Gen 11:31 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. (ESV)
A year or so ago I went through a phase of playing a game with my girls where they would pretend to be Abraham and I would say to them "Hello Abraham, where do you come from?". They would answer "Ur" to which I would say "Don't you know where you live?". "Yes I do" they would say. "Where then? " "Ur...." and on we would go like that for a few minutes until we fell about laughing. You had to be there I guess! Sorry, I couldn't think of another way to start this blog. The significance of this bit of the bible gave me writer's cramp and I kept trying to think of something deep and clever to introduce it. Turns out there is not much of that in my brain.
So what have we got here? Well, after the scattering at Babel we get a list of the descendents of Noah's son Shem to Terah who fathered Abram and there the family line abruptly stops as Abram's wife Sarai is barren. Terah takes his grandson Lot (son of Haran) and Abram and Sarai to Canaan (Gen 20:22:20-24, 24:10 suggest that Terah also brought his other son Nahor and his wife Milcah) but settles down in Haran and dies there.
It's always intrigued me that it was Terah who set out on the journey to Canaan with Abram, yet we are told that God told Abram to "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" (Gen 12:1 ESV). Why don't we read "Abram took his wife and father and Nephew of to Canaan"? Gen 12:1 could be "the Lord had said to Abram" or "the Lord said to Abram" ie he had said it to him in Ur or he said it to him in Haran. Acts 7:2-3 helps us select the former because Stephen says:
"Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you'. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living." (ESV).
Aside from a small problem that this throws up to do with Abram's age when he leaves Haran (see *doesn't add up*) this is helpful as it indicates that Abram is the instigator of the move. Terah must have been involved and aware and participating in the promise made to Abram. He must have believed and bought into them enough to make a start but not enough to get very far. What is the significance of Terah settling and then dying in Haran? Maybe Terah was sick and Abram stayed to look after him in Haran but my instinct is that there is something more being said here (actually it could just be I heard a preach or read something that suggested it but it seems right to me).
It shows me the importance of hearing God for myself rather than tagging along with someone's good idea. It speaks to me about not settling for something less than the full promises of God. It's not good enough to start, we need to get there. Having responded to God a few months ago about believing him for much more healing in the church and preaching on it for a term and praying for a few people, I must not settle where I am now. I must not get side tracked with other things or priorities. I must take the next step and then the next until I arrive. More generally it's not just about making a decision to follow Jesus, it's about actually following him through life. Not just being baptised but obeying all he has commanded. Not just looking back to a conversion but enjoying an ongoing relationship.
I'll finish with a couple of other questions that occurred to me when I read this. First "why does the city of Haran share a name with Terah's son who died in Ur?". The answer I discovered is that they are spelt differently in the original Hebrew. Simple as that.
Second, God says to Abram "leave your father (ie Terah's) household and go to the land I will show you" Gen 12:2. So why does Terah go with him? It's too late at night to answer that so I'll leave it hanging for now and leave you with a map of the so call "Fertile Crescent" I made when I taught on Genesis a few years ago. Obviously some of the cities are not there as Abram sets out but it helps me get some idea of the geography:
And here is a map of Abram's journey to the promised land:
*doesn't add up* Stephen's clarification throws up a problem. Terah is 70 when Abram is born (Gen 11:26-32). Terah dies in Haran at the age of 205 (Gen 11:32) so Abram must be at least 135 years old when he leaves Haran for Canaan as Stephen say he does so after Terah dies. But Gen 12:4 says that Abram was 75 when he left Haran for Canaan. One explanation is that Stephen was following the Samaritan Pentateuch which has Terah dying at 145 which makes the figures add up.
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