&c., were blacks at that time. The servants or slaves, therefore, which Isaac had, must have been of that race. At that time there were no Ishmaelites, no Edomites, no Moabites, no Ammonites — no descendants of Abraham, Lot, Jacob or Esau, of any account; all these families, at the time of Jacob's flourishing, were but young, like himself, and, of necessity, were at that time but few in number; even in his own family there were but two sons, Jacob and Esau. From this it follows, therefore, that the slaves he had were somehow procured from among the people where he sojourned and got his great wealth. This, to the writer, appears as absolute demonstration.
Of the same race were the servants who were given to Abraham by king Abimelech, of Gerar, long before the birth of Isaac. See Gen. xx, 14, where there is an account of the great fear that king fell into on account of his love to Sarai, Abraham's wife. But God showed him, in a dream, that he must not touch her, or himself, with all his house, should die. Now, when Abimelech had seen God in this dream, and had been directed what to do, it is written, in the chapter above quoted, that he made great presents to Abraham of sheep, oxen, men and women servants, besides a thousand pieces of silver.
Now, if the servants who were given by Abimelech to Abraham, together with the sheep and oxen, were not property slaves, how could he have done it; or how could the righteous man, Abraham, have received them, and thus take away their liberty, if they had any, except he considered it right to enslave
