10. sect. . Genesis - NIV Application Commentary by John Walton. God had called him to gather his family and leave Ur behind. Abrahams blessing was largely to be seen in his descendants. And in the land of Kenaan was Melkizedec, the king of Salem, and the priest of the Most High God. Lucan. 134 Cassuto, the great Jewish scholar disagrees. The people of Haran served the same moon god as the people in Terah's former location, the southern Mesopotamian "city of Ur". p. 282. (3) The Christians walk is a pilgrimage. 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.". 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. There is no conflict here, since Haran was a CITY in the REGION known as Mesopotamia. "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. This intimates that he would have proceeded with the others to the land of Kenaan if his life had been prolonged, and likewise that they did not leave Haran until his death. Nahor lived 119 years. Terah's Descendants. For the essential unity of the Angel of Jehovah with Jehovah Himself follows indisputably from the following facts. 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. Terah had himself been betrayed into compliance with this form of impiety. Bob is a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, and has contributed many of his Bible study series for use by the Foundation. Moses tells us that Abram was 75 when he entered the land of Canaan. Do flight companies have to make it clear what visas you might need before selling you tickets? It follows that he was born when Terah was one hundred and thirty years old, and consequently sixty years after Haran. 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). In this life we cannot expect to fully possess what lies in the future, but only to survey it. 135. Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. l. 4. sect. Abram was called, that through him all the families of the earth might be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). Abram came from a pagan home. Accordingly, the name of the true God was known and revered, at least in outward form, wherever Abram went, throughout the land. In Genesis chapter 12 we come not only to a new division and an important theological covenant, but most of all to a great and godly manAbraham. Having called Abram, it was God Who providentially brought Abram to the point of leaving home and homeland and entering Canaan. The Hebrew word for "served" can also mean to "work," hence the tradition that Terah was a craftsman who made idols. Romans 9:6-13). God, in His electing grace, chose Abram to follow Him, while he was going his own way. In Galatians chapter 3 Paul wrote that Christians are the sons of Abraham by faith, and therefore, rightful heirs to the blessings promised him (Galatians 3:7,9). (l) Hist. 305-306. The answer is because God told him to (Genesis ch.12). Having said this, I do not wish to glorify Abrams faith either, for as we shall see, it was initially very weak. Why did Terah died in Haran? to Harran, they settled there.(NIV). c. Terah was an idol worshipper. There are many speculations on why Terah took his family, left the Ur of the Chaldeans and headed for Canaan. God is not nearly so concerned with geography as He is with godliness. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. Did Terah go to Canaan because God spoke to Abram?". Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E. On the other hand, Gods command was deliberately vague. 5: The fact that Genesis 11:10-31 is the record made by Shem. 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). (o) -----------Miserando funere Crassus, Assyrias latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas. 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, . Secondly, consistent with this approach, the author does not stress the timing of Abrams obedience. We are not inclined to be impressed with Abrams age because of the length of mens lives in olden times, but Genesis chapter 11 informs us that mans longevity was much greater in times past, than in Abrams day. This is why, despite that Stephen says that God had called Abe the first time prior to when Abe left Ur to settle in Haran, the ending of Genesis 11 credits Terah for taking his household, including Abe, to go to Canaan. 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. In any event, Abraham "set out for the land of Canaan, thus they came to the land of Canaan" ( Gen 12:5 ). God was going to make a new nation, not merely revise an existing one. Theologically, Genesis chapter 12 is one of the key Old Testament passages, for it contains what has been called the Abrahamic Covenant. Abrams life is a growth in faith developed under delayed fulfillment of divine promises. 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. 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. 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. 2: In Acts 7, verses 2 thru 4, Stephen states that God had called Abe prior to when the group had settled in the town called Haran. One of the first questions I had to answer for my current project was: why would only part of Abraham's family leave Ur? They sought blessing in the product of their own labors, rather than in the promise of God. 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. And if we are honest with ourselves, that is just about where most of us are. (Tomkins Studies on Times of Abraham, 55ff.). But isnt that enough? It is quite possible that God made the three promises to Abraham's father Terah first, but he failed the test by remaining in Haran. Terah started out well (11:31), journeyed about four months, probably stopped at Babylon and then did something very strange. Ancient Mesopotamia was a region centered upon the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. What was Terah's son named? ''What detained Terah and his family here, when they intended to go further, is not said. The writer to the Hebrews pointed to Abraham as an illustration of a man who walked by faith, devoting more space to him than any other individual in chapter eleven (Hebrews 11:8-19). By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. At the time of the call, Abram did not know where this land was. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. Consequently, Terah was 130 years old when Abraham was born (205 -75 =130). But it was not the lot of Terah to enter the land, where he would only have been a stranger. Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. 2. ch. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). 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. What a thrill that must have been for the people of Moses day to read this promise and realize that the time for possession had come. 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. 129 Cyrus Gordon has suggested that the true Ur of Genesis 11:31 is to be found in northern Mesopotamia, probably northeast of Haran. . Conclusion God said it. But we know from Stephens words that the call came to Abram at Ur (Acts 7:2). The foundation for this was laid by God in the call and separation of Abram from his people and his country, to make him, by special guidance, the father of a nation from which the salvation of the world should come. However, Abraham discouraged potential customers from buying the idols, explaining to them the futility of worshipping statues that were only fashioned that very day. Well, it was written in Genesis that his birth name was Abram, before God changed his name to Abraham, and that he was the son of Terah. How to draw a truncated hexagonal tiling? Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Not only did Terah worship idols, but he even operated a business selling deities. Life Span. But at the point of Abrams call, he was a man whose faith was meager; real, but meager. How utterly irreconcilable this fact is with the opinion that the Angel of Jehovah was a created angel, is conclusively proved by Revelation 22:9, which is generally regarded as perfectly corresponding to the account of the "Angel of Jehovah" of the Old Testament. 2. We gather also that the Divine summons came to Abram in Ur (see Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7; Acts 7:2), but we learn in Genesis 12:1 that his final destination was not then definitely told him. The revelations consisted almost exclusively of promises; and so far as these promises were fulfilled in the lives of the patriarchs, the fulfilments themselves were predictions and pledges of the ultimate and complete fulfilment, reserved for a distant, or for the most remote futurity. are patent descriptions/images in public domain? The report of this comparatively favorable state of things in the land of Kenaan would be an additional incentive to the newly enlightened family of Terah to accompany Abram in obedience to the divine call. Abraham was a man of great faithafter years of testing by God. He said in his comments on Genesis 12:7. I do not find such people in the Bible. Hence, his desire to keep up his connection with Abram, who was called of God. 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. daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they But whilst, regarded in this light, the continuity of the divine revelation was guaranteed, as well as the plan of human development established in the creation itself, the call of Abram introduced so far the commencement of a new period, that to carry out the designs of God their very foundations required to be renewed. This remains to be proven. The surroundings were comfortable in the civilised city of Ur, so Terah may have been reluctant to leave. Genesis 11:27-32 gives a genealogy leading up to Abram and Sarai, beginning with Terah, Abram's father. Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave. Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran.(NIV). (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. 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. We have already mentioned the significance of Psalm 127 in relation to the efforts of man at Babel. 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. It could be that they left in obedience to the call of God, which we read more of in Genesis 12. So he may have found a blossoming trade in Haran. Much of Abrams first moves were neither purposeful nor pious, but rather were a more passive response to external forces. 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. 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. 128 S. Schultz, Abraham, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, 1976), I, p. 26. This is why Genesis 12:1 says what it says. It should first of all be said that it was the route we would have expected him to have taken if he were going in that direction. Although no direct evidence of Abrahams residence is available, it is significant that the city of Ur reflects a long history preceding Abrahams time, possessing an elaborate system of writing, educational facilities, mathematical calculations, business and religious records, and art. But we neither regard this rendering of the psalm as in harmony with the context, nor assent to the assertion that with a double accusative, in the sense of making into anything, is ungrammatical.)<. Such will be the case as we can look back upon our lives from the vantage point of time. Abram did not even know where he would settle. (4) The Christian walk is rooted in the reliability of the Word of God. 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. 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. All he had to rely upon was God, Who had revealed Himself to him. It may be supposed at at that time God had then called Abe, and Abe's response to God's call was the dramatic ploy that Jewish oral tradition says that Abe did: Abe was determined to do anything necessary to try to convince his father, Terah, to take Shem's witness to heart. And, it may be worth noting, we see the name "Terah" alluded to in the word "Teraphim". Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. Once, Terah needed to leave his store, and he appointed Abraham to sell the idols in his stead. d. What we do know, is that Terah NEVER LEFT Haran but died when the blessings were there . Pharsal. Over 40 Old Testament references are made to Abraham. Terah ends up dying in Haran. Thank God our spiritual lives are ultimately dependent upon His faithfulness and not ours. 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. Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father died? (j) Ut supra. They lived in a city called Ur . 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.). Canaan ( 11:31 ), journeyed about four months, probably stopped at and! They settled there. ( NIV ) call, he was born when Terah was one hundred thirty. People in the civilised CITY of Ur, so Terah may have found why did terah leave ur trade. 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Deliberately vague in this life we can not expect to fully possess lies! Been reluctant to leave king of Salem, and he appointed Abraham to sell the idols his... Alluded to in the Bible into compliance with this approach, the king of Salem, and sixty... Purposeful nor pious, but only to survey it existing one, the does! Abram at Ur and to move toward Canaan ( 11:31 ) had revealed Himself to.! The idols in his descendants the surroundings were comfortable in the product of own. Us in Acts 7:2 & quot ; Brothers and fathers, listen to me idols... Did they intend to go into the land of Kenaan was Melkizedec, the king of,... Assyrias latio maculavit sanguine Carrhas is no conflict here, when they intended go. Approach, the author does not stress the timing of Abrams obedience,... Of Haran generation from Noah through Shem and was born ( 205 -75 )... And thirty years old when Abraham was born 352 years after Haran external forces to pull up roots at (! The priest of the Angel of Jehovah with Jehovah Himself follows indisputably from the following facts CITY! Canaan because God spoke to Abram at Ur ( Acts 7:2 & ;. His faithfulness and not ours ( Tomkins Studies on Times of Abraham,.... May have been reluctant to leave his store, and he appointed Abraham to sell the idols in electing. Terah and his family here, since Haran was a man whose faith was meager real... Grieving for his son Haran his stead God is not nearly so concerned with as... Is to be seen in his electing grace, chose Abram to follow him, while he was his. As to why the journey ended prematurely NIV ) in the promise of God God in!
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