While what was to be left behind was crystal clear, what lay ahead was distressingly devoid of detail: to the land which I will show you.. (The date that Abram left the city of Ur and other patriarchs' timelines can be read here. 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. Kharan, and was so called in Accadian times, in which language the word means road, being, according to Mr. Sayce, the key of the highway from the east to the west. 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. When Sarah died, he had to buy a portion of the land for a burial site (23:3ff.). 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. 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. In the final analysis, that is all anyone can have. Stephen clarifies the time that Abram was first called of God. 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). (k) Ibid. Now Abram was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, and consequently the call was given when he was seventy years of age - about five years before he entered the land of Kenaan Genesis 12:4. The other day I heard a preacher put it very pointedly. Terah didn't give a rip about what God wanted because he didn't know or love Him. (6) The Christian walk is a process of growth in grace. 58-64. - 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. 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. "Now these are the generations of Terah. Abram would have been on social security for over ten years. 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. He came in the same form to Gideon, and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah with a staff in His hand (Judges 6:11 and Judges 6:21); also to Manoah's wife, for she took Him to be a man of God, i.e., a prophet, whose appearance was like that of the Angel of Jehovah (Judges 13:6); and lastly, to Manoah himself, who did not recognise Him at first, but discovered afterwards, from the miracle which He wrought before his eyes, and from His miraculous ascent in the flame of the altar, that He was the Angel of Jehovah (Judges 13:9-20). For neither in the New Testament nor in the Alex. As a perfectly new beginning, therefore, the patriarchal history assumed the form of a family history, in which the grace of God prepared the ground for the coming Israel. I respect Abraham for not only leaving the security of his father's home, but also the familiarity of his father's faith. Rather than thinking of a new land and a new life, most of us would have been thinking in terms of a rocking chair and a rest home. I guess he was mad that you were allowing yourself to be misled by the other, false idols.". 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. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! 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. Rauwolff, who was in this town A. D. 1575, calls it Orpha; his account of it is this (q), that it is a costly city, with a castle situated on the hill very pleasantly; that the town is very pleasant, pretty big, with fortifications well provided; and that some say it was anciently called Haran and Charras: a later traveller (r) says, who also calls it Orpha,"the air of this city is very healthful, and the country fruitful; that it is built four square, the west part standing on the side of a rocky mountain, and the east part tendeth into a spacious valley, replenished with vineyards, orchards, and gardens: the walls are very strong, furnished with great store of artillery, and contain in circuit three English miles, and, for the gallantness of its sight, it was once reckoned the metropolitical seat of Mesopotamia. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). Genesis - NIV Application Commentary by John Walton. 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. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 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. In the land of Uz, a Shemite, perhaps even at a later period, lived Job; and in the neighboring districts of Arabia were his several friends, all of whom acknowledged the true God. Question:Clive wrote"I really enjoyed your Bible study. The death of Haran, his oldest son, loosened his attachment to the land of his birth. There are nearly 75 references to him in the New Testament. 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. There are many speculations on why Terah took his family, left the Ur of the Chaldeans and headed for Canaan. Terah coordinated the journey, intending to go to this new land, but stopped in the city of Haran along the way, where he died at the age of 205. This land never belonged to Abram in his lifetime, even as God had said (15:13-16). But we know from Stephens words that the call came to Abram at Ur (Acts 7:2). Real blessing does not come from toil and agonizing hours of labor, but from the fruit of intimacy, namely children. For the essential unity of the Angel of Jehovah with Jehovah Himself follows indisputably from the following facts. - On the other hand, the objection is raised, that in the New Testament, which is confessedly the Greek rendering of , is always a created angel, and for that reason cannot be the uncreated Logos or Son of God, since the latter could not possibly have announced His own birth to the shepherds at Bethlehem. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). 135 Haran, for example, in Assyrian (harranu) meant main road. Waltke, class notes, p. 14. He does not invest heavily in that which will not last. 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. In this life we cannot expect to fully possess what lies in the future, but only to survey it. Gordons view is held by Harold G. Stiflers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), pp. 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). We are, as I said before, never told why he packs it in in Ur and heads for Canaan. (1) Abrams faith was commenced at the initiative of 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. Terah ends up dying in Haran. 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. 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. 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. As such, it would have been an act flowing from faith. Genesis 2:5). 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. And, most important, I can find hope for a person like myself. Much more important than where he was, God was concerned with who he was, and in Whom he trusted. Why do scholars think Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia? - From these varying forms of appearance it is evident that the opinion that the Angel of the Lord was a real angel, a divine manifestation, "not in the disguise of angel, but through the actual appearance of an angel," is not in harmony with all the statements of the Bible. When Terah died, Abraham was free to set out from Haran on his way to Canaan. 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 could be that they left in obedience to the call of God, which we read more of in Genesis 12. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. 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). Shem had converted Abe. Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E. 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. He would have to take a roundabout route staying on "the fertile crescent," rather than taking a direct route across the desert. 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. (Antiqu. 2. 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. (m) Geograph. Terah, their father, coordinated the gathering of his family to journey west to their destination ( Genesis 11:31 ). Abram came from a pagan home. 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.). Accordingly, the name of the true God was known and revered, at least in outward form, wherever Abram went, throughout the land. The difference is important. Genesis 11:31 tells us that Ter'ah took Abraham, Lot, and Sarai, and began the journey to Canaan, perhaps out of grief for the loss of his son Haran, but certainly before the call on Abraham. "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). He had twelve chief gods, one for each month of the year, and other idols. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran." It's A Mystery Until This Day Terah turned north of his route to Canaan. In our best moments, our faith is vibrant and vital, but in the moments of testing, it is weak and wanting. Christian faith grows. Was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in (. The gathering of his birth that was not theirs for four hundred years Genesis 15:13 not! His way to Canaan labor, but from the fruit of intimacy, namely children God concerned. Was not theirs for four hundred years Genesis 15:13 Clive wrote '' I really enjoyed your Bible study than... 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