Accordingly, the name of the true God was known and revered, at least in outward form, wherever Abram went, throughout the land. Abram had two brothers, Nahor and Charan (often anglicized as "Haran"), but Charan died. They lived in a city called Ur . 63-64. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran and said to him, Depart from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you (Acts 7:2-3). (l) Hist. Gordons view is discussed, but rejected by Howard F. Vos, Genesis and Archaeology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), pp. God called him to leave that city and to exchange his townhouse for a tent. The force of these facts has been met by the assertion, that the ambassador perfectly represents the person of the sender; and evidence of this is adduced not only from Grecian literature, but from the Old Testament also, where the addresses of the prophets often glide imperceptibly into the words of Jehovah, whose instrument they are. Secondly, the Angel of God was recognised as God by those to whom He appeared, on the one hand by their addressing Him as Adonai (i.e., the Lord God; Judges 6:15), declaring that they had seen God, and fearing that they should die (Genesis 16:13; Exodus 3:6; Judges 6:22-23; Judges 13:22), and on the other hand by their paying Him divine honour, offering sacrifices which He accepted, and worshipping Him (Judges 6:20; Judges 13:19-20, cf. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. 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. All that the Septuagint rendering proves, is that the translators supposed "the angel of the Lord" to be a created angel; but it by no means follows that their supposition is correct.). Terah died in Haran (Genesis 11:32), so Abraham was free to follow that call. Abram did not even know where he would settle. One purpose of the genealogy of chapter 11 is that it informs us that men were living shorter lives, and having children younger. That is the message of the New Testament (cf. As we will see next week, the Lord in His grace reached into a family that did not know Him and called Abram out to create a people devoted to Himself. First, what would motivate Terah to uproot his family and leave the great city of Ur to travel 1,000 miles to the land of Canaan? That's why they, including Abe and his wife, settled in Haran: they settled there in order to allow their father to live out the rest of his very old life in peace and ease. (i) Elmacinus, p. 31. apud Hottinger. Ancient Mesopotamia was a region centered upon the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Is quantile regression a maximum likelihood method? The report of this comparatively favorable state of things in the land of Kenaan would be an additional incentive to the newly enlightened family of Terah to accompany Abram in obedience to the divine call. 31 And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. Terah traveled 150 miles out of his way. This land never belonged to Abram in his lifetime, even as God had said (15:13-16). Terah started out well (11:31), journeyed about four months, probably stopped at Babylon and then did something very strange. l. 1. v. 105. Why do scholars think Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia? For some reason, Terah and his family stopped short of Canaan, and remained in Haran. 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. Terah is the one who told the people to leave Ur Kasdim in the book of Genesis, not Abram. According to the biblical book of Genesis, Abraham left Ur, in Mesopotamia, because God called him to found a new nation in an undesignated land that he later learned was Canaan. The final promise was that of blessingblessing for him, and blessing through him. 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. All rights reserved. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Haran.The Charran of Acts 7:4, that is, Carrhae in North-west Mesopotamia, about twenty geographical miles south-east of Edessa. 139 . 5: The fact that Genesis 11:10-31 is the record made by Shem. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. God called him in Ur, but Abram did not leave his fathers house or his relatives. We should not find this discouraging, but consistent with our own reluctance to put our future on the line in active, aggressive, unquestioning faith. 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. (n) Nat. The writer to the Hebrews pointed to Abraham as an illustration of a man who walked by faith, devoting more space to him than any other individual in chapter eleven (Hebrews 11:8-19). He must leave his country, his relatives, and his fathers house. So Terah had two reasons to leave the city of Ur of the Chaldees. 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. It is difficult to believe that Abrams public act of worship was not noted and viewed with particular interest by the Canaanites. (q) Travels, par. Terah may have told Abraham why he was leaving Ur and why he decided to settle in Haran. 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). 133-134. The Word of God is sufficient for mans faith. Terah wanted to leave Ur because he was afraid a war would start. Well, it was written in Genesis that his birth name was Abram, before God changed his name to Abraham, and that he was the son of Terah. Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Abram was called, that through him all the families of the earth might be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). And in the land of Kenaan was Melkizedec, the king of Salem, and the priest of the Most High God. 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. Hist. So, according to that oral history, Abe one day waited for Terah to go out of Terah's idol-making shop, and then Abe smashed all the idols except the biggest one that stood prominently in the corner of the shop. The angel of God, who shows the sacred seer the heavenly Jerusalem, and who is supposed to say, "Behold, I come quickly" (Revelation 22:7), and "I am Alpha and Omega" (Revelation 22:13), refuses in the most decided way the worship which John is about to present, and exclaims, "See I am thy fellow-servant: worship God.". 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 difference is important. While the exact meaning of the expression, called upon the name of the Lord may not be known, worship is surely described. 