Though proceeding by easy stages, the aged patriarch seems to have been exhausted by the length and the difficulty of the way. There are ample evidences of elaborate wealth, skilled craftsmanship, and advanced technology and science.131 All of this tells us something of the city which Abram was commanded to leave. Hence, also, Abram lingers in Haran, waiting to take his father with him to the land of promise, if he should revive so far as to be fit for the journey. God was going to make a new nation, not merely revise an existing one. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023. Did Abraham meet Jacob as alluded in Hebrews 11:9? Hence, his desire to keep up his connection with Abram, who was called of God. That verse is not implying that God called Abe out of the blue, nor Abe at random of all persons. Bob is a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, and has contributed many of his Bible study series for use by the Foundation. Why didn't Abraham tell Isaac the truth in Genesis 22? Broken down with fatigue, he halts for a season at Haran to recruit his wasted powers. Those who recognized the hand of God in Abram and his descendants would be blessed by contact with them. 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. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. Hence, it follows that Isaac, his seed, was born thirty years after the call of Abram. 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. It was both a very early and a very late outpost of Chaldean power. I am greatly distressed by the glamorizing of heroes, especially by Christians. But it was not the lot of Terah to enter the land, where he would only have been a stranger. (Note: The only passage that could be adduced in support of this, viz., Psalm 104:4, does not prove that God makes natural objects, winds and flaming fire, into forms in which heavenly spirits appear, or that He creates spirits out of them. Blessing would come through Abraham in several ways. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? It is quite possible that God made the three promises to Abraham's father Terah first, but he failed the test by remaining in Haran. The surroundings were comfortable in the civilised city of Ur, so Terah may have been reluctant to leave. It would be many years before Abram would fully grasp that this heir that God had promised would come from the union of he and Sarai. Historians share that the father of Serug was Reu. Not only did Terah worship idols, but he even operated a business selling deities. The family were in the city of Haran for five years. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran ( Genesis 11:26-32 ESV ). We are not inclined to be impressed with Abrams age because of the length of mens lives in olden times, but Genesis chapter 11 informs us that mans longevity was much greater in times past, than in Abrams day. The lesson we may need to learn is this: very often the way God would have us go is the most sensible way that we would have chosen anyhow. Can a VGA monitor be connected to parallel port? The account that can be deduced from these four sources looks like this: Abe had had decisive contact from Shem, as is implied by the fact that Shem's autobiographical account (Genesis 11:10-23) ends with Abe. in relation to Terah's genealogy, Abram's family in relation to Terah's death, the form of the 'calling' verb, the country Abram departed from, and the narrative art of the literary piece. If we fix our eyes upon the method of the divine revelation, we find a new beginning in this respect, that as soon as Abram is called, we read of the appearing of God. 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. He left Haran, not because it was the easiest thing to do, but because God intended for him to do it. (5) The Christian walk is simply doing what God has told us to do and believing that He is leading us as we do so. For some reason, Terah and his family stopped short of Canaan, and remained in Haran. Paul chose Abraham as the finest example of a man who is justified before God by faith apart from works (Romans 4). (m) Geograph. And in the land of Kenaan was Melkizedec, the king of Salem, and the priest of the Most High God. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. Abram was called, that through him all the families of the earth might be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). 137 Now we can understand why the Torah stressed, in all their detail, Abrams journeys on entering the land of Canaan, at first as far as Schechem, and subsequently up to Ai-Bethel. Abraham lived as a pilgrim, looking for the city of God: By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the some promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:9-10). Such will be the case as we can look back upon our lives from the vantage point of time. 135. This was God's first direct test of Abe, and Abe passed with flying colors. we get two critically different instances in which God told Abe to go to Canaan without his father's household. 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). There may well have been political or economic factors which made such a move expedient, apart from any spiritual considerations. Now Abram did leave Ur and go to Haran, but it appears to me that this was only because his pagan father decided to leave Ur. This chapter leaves them about mid-way between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt till Terah's death. This view was adopted by many Romish theologians, by the Socinians, Arminians, and others, and has been defended recently by Hoffmann, whom Delitzsch, Kurtz, and others follow. At both Shechem and Bethel he built altars, like Abram, his grandfather (33:20; 35:7). Ur was in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and was the starting point for Abraham's journey to Canaan. 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. Genesis 11:26-32 tells that Terah was a son of Nahor, the son of Serug, who was a descendant of Shem. 2. ch. 135 Haran, for example, in Assyrian (harranu) meant main road. Waltke, class notes, p. 14. All of this should remind us of the objections and obstacles which must have been in the mind of Abram when the call of God came. God was therein posing to Abe the idea of rejecting Terah as unworthy of Abe's full evangelistic effort. 5: The fact that Genesis 11:10-31 is the record made by Shem. How utterly irreconcilable this fact is with the opinion that the Angel of Jehovah was a created angel, is conclusively proved by Revelation 22:9, which is generally regarded as perfectly corresponding to the account of the "Angel of Jehovah" of the Old Testament. Christian faith grows. The inhabitants also of Ur had fallen into polytheism, or, if we may so speak, allotheism, the worship of other gods. 