At the end of three months the trees blossomed; Lot announced this to Abraham, who visited the spot, and saw to his surprise that the three trees had grown together to form one trunk, but with three distinct roots of different natures. At the sight of this miracle he bowed his face to the ground and said, “This tree will abolish sin.” And by that he knew that God had pardoned Lot. The tree grew and subsisted till the reign of Solomon, when it was cut down, and this was the tree which the Jews employed to form the Cross of Christ.[315] This tradition is, of course, Christian; though Jewish in origin, it has been adapted to the Gospel story. 6. THE BIRTH OF ISAAC. The country was wasted; travellers were few; those who passed by, and accepted Abraham’s hospitality, spoke with scorn of the sin of Lot, his nephew; and the neighborhood became intolerable to the patriarch, who resolved to change his place of residence for a while. He therefore went south, between Kadesh and Sur, and dwelt in Gerar. Now Sarah had bloomed again as fair as in her youth, as the angel Michael had foretold; and Abraham persuaded her to pretend again to be his sister, though Sarah, remembering the ill-success of this deceit before, hesitated to comply. Abimelech, king of Gerar, hearing of Sarah’s beauty, sent for her to his palace. He asked Abraham, “Who is this woman?” and he answered, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech inquired of the camels and of the asses, and they answered the same, “She is his sister.” But that same evening, as it grew towards dusk, as he sat on his throne, he fell asleep; and in dream saw an angel of God approach him with a drawn sword in his hand to slay him. The king in his dream cried out to know why he was doomed to death; and the angel answered, “Because thou hast received into thy house the wife of another man, the mistress of a house.” Abimelech excused himself, saying that Abraham had concealed the truth from him, and had said Sarah was his sister. “The All-Holy knows that thou hast sinned in ignorance,” said the angel; “but is it seemly, when strangers enter thy land, to be questioning closely into their connections? Know that Abraham is a prophet, and foreseeing that thy people would entreat his wife ill, he resolved to call her his sister, and he knew, being a prophet, that thou couldst not harm her.”[316] That night--it was the Paschal eve--the angel with the drawn sword traversed all the streets of the city, and closed the wombs of those about to bear.