The Abraham Story: Part 3

Two Journeys

We're gonna dive into the opening moments or paragraphs of the Avraham story. Just to give us a macro view, the first big section is from second half of 11, 11:27, all the way up to the Sodom and Gomorrah story. 

The hyperlinks, we're gonna follow the vocabulary and imagery of Genesis 1 to 11, right on through to 14, which is a flood of violence that sweeps across the land. And only those who are in a covenant with God's chosen one are delivered from the flood of violence. 

We're gonna do it again in 15 to 17. In 17, the flood is actually God's judgment on a single part of Abraham's body where all the flesh is cut off, which is exactly the language of the flood. It's God's judgment and merciful sign of covenant on Abram's, Avram's body. 

And then we're gonna walk through it again in 18 to 19, where the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is the next flood moment. It's also the next moment where rain happens in the story. It only rains a couple times in the book of Genesis, and one of them is at the flood and the other one is on Sodom and Gomorrah, except the rain is fire. 

So we're gonna do three times through the melody. 

So let's focus in on our first melody, which is chapters 11 through 14. This has three beats, three mega-beats that themselves have all kinds of little cool scenes. So we're just gonna walk through it and let the story do its work on us. 

Start with Genesis 11:27-12:5 This is two little scenes right next to each other.

The journey of a father that sadly ends in death. The journey of a son that ends in life, a promise of life and a promise of blessing.

The Journey of the Father

Genesis 11:27–32 CJB

27 Here is the genealogy of Terach. Terach fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died before his father Terach in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Kasdim. 29 Then Avram and Nachor took wives for themselves. The name of Avram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor’s wife was Milkah the daughter of Haran. He was the father of Milkah and of Yiskah. 30 Sarai was barren—she had no child. 31 Terach took his son Avram, his son Haran’s son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram’s wife; and they left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena‘an. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there. 32 Terach lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

The phrase here, "these are the generations of," this is a key structuring phrase. It appears 10 times in the book of Genesis. It appears five times in Genesis 1 through 11, five more times in the stories of Avraham and Ya’akov and Yoseph, his brothers. So five times before Avraham, five times after Avraham. It's translated, "generations." It's literally the noun, "birthings." What issues from. This is what issued from Terakh.

"Terakh caused the issue." It's the same word as a verb now. "Caused the birthing of three sons, Avram, Nahor, and Haran." Oh, now "Haran also caused the birth of a son, a guy named Lot." Now, surely he had other kids too, we don't know, but the only one mentioned is of course the one that's gonna cause all the problems in the chapters to follow.

"Now, Haran died before his father Terakh." So this is Avram's brother, right? So Terakh had three sons, Avram's one of them. One brother dies before the father. That's always a sad thing. "He died in the land of his birth family. He died in Ur of the Chaldeans."

"Chaldean" is another ancient synonym word for "Babylon," the region that's Babylon. 

The word "Ur" was the actual name of the city. There's a pun here because the word "Ur" in Hebrew is the word "fire" or "oven." In the oven of Babylon.

This family emerged out of the oven of Babylon, not unsinged, but death, the story begins with death in Babylon, in the oven of Babylon.

"So Avram and Nahor took wives for themselves." So here's a little bit of a blessing in the midst of the oven of Babylon. There's marriage and the many becoming one.

"The name of Avram's wife was Sarai," which is the Hebrew word "princess."

"The name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah," which is the Hebrew word "queen."

"Now Milcah was the daughter of Haran," that deceased brother of Avram, "the father of Milcah and Iska. And Sarai was barren and she had no child."

So look at how this little sentence is structured here. This is so interesting. Avram and his brother took wives, and we're gonna focus in on the two wives, they're queens.

One queen, Princess, has no child. The other queen, Milcah, is tied into the family here, the larger family of Avram. So notice how it's a good example of literary design, where the narrator could have just said, and they married two women, Queen and Princess.

