Stephen
Terry, Director
The
Roots of Abraham
Commentary
for the May 7, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
“The
Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So,
he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:7,
NIV
This week we come to an
important nexus in biblical history, the story of Abraham. He is such an
important figure that for millennia, Jews have considered Abraham to be their father
and themselves his sons. It is strange then that so little of his life prior to
his exodus from Ur is shared in the Bible. We know that his father, Terah, was
an idolator,[i] but it is never explained
how an idolator could father a son who was a worshipper of the true God. Even
in the writings of Ellen White, we find little about Abraham prior to the death
of Terah, although she, too, acknowledges the widespread idolatry in Terah’s
family.[ii]
But we are not without sources for Abraham’s experiences in Ur and Harran
including Talmudic accounts as well as references from Flavius Josephus.[iii]
From the Bible we learn that
Nimrod ruled over an area in and near the Euphrates delta,[iv]
which included Ur where Abraham lived. This set the stage for confrontation
between the idolatrous ruler and the faithful servant of God. The story is rich
with symbolism and contains several types to be echoed in later antitypes with
which we are more familiar. I will share a synopsis of the story but those who
are wanting more detail can visit chabad.org, a Jewish history site which
provided much of the information I am sharing.[v]
Nimrod is told to have ordered the
construction of the Tower of Babel as a symbol of his power and authority, even
proclaiming himself a god in direct opposition to the true God. One night an unusual
star appeared in the sky and Nimrod consulted his astrologers to discover its
meaning. They predicted that it foretold a usurper that would overthrow his
rule. In response, he ordered the deaths of all male children to eliminate the
usurper. The one entrusted with this task was Terah, Abraham’s father. Nimrod
had driven most of the godly descendants of Shem from his realm. But Terah
chose to cast his lot with Nimrod and joined him in his idolatry. He faithfully
set about the task of destroying the male babies as ordered. But he was
conflicted about the task as his wife was pregnant and about to give birth. If
the child were a girl, all would be well. But she gave birth to a boy. When Nimrod
inquired about the birth, Terah offered him a boy born to a slave in his son’s
place and hid his son away out of the city. Nimrod, impressed with Terah’s
loyalty accepted the child as Terah’s own and put it to death. In ways this story
is a type, foretelling the murder of the innocents at the time of Jesus’ birth.
As Nimrod thought the problem was taken care of, so did Herod.[vi]
Once weaned, just as Moses was
turned over to Pharoah’s daughter, Abraham was sent to live with Noah and Shem
who shared with him what they knew of God and the history of humanity. Noah was
able to learn directly from Methuselah when he was alive and Methuselah got his
account from Adam, who witnessed the Fall and its results. This coupled with
the testimony of the natural world[vii]
was convincing for Abraham who cast his lot with the godly line. Feeling that
God needed a voice among the people in Nimrod’s kingdom, he returned to call
people to worship the one true God. He appealed to Terah, his father, and to Nimrod
to worship God. Nimrod asserted that he was a god, and that Abraham should worship
him instead. Abraham pointed out that the sun always rises in the east, so if
Nimrod could make it rise in the west that would demonstrate that he is God,
otherwise it would demonstrate that there is a power greater than his. This
angered Nimrod who ordered Abraham be cast into a pyre to perish in the flames,
but he came forth unharmed. This type foreshadows the three Hebrew worthies,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were also cast into a blazing fire for
failing to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. They also emerged unharmed.[viii]
This incident is offered up to
also explain why Lot, Abraham’s nephew accompanied him to Canaan. Haran, Lot’s
father was on the fence about Abraham’s preaching, but when Abraham emerged
unharmed from the fire, he decided to take his stand with his brother and
jumped into the fire himself, but unlike Abraham, he perished. Lot then
attached himself to his uncle, Abraham. When faced with Abraham’s invincibility
and Terah’s betrayal of his trust, Nimrod drove the entire family from Babylon.
They decided to settle in Harran, north of Canaan. Terah had been a priest
before Nimrod and his wife Semiramis, becoming wealthy by manufacturing idols
and selling sacrifices. When he was forced to leave all of that behind, he
chose to accept the God of Abraham. An interesting side note. Abraham’s
faithful servant Eliezer was given to him by Nimrod as recompense for having
him thrown into the fire. This is the same servant that Abraham thought would
become his heir until he had a child in his old age with Sarah. Nahor, Abraham’s
surviving brother, accompanied the family to Harran but continued with his
idolatry, passing it on to his descendants, including Laban, the father of
Rachel and Leah who tried to take the family idols with them when they fled
with Jacob.[ix]
Later, seeking to purify his family of idolatry, Jacob demanded his wives
surrender the idols and buried them.[x]
The Bible picks up the story of
Abraham when he goes forth from Harran to dwell in Canaan after the death of
Terah. One can almost understand why Abraham continued to dwell with his
father. Terah had lost so much because of his efforts to protect his son from
being executed as a child. That kind of a debt is not easily dismissed.
It is interesting to note that the followers of Muhammed, who also trace their lineage
back to Abraham through Ishmael, give testimony in the Quran of Abraham’s confrontation
with an idolatrous king. That both faith traditions accounts would have such
consistency both internally and externally with one another grants additional
weight to its likelihood.
So why does the Bible say that
God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia to Canaan if he was driven out by Nimrod?
I am reminded of my own experience in the military. I served over six years in
the Army, and I made every attempt to be faithful to God and his will for my
life. This created confrontation at times with superiors who gave little thought
to morality or the well being of those serving under them. Nonetheless, I continued
to be faithful to God’s will, telling myself that if God wanted me in the military
to witness for him, nothing could prevent it, and if he wanted me out, nothing
could prevent that. Therefore, when a new battalion commander sought to harm me
and take my life, I was out of the military within days. The order came down
via the Department of the Army to expedite my discharge to prevent further harm
by the commander. Though in a sense, I was also driven out, I, too, believed that
God had called me out. From my duty post in Alaska, I traveled to Walla Walla College
and eventually completed a double major in Theology and Biblical Languages, my
discharge being timely for enrollment for the fall term.
While I have sought to continue
to share my faith and grow in my understanding of its implications for my life,
very few people know of my backstory. But that backstory was very instrumental
in who I became in life. The backstory of Abraham is also important. It explains
the centuries of struggle the Jews had over idolatry and human sacrifices. It
took captivity by the very kingdom they left, Babylon, to finally cure them of
such practices. Even then, only a remnant returned from Babylon to start anew.
Most chose to remain in Babylon with the idol worship and the polytheism.
I believe that Terah’s sacrifice in support of his son, Abraham, will be
rewarded one day. People may believe they are being supportive and faithful,
but like Nahor, they want to keep everything else as well. They see the
opportunity to become wealthy and abandon principle to go along with the world
in accumulating what they can, no matter what damage it does to others or even
to their own moral compass. We were not intended to live like that.
Nonetheless, potential power over others is seductive and wealth is offered by
this world to accumulate that power. The courage of Abraham to turn his back on
the wealth and power available through his father’s influence in Babylon is remarkable,
to say nothing of the nation that eventually grew from that determination to
choose faithfulness over power and wealth. The choices we make today can
resonate for millennia, even to eternity.