{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5660","native_reference":{"book_number":10,"chapter_from":14,"chapter_to":14,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":13,"verse_to":13},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Bede</b>: And behold, one who had escaped came and reported to Abraham the Hebrew. It is evident from this passage that they err greatly who think that the people called Hebrews are named so from Abraham as if Ebrea, since Abraham himself is called a Hebrew; evidently from Heber, son of Joktan, in whose times the division of languages happened. However, \"Hebrew\" is interpreted as \"passer\" or \"one who crosses over,\" which clearly matches the faith and merits of Abraham. For he indeed transcended temporal desires and hastened to pass from the present world to future joys. The holy man, after all, is not a resident of the earth, but a traveler and stranger, saying to his Creator, \"for I am a sojourner with you, a stranger like all my ancestors.\" It is not in vain that, although both brothers, Abraham and Lot, descended from the line of Heber, not both are called Hebrews, but only Abraham; and he also left this name to the people of God born from him; but because he surpassed the world more perfectly, his crossing or passing was, as it were, an inheritable right that he passed on to his descendants, it is indicated by the surname what more he had received in grace than his brother. And aptly, Abraham is here first called a Hebrew, that is, a passer or crosser, as he was about to rescue his brother from the enemies, so that the Scripture might silently intimate that it is proper for those to save others from the perils of temptations by their teaching or intercession who themselves do not succumb weakly to the temptations of vices but know how to transcend them with a lively spirit. Moreover, Abraham freed his brother Lot, a man devoted to God, from the enemies, and also freed the Sodomites, people much odious to God, so that it might mystically prefigure that through his merits and intercessions often both the elect in the people of Israel and the reprobate are to be liberated from temporal evils: since only the elect can be saved from eternal destruction. It should also be noted that while the province of Sodom remained and was not yet punished, Lot the righteous was afflicted with temporal losses because of the reprobates, and the reprobates were delivered from temporal hardships by God's mercy because of Lot the righteous. But when the judgment of ultimate strictness fell upon the reprobate citizens, then the just was in no way touched by the punishments of the wicked, nor could anyone of the wicked participate in his miraculous salvation, but then only the good were saved, only the wicked were lost: in which clearly the state and the end of the whole world is expressed, for doubtlessly in this life, sometimes the good are temporally afflicted because of the nearness of the wicked, and because of the nearness of the good the wicked are temporarily delivered from adversities. But at the moment of final judgment, only the wicked will be eternally lost, only the just will be eternally freed.<br/><i>— Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Verse 13) And he who had fled, reported to Abram the passerby. And he himself was sitting by the oak of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eschol, and the brother of Aner, who were allies of Abram. Concerning this, which we have set forth to the passerby, it is written in Hebrew as Ibri (), for this indeed signifies a passerby. But what he says: by the oak of Mamre, the Amorite, we read better in Hebrew as by the oak of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eschol, and not the brother of Aner, as the Septuagint translated, but of Aner, so as to show that Mamre and Eschol, and Aner, were Amorites and brothers, allies of Abram.<br/><i>— Hebrew Questions on Genesis</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: How was it that the patriarch had no knowledge that such forces of war were on the rampage? Perhaps he chanced to be at a great distance from the conflict and for that reason knew nothing of it. \"Now, someone came and told Abraham the traveler,\" the text says, to remind us that he got the news on his return from Chaldea. You see, because he had his camp across the Euphrates, consequently he was described also as traveler. Right from the outset his parents gave him this name, suggesting to him ahead of time his movement from there. In other words, he was also called Abram because he would one day cross the Euphrates and enter Palestine. Notice how his parents, all unaware, and unbelievers to boot, gave the child the name under the influence of God's inventive wisdom, as was also the case when Lamech gave Noah his name. This, after all, is a characteristic of God's loving kindness, oftentimes to foretell—even through unbelievers—of events due to happen a long time later. So, the text says, someone came and told the traveler what had happened, the capture of his nephew, the great power of those kings, the sack of Sodom and the shameful flight. \"Now, he was camped near the oak of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol and Aunan, who were confederates of Abram.\" Perhaps at this point, however, someone might wonder, why was it that the just man Lot, alone of the fugitives from Sodom, was taken into captivity? Far from occurring idly or to no purpose, this was for Lot to learn through the events themselves the patriarch's virtue, and that others might also be saved, and that he might learn not to hanker after pride of place but yield to his elders.<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Genesis 35.12</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: WHY WAS THE NICKNAME “ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER\" GIVEN TO ABRAHAM? — He announced to Abram on the other side of the river. It is a nickname that the Greek copies indicate quite clearly; but for what motive? The reason he was called this seems to have been the fact that he came from Mesopotamia, crossing the Euphrates River, and set up his residence in Canaan. It was called \"the one on the other side of the river\" in the region from which it came. That's why Joshua the son of Nun says to the Israelites: What? Will you serve the gods of your fathers that are across the river? (Joshua 24:15) [<br/><i>— QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 28 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"6cc792e113ca11ce826f4f81b0c5d0a745401070806c3148beeb9f656dcadb52","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5660,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"35a4dce68de0fd9b920e93c69928bd15185c13483f284de47787b86e7d031e34","translator":null,"work":null}