Abraham By R W Hayes

AUGUST 1992

What enters your mind when you think about Abraham ? Is it his
strong unswerving faith in God, his righteousness, his fair
mindedness, his patience, or the fact that he loved God and he loved
his neighbour so much. Whichever way you think about him he was a
remarkable man.

Originally called Abram, he was the son of Terah, a descendant of
Shem, who was one of Noah's three sons, and was born in the city of
Ur, a Chaldean city, where he married his half sister Sarai, who
later became known as Sarah.

When Abraham was born, 350 years after the Flood, in the city of Ur,
idolatry and the worship of the moon-god, `Sin', was being
practised. This idolatrous worship originated before the Flood and
was also practised in Babel or Babylon which was only 150 miles
away.

This worship of idols and pagan gods was practised in all of the
towns and cities (except Jerusalem) throughout the whole of the
region, known as the fertile crescent, from Egypt through Canaan,
North to Haran, (which is in Turkey), and then South East to Ur in
Mesopotamia, (which is known as Iraq today). See the end of this
document for a very rough map of the area and a list of the pagan
gods.

JOS 24:2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in
old time, {even} Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of
Nachor: and they served other gods. (KJV)

JOS 24:14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity
and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. (KJV)

JOS 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers
served that {were} on the other side of the flood, or the gods of
the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. (KJV)

I quote the above to show you the environment that Abraham was born
into. If his father Terah, and I would think most of the people in
the city, practised idolatry then one would have thought that it
would have been easier for Abraham to have done the same, but he
didn't, he followed God. It must have been difficult for both him
and his family at times because of his beliefs, and this may have
influenced Terah's reasoning when he decided to move his family to
Canaan.

Terah must have wanted to leave Ur for some reason because we are
told in Gen 11:31, that he took his family and left Ur to go into
the land of Canaan.

GEN 11:31 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. (KJV)

We learn later that the real reason he left was because it was God's
will, as Gen 15:7 tells us. Talking to Abraham God said:-

GEN 15:7 And he said unto him, I {am} the Lord that brought thee out
of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. (KJV)

Terah was 200 years old when he decided to move to Canaan, but on
the way they stopped at Haran, (in what is known as Turkey today,
this was another city devoted to the moon cult), some 600 miles from
Ur. It was in Haran that Terah died when he was 205 yrs old.

With regard to Abraham and his worship of God, it is likely that
he was influenced directly by Shem, (the son of Noah) who lived
for 600 years, dying 13 years after Abraham's wife Sarah. The lives
of Abraham and Shem overlapping by about 150 years, so that he,
Abraham, turned to God at an early age, not only because he was
taught the truth by Shem but mainly because it was the will of God.

This fact is made evident in Gen 12:1, when we are told God spoke to
Abraham. God did not speak directly with everyone, only those He
chose. Notice that when God asked Abraham to move, He said, "-----
from thy father's house", so although Terah had moved his family
away from Ur, God now asked Abraham to move away from his kindred,
and his fathers house.

GEN 12:1 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 shew thee: (KJV)

GEN 12:2 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: (KJV)

Abraham must have been a good person, in mind and heart, for God to
choose him in the first place, because although we know that
Almighty God can do anything, including changing a wicked person
into a good person, I do believe He looks on the hearts and minds of
people BEFORE He chooses them. Only He knows the truth of what is
inside people.

An example of this is given to us in the scriptures relating to Saul
of Tarsus. Here we have a man who was dedicated to God, who was
taught to worship in a particular way, and he sincerely believed
that he was doing the right thing in persecuting the followers of
Jesus.

In his mind, and in his way he thought he was doing what God wanted
him to do, he thought he was serving God.

It was on the road to Damascus that he was stopped in his tracks,
and shortly after that he had his eyes opened to the truth. The
Lord Jesus saw in Paul what few humans would have seen, an honesty
and a sincerity which was simply misguided, so He opened his eyes.

Back to Abraham; right there in Gen 12:4, we see the faith that
Abraham had in Almighty God.

GEN 12:4 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. (KJV)

He was asked to leave his family and go to a strange land, why?
Because if he did so God would make of him a great nation, and would
make his name great, and although he and his wife were old and
childless, he chose to obey God.