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. Beyond this, Abram was destined to become a blessing to men of every nation. It follows that he was born when Terah was one hundred and thirty years old, and consequently sixty years after Haran. Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abrams lie (Genesis 12:17)? In the light of all the objections which might be raised by Abram, such an appearance should not be unusual. Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran.(NIV). (Antiqu. "Abraham was a man of faith that works; Isaac, of faith that endures; Jacob, of faith that wrestles" (Baumgarten). God had called him to gather his family and leave Ur behind. This is why Genesis 12:1 says what it says. Terah and his family had been chosen by God to establish His seed on earth. God has said that all men are sinners, deserving of, and destined to eternal punishment. There is a dispute about that too, if we take into account the Samaritan Pentateuch we accept a version that states that Terah only lived 145 years. It is there that the specific details of the covenant are spelled out. Moses did not give us all the background needed to properly grasp the significance of the call of Abram, but it has been recorded for us in the Bible. The name must not be confounded with that of Haran, the father of Lot, as really it is in the Heb. It may be supposed at at that time God had then called Abe, and Abe's response to God's call was the dramatic ploy that Jewish oral tradition says that Abe did: Abe was determined to do anything necessary to try to convince his father, Terah, to take Shem's witness to heart. Context. However, Abraham discouraged potential customers from buying the idols, explaining to them the futility of worshipping statues that were only fashioned that very day. Yes, God twice told Abra(ha)m to "leave your father's household, and go to the land of Canaan." And, it may be worth noting, we see the name "Terah" alluded to in the word "Teraphim". Five years? The beginning of Genesis 12:1 indicate that the call had already been given and the response was only now being recorded. He had twelve chief gods, one for each month of the year, and other idols. Outside the Land, it was given to Abraham only to hear the Divine voice (v. 1); but here, in the land destined to be specifically dedicated to the service of the Lord, he was also vouchsafed the privilege of a Divine vision. U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1964), II, p. 328. Then, when Terah returned, saw the mess, and asked Abe what had happened. Most of the errors so popular in Christian circles concerning the nature of the life of faith can be corrected by a study of the life of Abraham. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran. as an appearance of "the angel of Elohim," and of "the God of Bethel" (Genesis 31:11, Genesis 31:13); and in his blessing on the sons of Joseph (Genesis 48:15-16), "The God (Elohim) before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God (Elohim) which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads," he places the angel of God on a perfect equality with God, not only regarding Him as the Being to whom he has been indebted for protection all his life long, but entreating from Him a blessing upon his descendants. Terah left the city of Ur probably for two reasons: 1. The Chaldeans, no longer in existence, predate Israel. We will examine these, first of all, for the purpose of obtaining a clear conception of the form in which the Angel of Jehovah appeared. to Harran, they settled there.(NIV). Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father died? Do you realize that it was probably years from the time Abram was called in Ur until he ended up in Canaan. (Note: The force of this difference cannot be set aside by the objection that the New Testament writers follow the usage of the Septuagint, where is rendered . 10. sect. Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. 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. Judges 2:1). Moses tells us that Abram was 75 when he entered the land of Canaan. version of the Old is used as a proper name; it is a simple appellative, as is apparent from the fact that in every instance, in which further reference is made to an angel who has appeared, he is called , with or without . Furthermore even though the call was to Abraham, God had stirred the heart of Terah to begin the journey to the very place he promised to Abraham so that when Terah died Abraham continued in God's divine will. Answer: Family Origin and Early History. Abe passed God's first personal test. Terah, their father, coordinated the gathering of his family to journey west to their destination ( Genesis 11:31 ). Now the promise to Abram was four hundred and thirty years before the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt Exodus 12:40. Terah, it seems, decided to stay in the northern Mesopotamian "city of Haran," (no connection with his son Haran) rather than continue the journey to Canaan, which was the family's original intent. Terah took him out of Ur (Genesis ch.11). Without it we are inclined to think that the call of Abram came at Haran, rather than at Ur. Later he was instructed to go up to Bethel (35:1; cf. God promised Abram a great name (what the people of Babel sought, 11:4) as a result of leaving Ur, leaving the security of his relatives, and trusting only in God. The death of Haran, his oldest son, loosened his attachment to the land of his birth. Moses account of his initial steps of faith makes it evident that much was to be desired, and to be developed in him. So we know that Abraham told his father Terah to leave, because God appeared to Abraham, not Terah. . Isaac also was strong in patience and hope; and Jacob wrestled in faith amidst painful circumstances of various kinds, until he had secured the blessing of the promise. From Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. Haran.The Charran of Acts 7:4, that is, Carrhae in North-west Mesopotamia, about twenty geographical miles south-east of Edessa. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! For the essential unity of the Angel of Jehovah with Jehovah Himself follows indisputably from the following facts. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. The incongruity of God's covenant with Abram in Gen 12:1? But we know from Stephens words that the call came to Abram at Ur (Acts 7:2). Terah wanted to leave Ur because he was afraid a war would start. Once, Terah needed to leave his store, and he appointed Abraham to sell the idols in his stead. On the other hand, Gods command was deliberately vague. 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. Are spelled out though proceeding by easy stages, the son of Serug Reu... 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