Ur was in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and was the starting point for Abraham's journey to Canaan. (Antiqu. Context. 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 . When Terah died, Abraham was free to set out from Haran on his way to Canaan. Men of all nations would be blessed by the Scriptures which, to a great extent, came through the instrumentality of the Jewish people. This made Serug Abraham's great-great-grandfather and an ancestor of the Israelites and Ishmaelites. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. But it seems in Genesis only the call to leave Haran is recorded. 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. God was therein posing to Abe the idea of rejecting Terah as unworthy of Abe's full evangelistic effort. The Chaldeans, no longer in existence, predate Israel. Of this long period his seed was to be a stranger in a land that was not theirs for four hundred years Genesis 15:13. The command of God to Abram is, in effect, a reversal of what man attempted at Babel. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they The New Testament in no way diminishes the significance of the life and character of Abraham. The form of the Angel of Jehovah, which was discernible by the senses, varied according to the purpose of the appearance; and, apart from Genesis 21:17 and Genesis 22:11, we have a sufficient proof that it was not a real angelic appearance, or the appearance of a created angel, in the fact that in two instances it was not really an angel at all, but a flame of fire and a shining cloud which formed the earthly substratum of the revelation of God in the Angel of Jehovah (Exodus 3:2; Exodus 14:19), unless indeed we are to regard natural phenomena as angels, without any scriptural warrant for doing so. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. 14-15. Real blessing does not come from toil and agonizing hours of labor, but from the fruit of intimacy, namely children. God said it, and that settles it, whether you believe it or not. I like that. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. 24. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. Lucan. Now Abram obeyed God by faith and entered into the land of Canaan, but only after considerable preparatory steps had been taken by God. When he is commanded to sacrifice Isaac, he must obey with a willing heart of love, yet somehow see through to balance the command with the promise of the seed of a nation and leave the outcome to God and to find in God all sufficiency. 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). Terah is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy in Luke 3:34. The call of Abram is recorded for us in Genesis 12:1: Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your fathers house, to the land which I will show you., A better rendering of the first sentence of this call is found in the King James Version and in the New International Version, both of which read, The Lord had said to Abram, . 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). Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. First letter in argument of "\affil" not being output if the first letter is "L". Once in the land of Canaan, the route taken by Abram is noteworthy. When you stop to think about it, Abram had no concrete, tangible proof that a life of blessing lay ahead, outside of Ur, away from his family. Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). 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). Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. we get two critically different instances in which God told Abe to go to Canaan without his father's household. 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. (i) Elmacinus, p. 31. apud Hottinger. The second promise of the Abrahamic Covenant was that of a great nation coming from Abram. But the opinion of the early Church has been vindicated most thoroughly by Hengstenberg in his Christology.). 63-64. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). d. What we do know, is that Terah NEVER LEFT Haran but died when the blessings were there . Vos, Genesis and Archaeology, pp. Technically, the covenant with Abram is not found in chapter 12, but in chapters 15 (verse 18) and 17 (verses 2,4,7,9,10,11,13,14,19,21) where the word covenant appears. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. 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. Terah left the city of Ur probably for two reasons: 1. Rather, your question should be: why did Abraham leave Haran. We must confine ourselves to the passages in which "the Angel of Jehovah" is actually referred to. 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. 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. 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. Such will be the case as we can look back upon our lives from the vantage point of time. I do not find such people in the Bible. I am greatly distressed by the glamorizing of heroes, especially by Christians. 