire. Thence, at God's call, they migrated, moving up the Euphrates to Haran, in Mesopotamia, probably the Roman Carrhæ, and the modern _Haran_, on the river Belik, 50 miles above its entrance into the Euphrates. Here the family remained until the death of Terah, Abraham's aged father, whose traditional tomb is still shown. 2. =From Haran to Canaan.= (Gen. 12:1-9.) A branch of the family, the descendants of Abraham's brother Nahor, settled in Haran; but Abraham and his nephew Lot moved on southward, past Damascus, to the land of Canaan. They paused first at Shechem, and afterward at Bethel, at each place building an altar; but after a time removed further southward, impelled by the dearth of food in the land. 3. =The Visit to Egypt.= (Gen. 12:10-20.) The famine caused a removal of the entire clan to Egypt, where the beauty of Sarah was the occasion of Abraham's deception, of Pharaoh's wrong, and of Abraham's expulsion from the land. He returned to his former abode at Bethel. (Gen. 13:3, 4.) 4. =The Removal to Hebron.= (Gen. 13:5-18.) This was occasioned by the scarcity of pasture for the immense flocks and herds of Abraham and Lot. The two chieftains made a division of the land, Lot choosing the Jordan Valley, north of the Dead Sea, near the city of Sodom, and Abraham the highlands around Hebron, anciently Kirjath-arba, now known by Abraham's title, _el Khalil_, "The Friend," _i. e._, of God.