Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Terah may have told Abraham why he was leaving Ur and why he decided to settle in Haran. God called him to leave that city and to exchange his townhouse for a tent. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran." Balaam He met in a human or angelic form, with a drawn sword in His hand (Numbers 22:22-23). I am greatly distressed by the glamorizing of heroes, especially by Christians. The command of God to Abram is, in effect, a reversal of what man attempted at Babel. 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. We reached the conclusion that God called Abram to leave Ur in order to travel to Canaan, and he did that before Terah's death, although he Stephen clarifies the time that Abram was first called of God. How unlike mans ways are from Gods. For neither in the New Testament nor in the Alex. 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. In Genesis chapter 11, we are told that Terah, his son Abram, his grandson Lot and his daughter-in-law Sarai left their hometown called the Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the Land of Canaan. . He dare not become too attached to that which he cannot take with him. He left Haran, not because it was the easiest thing to do, but because God intended for him to do it. (l) Hist. Abram would have been on social security for over ten years. 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. Terah, Abraham's father, was grieving for his son Haran. Terah was a high priest of the idol worshippers. and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; that is, as Jarchi interprets it, Terah and Abram went forth with Lot and Sarai, or "with them" may mean with Nahor and Milcah: for Josephus (h) says, that all went into Charan of Mesopotamia, the whole family of Terah; and the Arabic historian (i) is express for it,"Terah went out from Chorasan, and with him Abram, Nahor, Lot, his children, and their wives, and he went to Charan, where he dwelt:''and it is certain, if Nahor and his wife did not set out with them, they followed them afterwards, for Haran was the city of Nahor, where his family in later times dwelt, see Genesis 14:10 what moved Terah to depart from Ur of the Chaldees seems to be the call of God to Abram, which, though after related, was previous to this; and he acquainting his father Terah with it, he listened to it, being now convinced of his idolatry and converted from it, and readily obeyed the divine will; and being the father of Abram, is represented as the head of the family, as he was, and their leader in this transaction; who encouraged their departure from the idolatrous country in which they were, and set out with them to seek another, where they might more freely and safely worship the true God. verse 6). It is critical to a correct understanding of Bible prophecy. This made Serug Abraham's great-great-grandfather and an ancestor of the Israelites and Ishmaelites. Why did Terah leave the city of Ur? Did Abraham receive a call to leave Ur as alluded to in Acts 7:2-4? Terah coordinated the journey, intending to go to this new land, but stopped in the city of Haran along the way, where he died at the age of 205. 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. God is not only sovereign in salvation, but sovereign in the process of sanctification. But as we look back upon it, we can see that God was leading all the way. 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. d. What we do know, is that Terah NEVER LEFT Haran but died when the blessings were there . Abram died at the ripe old age of 175 (25:7-8), a much shorter time than Shem (11:10-11) or Arpachshad (11:12-13). - 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. There is no conflict here, since Haran was a CITY in the REGION known as Mesopotamia. It could be that they left in obedience to the call of God, which we read more of in Genesis 12. Why did Terah want to leave Ur? Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father died? Thus, he seems to have rejected Stephens words flatly. God providentially led Terah to pull up roots at Ur and to move toward Canaan (11:31). There are nearly 75 references to him in the New Testament. At both Shechem and Bethel he built altars, like Abram, his grandfather (33:20; 35:7). God also appeared to Moses at the time of his call (Exodus 3:2, etc.). But it seems in Genesis only the call to leave Haran is recorded. Secondly, consistent with this approach, the author does not stress the timing of Abrams obedience. 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). 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. Accordingly, the name of the true God was known and revered, at least in outward form, wherever Abram went, throughout the land. Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E. Now Abram was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, and consequently the call was given when he was seventy years of age - about five years before he entered the land of Kenaan Genesis 12:4. He quoted the shopworn saying, God said it. All he had to rely upon was God, Who had revealed Himself to him. 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. In Genesis 11, we read that Terah came from Ur of the Chaldeans. (r) Cartwright's Preacher's Travels, p. 14, 15. But the opinion of the early Church has been vindicated most thoroughly by Hengstenberg in his Christology.). Abrams life is a growth in faith developed under delayed fulfillment of divine promises. Genesis 2:5). 135 Haran, for example, in Assyrian (harranu) meant main road. Waltke, class notes, p. 14. And that brings us to the second reason. In fact, there was a workshop in Terah's house, where idols of wood, stone, silver and gold were made. Here in chapter 12 the general features of the covenant are introduced. