IV. =The Migration of A'bra-ham=, B. C. 2280?. No other journey in history has the _importance_ of that transfer of the little clan of A'bra-ham from the plain of Bab-y-lo'ni-a to the mountains of Pal'es-tine in view of its results to the world. Compare with it the voyage of the Mayflower. Its causes were: 1. Probably the _migratory instinct_ of the age, for it was the epoch of tribal movements. 2. The _political cause_ may have been the desire for liberty from the rule of the Ac-ca'di-an dynasty that had become dominant in Chal-de'a. 3. But the deepest _motive_ was _religious_, a purpose to escape from the idolatrous influences of Chal-de'a, and to find a home for the worship of God in what was then "the new West," where population was thin. It was by the call of God that A'bra-ham set forth on his journey (Gen. 12. 1-3). V. =The Journeys of the Patriarchs.= For two centuries the little clan of A'bra-ham's family lived in Pal'es-tine as strangers, pitching their tents in various localities, wherever pasturage was abundant, for at this time they were shepherds and herdsmen (Gen. 13. 2; 46. 34). Their home was most of the time in the southern part of the country, west of the Dead Sea; and their relations with the Am'o-rites, Ca'naan-ites, and Phi-lis'tines on the soil were generally friendly. [Illustration] VI. =The Sojourn in E'gypt.= After three generations the branch of A'bra-ham's family belonging to his grandson Ja'cob, or Is'ra-el, removed to E'gypt (Deut. 26. 5), where they remained more than four hundred years. This stay in E'gypt is always called "the sojourn." The event which led directly to the descent into E'gypt was the selling of Jo'seph (Gen. 37. 28). But we can trace a providential purpose in the transfer. Its objects were: 1. _Preservation._ The frequent famines in Pal'es-tine (Gen. 12. 10; 26. 1; 42. 1-3) showed that as shepherds the Is'ra-el-ites could not be supported in the land. On the fertile soil of E'gypt, with three crops each year, they would find food in abundance. 2. _Growth._ At the end of the stay in Ca'naan the Is'ra-el-ites counted only seventy souls (Gen. 46. 27); but at the close of the sojourn in E'gypt they had increased to nearly two millions (Exod. 12. 37; Num. 1. 45, 46). The hot climate and cheap food of E'gypt have always caused an abundant population. In E'gypt, Is'ra-el grew from a family to a nation.