Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by plank part II

NOTE:  Once again this appears on Sunday, so you can sleep in on New Years. 

 One of the things I learned this week was about where Abram's family actually came from.  I was researching Ur (where they were) and Haran (where they stopped off)  and at some point, I hit an article where an obviously non-Biblical scholar seemed to be bashing the Bible on two points.  One was the phrase, "Ur of the Chaldeans", pointing out that the Chaldeans (as such) weren't in existence then.  Which would be valid, except that "Chaldeans" weren't a people- they were the priestly class of the second Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar's fame.  And as Ur was a holy city to the Sumerians of Ur, Chaldean is as valid as 'priestly class '.

The second is more interesting.  He pointed out that DNA testing (and I don't know where he got this, but whatever) showed that the Israelites originated as Amorites.  He went on to spend many minutes bashing the Bible for "Speaking poorly of the Amorites, as if the Hebrews wanted to distance themselves from their true origin."  Friends, let's go to the Word of God in Ezekiel:

Eze 16:1  Again the word of the LORD came to me: 

Eze 16:2  “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 

Eze 16:3  and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 

So that DNA evidence proves the Bible's accuracy once again, although the commentators I use are from a time that didn't have this knowledge and thought it allegorical.  At this point, I may have you confused, so I want to step back and explain as much as I can what was going on.

So timelines from the Bible and from science don't exactly match- mainly because 'science' can't figure out that Creation and the Flood were real events.  Be that as it may, we can figure this much about those days.

Classical education starts civilization with the cities of Sumer (which included Ur), which were then replaced by the Akkadian "empire" of Sargon.  After him a group called the Guitians came in; we know little about them, because the name was just a placeholder for barbarian tribes who came in and established a kingdom or two.  After they were overthrown and assimilated, native rule returned, but not without more problems in the Amorite tribes.  This may have also been a placeholder name for a group of 'barbarian tribes' (think "illegal immigrants"), so says our scholar above (which also kinda puts a hole in his logic).  At any rate, it seems a solid guess that Abram's ancestors were among those who infiltrated Ur and friends at this time.  In what the scholars name as 2100 BC, a king named Utu-Hegal built an "Amorite Wall" to keep them out.  It was supposedly somewhere between 94 and 100+ miles long- but wasn't anchored at either end, so the Amorites just went around it.  And it wasn't well kept-up, and soon yet another people, this time Elamites, began to cross in and raid.

My guess is this was about the time that Abram was born into.  The Book of Jubilees tells a story of the fields of the Ur- area being constantly raided by "ravens", and famine breaking out.  But Abram, the story goes, knew a way to scare them off that they never returned, and then taught the people better farming techniques to alleviate the famine.  My guess is, the 'ravens' were an allegory for Elamites/Amorites raiding the fields, and about that time, the Sumerians won some sort of temporary victory.  In fact, scholars call this time period the "Sumerian renaissance".  But it wouldn't last for long; between increasing raids, failing agriculture because their irrigation methods soaked the land in salt, and the growing power of Amorite Babylon, the old kingdoms of Mesopotamia began to change.

Between one or more of the three, Terah, Abram's dad, probably thought this idea of Abram's that God wanted him to move to Canaan was a good idea.  Remember, the Bible account says, 

 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. 

But Stephen tells us in Acts 7 that Abram was called to journey while still in Ur.  Using both the Bible and the Book of Jubliees, we can guess Terah was 130 years old and Abram 60+ when they hit Haran, which was on the caravan route around the desert to Canaan, and close enough to where Hittite power was in its beginnings to justify the 'matriarchal line' from Ezekiel 16.  Terah, who we are told in several places was an idol worshipper (including Joshua 24), was attracted to the big festival to the god Sin held in Harran on their New Year known as the Akitu Festival, probably... and Abram, torn between the call of God and loyalty to his family, tarried there for 14 years, while God waited.  

And that wait is ironic, definitely God's timing:  14 years God waited for Abram to journey to Canaan; and 14 years from the birth of Ishmael to Hagar, Abram's attempt to 'help' the Lord with His promise, until the promise is actually fulfilled in the birth of Isaac.

So what planks do we learn from all this?  1- you can trust the Bible; if a scientist denies the Bible, it is he that will end up learning. 2- If God calls, don't wait!  Jesus taught this Himself...

Luk 9:59  To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 

Luk 9:60  And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 

Luk 9:61  Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 

Luk 9:62  Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

Which ties into a third: You may find yourself choosing between Jesus and family.  Choose wisely...

Mat 19:29  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.