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). Men of all nations would be blessed by the Scriptures which, to a great extent, came through the instrumentality of the Jewish people. The beginning of Genesis 12:1 indicate that the call had already been given and the response was only now being recorded. 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. Do what God tells you to do in the most sensible way you know how. The Chaldeans, no longer in existence, predate Israel. Hist. He simply wrote, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out. Let us remember that Abram did go to Canaan, just as Moses went to Egypt, but not without considerable pressure from God. He is removed to the better country, and by his departure contributes no doubt to deepen the faith of his son Abram, of his grandson Lot, and of his daughter-in-law Sarai. Ur was a large and prosperous city-state in Mesopotamia (present-day southern Iraq). God is not nearly so concerned with geography as He is with godliness. The pluperfect tense (had said) is both grammatically legitimate and exegetically necessary. (2) Abrams spiritual life continued through the sovereign work of God. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 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). Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 Brothers and fathers, listen to me. God had called him to gather his family and leave Ur behind. People came to offer sacrifices to these idols, or to buy them, and Terah had a thriving business. 58-64. The first time that God told this to Abe, it was God's way of provoking Abe to "get real" about Terah's idolatry. The answer is because God told him to (Genesis ch.12). So Terah had two reasons to leave the city of Ur of the Chaldees. How did Dominion legally obtain text messages from Fox News hosts? Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. Broken down with fatigue, he halts for a season at Haran to recruit his wasted powers. It is difficult to believe that Abrams public act of worship was not noted and viewed with particular interest by the Canaanites. 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. As such, it would have been an act flowing from faith. But this exclusiveness contained from the very first the germ of universalism. That is the message of the New Testament (cf. When Terah died, Abraham was free to set out from Haran on his way to Canaan. Many reach to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come thither. The people of Haran served the same moon god as the people in Terah's former location, the southern Mesopotamian "city of Ur". He had twelve chief gods, one for each month of the year, and other idols. 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. Why did Lot offer up his daughters to be gang raped? 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. At Babel men chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the earth. And, most important, I can find hope for a person like myself. But here are a few possibilities. - On the other hand, the objection is raised, that in the New Testament, which is confessedly the Greek rendering of , is always a created angel, and for that reason cannot be the uncreated Logos or Son of God, since the latter could not possibly have announced His own birth to the shepherds at Bethlehem. The Christian life is not knowing exactly what the future holds, but knowing Him Who holds the future. 2. ch. l. 5. c. 24. In one sense, the command of God to Abram was very specific. And, it may be worth noting, we see the name "Terah" alluded to in the word "Teraphim". How to delete all UUID from fstab but not the UUID of boot filesystem. Stephen informs us in Acts 7:2 "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. 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. Having called Abram, it was God Who providentially brought Abram to the point of leaving home and homeland and entering Canaan. In the year 1921 B.C. When he is promised a land, and when that land is not given, he must look beyond the promise to its Maker so that he may understand. Benjamin of Tudela (p) speaks of it as in being in his time, and as two days journey from the entrance into the land of Shinar or Mesopotamia; and says, that in that place where was the house of Abraham, there is no building on it, but the Ishmaelites (the Mahometans) honour the place, and come thither to pray. It was not in Haran, as a casual reading of Genesis 12 might incline us to believe, but in Ur. 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. He said in his comments on Genesis 12:7. Terah received instructions from God to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go into the land of Canaan. 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. Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. No wonder God commanded Abram to leave his fathers house (Genesis 12:1)! Prayerful conversation with the true and living God, also, while it was fast waning in the land of the Kasdim, seems to have been still maintained in its ancient purity in some parts of the land of Kenaan and the adjacent countries. 3: Genesis 12:1 is the Bible's record of the second time that God tells Abe to leave his father's household. Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his Th.M. First letter in argument of "\affil" not being output if the first letter is "L". Do you know that after Abram entered the land of Canaan it was another 25 years until he had his son, Isaac? The incongruity of God's covenant with Abram in Gen 12:1? This is why Genesis 12:1 says what it says. This covenant is the thread which ties the rest of the Old Testament together. 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