That verse is not implying that God called Abe out of the blue, nor Abe at random of all persons. David saw Him by the threshing-floor of Araunah, standing between heaven and earth, with the sword drawn in His hand and stretched out over Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 21:16); and He appeared to Zechariah in a vision as a rider upon a red horse (Zechariah 1:9.). Abram was called, that through him all the families of the earth might be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). Did Abraham receive a call to leave Ur as alluded to in Acts 7:2-4? Then, when Terah returned, saw the mess, and asked Abe what had happened. Genesis 21:16-21. Abram was, in our vernacular, no spring chicken when he left Haran for Canaan. I found your contribution useful +1. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. He must leave his country, his relatives, and his fathers house. - 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. As Abram went from place to place, the will of God must have seemed like a riddle. God said it, and that settles it, whether you believe it or not. I like that. I guess he was mad that you were allowing yourself to be misled by the other, false idols.". (n) Though the oracle of God came to Abram, yet the honour is given to Terah, because he was the father. Some of 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. Ur was in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and was the starting point for Abraham's journey to Canaan. 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. Much of Abrams blessing was to come in the form of his offspring, but there was also the blessing that would come in the form of the Messiah, who would bring salvation to Gods people. Terah's Descendants. Later he was instructed to go up to Bethel (35:1; cf. l. 5. c. 24. (k) Ibid. In the light of all the objections which might be raised by Abram, such an appearance should not be unusual. 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. 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. Thanks for contributing an answer to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange! Here was the basis for the great name that God would give to Abram. (h) Ut supra. Terah may have told Abraham why he was leaving Ur and why he decided to settle in Haran. The relationship between the command of God to Abram in verse 1 and the incident at Babel in chapter 11 should not be overlooked. Judges 2:1). But in Genesis 18:1. it is stated that three men came to Abram, one of whom is introduced as Jehovah, whilst the other two are called angels (Genesis 19:1). Theologically, Genesis chapter 12 is one of the key Old Testament passages, for it contains what has been called the Abrahamic Covenant. The second promise of the Abrahamic Covenant was that of a great nation coming from Abram. 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. 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. Even to Noah He revealed Himself before the flood as one who was present on the earth. It follows that he was born when Terah was one hundred and thirty years old, and consequently sixty years after Haran. (i) Elmacinus, p. 31. apud Hottinger. At the time of the call, Abram did not know where this land was. 2. 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. 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. Can patents be featured/explained in a youtube video i.e. The obstacles were largely overcome by the initiative of God in the early stages of the life of Abram. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. With the choice of Abram and revelation of God to man assumed a select character, inasmuch as God manifested Himself henceforth to Abram and his posterity alone as the author of salvation and the guide to true life; whilst other nations were left to follow their own course according to the powers conferred upon them, in order that they might learn that in their way, and without fellowship with the living God, it was impossible to find peace to the soul, and the true blessedness of life (cf. 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. 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. It could be that they left in obedience to the call of God, which we read more of in Genesis 12. 129 Cyrus Gordon has suggested that the true Ur of Genesis 11:31 is to be found in northern Mesopotamia, probably northeast of Haran. Vos, Genesis and Archaeology, pp. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). He dare not become too attached to that which he cannot take with him. Three major promises are contained in verses 2 and 3: a land; a seed; and a blessing. 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. 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.. 63-64. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. However, Abraham discouraged potential customers from buying the idols, explaining to them the futility of worshipping statues that were only fashioned that very day. 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. Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave. 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, . He obeyed unquestioningly the commands of God, from whom he received repeated promises and a covenant that his "seed" would inherit the land. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran ( Genesis 11:26-32 ESV ). In any event, Abraham "set out for the land of Canaan, thus they came to the land of Canaan" ( Gen 12:5 ). 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. In particular, I want to underscore the process which God employed to strengthen Abrams faith and make him the godly man he became. Consequently, Terah was 130 years old when Abraham was born (205 -75 =130). Secondly, consistent with this approach, the author does not stress the timing of Abrams obedience. Wiki User 2012-12-08. Terah, their father, coordinated the gathering of his family to journey west to their destination ( Genesis 11:31 ). The mid-life crisis would have been past history for him. Why did Terah leave the city of Ur? Acts 7:2-4 supports this single call theory: The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in God was therein posing to Abe the idea of rejecting Terah as unworthy of Abe's full evangelistic effort. Terah wanted to leave Ur because he was afraid a war would start. But here are a few possibilities. They sought blessing in the product of their own labors, rather than in the promise of God. God called him to leave that city and to exchange his townhouse for a tent. But we know from Stephens words that the call came to Abram at Ur (Acts 7:2). Thirdly, the Angel of Jehovah is also identified with Jehovah by the sacred writers themselves, who call the Angel Jehovah without the least reserve (cf. The writer wished to stress here the positive aspects of the Christians walk, not his failures. 10. sect. (Antiqu. Terahs migration was partly perhaps a movement of a tribe of the Semites northwards (see Note on Genesis 11:28), made restless by the Elamites, who about this time overran Western Asia; but chiefly it had a religious motive: for Ur was the especial seat of the worship of the moon-god, Sin; and though Terah had not attained to the purity of Abrahams faith, yet neither was he altogether an idolater. But the opinion of the early Church has been vindicated most thoroughly by Hengstenberg in his Christology.). 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. Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). John 14:1-3). in 1971. Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Abram came from a pagan home. If His Word is not true and reliable, then we, of all men, are most miserable.. (6) The Christian walk is a process of growth in grace. They lived in a city called Ur . 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. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. 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). 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. 58-64. 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. 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. Haran was in the north, where Terah, Abraham's father, had taken him after Terah's father died (Genesis 11:27-32). By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. May God enable us to grow in grace as we walk the path which He has ordained, and as we continue to study the growth of the faith of Abram over many years. 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. That is my kind of hero. Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E. Hist. Is this inconsistent with the words of the writer to the Hebrews? Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Charran; and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell" Acts 7:2-4. they came unto Harantwo days' journey south-southeast from Ur, on the direct road to the ford of the Euphrates at Rakka, the nearest and most convenient route to Palestine. On the other hand, He appeared to Moses (Exodus 3:2) in a flame of fire, speaking to him from the burning bush, and to the people of Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 14:19, cf. We are, as I said before, never told why he packs it in in Ur and heads for Canaan. God is not only sovereign in salvation, but sovereign in the process of sanctification. "They came to Haran and dwelt there." 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). 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. Think of it. 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. The tent is thus the symbol of the pilgrim. The Hebrew word for "served" can also mean to "work," hence the tradition that Terah was a craftsman who made idols. 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. 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