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. I see Terah took Abram, Lot & Sarai to go to Canaan, & died on route in Haran, seemingly before God spoke to Abram to leave his country. For the nation was to grow out of the family, and in the lives of the patriarchs its character was to be determined and its development foreshadowed. What more should we require than Gods Word? When he is promised a land, and when that land is not given, he must look beyond the promise to its Maker so that he may understand. Genesis 21:16-21. It is only when God wishes us to depart from the expected that we should look for guidance that is spectacular or unusual. Think of it. 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. He believes that the land is thus divided into three regions: one extending from the northern border to Shechem, the second from Shechem as far as Bethel, and the third from Bethel to the southern boundary.136. At the time of the call, Abram did not know where this land was. set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. Planned Maintenance scheduled March 2nd, 2023 at 01:00 AM UTC (March 1st, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup, Ticket smash for [status-review] tag: Part Deux. "And Terah died in Haran." Men of all nations would be blessed by the Scriptures which, to a great extent, came through the instrumentality of the Jewish people. Nearly one-fourth of the book of Genesis is devoted to this mans life. Little wonder that men like Peter and not Paul, are our heroes, for we can see ourselves in them. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 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. Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave. Vos, Genesis and Archaeology, pp. Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. The answer is because God told him to (Genesis ch.12). Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal (Joshua 8:30). And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, All the nations shall be blessed in you. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer (Galatians 3:7-9). Why was Abraham promised land that belonged to others (Genesis 12)? The heroes of the Bible are men with like passions (James 5:17) and feet of clay. 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 gives some background on the people in the family, interesting little tidbits about the individuals and events that occurred. Even if we render this passage, with Delitzsch, "making His messengers of winds, His servants of flaming fire," the allusion, as Delitzsch himself observes, is not to the creation of angels; nor can the meaning be, that God gives wind and fire to His angels as the material of their appearance, and as it were of their self-incorporation. 14-15. - All this occurred as a type for the future, that Israel might know and lay to heart the fact, that bodily descent from Abraham did not make a man a child of God, but that they alone were children of God who laid hold of the divine promise in faith, and walked in the steps of their forefather's faith (cf. Balaam He met in a human or angelic form, with a drawn sword in His hand (Numbers 22:22-23). The revelations consisted almost exclusively of promises; and so far as these promises were fulfilled in the lives of the patriarchs, the fulfilments themselves were predictions and pledges of the ultimate and complete fulfilment, reserved for a distant, or for the most remote futurity. 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. At the same time, it does not follow from this use of the expression Maleach Jehovah, that the (particular) angel of Jehovah was essentially one with God, or that Maleach Jehovah always has the same signification; for in Malachi 2:7 the priest is called Maleach Jehovah, i.e., the messenger of the Lord. Does With(NoLock) help with query performance? Abrams early history is partly that of his gradual disentanglement from country, kindred and fathers house, a process not completed until the end of chapter 13. Derek Kidner, Genesis (Chicago: InterVarsity Press, 1967), p. 113. The sovereignty of God in salvation is beautifully illustrated in the call of Abram. I would have assumed that Terah was a God-fearing man, who brought up his son, Abram, to believe in only one God, unlike the people of his day, but this was not so. 2: In Acts 7, verses 2 thru 4, Stephen states that God had called Abe prior to when the group had settled in the town called Haran. It tells us that verses 27-32 of chapter 11 are parenthetical,133 and not strictly in chronological order. 3, app.). On the form in which God appeared, in most instances, nothing is related. Having said this, I do not wish to glorify Abrams faith either, for as we shall see, it was initially very weak. 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. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran." In Genesis 11, we read that Terah came from Ur of the Chaldeans. The faith to which we are called is not faith in a plan, but faith in a person. Exodus 13:21. 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. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran ( Genesis 11:26-32 ESV ). Do you realize that it was probably years from the time Abram was called in Ur until he ended up in Canaan. 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. In the light of all the objections which might be raised by Abram, such an appearance should not be unusual. These two were the pivots, upon which all the divine revelations made to the patriarchs, and all the guidance they received, were made to turn. And later in the story Rachel, Terah's great-great-granddaughter, does seem keen to hold on to the Teraphim (household idols) as if they were a family heirloom (Gen 31:19). (Tomkins Studies on Times of Abraham, 55ff.). That verse is not implying that God called Abe out of the blue, nor Abe at random of all persons. 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. Moses account of his initial steps of faith makes it evident that much was to be desired, and to be developed in him. The early history consists of three stages, which are indicated by the three patriarchs, peculiarly so called, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and in the sons of Jacob the unity of the chosen family was expanded into the twelve immediate fathers of the nation. At Babel men chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the earth. Pharsal. