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ABRAHAM IS CALLED

Chapter 11:27 to 12:8

Here begins the story of Abraham, a historical figure who appears very much in the Old and New Testaments.

Abram (as he was called at first), was probably born, grew up, was educated and married in the city of Ur, of ancient Chaldea. Ur was an important city in those times, according to excavations made by archaeologists: the city flourished in the times of Abraham, it had an active trade with the surrounding regions, and a vast library of books made of ceramics, which have recently been found still in good condition, translated and read.

His father Terah had three sons: Haran, Nahor and Abram.

• Haran, had a son, Lot, and two daughters, Milca and Iscah. Haran died before his father, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

• Nahor was born much later, because he married his niece Milca, daughter of Haran. He had a son from her named Bethuel, who became father of Laban and Rebecca (who married Isaac, son of Abram); Laban was the father of Leah and Rachel, who both married Jacob (son of Isaac).

• Abram had a wife called Sarai, daughter of Terah through a second wife (according to ancient traditions, Terah first married Yona, by whom he had Abraham; afterwards he married Tehevita, by whom he had Sarah).

Abraham served God, unlike his father and his relatives, who served other gods. Still in Ur, God appeared to him, instructing him to come out of there, leaving his family, and to go to the  land God would show him (Genesis 15:7, Nehemiah 9:7, Acts 7:2-4).

Obediently, Abram left with his wife Sarah, and also his father and his nephew Lot - perhaps they lived together, and knowing about the call of Abram, they wanted to go with him. Here in verse 11:31 we read that "Terah took his son Abram ..." by which we understand that Terah is mentioned as leader, because he was the head of the family.

Their destination was the land of Canaan, and to go there they had to go through Haran, where they stayed, possibly because of the health of Terah, as he died there at an age of two hundred and five years.

In 12:1  we have the substance of the call made to Abram in Ur: God promised to make Abram a great nation (he had no children because Sarai (my princess) was barren), and this is a reference to the nation of Israel, originated with the supernatural birth of Isaac. God promised to bless Abram and to magnify his name, which was fulfilled in a material way (13:2, 24:35) and also a spiritual way (21:22), making him famous (23:6).

Their relationship would be so intimate that God promised to bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. In him would be blessed all the families of the earth - in anticipation of the salvation of universal reach which would come from his main descendant: the Messiah.

Now his father had died, Abram departed from Haran with his wife and his nephew Lot - who may have been around his own age, seventy five years old. His father had delayed his journey and Lot would also bring him problems later. He had not fully obeyed the instruction to depart "from his family and from his father's house".

Abram took his material possessions, herds and flocks as well as his retinue of servants and maids, and when they came into Canaan, they went to Shechem, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, approximately the centre of Canaan (now Israel), near Mount Ebal, 934m high, from where all this land can be seen.

Between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, further south, lies a valley called Moreh where, at that time, there was an oak tree. Here God again appeared to Abram and promised to give this land to his descendants (not to him!). In this place, Abram built his first altar to the LORD in Canaan.

Then he went to a mountain between Bethel and Ai, probably Tel Asur, the highest in the region with an altitude of 1.111m, and there he built another altar to the LORD.

The Canaanites, descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, inhabited the land (hence its name). We understand that they were uncultured and idolatrous. At this point we are not told that the land "was flowing with milk and honey" - it only appears in Exodus 3:8, when Moses was called to free the people of Israel from the Egyptians, some five hundred years later. Indeed, in obedience to God's call, Abram had left a sophisticated city, civilized and advanced for those times, and reached a wild and dangerous land.

Abram did not spend much time there, but raised his tent and headed south (we do not read that God sent him there), toward the Negev - a very scarcely populated region because of the drought which ravaged it, even at that time.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

 

 

 

 

31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

 

5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis chapter 11, verse 27 to chapoter 12, verse 8