Abraham\u2014Gen_11:27-29; Gen_12:1-5<\/p>\n
After the flood, the sacred narrative rapidly conducts us to the man, the history of whose descendants\u2014their sins, their sorrows, their excellences, their rewards, and their punishments\u2014forms the great theme of the remainder of the Old Testament. It seems that in ten generations after the flood, mankind had again corrupted its way, and had fallen very far into forgetfulness of God. Yet God would not again destroy the earth for man\u2019s sake. The purpose of the Most High was to choose a man, and in him a family and a nation, to be his witness upon the earth, and the repository of ancient truths, and of Messianic hopes, until the fulness of redeeming time should come.<\/p>\n
The person on whom this choice fell was Abraham, Note: Or rather Abram, as he was at first named: but we find it convenient to give him throughout the name he subsequently acquired, and by which he is generally known.] the son of Terah, of the line of Shem, whose native place was \u201cUr of the Chaldees.\u201d Besides Abraham, Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran, though named last in the sacred text, was plainly the eldest, as was Abraham the youngest of the three\u2014although for dignity named first; for the father was 70 years old when the first of his sons was born, but he was 130 years old at the birth of Abraham, seeing that his son was 75 years old when his father died at the age of 205. Haran, however, died prematurely, \u201cbefore his father;\u201d and from the emphasis with which this is mentioned, it seems to have been in that age a most extraordinary thing for a man to be cut off in his prime. He left two daughters, named Sarah, Note: Or rather Sarai, as she was named at first: but we shall call her throughout by her later name.] and Milcah. The former became the wife of Abraham, and the other of his brother Nahor. The son, whose name was Lot, became famous from the connection of his history with that of Abraham. The great seniority of Haran is shown in the fact that his daughter Sarah, who became Abraham\u2019s wife, was but ten years younger than Abraham, and his son Lot seems to have been about the same age as the patriarch.<\/p>\n
In \u201cUr of the Chaldees,\u201d the word of God came to Abraham, when he was seventy years old, saying, \u201cGet thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land that I shall show thee,\u201d Act_7:3. The country to which he was to go was not indicated\u2014he was simply required to detach himself from all the ties of kindred and country, and proceed in a direction to be indicated. This was a hard command; but Abraham obeyed it, and forthwith quitted his native land. His father and brother were, however, willing to go with him. But they halted on the way, at Haran, in Mesopotamia, from some unknown cause, till the death of Terah, when the command to Abraham was renewed, and the country to which he was to proceed was clearly indicated. This was the land of Canaan\u2014destined to become the possession of this man\u2019s descendants. It may be conjectured that the Divine intention was to isolate Abraham and his seed completely, by removing him to a strange land; it did not consist with that purpose that he should thus be accompanied by his family into Canaan; but that, in regard to his filial affection, Abraham was graciously permitted to remain at Haran, and lay his father\u2019s head in the tomb, before any further indication as to the course of his journey was afforded.<\/p>\n
It is painful to state, that there can be no doubt that the family of Terah was involved in the general idolatry of the age and country. This is expressly affirmed in Jos_24:2 : \u201cYour fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (the Euphrates) in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.\u201d It is even asserted by Epiphanius and others that Abraham\u2019s father and grandfather were makers of idolatrous images. Bishop Newton and others question that men had descended so low in idolatry at this time as to employ images in their worship. But we do not feel so clear on this point, knowing that Laban, a member of this age and family, had images (the teraphim) which he called \u201chis gods,\u201d and which were at least used for divination, if not for worship.<\/p>\n
Ancient story and tradition undertake to fill up the blank in the early history of Abraham, by informing us of his search after the true God, his discovery of the impotence of idolatry, and of his persecution for righteousness\u2019 sake It happens that the name of the place from which Abraham came (Ur) means \u201cfire,\u201d on which simple fact is doubtless built the legend of his being cast into the fire by Nimrod (!) and miraculously delivered therefrom.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, seeing that Abraham must have already known the God who required him to quit for his sake all that he held dear, and whom he even to that extent obeyed; and seeing that he had acquired this knowledge while the member of an idolatrous family, he had doubtless meditated much on these things, and had been favored with special communications by that God who intended to make his name great, and to render him a blessing to many nations.<\/p>\n