GEN 12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,
and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of
Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. (KJV)

This is another illustration of, `Flee sin', `Come out of the World'
put evil out of your life and out of your mind, which Almighty God
is continually saying to us throughout the bible.

There are some people who mistakenly believe that because Abraham
took Lot with him, that he disobeyed God, this is not so.

GEN 12:1 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 shew thee:

Strong's Concordance
Word: KINDRED Hebrew Def#: 4138

4138. mowledeth {mo-leh'-deth}; from 3205; nativity (plural 
birth-place); by implication, lineage, native country; also 
offspring, family: -begotten, born, issue, kindred, native(-ity).


I don't think God was saying in Gen 12:1, `get thee from thy
kindred', meaning, away from every one of your relations, as some
people believe, but `get thee from thy birthplace', otherwise how
do we explain in Gen 12:5, `-- and the souls that they had gotten
in Haran' ? Some of `these souls' could also have been relatives,
we just don't know.

I believe that God was saying to Abraham, get away from this
idolatry, this pagan worship, and take the souls who also believe in
Me, with you. This later becomes obvious when God sends His angels
to destroy Sodom, but Lot and his family are spared, in Gen 19:15-
16, because they are considered to be righteous in the eyes of God.
Lot must also have worshipped Almighty god for him to be saved.

So Abraham moved on and after a few years because of a famine in the
land he went down to Egypt. In Gen 12:13 it may seem to the first
time reader, or others, that Abraham asked his wife to tell a lie,
but this is not the case as Gen 20:12 shows us.

GEN 12:13 Say, I pray thee, thou {art} my sister: that it may be
well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
(KJV)


Now referring to Sarah;

GEN 20:12 And yet indeed {she is} my sister; she {is} the daughter
of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my
wife. (KJV)

Another thing that may seem strange to us is what is written in Gen
12:11-20, with regard to Sarah being a fair (beautiful) woman, when
she was about seventy years old. The same theme is repeated in Gen
20:, in relation to Sarah, when she is even older, as if she was
desired as a wife.

GEN 12:14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she {was} very fair. (KJV)

Strong's:- 3303. yapheh {yaw-feh'}; from 3302; beautiful (literally
or figuratively): -+ beautiful, beauty, comely, fair(-est, one), +
goodly, pleasant, well.

I think we must remember however that in those days people lived a
lot longer than we do now. And I think, that must have been because
the food was more nutritious, and the air and the water more pure.
So people then probably did not age as quickly as we do today, with
wrinkled skin, grey hair, and stooped backs etc.

As Abraham had feared, Pharaoh took Sarah into his household to be
his wife, but God intervened before he could violate her. So because
of God's intervention, Abraham and Lot with all of their clan, rich
in cattle, silver and gold, left Egypt and went to Bethel. Because
of the increasing size of their flocks and herds, Abraham and Lot
separated and Abraham showed us how unselfish he was by allowing Lot
to choose where he wanted to settle.

Since Abraham and Sarah continued to be childless, it appeared that
Eliezer the house steward would receive Abraham's inheritance. But
God promised Abraham that an heir would come from his own bowels.

GEN 15:4 And, behold, the word of the Lord {came} unto him, saying,
This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of
thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (KJV)

In Gen 15:12-14, God clearly shows us that the nation of Israel
would dwell in a strange land, (Egypt), which was not theirs, - as
slaves. They would be afflicted 400 years, but then they would come
out with great substance, and we know of course that that is exactly
what happened.

I mention this because even before Abraham had any descendants, he
was told that they would be enslaved, not very encouraging was it ?
I wonder how Abraham felt at the time, I do know however that his
faith in God never wavered.

Chapter 16 of Gen shows us that Sarah believed she never would have
children of her own so she said to Abraham, go in to Hagar my
handmaid, so that I might have children by her, which was the custom
in those days.

GEN 16:2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath
restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may
be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the
voice of Sarai. (KJV)

GEN 16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian,
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her
to her husband Abram to be his wife. (KJV)

GEN 16:4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she
saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
(KJV)

Once again there are some people who believe, quite wrongly, that
Abraham disobeyed God when he did this. Like I said earlier, with
God nothing is impossible, He knew what was in the minds and hearts
of Sarah and Abraham before even they did, and He allowed the union
between Abraham and Hagar to continue.

