Discovering Abraham
Notes
Transcript
We have had a wonderful journey together as we have considered many wonderful ancient discoveries.
Today I want to focus on the journey of Abraham.
Chair Bible page 7
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Are you ready for the message God has for us?
Great let’s dig in!
The call we just read begins a Journey in the life of Abraham that will take him through fascinating lands, introduce him to interesting people from other civilizations and deepen his faith in God.
So many still consider his journey and life a myth shared between three religions that call him father: Jew, Christian, and Muslim.
Here is what Richard Dawkins says in his book Out Growing God pg. 48
I beg to differ from a purely historical perspective I find the journey of Abraham both fascinating and in lighting.
Today I want us take a quick journey with Abraham and consider the people and places of his world.
To see his world through history and archeological excavations.
Showing the historical accuracy of this most fascinating journey.
Let us start at the beginning
Ur of The Chaldees
Ur of The Chaldees
Abram was a Sumerian Habiru (Hebrew) from Mesopotamia.
Abraham’s hometown Ur of Sumer.
Thomas Cahill in The Gift of The Jews pg. 16 wrote concerning the Sumerians: “Thanks to the work of pioneering archaeologists, …there is much we know of Sumer… their techniques of farming and husbandry were extraordinarily sophisticated, their mathematics enabled them to do square roots and cube roots and to calculate accurately the size of their field or a building and to excavate to enlarge a canal. Their medicine was practical, not magical, and their pharmacopoeias prescribed remedies for everything from battle wounds to venereal disease.”
They gave us the wheel, codified laws, first farmers almanac, first fables, first “congress” of a senate in two chambers (elders and men of military age).
First tax cut!
In his book The Beginnings of Civilization Sir Leonard Woolley wrote A cuneiform tablet said: “Into the meeting of master, the courtyard of the tablet-house, come my son you shall sit before my feet. Now I am going to talk to you; open your ears” (Sir Leonard Woolley Pg. 369).
We should also note that “There were women scribes but since the schools were only for boys, how these female scribes received their education is unknown.” (Woolley Pg. 396).
They have one of the oldest forms of wiring.
Their achievements with writing gave rise to the first books, the first histories through lists of kings.
Men and women could read and write.
The Sumerians developed a complex system of metrology c 4000 BCE. This metrology advanced resulting in the creation of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra.
From 2600 BCE onwards, the Sumerians wrote multiplication tables on clay tablets and dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems.
The Sumerians were the first to use a place value numeral system.
Sir Leonard Woolley wrote “The most detailed and accurate picture of a great Sumerian city is given by the ruins of Ur. As a capitol city, at one time the headquarters of a dynasty, Ur was in all essentials typical of the Sumerian state capitols from the Persian gulf.” (Woolley Pg. 117).
In Ur was a temple to the Moon God Nannar.
We are told in the Bible that Abraham’s family served other god’s Joshua 24:2
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
“Terah is taken from the Northern (Hurrite) name of the Moon God who was worshipped as Terah in Harran and as Nannar in Ur” (Woolley pg 492).
One Jewish tradition talks of Terah being a maker of idols for the local god.
Terah was known in Ur and connected with the worship. Giving credence to the fact this is a historical narrative.
This is part of the temple to Nannar which still stands in Ur today.
“Ur consisted of three parts the Temenus or Sacred Area, the Old Walled City, and the outer town…the city was in shape an irregular oval with a max length of three quarters of a mile, a width of the on half a mile surrounded by a rampart of mud-brick some twenty-five feet high” (Woolley pg. 119).
Ur is turning out to be a more modern city than many could ever have realized.
This is where Abraham grew up he was far more civilized than I think we we may have thought
Abraham in Egypt
Abraham in Egypt
One of the greatest ancient civilizations, one that has sparked the interest of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and people of many other fields is Ancient Egypt.
10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.
There is a great deal of discussion by archaeologists about who the Pharaoh was when Abraham went to Egypt.
I am leaning toward the 6th Pharaoh from the 15 dynasty who ruled for 61 years his name is Aphophis. He is not the God but took his name from the Egyptian God.
Josephus a Jewish Historian mentions him: read only brackets on page 932-933.
So Hycsos kings were not Egpytians but semites who took over Egypt.
This gives insight maybe to why Abraham was so easily excepted by the Pharaoh.
Also around this time was a nobleman named Khnumhotep.
In this man’s tomb were many painted Hieroglyphs, which were translated to reveal they were telling to story of visiting Semites; the leader of one band was named Abishai, a true Semite name.
They had traveled to Egypt for the same reason as Abram, a famine in Canaan.
It was common for people from other lands to come to Egypt, because of the massive granaries that had been built.
It should not be surprising then that Abraham would have gone to Egypt for food.
I have wondered how Egypt might have looked to a man who had grown up in Ur.
How similar the step pyramids to his home temple and outer building and even their pyramids.
Herodotus wrote: “Let us yet proceed to speak further of Egypt, both for that the country its self hath more strange wonders than any nation in the world, and also because the people themselves have wrought sundry things more worthy memory than any other nation under the sun” (Herodotus pg 156).