But notice how Sarai's inability to have children is highlighted here by being the first and the last line of the description of the wives. So, and just think where the story is going and where the narrative tension is gonna, it's all gonna be driven around ... Sarai's inability to have children of her own natural abilities is going to provide many crisis moments in the story, crises of faith for her and for her husband. That's the focus of the middle.

"And Terakh took Avram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, the son of his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son, Avram. And they went out with them from the oven of the Babylonians so that they could go to the land of Canaan.

Now they went as far as Haran, and they settled there.

And the days of Terakh were five years and 200 years, and Terakh died."

Now, where were they aiming to go?

They were aiming to go to the land of Canaan, but they never got there. 

So this is the story about the chosen family that's a father with three sons, and they're marrying queens. And you're like, okay, there's notes of hope here in the midst of tragedy. 

But notice how this scene begins with the death of a son, and it ends with the death of a father, never actually attaining to the place where they needed or wanted to go. So this is sobering.

Death in the first and the last movement and inability to produce new life in the middle.

So the origin of Avram's story is in an inverted Eden.

This is kind of like Eden, kings and queens. We're marrying queens in this story. And birth is on the brain. Look at all the birth vocabulary. But our queens, one of our key queens is not able to bear fruit and multiply. And instead of being surrounded by life, we're surrounded by death.

So when you look at the scene, you're like, I don't see much garden of Eden stuff going on here. But when you stop and think life and death, being fruitful, not able to be fruitful, kings and queens of creation, we're totally in the area, but it's like an upside-down.

Babylon tends to leave the world in a very upside-down kind of place, and that's where all this is happening.

So what is it that can turn a world of death and inability to produce life and tragedy?

What can bring new creation out of the tragedy of Babylon?

Journey of the Son

Genesis 12:1–5 CJB

1 Now Adonai said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” 4 So Avram went, as Adonai had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 Avram took his wife Sarai, his brother’s son Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, as well as the people they had acquired in Haran; then they set out for the land of Kena‘an and entered the land of Kena‘an.

"And Yahweh spoke." It's interesting that Yahweh's word is the pivot here. Death, infertility, death, and Yahweh spoke.

"And he said to Avram, 'Get yourself going from your land, from your birth family, from your father's house to a land that I will make seen to you.

And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you.'" It's the first appearance of the word "blessing" since Noah got off the boat.

"'And I will make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who treats you as cursed, I will curse. And in you, all of the clan families of the land will find blessing.'

And Avram went just as Yahweh spoke to him.

And Lot went with him.

And Avram was five and 70 years when he went out from Haran. And Avram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all of their possessions which they possessed, and the people whom they acquired in Haran, and they went out in order to go to the land of Canaan."

Oh, I remember when this family tried to go to the land of Canaan once, it did not work well. But, "they got to the land of Canaan."

So notice how this, the journey of the son and the journey of the father, from death to death, from blessing to the land, from leaving the ovens of Babylon to stalled plans to get to a land that they never get to because of death. 

But when the word of God creates blessing out of death and infertility, God's people get to where they need to be. 

Terakh took his children. He went to go to the land and they went, but he didn't make it, and he died. It's clearly being echoed here in the journey of the son. But the journey of the son didn't begin with a human-made plan. It begins with the word of God and God's blessing, and it ends in success.

I mean, you get what's happening in the story, but when you really sit back and you're pondering the unsuccessful journey of the father, the successful journey of the son, what is the only difference between the two? And it's the word of God and the promise and the blessing of God.

Journey on Map

Part 1 Map

This migration north actually seems to be something that was happening at the time. For what ever reason.

Terah, Jewish literature records, was a craftsman who made idols. So he may have found a blossoming trade in Haran. Joshua 24:2 “2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.” Defiantly a worshiper but tradition holds a craftsman, idol maker.

Some have suggested that Terach wanted to leave because

Acts 7:2 “2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,” where it has been suggested that Abram told his father that Yahweh had instructed them to leave.

Josephus says this,

The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 6: How Every Nation Was Denominated from Their First Inhabitants

Now Terah hating Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Haran, they all removed to Haran of Mesopotamia, where Terah died, and was buried

Part 2 Map

Avram’s journey begins with a recall to the two tragic notes that began Terakh’s journey. He is to leave his family and father’s house (marked by death), and God will make him a great nation (thus reversing Sarai’s infertility).

