Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. Chapter 12 begins a new division in the book of Genesis. And if we are honest with ourselves, that is just about where most of us are. In Genesis chapter 12 we come not only to a new division and an important theological covenant, but most of all to a great and godly manAbraham. Accordingly, the name of the true God was known and revered, at least in outward form, wherever Abram went, throughout the land. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). This was God's first direct test of Abe, and Abe passed with flying colors. Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Lucan. This made Serug Abraham's great-great-grandfather and an ancestor of the Israelites and Ishmaelites. The Chaldeans, no longer in existence, predate Israel. 128 S. Schultz, Abraham, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, 1976), I, p. 26. In the final analysis, that is all anyone can have. Genesis 16, where He is mentioned for the first time, contains no distinct statement as to His shape, but produces on the whole the impression that He appeared to Hagar in a human form, or one resembling that of man; since it was not till after His departure that she drew the inference from His words, that Jehovah had spoken with her. When Abram had an encounter with God, [1] this brother directed his family to leave their native land and go to the land of Canaan. l. 5. c. 18. 129 Cyrus Gordon has suggested that the true Ur of Genesis 11:31 is to be found in northern Mesopotamia, probably northeast of Haran. The former appears to us to be the only scriptural view. The incongruity of God's covenant with Abram in Gen 12:1? This land never belonged to Abram in his lifetime, even as God had said (15:13-16). It gives some background on the people in the family, interesting little tidbits about the individuals and events that occurred. To our knowledge, he had no particular spiritual qualities which drew God to him. Cassuto concludes that Abrams journey unknowingly outlined the territory which would belong to Israel, and that the places he stopped symbolically forecast the future conquest of the land.137 In an additional comment, Cassuto adds the fact that these places were also religious centers of Canaanite worship.138 In effect, Abrams actions of building altars and proclaiming the name of the Lord prophesied the coming time when true religious worship would overcome the pagan religion of the Canaanites. Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran.(NIV). Although, for example, the knowledge and worship of the true God had been preserved in the families of Shem in a purer form than among the remaining descendants of Noah, even in the house of Terah and worship of God was corrupted by idolatry (Joshua 24:2-3); and although Abram was to become the father of the nation which God was about to form, yet his wife was barren, and therefore, in the way of nature, a new family could not be expected to spring from him. Wis. 13-15). Abram was secure and comfortable in Ur, a great city. Still, there may have been some tradition in the family, or knowledge handed down from patriarchal times, which made them look upon Canaan as their land of hope; and the expedition of Amraphel, king of Shinar, and others against the south of Palestine, recorded in Genesis 14:1-16, and confirmed by our large present knowledge of these popular movements, shows that we must not assume that, far removed from one another as were Babylonia and Canaan, therefore they were lands mutually unknown. But God had foretold that none need go with Abe except Abe's own household (which included his wife, and any 'employees' or 'servants' that Abe might have acquired). Terah started out well (11:31), journeyed about four months, probably stopped at Babylon and then did something very strange. It is true that from the very beginning God had manifested Himself visibly to men; but in the olden time we read nothing of appearances, because before the flood God had not withdrawn His presence from the earth. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. Abram died at the ripe old age of 175 (25:7-8), a much shorter time than Shem (11:10-11) or Arpachshad (11:12-13). This I believe to be a significant observation, for many Christians seem to feel that Gods way is the way of the bizarre and the unusual. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). Broken down with fatigue, he halts for a season at Haran to recruit his wasted powers. Joshua gives us helpful insight into the character of Terah in his farewell speech at the end of his life: And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods (Joshua 24:2). Why do scholars think Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia? In Galatians chapter 3 Paul wrote that Christians are the sons of Abraham by faith, and therefore, rightful heirs to the blessings promised him (Galatians 3:7,9). For the greater part of the temple furniture summed up in this passage, of which it is stated that Solomon made them of gold, was composed of pure gold; and if some of the things were merely covered with gold, the writer might easily apply the same expression to this, because he had already given a more minute account of their construction (e.g., Genesis 3:7). Answer: Family Origin and Early History. This points to the fact that Ur may have been one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the Tigris-Euphrates area when Abraham emigrated northward to Haran. Schultz, Abraham, ZPEB, I, p. 22. Terah was accordingly two hundred years old when he undertook the long journey to the land of Kenaan; for he died at two hundred and five, when Abram was seventy-five. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 63-64. Terah wanted to leave Ur because he was afraid a war would start. The land, as we have already said, is implied in verse 1. So he may have found a blossoming trade in Haran. Answer Terah is known in the Bible as the father of Abram (known later as Abraham), who in turn received the covenant promise of God regarding the future birth of His Son, Jesus. 