I am sure the sights would have brought amazement even to the eyes of Abraham.
Melchizedek King of Salem
Melchizedek King of Salem
18 And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has handed over your enemies to you.” And he gave him a tenth of everything.
Melchizedek is probably one of the most mysterious Characters of the Bible.
There are many theories surrounding this character.
He was Shem, the son of Noah and the last living person from the flood.
He was an angel
He was an incarnation of Jesus
He was just a man, probably a Jebusite. This is the one I follow.
The Bible tells us that he was a King and Priest of El Elyon, the same God as Abraham.
“In 1925 a German archeologist managed to buy some Egyptian pottery of the 18th Century B.C.E. on which appeared some texts written in Greek language. Among the texts was the name of the city Jerusalem. The name Maliki Sadik is also mentioned in connection with the city, for the priest of Ur Salem. An Additional mention of Ur Salem come from the Tel Amarnah in Egypt…these letters are dated about 1450 B.C.E.” (Dr. Nazmi)
As stated above Ur Salem is believed to be Jerusalem and it could be that Maliki Sadik is none other than Melchizedek, but this is only speculation.
One of the Tel El Amarnah letters states: “Behold, I am an ally of the king, and I have paid the tribute due to the king, even I. Neither my father nor my mother, but the oracle (or arm) of the Mighty King established [me] in the house of [my] fathers....” (Sayce, Patriarchal Palestine)
The king, whom we learn in the Tel El Amarnah letters, is Ebed-Tob, writes that his kingship was not given to him by his parents, but by the Might King.
This seems to support the idea that Melchizedek was with out genealogy for his Kingship or even his priesthood as many Jebusite kings of the area who were priests of various gods as well as kings.
Josephus says: “…the king of Sodom met him at a certain place, which is called the Kings Plain, where Melchizedek, the king of the city of Salem, received him. That the name signifies the righteous king, and such as without dispute insomuch that on his account, he was made the priest of God, however they afterward called Salem Jerusalem” (Josephus pg. 45).
Jerusalem was originally settled by Jebusites a tribe of the Canaanites.
It is obvious from tablets and letters from other countries that Jerusalem was a well-established city when Abraham might have been there, and the possibility that there was a Jebusite Priest King of the City named Maliki Sadik or Melchizedek.
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah
At a desolate place that is ~1,296’ below sea level where the Jordan ends is a place that is aptly named the Dead Sea, or Salt Sea.
10 Lot raised his eyes and saw all the vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt going toward Zoar.
b. “For many Bible scholars and archeologists the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is just that – a story” (Price pg. 110).
c. This Bible tells us that there were five cites located in the plain where Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zoar and Zebboiim
2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
Excavations revealed that there were in fact five cities in the plain of the Dead Sea, two of which were prominent cities like the Bibles Sodom and Gomorrah.
e. We are also told of their destruction: Genesis 19:23-25
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven,
25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
Excavations done in the area have shown that the cities were once thriving cites and were well fortified.
“…excavations revealed that the fortification wall surrounding the city was some 23’ thick! It was uniquely segmented and the last segment had a gateway flanked by twin towers” Randall Price The Stones Cry Out
“Beneath the ash layer excavators found remains in almost perfect conditions, especially in houses where walls had been sealed by the ash” Price
As excavations continued they found the soil under the ash was like a spongy charcoal, and found the soil was totally worthless.
In and around these sights they found the destruction to be not only extensive but also instantaneous.
They found that it was like people were one-day enjoying life and in a flash were totally destroyed.
The evidence of the destruction is clearly visible; in a cemetery not only did they find ash, charred posts and roof beams, but also bricks that had turned red because of the intense heat during their destruction.
They also found on their digs under the ash, which was several feet thick, balls of brimstone or sulfur, unlike anything found anywhere else in the world.
These balls were dense and charred, and looked like giant burnt hail.
Some suppose that one of the volcanoes shot ash and lava so high in the air that it would literally rain fire.
Then why are these sulfur balls found nowhere else?
As well there is so much sulfur, that its stench could be smelled in the air.
The archeology of the area seems to support the testimony of the Bible and Josephus that at one time there were five cities here two of which were Sodom and Gomorrah and were destroyed in the way told by the Biblical account.
Conclusion:
The Journey of Abraham is a fascinating journey of faith in God.
The world in which Abraham lived was at times harsh but as we have seen still civilized.
Through faith Abraham left what was familiar to him and went on Journey whose end he knew not.
When it was over, Abraham had proved faithful and would be remembered as the father of faith, and truly all the nations of the earth have been blessed. From his time down to ours.
Bruce Feiler author of Abraham wrote “In a life blessed by God and hallowed by descendants as numerous as the stars; this may be his greatest legacy of all: Abraham is the seed of hope” Bruce Feiler
I want to leave you with one final interesting and powerful item, taken from the Genealogies of Genesis 5.
The lesson for us is God buries His message deep in His word and we can find knowledge if we are willing to dig deeper!
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