Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by Plank part III

 So Abraham, still known as Abram at this point, spends 16 years in Haran, with his entire family.  And at this point, though we've only seen these words once, Stephen tells us God spoke to Abram a second time:

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 

Gen 12:3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Notable here is "From your kindred, and your father's house".  He was to leave family behind in Haran, as he hadn't when he left Ur.  The Book of Jubilees tells us that daddy Terah was fine with this, to a point...

And Terah his father said unto him; Go in peace:  May the eternal God make thy path straight.  And the Lord [(be) with thee, and] protect thee from all evil,

And grant unto thee grace, mercy and favour before those who see thee,  And may none of the children of men have power over thee to harm thee;

Go in peace.

And if thou seest a land pleasant to thy eyes to dwell in, then arise and take me to thee and take Lot with thee, the son of Haran thy brother as thine own son: the Lord be with thee.

And Nahor thy brother leave with me till thou returnest in peace, and we go with thee all together.'

So according to the Jubilees story, Abram was supposed to go back and get them!  But the problem is, God didn't call them, for they were still idolaters, and given to excuses not to leave their idols behind.  Again from Jubilees, Abram tries to talk his father out of his idolatry.  His excuse:

And his father said unto him, I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made me to serve before them?

And if I tell them the truth, they will slay me; for their soul cleaves to them to worship them and honour them.

Keep silent, my son, lest they slay thee.' And these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent.

I think this is important to share, because it shows more of the planks Abram was to be built with.  One was that Abram had to accept that God would now be his family, his Father.  As Jesus said:

Mar 10:28  Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 

Mar 10:29  Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 

Mar 10:30  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

He could not get the reward he was promised dragging his family along behind.  Some people God is going to call to leave their family behind, particularly if that family is stuck in their sinning and rejects Jesus.  Abram's family was unwilling to disentangle themselves from the world; in fact, his brothers were even angry (And according to Jubilees, one of them died for the idols!).  Also, note that Terah wanted to stay silent, in fear of the world.  God will never allow a believer to be silent about their faith.

I have been talking to myself about my sins, and the ways I want to "stay in Haran".  But looking at God's promise to Abram, we see the problem with that:

-You miss out on the wonders He wants to show you;

-You miss out on what He wants to make of you;

-You miss out on the blessings he wants to give;

-You miss being the blessing to others He made you to be;

-You miss out on a level of His protection;

- You miss being a part of the future He's building.

Every one of these strike me.  Each one tells me I have a long way to go.  Abram had over 400 miles to his next stop, his next choice of obedience.  And he wouldn't have made it one step past his family, had he not been willing to put the world AND his family behind him to serve the Lord.

So the question left is, Did Abraham ever go back for Terah and company?  Answer: no.  Did he have a chance? Yes.  Terah was still alive, it would seem, when aged Abraham sent Eliazar to His brother's grandson Laban to find a wife for Isaac- though at 200+, it might not have been feasible.  The bloodline came to Canaan- but the idolaters never did.