Not only will God reverse the tragedies of his family, but he will bring about a Genesis 1 blessing that will produce an overabundance of blessing that will flow out from him to the other families of the nations.

Once Avram has received this divine word of blessing that reverses his father’s fate, he begins his own three step process of (1) “taking,” (2) “going out,” and (3) arriving in Canaan.

When he finally arrives in Canaan, Avram completes the journey his father began. Notice how the scenes alternate precisely between three journey stages, punctuated by two stops in Shechem and Bethel where Avram builds altars and worships Yahweh, who called him and his family out of Ur of the Chaldeans

From Where Was Avram Called?

The two narratives of Genesis 11:27-32 and 12:1-9 contrast the journeys of Terakh and Avram. The first says that it was Terakh who “went out from Ur of the Chaldeans” to journey to Canaan, but instead he only made it to Haran and settled there ( 11:31). In contrast, Avram is addressed by God to go to Canaan, and so he “goes out” from an unidentified location ( 12:5) to go to Canaan. From where does Avram go to Canaan, and where is the location of God’s first appearance and speech to him in 12:1-5?

Option 1: In Haran

The literary sequence of the two narrative units ( 11:27-32 and 12:1-9) could be interpreted as a time sequence where Avram’s journey with his father to Haran preceded God’s speech to him to leave and go to Canaan.

There is a wrinkle in this straightforward interpretation, however. The only other time Avram’s journey to Canaan is referenced in the Hebrew Bible, he is said to have been summoned by God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, not Haran.

Genesis 15:7 CSB

7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Option 2: In Ur of the Chaldeans

The literary sequence of Genesis 11:27-32 and 12:1-5 does not necessarily indicate the sequence of events referenced by the narrative. It is not uncommon in biblical narrative for two consecutive narrative units to be placed out of chronological order so that the author can achieve the literary effect of juxtaposition, forcing the reader to compare and contrast the two versions of similar events. This has already happened at key junctures in Genesis 1-11.

In both cases, the literary sequence does not correspond to the event sequence. Rather, it allows the author to portray the same event from two angles, highlighting different themes and ideas as they render the same core event. The same technique is used in the presentation of Terakh’s and Avram’s journey from Ur to Canaan. And there is another textual clue that makes it clear this is the case.

The Ages of Avram and Terakh

The narrator makes clear that Terakh had his three sons at the age of 70 and then died at the age of 205. Avram, we’re told, was 75 when he received God’s calling to leave his family and go to Canaan.

The implication of these numbers is very clear. Terakh had his sons at age 70, and his son Avram left for Canaan at age 75. This means that Terakh was still alive at 145 years old when Avram was summoned by God in 12:1. Even though Terakh’s death is recorded in 11:32, before Avram leaves for Canaan, the ages given by the narrator show that Terakh is still alive when Avram, Sarai, and Lot leave him.

“Biblical protagonists frequently exit the narrative stage long before their chronological lives are over. For example, Noah dies before the Abraham narrative begins. But a simple calculation shows that Noah dies when Abraham was 58 years old (see Gen. 9:28-29); similarly Isaac was still alive when his grandson Joseph was sold (Gen. 35:28-29). Genesis ... is a sweeping series of portraits that trace a character from birth to death before the next character is introduced ... The spotlight only falls on Abram once Terah has stepped down, despite the fact that the first events in the Abram story occur during Terah’s lifetime … This narrative style illuminates the correlation between Terah’s journey and God’s revelation to Abram … It is reasonable to conclude that Terah’s decision to immigrate to Canaan is connected to God’s command to Abram.” Grossman, Jonathan (2016). Abram to Abraham: A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative. Peter Lang. 74-75.

God Calls Avram and Promises Blessing

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/abraham

Middleton, J. Richard. Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021.

Cotter, David W. Genesis. Edited by Jerome T. Walsh, Chris Franke, and David W. Cotter. Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003.

Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987.