(n) Though the oracle of God came to Abram, yet the honour is given to Terah, because he was the father. 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. So we know that Abraham told his father Terah to leave, because God appeared to Abraham, not Terah. At both Shechem and Bethel he built altars, like Abram, his grandfather (33:20; 35:7). What is the best way to deprotonate a methyl group? The pluperfect tense (had said) is both grammatically legitimate and exegetically necessary. . 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. 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. Many reach to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come thither. 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. Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father died? ). Abram was, in our vernacular, no spring chicken when he left Haran for Canaan. He would have to take a roundabout route staying on "the fertile crescent," rather than taking a direct route across the desert. 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. God commanded Terah to leave Ur of Chaldees for the land of Canaan in Genesis 11:31. b. Wis. 13-15). Additionally, we can conjecture that he was born sometime during the 20th century BCE and dwelt in the land of Ur, commonly referred to as Ur III by historians. Besides, Abram and Sarai were no doubt especially dear to him, and he did not wish to lose their society. to Harran, they settled there.(NIV). While not all Bible students agree on the location of Ur,129 most agree that it is the Ur of southern Mesopotamia, on what used to be the coast of the Persian Gulf. The heroes of the Bible are men with like passions (James 5:17) and feet of clay. Theologically, Genesis chapter 12 is one of the key Old Testament passages, for it contains what has been called the Abrahamic Covenant. 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! Abram would have been on social security for over ten years. 2. This covenant is the thread which ties the rest of the Old Testament together. Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. Chapter 12 begins a new division in the book of Genesis. Abram had two brothers, Nahor and Charan (often anglicized as "Haran"), but Charan died. Beyond this, Abram was destined to become a blessing to men of every nation. 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. That is what is implied in the Jewish oral tradition about Abe. The tent is thus the symbol of the pilgrim. In one sense, the command of God to Abram was very specific. The early Church regarded Him as the Logos, the second person of the Deity; and only a few of the fathers, such as Augustine and Jerome, thought of a created angel (vid., Hengstenberg, Christol. But the opinion of the early Church has been vindicated most thoroughly by Hengstenberg in his Christology.). Do what God tells you to do in the most sensible way you know how. in 1971. Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave. Wiki User 2012-12-08. 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. The name must not be confounded with that of Haran, the father of Lot, as really it is in the Heb. Having said this, I do not wish to glorify Abrams faith either, for as we shall see, it was initially very weak. we get two critically different instances in which God told Abe to go to Canaan without his father's household. 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. Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. ), which were repeated throughout the whole of the Old Testament, and even occurred, though only in vision, in the case of the prophet Zechariah. Conclusion Christian faith grows. Isaac also was strong in patience and hope; and Jacob wrestled in faith amidst painful circumstances of various kinds, until he had secured the blessing of the promise. Ur was in the southern part of Mesopotamia, and was the starting point for Abraham's journey to Canaan. I respect Abraham for not only leaving the security of his father's home, but also the familiarity of his father's faith. Haran was in the north, where Terah, Abraham's father, had taken him after Terah's father died (Genesis 11:27-32). Lucan. 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. Outside the Land, it was given to Abraham only to hear the Divine voice (v. 1); but here, in the land destined to be specifically dedicated to the service of the Lord, he was also vouchsafed the privilege of a Divine vision. U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1964), II, p. 328. Answer Terah is known in the Bible as the father of Abram (known later as Abraham), who in turn received the covenant promise of God regarding the future birth of His Son, Jesus. 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). 133 Although it may appear from a superficial reading of the account in Genesis (11:31-12:1) that God called Abraham while in Haran, thereby contradicting Stephens account that God called Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, the two accounts can be harmonized by noting that Genesis 11:27-32 is a parenthetical account of Terah introduced by a waw disjunctive, and that Genesis 12:1, introduced by a waw consecutive, carries on the main narrative which was discontinued in Gen. 11:26. Bruce Waltke, Unpublished Class Notes, Dallas Theological Seminary, pp. He obeyed unquestioningly the commands of God, from whom he received repeated promises and a covenant that his "seed" would inherit the land. 63-64. Now the promise to Abram was four hundred and thirty years before the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt Exodus 12:40. The faith to which we are called is not faith in a plan, but faith in a person. Abram did not even know where he would settle. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abrams lie (Genesis 12:17)? But as soon as Abram had gone to Canaan, in obedience to the call of God, Jehovah appeared to him there (Genesis 12:7). 130 Cf. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). 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. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! (i) Elmacinus, p. 31. apud Hottinger. 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). 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. But does such a claim contradict the words of Scripture? We have already mentioned the significance of Psalm 127 in relation to the efforts of man at Babel. 139 . 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.". Moses tells us that Abram was 75 when he entered the land of Canaan. God said it, and that settles it, whether you believe it or not. I like that. "Abraham was a man of faith that works; Isaac, of faith that endures; Jacob, of faith that wrestles" (Baumgarten). People came to offer sacrifices to these idols, or to buy them, and Terah had a thriving business. 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. 5: The fact that Genesis 11:10-31 is the record made by Shem. 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. This is the reason why we have placed one hundred and thirty (seventy and sixty), in the genealogical table opposite Terah, because the line of descent is not traced through Haran, who was born when he was seventy, but through Abram, who by plain inference was born when he was one hundred and thirty years old. The death of Haran, his oldest son, loosened his attachment to the land of his birth. How long have you been a Christian, my friend? It grows through time and through testing. Such was true in Abrams 1ife.139 Such is the case with every believer. 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. Rather, your question should be: why did Abraham leave Haran. We will examine these, first of all, for the purpose of obtaining a clear conception of the form in which the Angel of Jehovah appeared. (Antiqu. 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. Terah was just too old, by that time, to actually make any life in Canaan, and might even have died from the long journey that would have been required to get all the way to Canaan. He is promised a seed and when that seed is delayed, he must somehow see meaning in that delay and learn faith in God. The family were in the city of Haran for five years. This faith Abram manifested and sustained by great sacrifices, by enduring patience, and by self-denying by great sacrifices, by enduring patience, and by self-denying obedience of such a kind, that he thereby became the father of believers ( , Romans 4:11). God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). The obstacles were largely overcome by the initiative of God in the early stages of the life of Abram. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. 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. l. 4. sect. Though proceeding by easy stages, the aged patriarch seems to have been exhausted by the length and the difficulty of the way. Secondly, consistent with this approach, the author does not stress the timing of Abrams obedience. So he may have found a blossoming trade in Haran. All of this should remind us of the objections and obstacles which must have been in the mind of Abram when the call of God came. Did Terah go to Canaan because God spoke to Abram?". All rights reserved. Here was the basis for the great name that God would give to Abram. Why did God allow Lots daughters to later have sex with their father? Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). Do you know that after Abram entered the land of Canaan it was another 25 years until he had his son, Isaac? They followed the Euphrates River, with their herds, to the Paddan Aram region. 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 explanation of the order of events is confirmed by the statement of Stephen: "The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran. 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