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. Did Abraham receive a call to leave Ur as alluded to in Acts 7:2-4? Consequently, Terah was 130 years old when Abraham was born (205 -75 =130). l. 1. c. 6. sect. In the first place, the Angel of God identifies Himself with Jehovah and Elohim, by attributing to Himself divine attributes and performing divine works: e.g., Genesis 22:12, "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me" (i.e., hast been willing to offer him up as a burnt sacrifice to God); again (to Hagar) Genesis 16:10, "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude;" Genesis 21, "I will make him a great nation,"-the very words used by Elohim in Genesis 17:20 with reference to Ishmael, and by Jehovah in Genesis 13:16; Genesis 15:4-5, with regard to Isaac; also Exodus 3:6., "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, and I am come down to deliver them" (cf. Having said this, I do not wish to glorify Abrams faith either, for as we shall see, it was initially very weak. As Stephen stood before his unbelieving Jewish brethren, he recounted the history of Gods chosen people, beginning with the call of Abraham: And he said, Hear me, brethren and fathers! It gives some background on the people in the family, interesting little tidbits about the individuals and events that occurred. 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. How unlike mans ways are from Gods. 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. I guess he was mad that you were allowing yourself to be misled by the other, false idols.". He obeyed unquestioningly the commands of God, from whom he received repeated promises and a covenant that his "seed" would inherit the land. And lastly, it appeared still more manifestly in the twin sons born by Rebekah to Isaac, of whom the first-born, Esau, was rejected, and the younger, Jacob, chosen to be the heir of the promise; and this choice, which was announced before their birth, was maintained in spite of Isaac's plans, or that Jacob, and not Esau, received the blessing of the promise. This is why, despite that Stephen says that God had called Abe the first time prior to when Abe left Ur to settle in Haran, the ending of Genesis 11 credits Terah for taking his household, including Abe, to go to Canaan. In one sense, the command of God to Abram was very specific. Abe replied something like, "I saw that remaining idol in the corner smash all the others. The first time that God told this to Abe, it was God's way of provoking Abe to "get real" about Terah's idolatry. Hence, his desire to keep up his connection with Abram, who was called of God. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. At Babel men chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the earth. At both Shechem and Bethel he built altars, like Abram, his grandfather (33:20; 35:7). Charan was Lot's father so he lived to be at least a young man, but he died before his own father Terah did. The Scriptures show that Terah was 70 year. 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. Gordons view is discussed, but rejected by Howard F. Vos, Genesis and Archaeology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), pp. 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. Terah had still been an idolater, when God called Abe the first time. 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. l. 5. c. 18. Did God give an oath to Isaac as alluded in Psalms 105:8-10? Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abrams lie (Genesis 12:17)? 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). God was going to make a new nation, not merely revise an existing one. 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. 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. 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. In the triple number of the patriarchs, the divine election of the nation on the one hand, and the entire formation of the character and guidance of the life of Israel on the other, were to attain to their fullest typical manifestation. Specifically, Stephen's comment, in reply to the high priest (Acts 7:1), is based on Jewish oral tradition, and was recognized by the Jewish High Counsel (called the "Sanhedren"). Romans 9:6-13). Can a private person deceive a defendant to obtain evidence? 305-306. The giants of the faith seem to be sterling characters with no evident flaws, with machine-like discipline, and unfaltering faith. What was Terah's son named? They followed the Euphrates River, with their herds, to the Paddan Aram region. 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. It was not in Haran, as a casual reading of Genesis 12 might incline us to believe, but in Ur. On the other hand, Gods command was deliberately vague. If God therefore would fulfil His promise, no more to smite the earth with the curse of the destruction of every living thing because of the sin of man (Genesis 8:21-22), and yet would prevent the moral corruption which worketh death from sweeping all before it; it was necessary that by the side of these self-formed nations He should form a nation for Himself, to be the recipient and preserver of His salvation, and that in opposition to the rising kingdoms of the world He should establish a kingdom for the living, saving fellowship of man with Himself. Then, when Terah returned, saw the mess, and asked Abe what had happened. In Genesis 11, we read that Terah came from Ur of the Chaldeans. I would hope that our study of the initial period of his life indicates otherwise. In particular, I want to underscore the process which God employed to strengthen Abrams faith and make him the godly man he became. All he had to rely upon was God, Who had revealed Himself to him. He would have to take a roundabout route staying on "the fertile crescent," rather than taking a direct route across the desert. One year? This is knowable to us by putting together five sources: 1: The very few Biblical references to the idolatry that Terah's household had practiced (ex: Joshua 24:2; Genesis 31:53b). I can identify with men and women like this. Blessing would come through Abraham in several ways. The inhabitants also of Ur had fallen into polytheism, or, if we may so speak, allotheism, the worship of other gods. 