God promised Abram a great name (what the people of Babel sought, 11:4) as a result of leaving Ur, leaving the security of his relatives, and trusting only in God. This is why Genesis 12:1 says what it says. The former appears to us to be the only scriptural view. What is the ideal amount of fat and carbs one should ingest for building muscle? (l) Hist. Balaam He met in a human or angelic form, with a drawn sword in His hand (Numbers 22:22-23). 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). Why was Abraham promised land that belonged to others (Genesis 12)? Terah set out on his journey, no doubt, as soon after the call of Abram as the preparatory arrangements could be made. The Chaldeans, no longer in existence,. . First, the emphasis of Hebrews 11 is on faith. Do you believe it? Did God give an oath to Isaac as alluded in Psalms 105:8-10? Why did Terah died in Haran? Terah was the son of Nahor, who was of Noah's son's Shem's line. These two were the pivots, upon which all the divine revelations made to the patriarchs, and all the guidance they received, were made to turn. Abram came from a pagan home. When Sarah died, he had to buy a portion of the land for a burial site (23:3ff.). He would have to take a roundabout route staying on "the fertile crescent," rather than taking a direct route across the desert. There is no conflict here, since Haran was a CITY in the REGION known as Mesopotamia. 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. One of the first questions I had to answer for my current project was: why would only part of Abraham's family leave Ur? Do not expect that God will indicate each turn in the road with a clearly marked sign. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Are there conventions to indicate a new item in a list? At Shechem, God promised to give this land to Abram (12:7). 24. - 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. Having called Abram, it was God Who providentially brought Abram to the point of leaving home and homeland and entering Canaan. 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. ), which were repeated throughout the whole of the Old Testament, and even occurred, though only in vision, in the case of the prophet Zechariah. Abrams life is a growth in faith developed under delayed fulfillment of divine promises. 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. It was not until chapter 15 that a full description of the land was given: On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:18). A priest implies a considerable body of true worshippers scattered over the country. But the opinion of the early Church has been vindicated most thoroughly by Hengstenberg in his Christology.). Still, there may have been some tradition in the family, or knowledge handed down from patriarchal times, which made them look upon Canaan as their land of hope; and the expedition of Amraphel, king of Shinar, and others against the south of Palestine, recorded in Genesis 14:1-16, and confirmed by our large present knowledge of these popular movements, shows that we must not assume that, far removed from one another as were Babylonia and Canaan, therefore they were lands mutually unknown. This promise demanded faith on the part of Abram, for it was obvious that he was already aged, and that Sarai, his wife, was incapable of having children (11:30). Moses account of his initial steps of faith makes it evident that much was to be desired, and to be developed in him. It was both a very early and a very late outpost of Chaldean power. 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. Therefore, the failures are not mentioned. Terah is the one who told the people to leave Ur Kasdim in the book of Genesis, not Abram. What was Terah's son named? Although listed first among the three sons of Terah, at Genesis 11:26, Abraham was not the firstborn. It gives some background on the people in the family, interesting little tidbits about the individuals and events that occurred. Terah died in Haran (Genesis 11:32), so Abraham was free to follow that call. Broken down with fatigue, he halts for a season at Haran to recruit his wasted powers. It is only when God wishes us to depart from the expected that we should look for guidance that is spectacular or unusual. I do not find such people in the Bible. Hence, also, Abram lingers in Haran, waiting to take his father with him to the land of promise, if he should revive so far as to be fit for the journey. Judges 2:1). The family were in the city of Haran for five years. 63-64. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. Genesis 2:5). Why do scholars think Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia? Nahor lived 119 years. But Terah was influenced by other motives to put himself at the head of this movement. At Babel men chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the earth. 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. They strove to find security and renown by banding together and building a great city (11:3-4). Abram did not even know where he would settle. Such will be the case as we can look back upon our lives from the vantage point of time. And, most important, I can find hope for a person like myself. 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. Not only did Terah worship idols, but he even operated a business selling deities. One year? In this life we cannot expect to fully possess what lies in the future, but only to survey it. How long have you been a Christian, my friend? Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his Did Terah go to Canaan because God spoke to Abram?". (Tomkins Studies on Times of Abraham, 55ff.). From these events in the early stages of Abrams growth in grace several principles are found which depict the walk of faith in every age, and certainly in our own. Terah left the city of Ur probably for two reasons: 1. The Christian life is not knowing exactly what the future holds, but knowing Him Who holds the future. He said in his comments on Genesis 12:7. verse 6). It is there that the specific details of the covenant are spelled out. 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.). The beginning of Genesis 12:1 indicate that the call had already been given and the response was only now being recorded. 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 . 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. The command of God to Abram is, in effect, a reversal of what man attempted at Babel. 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. (Note: In the old Jewish synagogue the Angel of Jehovah was regarded as the Shechinah, the indwelling of God in the world, i.e., the only Mediator between God and the world, who bears in the Jewish theology the name Metatron. Our permanent home is not to be found in this world, but in the one that is to come, in the presence of our Lord (cf. "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. 