I BELIEVE THAT GOD WAS SHOWING TO ABRAHAM'S PEOPLE, AND IS SHOWING
TO US, THROUGH THIS ACT, THAT THE CHILDLESSNESS OF ABRAHAM AND SARAH
WAS NOT THE FAULT OF ABRAHAM. THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH HIS
REPRODUCTIVE ABILITY, AND THAT HE COULD FATHER A CHILD AT EIGHTY
FIVE/SIX YEARS OF AGE.

If for instance Sarah had had a child after all those barren years,
without Abraham having proved that he could father a child, it may
then have appeared to his clan that the father might have been
someone other than Abraham, she was after all a beautiful woman.

So later when Sarah did conceive and bore a son, Isaac, we all know
without doubt that it was by design, God's design in fact, as He
promised. The nation of Israel was started by Abraham and Sarah at
the time designated by God. See Gen 17:21.

In Gen 16:10, God promises Hagar that He will multiply her seed
exceedingly, and in Gen 17:20, God blesses Ishmael and says He will
multiply him.

GEN 16:10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply
thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
(KJV)

GEN 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have
blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a
great nation. (KJV)

Do you think for one moment that if God was displeased with either
Hagar or Abraham that he would bless them or the fruit of their
loins ? The answer is a definite NO! and there are a number of
examples in the bible to substantiate this.

In chapter 17 God made two covenants with Abraham and changed his
name from Abram to Abraham, meaning father of a multitude, and his
wifes name from Sarai to Sarah. Abraham was now ninety nine years old
and God was still testing his faith.

GEN 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I {am} the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect. (KJV)

GEN 17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will
multiply thee exceedingly. (KJV)


Perhaps because he was so much older or because of the covenant of
circumcision in verse 10 which God had told Abraham he and his seed
must keep; in verse 17 Abraham had his doubts as to whether he and
Sarah would ever have a child of their own, as God had promised, so
he asked that Ishmael be blessed.

Abraham's faith had wavered just a little, God sustained him and
answered him so:-

GEN 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed;
and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant, {and} with his seed after him.
(KJV)

GEN 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have
blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a
great nation. (KJV)

GEN 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah
shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. (KJV)

And now after God had reassured him, did Abraham say to himself
I've had enough of these promises? No! he did not, and don't think
for a moment that during all of these years, and especially at this
point in time, Satan wasn't trying to dissuade him, he was, but the
faith of Abraham was unshakable, as was his patience.

Each of these traits is very desirable, faith, patience, and the
ability to withstand the wiles of Satan. God looks for all of these
and more in each of us and we should be constantly striving to
develop these traits.

In Gen 17:10-14 the second covenant, that of circumcision was
outlined, and now we see just exactly how strong the faith of
Abraham was. How many people today would have done as Abraham did and
had himself and all males in his clan circumcised, as he did in
verse 23 ? A very painful operation at an early age, but I can
imagine at Abraham's age, very painful indeed. Quite obviously
everyone, especially the males, must have believed very strongly,
not only in Abraham but also in Almighty God to allow themselves to
be circumcised, this showed great faith indeed.

GEN 17:23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born
in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male
among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their
foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. (KJV)

At this point in time Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and Lot and
his family were the only ones spared. Abraham now moved on and dwelt
in a place between Kadesh and Shur called Gerar where a similar
scene to the one in Gen 12:11-20 took place. Sarah was now almost
ninety years old and yet the king of Gerar took her into his
household, obviously to be part of his harem, she must still have
been an attractive woman for that to happen.

I mention these things because when we read the bible we think we
know what it says, but unless we analyse each passage and try to
understand all that there is to know about the topic under
discussion, we will never really understand what God is saying.

Those days were lawless, each king in each city or territory made
his own laws and that is why Abraham had to say what he did about
Sarah being his sister, or he might have been killed.

Can you imagine what it must have been like in those days? You are
going on a journey so you must prepare a story that you hope will
appease the authorities and keep you alive even though you know it
may mean that your wife could be violated, what a terrible state of
affairs.