A specimen or two of the early researches after truth, which Oriental or Jewish tradition ascribes to Abraham, may not be unpleasant to the reader. The Jewish legend is this\u2014Terah was an idolater, and as he went one day on a journey, he appointed Abraham to sell his idols in his stead. As often as a purchaser came, Abraham inquired his age, and when he replied, \u201cI am fifty or sixty years old,\u201d he said, \u201cWoe to the man of sixty who would worship the work of a day!\u201d so that the purchaser went away ashamed.<\/p>\n
One day a woman came with a bowl of fine flour, and said, \u201cSet it before them.\u201d But he took a staff and broke all the idols in pieces, and put the staff into the hands of the largest of them. When his father returned, he inquired, \u201cWho hath done this?\u201d Abraham said, \u201cWhy should I deny it?\u2014there was a woman here with a bowl of fine flour, and she directed me to set it before them. When I did so, every one of them would have eaten first; then arose the tallest and demolished them with his staff.\u201d Terah said: \u201cWhat fable art thou telling me? have they any understanding?\u201d<\/p>\n
Abraham replied, \u201cDo thy ears hear what thy lips utter?\u201d<\/p>\n
Whereupon Terah took him and delivered him to Nimrod, who said to Abraham, \u201cLet us worship the fire!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather the water that quenches the fire.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather the cloud which carries the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather the wind which scatters the cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather man, for he endures the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThou art a babbler,\u201d said the king. \u201cI worship the fire, and will cast thee into it. May the God whom thou adorest deliver thee thence!\u201d Abraham was then cast into the burning fiery furnace, but was saved by the power of the Lord.<\/p>\n
The Mohammedans have also large traditions on the same subject, from mixed Jewish and old Arabian sources. They enter largely into the contest between Abraham and Nimrod, of which we can only give the outline.<\/p>\n
Nimrod, forewarned of danger from the birth of a boy, commanded all the male children born at that time to be slain. Abraham was however preserved, and nourished secretly by his mother in a cave, but was sustained far more by miraculous food. There he grew and flourished. On stepping out the first time beyond the cave, he saw a beautiful star, and said, \u201cThis is my god, who has given me meat and drink in the cave.\u201d But soon the moon arose in full splendor, and made the star look dim. Then he said, \u201cThat is not my god, I will worship the moon.\u201d But when, towards morning, the moon waxed pale, and the sun appeared, he acknowledged the latter for his god, until he also sank below the horizon. He then asked his mother, \u201cWho is my god?\u201d and she replied, \u201cIt is I.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd who is thy god?\u201d he inquired further.<\/p>\n
\u201cThy father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd who is my father\u2019s god?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNimrod.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Nimrod\u2019s god?\u201d<\/p>\n
But his mother had by this time got to the end of her resources, so she struck him on the face, and bade him be silent. He was silent; but he thought within himself \u201cI will acknowledge no other God than he who created heaven and earth, and all that is in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then follows the affair of his destroying the idols, nearly as already given, his being brought before Nimrod, and condemned to the flames. A month was the pile in preparation, and every one who contributed wood to it, thought that he did his god service. \u201cThe women,\u201d it is said, \u201cwere especially active. They washed, or did other work for hire, and with their earnings bought wood wherewith to burn the blasphemer.\u201d Nimrod, after one more effort to convince Abraham of his own title to divine honors, consigns him to the fire. But God made the flames cool around him. They seemed to burn, but had lost all their warmth. Seven days was his faith tried in the fire, \u201cand,\u201d it is beautifully said, \u201cthese seven days Abraham, in later times, frequently called the most precious of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abraham\u2014Gen_11:27-29; Gen_12:1-5 After the flood, the sacred narrative rapidly conducts us to the man, the history of whose descendants\u2014their sins, their sorrows, their excellences, their rewards, and their punishments\u2014forms the great theme of the remainder of the Old Testament. It seems that in ten generations after the flood, mankind had again corrupted its way, and … Continue reading ““048. ABRAHAM\u2014GENESIS 11:27-29; 12:1-5””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}