FOREWORD. Kenneth Kremer, Series Editor

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1 CONTENTS FOREWORD... iv FAITHFUL PATRIARCH... v 1. Called to Faith Growing in Faith Faith Rewarded Faith Tested...35 EPILOG...41 ILLUSTRATIONS Timeline... vi World of the Patriarch... 8 The Glory of the Lord...18 Circumcision...25

2 FOREWORD They have been referred to as the saints, the Hebrews, the Israelites, a remnant, and the church. They are God s people his chosen people. They belong to him; so precious that he would go to impossible lengths to overcome the gulf that separates them from himself.you and I are among them. The books in this series are a recital of the life and times of some of them Noah, Jacob, Ruth, David, Jonah, Paul, and others. Their stories involve conflict and resolution, pain and tragedy, despondency and renewal. They present disturbing images from the underbelly of human depravity, and visions of untold glory that transport us to the soaring heights of ultimate conquest. The plots and settings are drawn from the living record of the Bible. Series authors and editors were careful to remain faithful to that record. But in an effort to make the text come alive, these narratives speculate occasionally to provide additional background to the story. In these stories we see God s people wrestling with their humanity and struggling to find respite for their souls. Each story is unique in its own right. Yet two common threads run through the fabric of their stories and ours. The first is the thread of the bitter curse of sin.the second is the golden thread of salvation in Christ Jesus. We can readily identify with both, for we share these same two themes with all of God s people. Their stories, like ours, rest forever in God s abiding grace. Kenneth Kremer, Series Editor

3 FAITHFUL PATRIARCH When writing about Abraham, the temptation is to make him out to have been more than he actually was. This would, in turn, make Abraham s God out to be less than he actually is. Abraham was a man flesh and bones. It s true that the apostle Paul calls him the father of all who believe (Romans 4:11). But that s not because Abraham was the first to be called to faith in the promised Savior. Many were called to faith before him. And many acted on their faith as Abraham did. Abraham was, however, the first in the Bible to be commended for his faith. Through Abraham the Holy Spirit showed all people that faith in the promised Savior is the key to making a person right with God. It would be incorrect to conclude that the role God had chosen Abraham to play in his great plan of salvation was what reconciled Abraham with his Creator. Abraham s role was clearly very important in the development of God s plan, but without faith Abraham still would have been cursed. So the key to understanding Abraham s story is wrapped in the simple truth that Abraham believed. He believed God s promise to send a Savior. Though he did not know the circumstances of Jesus coming or the details of his life and ministry, Abraham had faith in Jesus. What Jesus would one day do was credited to Abraham s account as righteousness.

4 Timeline 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 BC/AD 1,000 2,000 The Flood The Tower of Babel Jesus Christ The Babylonian Captivity David Moses Abraham God s people today

5 CALLED TO FAITH 1 At first he was known as Abram. And Abram was for a time cursed a foreigner to the kingdom of God, at home in the kingdoms of this world. But this was something Abram didn t grasp until he was nearly 60 years old. Abram was a member of Terah s family. The family lived in Ur. Ur was a thriving city along the Euphrates River, one of several bustling urban centers in Mesopotamia. This vast civilization, built on a network of cities and settlements, was the handiwork of Nimrod, a descendant of Ham, the youngest of Noah s three sons. Nimrod expanded his empire in defiance of Noah s God. Noah s God had cursed the descendants of Ham by making them slaves to the children of Noah s other sons, Shem and Japheth. But Nimrod would be no one s servant. To make sure of that, he drove the Semites and Japhethites out of their lands and deprived God of his people by introducing false gods into the culture. Ur was hardly the place one would expect to find followers of the one true God. Nimrod had made Ur an unsafe place for anyone who claimed allegiance to the God of Noah. Still, there were a few, like Terah and his family, who secretly clung to their worship of the almighty Lord who had delivered Noah and his family from the great flood. The Bible doesn t tell us much about Terah or his family s circumstance. It s possible to imagine the family living in fear. If unbelieving neighbors would find out that Terah s famly did not hold their gods in high esteem, things would get ugly. So

6 CALLED TO FAITH Terah may have taught his sons Haran, Nahor, and Abram that their relationship with the one true God was an intensely private affair, not to be shared with anyone outside of the family. Perhaps, to complete the ruse, Terah may have sold his cattle for sacrifice to the idols of Ur and frequented their temples, telling his sons that he had no other choice. God would understand. Terah may have strayed from his own lesson. But Abram would have discovered the agony his father had been trying to spare him and his brothers. When Abram s brother Haran died, a tragic event might have been made all the more traumatic for Terah when his friends recited their useless, godless condolences. Perhaps when he couldn t take it any longer,terah declared that Haran was in the hands of the same God who had promised long ago to crush the devil s head. It may have been that Terah made a public confession and astounded his neighbors. As Semites,Terah and his family would have been made to feel like foreigners and aliens, and the community s contempt for them soon would have become very apparent. The man people had once considered their friend would then have been seen as a threat. Terah s business opportunities may have dried up. A few head of cattle may have mysteriously gone missing; some may have been found dead. It became apparent that it was time to move to Canaan with the hope of finding other believers. Terah assured his sons that the God who could take care of Haran in death would certainly be able to take care of them in

7 life. Because Abram and his wife, Sarai, were childless, they and Terah and Lot, Haran s orphaned son, were able to pack lightly and leave quickly. Nahor and his family planned to follow later. The journey to Canaan was interrupted by Terah s age. Abram and Sarai settled in Haran, a city some five hundred miles north of Ur. There they cared for Abram s dying father. Now old Terah was no longer quiet about his faith. He told whomever he saw that he and his family were brought safely to Haran by the God of Eber, Terah s great-great-greatgrandfather and the last gracious and merciful ruler that most people could remember. People began to gather to hear Terah speak about his God. They discovered that Terah s God could also be their God by merely believing in his promises. Some of them came daily to encourage Terah and to listen to him talk about the God of grace and mercy. A few also brought gifts. When Terah died at the age of 205, he left Abram a wealthy man. But he also left him with a large group of people who were accustomed to hearing about the one true God who had promised a Savior to crush the devil s head. 3 Abram could have lived out the rest of his life there in Haran, except that Sarai was miserable. She felt worthless because she hadn t provided Abram with a child. As she approached menopause, Abram often found her weeping. Abram loved Sarai, but it was a struggle to convince her of his love. She felt she had let him down. When she wasn t saying

8 CALLED TO FAITH it, she was thinking it. And when Abram doted on her, it only made her feel more pathetic. Abram had another reason for deciding to leave Haran. God wanted him to take his ministry on the road. Abram was convinced that the Lord had called him out of Ur, using his brother s death and the persecution that followed his father s confession of faith. He was sure that God was taking care of him and his family. Then God confronted Abram directly: Leave your country, your people and your father s household and go to the land I will show you. To encourage Abram on his way, the Lord punctuated his directive with a host of promises seven in all, as Abram counted. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Through Abram, God would pour his blessings onto the whole world. From Abram s descendants would come the One promised long ago to Adam and Eve, the One sent to crush the devil s head, the One who would heal the breech with God that Adam and Eve had created in their sinful rebellion. And this meant that, for the sake of his promise, God s constant protection would be with Abram. And Abram would need it. Many would try to make Abram s life difficult. Those who opposed God would most certainly oppose him. But surely God would thwart their evil plans. Abram didn t know what this promise meant for Sarai;