Anyhow, we know that God intervened and stopped king Abimelech from
violating Sarah and the king gave Abraham sheep, oxen, servants and
silver, and returned Sarah to him. In return Abraham prayed for
Abimelech and his household was healed.

GEN 20:4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt
thou slay also a righteous nation ? (KJV)

GEN 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and
his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare {children}. (KJV)

And now as He had promised, God opened the womb of Sarah and she
conceived and bore a son when she was ninety, and Abraham who was
now one hundred, named him Isaac. Twenty five years have passed
since God spoke to Abraham and told him to leave Haran and He would
bless him and make of him a great nation. We talk about the
patience of Job but what about the patience of Abraham and Sarah ?

We now learn that Hagar and Ishmael were banished in accordance with
God's wishes, see Gen 21:12, and God promises to make of him a
great nation.

Time passed and God put Abraham to the ultimate test, He asked
Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

GEN 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only {son} Isaac, whom
thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will
tell thee of. (KJV)

Can you imagine how Abraham must have felt at that moment ? He must
have been devastated. He waited twenty five years for his son to be
born, he raised him to be a fine young man of about twenty five, and
now God, who he also loved and knew to be a God of mercy and love,
asked him to do this terrible thing. His whole world at that moment
must have collapsed, he must have felt weak, drained, and in a
complete state of shock. But what did he do ? He did as God asked of
him, and the following morning he set out on this deadly journey.

Three days they walked, Abraham's heart must have been as heavy as
lead, and when they had almost reached the place that God had
chosen, Abraham and Isaac left the other two men that were with them
and went foreward on their own to the place of sacrifice.

I'm sure we've all read how this turned out and now in hindsight we
can all say with certainty, `we knew that God would not allow
Abraham to sacrifice his son', but Abraham didn't know this for
certain, he only had his faith to rely on and God to trust in.

What Abraham did know for certain was that everything God had
promised him had come to pass, he did know for certain that he could
rely absolutely on Almighty God, so he put his trust in Him.

It would be most unfair of me to ask, how do you think you would act
if God asked you to sacrifice your child, what would you think, what
would you do ? Would your faith stand up, would you put your trust
in God ? It would be unfair because God hasn't spoken to us as He
did to Abraham nor has He made personal promises to us, but
nevertheless it's worth thinking about.

We all talk about faith but do we really have faith like Abraham
had ? Let's hope and pray we are never put to the test.

Why do you suppose God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son ?
God Himself tells us.

GEN 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for
because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son,
thine only {son}: (KJV)

GEN 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand
which {is} upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies; (KJV)

GEN 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; BECAUSE THOU HAST OBEYED MY VOICE. (KJV)

God once again tested the faith of Abraham, but much more than that
He tested his love. If Abraham had loved his son more than he loved
God then the nation of Israel would not have issued from Abraham.

Because Abraham loved God more than anything or anyone else He was
blessed in abundance and as a result Almighty God blessed us all in
abundance by sending His only son to be sacrificed for our sins.

GEN 24:1 And Abraham was old, {and} well stricken in age: and the
Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. (KJV)

GEN 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge,
my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (KJV)

Love for God and towards God is reciprocal, if we OBEY God's voice
and obey His laws and commandments, (all ten of them) then He will
bless us also.

Sarah was one hundred and twenty seven when she died in Hebron and
she was buried in a cave at Machpelah. Abraham took another wife,
Keturah and fathered another six sons, he died at the age of one
hundred and seventy five and was buried in the same cave as Sarah.

Abraham was a shining example of how to live one's life to God. I
feel sure that if one obeys God in truth and sincerity as Abraham did
then one should be proud to know that one is descended from such a
wonderful person, I know I am.



A VERY ROUGH MAP OF `THE FERTILE CRESCENT'
__________________________________________

This worship of idols and pagan gods was practised in all of the
towns and cities throughout the whole of the region, known as the
fertile crescent, from Egypt through Canaan, North to Haran, (which
is in Turkey), and then South East to Ur in Mesopotamia, (which is
known as Iraq today).

This map is not drawn to scale, it simply shows the approximate
positions of the towns and cities throughout the region.

