Wednesday

About the Chaldees

Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the mouth (at the time) of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu.

It is considered to be one of the earliest known civilizations in world history.

Because of marine regression, the remains are now well inland in present-day Iraq, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, and named Tell el-Mukayyar [1], near the city of Nasiriyah south of Baghdad

The site is marked by the ruins of a ziggurat (right), still largely intact, and by a settlement mound. The ziggurat is a temple of Nanna, the moon deity in Sumerian mythology, and has two stages constructed from brick: in the lower stage the bricks are joined together with bitumen, in the upper stage they are joined with mortar. The Sumerian name for this city was Urim.

Source: Wikipedia
The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.4u2live.net/

Abram's call

"Get out of from this place", echoed the divine voice through the stillness of the night (Acts 7:3). Abram fell to the ground and shivered. "Get up, take your family and belongings and go where I lead you. He lay there all night long, unable to move, but resolved to do as God had commanded. In the morning, Sarai contended with him, arguing that they had little or no living knowledge of this God. Yet Abram stood firm, utterly riveted. It was done, he would go and his family with him. His father, Terah, tried to dissuade him, yet he carried on loading his belongings.

So Terah had Abram locked up with his own gods to reflect on his rashness. In the night Abram stood before each god, willing it to speak, but when nothing happened he struck the idol down in anger. Soon the floor was strewn with debris and Abram realised just how bankcrupt that pagan culture was. In the morning, Terah raged at what had happened, but Abram just said "I asked your gods for advice, but they couldn't agree on anything and started fighting amongst themselves". So Terah told Abram to take his family and go.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

Sunday

Heading out

"Abram, pray to the gods before you go", shouted Lot and Sarai. "I do not trust these gods", he replied. "I put my only son through the fire and what did it ever get me other than bitterness and a childless marriage. That was an offence to the Great God and it is enough that I must pay for that with my own life, but I will not stay in my error. I will not bow to gods of wood and stone ever again. The living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth has called me out of this culture, to forsake everything. I will follow Him."

Sarai, pleading now, cried back, "But Abram, this God you now serve, has He given you a son? Has He heard your prayers?" Abram shouted back so the whole village could hear him, "Noah obeyed the same God and built his ark, then God delivered him from judgement. I will follow the God of the ark, who establishes His testimony in us and delivers us from all evil. I too am building an ark, a bridge that will lead us across from this barren, pagan world into His eternal abudndance".

Source of picture:
www.mywebpost.comcast.com

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Saturday

Farewell to Ur

Abram was 37 when he departed from Ur of the Chaldees in ancient Mesopotamia. He left in 1528 BC. Ur was part of modern day Iraq, on the river Euphrates, near to Eden. Abram left fertile abundance for the barren solitude of the desert. He knew not where he was going, but followed a divine call.

He took with him, his wife Sarai, his brother in law, Lot, his father, his tents, household and flocks. At the crest of a hell he looked back and bid a final farewell to the bustling city of Ur. His last view was of the towering ziggurat of Ur, home of the sumerian moon god. After leaving, Abram turned towards the North-West, to Haran, where Terah died and was buried. It was the beginning of a 600 km journey that would effectively last one-hundred and thirty eight years. It would establish him as the founder of the hebrew nation and father to the three primary world religions. He was a strong, resilient man, single minded man, set aside by God for an eternally significant purpose in a world that barely grasped the concept of a monotheistic God.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

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