131 The city of Ur on the lower Euphrates River was a large population center, and has yielded extensive information in the royal tombs which were excavated under the direction of Sir Leonard Wooley and the sponsorship of the British Museum and the museum of Pennsylvania University. Did Terah go to Canaan because God spoke to Abram?". Hence, Abram is placed first in the list of Terah's sons, simply on account of his personal pre-eminence as the father of the faithful and the ancestor of the promised seed; he and his brother Nahor are both much younger than Haran, are married only after his death, and one of them to his grown-up daughter Milkah; and he and his nephew Lot are meet companions in age as well as in spirit. They do not expect God to lead them in a normal, predictable fashion. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Besides, Abram and Sarai were no doubt especially dear to him, and he did not wish to lose their society. But why did they intend to go into the land of Canaan? As Abram subsequently continued this migration in simple dependance upon Gods guidance (Genesis 12:1), it was probably the Divine rather than the human purpose that is here expressed. I would hope that our study of the initial period of his life indicates otherwise. Moses account of his initial steps of faith makes it evident that much was to be desired, and to be developed in him. Since Abram was unwilling or unable to leave his father's house, God took Abram's father in death (11:32). In addition to this, He performs miracles, consuming with fire the offering placed before Him by Gideon, and the sacrifice prepared by Manoah, and ascending to haven in the flame of the burnt-offering (Judges 6:21; Judges 13:19-20). I am greatly distressed by the glamorizing of heroes, especially by Christians. Scripture intended to present us here, through the symbolic conquest of Abram, with a kind of forecast of what would happen to his descendants later. Cassuto, Genesis, II, pp. When Sarah died, he had to buy a portion of the land for a burial site (23:3ff.). Pharaoh, for example, was blessed by exalting Joseph. He dare not become too attached to that which he cannot take with him. verse 6). It is critical to a correct understanding of Bible prophecy. Anyone who then wanted to join Abe to go on to Canaan was up to them. When Israel went into the land of Canaan, to possess it under Joshua, these same key cities were captured: So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; (Joshua 8:9). The command of God to Abram was in conjunction with an appearance of God.134 While Moses mentioned only an appearance of God after Abram was in the land (12:7), Stephen informs us that God appeared to Abram while in Ur (Acts 7:2). Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran." Balaam He met in a human or angelic form, with a drawn sword in His hand (Numbers 22:22-23). "A faith, which laid hold of the word of promise, and on the strength of that word gave up the visible and present for the invisible and future, was the fundamental characteristic of the patriarchs" (Delitzsch). If so, when God spoke to Abraham, Abraham would remember that God had spoken to his father, Terah, which would make it more imperative for Abraham. Ur was a large and prosperous city-state in Mesopotamia (present-day southern Iraq). Aben Ezra suggests, that the agreeableness of the place to Terah caused him to continue there; but it is very probable he was seized with a disease which obliged them to stay here, and of which he died. Shem had converted Abe. With God's calling of Terah in verse 31, Ancient Israel was set on an irrevocable course. The obstacles were largely overcome by the initiative of God in the early stages of the life of Abram. On the other hand, He appeared to Moses (Exodus 3:2) in a flame of fire, speaking to him from the burning bush, and to the people of Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 14:19, cf. Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his Th.M. And, it may be worth noting, we see the name "Terah" alluded to in the word "Teraphim". But here are a few possibilities. The Hebrew word for "served" can also mean to "work," hence the tradition that Terah was a craftsman who made idols. are patent descriptions/images in public domain? Little of the culture, religion, or philosophy of the people of Ur was to be a part of what God planned to do with His people, Israel. Nahor lived 119 years. Stephen calls it Charran it is by Herodian (l) called by Ptolemy (m) Carrae, by Pliny (n) Carra, a city famous in Lucan (o) for the slaughter of Crassus, by whom it is called an Assyrian city. In attempting now to determine the connection between the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah (or Elohim) and the appearance of Jehovah or Elohim Himself, and to fix the precise meaning of the expression Maleach Jehovah, we cannot make use, as recent opponents of the old Church view have done, of the manifestation of God in Genesis 18 and 19, and the allusion to the great prince Michael in Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:21; Daniel 12:1; just because neither the appearance of Jehovah in the former instance, nor that of the archangel Michael in the latter, is represented as an appearance of the Angel of Jehovah. This is the reason why we have placed one hundred and thirty (seventy and sixty), in the genealogical table opposite Terah, because the line of descent is not traced through Haran, who was born when he was seventy, but through Abram, who by plain inference was born when he was one hundred and thirty years old. Who then wanted to join Abe to go into the land of Canaan a correct of! 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