- - - - - - .
\.-.
\--.
n |�Carchemish
a \ �Haran
e / PADDAN-ARAM
n ./ Aleppo� N T �DurSharrukin
a a ./ Ebla� A R �Nineveh
r e |�Ugarit I E MESOPOTAMIA �Arabailu
r S ./ �Hamath R S �Ashur
e .|�Arvad Y E
t |�Sidon �Qatma S D �Mari
i ./ �Damascus
d |�Tyre
e /
M ./ �Hazor �Tuttul
|�Meggido �Shechem �Sippar
/ �Samaria O <--Sea of Galilea
|�Arsuf�Jericho | �Kuta
| N �Bethel| �Rabbath-ammon
| A �Gibeon.. AMMON
| N �Jerusalem ARABIAN DESERT �Babylon
| A .///. �Kish
| C �Ashdod .///.
|�Ashkelon .///.<-Salt Sea �Borsippa
Hebron� .//. �Nippur

<--- EGYPT . �Adab

�Gaza MOAB /�\ Lagash�
Beers�heba �Kir-moab ��� �Erech SUMER
� �Larsa
EDOM N �Ur
�Kadesh-barnea �Eridu

=========================

The following is a list of cities and the various pagan gods that
were worshipped in Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia 2000-500 BC.


Edom - Territory of the god Qaus, later Qos, national god of the
Edomites.
Kir-moab - Chemosh, national god of the Moabites.
Gaza - Dagon, national god of the Phillistines, later Marnas.
Ashkelon - Atargatis, as queen of heaven.
Ashdod - Dagon, national god of the Phillistines.
Ammon - Milkom, national god of the Ammonites.
Jerusalem- Yhwh, the God of the whole earth, (inscription from
Khirbet-Beth-lej, about 700 bc).
Tyre - Melqart, king of the city.
Damascus - Hadad Ramman, weathergod, and his spouse Atargatis.
Sidon - Astarte and her spouse Baal.
Byblos - Baalat Gebal, the mistress of Byblos and Reshef.
Arvad - Yam, a sea deity.
Qatna - Shamash, the sungod.
Hamath - Baal-Shamaim, `Lord of Heaven'.
Ugarit - Baal, the weathergod.
Ebla - Dagan, the lord of the country.
Aleppo - Hadad, the weathergod.
Haran - Sin, the moongod, honoured among the Aramaeans.
DurSharrukin - Nabu, god of the art of writing.
Nineveh - Ishtar, goddess of love and war.
Arbailu - Ishtar, as donor of oracles, and Ashur.
Ashur - Ashur, national god of the Assyrians.
Mari - Dagan, `King of the country'.
Sippur - Utu-Shamash, the sungod, and his spouse Shenirda-lja.
Kuta - Nergal, god of the underworld, and his spouse Ereshkigal.
Babylon - Marduk, national god of Babylonia, and spouse Zarpanitum.
Kish - Zababa, wargod with his spouse Inanna-Ishtar.
Borsippa - Nabu, god of writing and wisdom, and Marduk, national god
of Babylonia.
Nippur - Enlil, main god of Sumerians, and spouse Ninlil.
Adab - Ninhursag, the great old mother goddess.
Lagash - Ningirsu-Ninurta, lord of farmland and war, and spouse
Baba.
Erech - An-Anu, god of heaven and daughter Inanna-Ishtar.
Larsa - Utu-Shamash, sungod and spouse Shenirda-lja.
Ur - Nanna-Sin, moongod and spouse Ningal.
Eridu - Enki-Ea, god of fresh water, ocean, and wisdom, and
spouse Damgalnunna-Damkina.


Now you know the kind of idolatry and opposition that Abraham faced
in his day to day existence.

Don't think for a moment that you are not facing the same opposition
to-day because you are, only these days it is not so much in the
form of stone or wooden idols, though they are still being
worshipped. Buddhism springs to mind and also people who bow down
before statues of the virgin Mary and other saints, this is
idolatry, but so is the worship of anyone such as a pop star or a
sportsman or indeed anything over and above God. The biggest threat
we face however is SATAN, never underestimate his power or his
existence, if he can turn your mind away from God he will, be ever
watchful.
__________________________________

May Almighty God bless you in your study of His word.


Rik Hayes.
3, Christie Avenue,
Christies Beach,
South Australia. 5165.
Phone 08 382 0006.