Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by plank part I

 (NOTE:  As Christmas is Wednesday, I will be publishing this on Sunday instead...)

In my daily reading recently, I was debating on some of the whys involved in the story of Abraham.  The answer I got was, "I was building him into what I wanted him to be, plank by plank."  It wasn't long afterwards that I was reminded that He is building ME that same way, and it might just be helpful to go in-depth to see what lessons I can learn from God's worksmanship on Abraham.

One problem with starting at the beginning with Abraham is, where IS the beginning?  Because if you stay stuck just to Genesis, you only get part of the story the (good) pastors teach you.  And if you dig in the wrong places, you're going to get stuff that just don't belong.  I want to show you what I mean.  One of the commentators I have on my e-Sword, my big Old Testament go-to, is Keil and Delitzsch.  But they threw me a curve ball.  Look here at one of the 'starts' of the Abraham story:

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. 

Now most pastors teach that God first called Abraham (or Abram, as he was then) in Ur, and they stopped off in Haran.  You note it doesn't say that HERE.  And K&D takes this a step farther:

This does not, however, necessitate the conclusion, that he had already been called by God in Ur. Nor does Gen_15:7 require any such assumption. For it is not stated there that God called Abram in Ur, but only that He brought him out.

Just for clarity, this is what they mean in Genesis 15:7:

Gen 15:7  And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 

So far so good- we can't assume that Abram was called in Ur rather than later on in Haran.  But, wait, here's the testimony of the soon to be martyred Stephen 2,000 years later:

Act 7:2  And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 

Act 7:3  and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 

Stephen says definitively Abram was called in Ur.  Where does he get this?  Enter the Jewish Encyclopedia, which says the backstory can be found in the Book of Jubilees, which, they note, wasn't written until the 130s BC.  But if you go farther into the JE section on "In apocryphal and rabbinical literature" they spin a fantastic story involving Nimrod, a fiery furnace, the death of his brother Haran  (alluded to in Gen. 11:28) by Abram's own fault, among other things.  Of course, the authors note that much of it seems to have been drawn from Zoroastrianism from Persia and mythology from Hinduism.

A more digestible version of the story- sans Nimrod- is in the Book of Jubilees, but again, how do you corroborate what it says with what's in the Bible?  Answer: you don't.  See, the JE story of the rabbis- which included Og, king of Bashan, who was killed by Israel some 600 years later- often fails the test of continuity.  The reason is simple- they were trying to make things make sense LOGICALLY, instead of by God's inspiration.   He couldn't have heard God's voice, it seems; Abram had to have deduced who God WAS by figuring out what He WASN'T.  The Book of Jubilees is better, but not much; it gives you details, but are they true?  And it gets tempting to speculate.  Why, I was astounded to learn (from the Bible!) that Noah missed seeing his 8-great Grandson Abram's birth by a mere 17 years, and Noah's son Shem not only saw his birth, but outlived Abram by 35 years! (Because the after-flood ages were steadily shrinking; while Noah lived 950 years, Shem only got to 500, and 8 generations later, Abram/Abraham would have it down to 175.)

So what do I learn from all this?  That Abram was first called in Ur; and NOTHING BEFORE HIS CALLING MATTERS.  Just like with us- we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, and all our past life doesn't matter in God's eyes.  Clean slate.  But what he was to do with that clean slate is going to be my project.