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). He simply wrote, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out. Let us remember that Abram did go to Canaan, just as Moses went to Egypt, but not without considerable pressure from God. (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 . (6) The Christian walk is a process of growth in grace. (o) -----------Miserando funere Crassus, Assyrias latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas. Who the messenger or angel of Jehovah was, must be determined in each particular instance from the connection of the passage; and where the context furnishes no criterion, it must remain undecided. Many reach to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come thither. Do you know that after Abram entered the land of Canaan it was another 25 years until he had his son, Isaac? Do stay around and if you are willing to answer another questions, please read. vol. Do you believe it? God told Abram to leave without knowing where the path of obedience would lead, but believing that God was leading as he went. However, Abraham discouraged potential customers from buying the idols, explaining to them the futility of worshipping statues that were only fashioned that very day. Abe passed God's first personal test. The command of God to Abram is, in effect, a reversal of what man attempted at Babel. Abe replied something like, "I saw that remaining idol in the corner smash all the others. At Shechem, God promised to give this land to Abram (12:7). Terah was a high priest of the idol worshippers. This whole calculation exactly agrees with the incidental statement of Paul to the Galatians Gal 3:17 that the law was four hundred and thirty years after the covenant of promise. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. Exodus 3:2 and Exodus 3:4, Judges 6:12 and Judges 6:14-16, but especially Exodus 14:19, where the Angel of Jehovah goes before the host of the Israelites, just as Jehovah is said to do in Exodus 13:21). p. 282. I hope that's helpful Clive. 2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. He quoted the shopworn saying, God said it. Three major promises are contained in verses 2 and 3: a land; a seed; and a blessing. We reached the conclusion that God called Abram to leave Ur in order to travel to Canaan, and he did that before Terah's death, although he Why is the article "the" used in "He invented THE slide rule"? This seems to be upheld by Scripture: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and served other gods'" (Josh 24:2). Personally I believe that there is some kind of missionary function being carried out by Abram. What is the best way to deprotonate a methyl group? Here was the basis for the great name that God would give to Abram. The site of the great city was first discovered in 1854, and has since that time been excavated, revealing much about life in the times of Abram.130 While the actual period that Abram lived in Ur may be a matter of discussion, we can say with certainty that Ur was justified in its boast of being a highly developed civilization. God said it. . The dispersion of the descendants of the sons of Noah, who had now grown into numerous families, was necessarily followed on the one hand by the rise of a variety of nations, differing in language, manners, and customs, and more and more estranged from one another; and on the other by the expansion of the germs of idolatry, contained in the different attitudes of these nations towards God, into the polytheistic religions of heathenism, in which the glory of the immortal God was changed into an image made like to mortal man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:23 cf. Abram, like Paul, and true believers of every age, would acknowledge that it was God Who sought him out and saved him, on the basis of divine grace. God is not nearly so concerned with geography as He is with godliness. Hence, they all abode in Haran for the remainder of the five years from the date of Abram's call to leave his native land. But when He had established a covenant with him after the flood, and thereby had assured the continuance of the earth and of the human race, the direct manifestations ceased, for God withdrew His visible presence from the world; so that it was from heaven that the judgment fell upon the tower of Babel, and even the call to Abram in his home in Haran was issued through His word, that is to say, no doubt, through an inward monition. Benjamin of Tudela (p) speaks of it as in being in his time, and as two days journey from the entrance into the land of Shinar or Mesopotamia; and says, that in that place where was the house of Abraham, there is no building on it, but the Ishmaelites (the Mahometans) honour the place, and come thither to pray. Question:Clive wrote"I really enjoyed your Bible study. That is my kind of hero. . It grows through time and through testing. In Genesis 11, we read that Terah came from Ur of the Chaldeans. Those who recognized the hand of God in Abram and his descendants would be blessed by contact with them. It is probable that the revelation Abram had received from heaven was the means of removing this cloud from his mind, and restoring in him the knowledge and worship of the true God. For the election of God was not restricted to the separation of Abram from the family of Shem, to be the father of the nation which was destined to be the vehicle of salvation; it was also manifest in the exclusion of Ishmael, whom Abram had begotten by the will of man, through Hagar the handmaid of his wife, for the purpose of securing the promised seed, and in the new life imparted to the womb of the barren Sarai, and her consequent conception and birth of Isaac, the son of promise. Shem had converted Abe. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. 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). The family were in the city of Haran for five years. 176. by Ray. How long have you been a Christian, my friend? And as all our texts agree in the numbers here involved, it is obvious that the same adjustment of years has in this case to be made, whatever system of chronology is adopted. And viewed with particular interest by the Canaanites king of Salem, and our.. Nahor, and terah died in Haran parenthetical,133 and not strictly in chronological.... Of Edessa missionary function being carried out by Abram that Abram did to. Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 & quot ; brothers and fathers, listen to me neither purposeful pious... Salvation is beautifully illustrated in the land of Canaan, just as moses went to Egypt but... Which we are called is not faith in a human or angelic form, with drawn! 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