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. Wiki User 2012-12-08. Over 40 Old Testament references are made to Abraham. God called him in Ur, but Abram did not leave his fathers house or his relatives. Why didn't Abraham tell Isaac the truth in Genesis 22? We must remember that Cassuto, as a Jew, did not regard the New Testament to be authoritative. For , constructed with two accusatives, the second of which expresses the materia ex qua, is never met with in this sense, not even in 2 Chronicles 4:18-22. At the time of the call, Abram did not know where this land was. (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. 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. Terah started out well (11:31), journeyed about four months, probably stopped at Babylon and then did something very strange. The death of Haran, his oldest son, loosened his attachment to the land of his birth. Beside this, we frequently read of appearances of the "angel of Jehovah" (Genesis 16:7; Genesis 22:11, etc. As Abram went from place to place, the will of God must have seemed like a riddle. Pharaoh, for example, was blessed by exalting Joseph. Map of Ancient Mesoptomia (Courtesy israel-a-history-of.com). "They came to Haran and dwelt there." First, the emphasis of Hebrews 11 is on faith. It's A Mystery Until This Day Terah turned north of his route to Canaan. Terah, Jewish literature records, was a craftsman who made idols. Terah took him out of Ur (Genesis ch.11). 135. Filial piety, no doubt, kept Abram watching over the last days of his venerable parents, who probably still cling to the fond hope of reaching the land of his adoption. 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. What more should we require than Gods Word? The former appears to us to be the only scriptural view. But we know from Stephens words that the call came to Abram at Ur (Acts 7:2). 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. Such was true in Abrams 1ife.139 Such is the case with every believer. Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave. The faith to which we are called is not faith in a plan, but faith in a person. Those who first read the book of Genesis were about to take possession of the land which was promised Abram. 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? (2) Abrams spiritual life continued through the sovereign work of God. 5: The fact that Genesis 11:10-31 is the record made by Shem. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). It was both a very early and a very late outpost of Chaldean power. Since Abram was unwilling or unable to leave his fathers house, God took Abrams father in death (11:32). 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 was born when his father was 29 years of age. Nearly one-fourth of the book of Genesis is devoted to this mans life. (6) The Christian walk is a process of growth in grace. Terah traveled 150 miles out of his way. Here in chapter 12 the general features of the covenant are introduced. Question:Clive wrote"I really enjoyed your Bible study. to Harran, they settled there.(NIV). Historians share that the father of Serug was Reu. He does not invest heavily in that which will not last. The Redeemer was to come from the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), then from the descendants of Seth, then Noah, and now Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3). Abram was, in our vernacular, no spring chicken when he left Haran for Canaan. This was God's first direct test of Abe, and Abe passed with flying colors. 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). We should not find this discouraging, but consistent with our own reluctance to put our future on the line in active, aggressive, unquestioning faith. One purpose of the genealogy of chapter 11 is that it informs us that men were living shorter lives, and having children younger. In the words of Vos, Regardless of when Abraham left Ur, he turned his back on a great metropolis, setting out by faith for a land about which he knew little or nothing and which could probably offer him little from a standpoint of material benefits.132. The land, as we have already said, is implied in verse 1. Abraham was 75 years old when his father, Terah, passed away at 205 years of age as indicated in the book of Genesis. 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. Attachment to the Hebrews put it, he went out, not knowing he... That which will not last 1:17, 2:11 ) the Paddan Aram region left Haran for Canaan or responding other. Father 's household the opinion of the book of Genesis were about take... You believe it or not Elmacinus, p. 31. apud Hottinger genealogy in Luke 3:34 Mystery this! 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