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. l. 5. c. 18. He quoted the shopworn saying, God said it. Barnes' Notes on the Bible And Terah took Abram. But even if the address in Genesis 22:16, where the oath of the Angel of Jehovah is accompanied by the words, "saith the Lord," and the words and deeds of the Angel of God in certain other cases, might be explained in this way, a created angel sent by God could never say, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," or by the acceptance of sacrifices and adoration, encourage the presentation of divine honours to himself. Do you know that after Abram entered the land of Canaan it was another 25 years until he had his son, Isaac? How to delete all UUID from fstab but not the UUID of boot filesystem. Terah ends up dying in Haran. 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. But here are a few possibilities. Chapter 12 begins a new division in the book of Genesis. ). Terah was born when his father was 29 years of age. 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). The pluperfect tense (had said) is both grammatically legitimate and exegetically necessary. God told Abram to leave without knowing where the path of obedience would lead, but believing that God was leading as he went. (k) Ibid. c. Terah was an idol worshipper. From Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. 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. He had twelve chief gods, one for each month of the year, and other idols. I guess he was mad that you were allowing yourself to be misled by the other, false idols.". Much more important than where he was, God was concerned with who he was, and in Whom he trusted. But it was not the lot of Terah to enter the land, where he would only have been a stranger. Who the messenger or angel of Jehovah was, must be determined in each particular instance from the connection of the passage; and where the context furnishes no criterion, it must remain undecided. I can identify with men and women like this. It is true that from the very beginning God had manifested Himself visibly to men; but in the olden time we read nothing of appearances, because before the flood God had not withdrawn His presence from the earth. In the final analysis, that is all anyone can have. "And Terah died in Haran." 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. This seems to be upheld by Scripture: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and served other gods'" (Josh 24:2). But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. 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). (Note: The force of this difference cannot be set aside by the objection that the New Testament writers follow the usage of the Septuagint, where is rendered . Abraham received only one call (Genesis 12:1). Terah wanted to leave Ur because he was afraid a war would start. God is not only sovereign in salvation, but sovereign in the process of sanctification. 131 The city of Ur on the lower Euphrates River was a large population center, and has yielded extensive information in the royal tombs which were excavated under the direction of Sir Leonard Wooley and the sponsorship of the British Museum and the museum of Pennsylvania University. 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. 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. 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. Can a VGA monitor be connected to parallel port? All rights reserved. Now Abram obeyed God by faith and entered into the land of Canaan, but only after considerable preparatory steps had been taken by God. ''What detained Terah and his family here, when they intended to go further, is not said. Consequently such passages as Psalm 34:7; Psalm 35:5-6, etc., where the angel of Jehovah is not more particularly described, or Numbers 20:16, where the general term angel is intentionally employed, or Acts 7:30; Galatians 3:19, and Hebrews 2:2, where the words are general and indefinite, furnish no evidence that the Angel of Jehovah, who proclaimed Himself in His appearances as one with God, was not in reality equal with God, unless we are to adopt as the rule for interpreting Scripture the inverted principle, that clear and definite statements are to be explained by those that are indefinite and obscure. And, it may be worth noting, we see the name "Terah" alluded to in the word "Teraphim". Aben Ezra suggests, that the agreeableness of the place to Terah caused him to continue there; but it is very probable he was seized with a disease which obliged them to stay here, and of which he died. 129 Cyrus Gordon has suggested that the true Ur of Genesis 11:31 is to be found in northern Mesopotamia, probably northeast of Haran. If the city which Abram was told to leave was great, the home he left behind seems to have been less than godly. 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. 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. as an appearance of "the angel of Elohim," and of "the God of Bethel" (Genesis 31:11, Genesis 31:13); and in his blessing on the sons of Joseph (Genesis 48:15-16), "The God (Elohim) before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God (Elohim) which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads," he places the angel of God on a perfect equality with God, not only regarding Him as the Being to whom he has been indebted for protection all his life long, but entreating from Him a blessing upon his descendants. Abrahams blessing was largely to be seen in his descendants. 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. Once, Terah needed to leave his store, and he appointed Abraham to sell the idols in his stead. Even to Noah He revealed Himself before the flood as one who was present on the earth. Cassuto has suggested that the places mentioned (Shechem, Bethel, the Negev) are significant. 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. Wiki User 2012-12-08. He left Haran, not because it was the easiest thing to do, but because God intended for him to do it. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran ( Genesis 11:26-32 ESV ). Terah had still been an idolater, when God called Abe the first time. And the guidance vouchsafed had for its object the calling forth of faith in response to the promise, which should maintain itself amidst all the changes of this earthly life. 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. 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. Do what God tells you to do in the most sensible way you know how. It is critical to a correct understanding of Bible prophecy. The surroundings were comfortable in the civilised city of Ur, so Terah may have been reluctant to leave. Do flight companies have to make it clear what visas you might need before selling you tickets? And that brings us to the second reason. Does With(NoLock) help with query performance? Ephesians 2:19, I Peter 1:17, 2:11). 1. 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. God had never forbidden anyone from going with Abe. 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. We often read of Abraham, the man of faith, supposing that he was always that kind of man. That is my kind of hero. 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