THE MAN WHO WAS GOD'S FRIEND
Almost four thousand years ago, in the sun baked land known today as Iraq, a remarkable child was born. Thre great religions claim him as a spiritual ancestor. To the early Hebrew's, he was known as Abram; to later Jews and to Christians as Abraham; to Muslims as Ibrahim. To all of them he was "the friend of God," one of the first men in the dawn of history to realize that behind the jumble of bloodthirsty pagan gods was a single Supreme Being, Creator of everything, and constantly mindful of His crature, man.
The Bible tells us that Terah, Abram's father, settled in the ancient city of Ur on the banks of the muddy Euphrates River, and it was there that Abram grew to manhood. At that time, two separate races were living peaceably together in Ur; the Semites, from whom Terah and his family were descended, and the Sumerians, a gifted, dark - haired people who had settled in Mesopotamia (the "land between the rivers") a thousand years earlier, bringing with them wheeled vehicles and a knowledge of mathematics and one of the earliest forms of writing. Under the Sumerians, the city of Ur had risen to great heights, with craftsmen in jewels and precious metals whose skill has never been surpassed. But by the time Abram was born, those proud and prosperous days were over, and Ur was beginning to fall into stagnation and decay.
Suppose we were able to look back from this age of television and spaceships to the Ur of four thousand years ago, what would Abram's boyhood have been like? In some ways, not to different from the life of a boy today. Since his father was a man of importance, he undoubtedly went to school. He would have learned to read and write, not letters as we know them, but wedge shaped marks on tablets of red clay that hardened into almost indestructable bricks. Archaeologists have found thousands of such tablets, some of them clearly the "homework" of schoolchildren. Abram would have studied arithmatic; some of the tablets show problems in square root. He would not have had to struggle with decimals because the ancient Sumerians were more likely to divide things into sixths than into tenths. The twelve hours on our clocks, our custom of counting egs by the dozen, the three hundred and sixty degrees in a circle, these things come down to us from the Sumerians.
Abram would have studied astronomy, too. He would have been familiar with hundreds of pagan gods, particularly the moon god who was the patron deity of Ur and whose temple was on top of a huge tower of terraced brick known as ziggurat, the word means "heaven," or "the-place-where-the-god-dwells." On certain days the young boy would have watched priests bringing the moon-god idol down the long flights of steps to the music of harps and cymbals. He would have seen the citizens of Ur offering doves or lambs to the priests as sacrifices and receiving in return receipts printed quickly and clearly on a clay tablet with a wedge shaped stick.
The city was dusty and shabby in many areas, but it was a colorful place. There were no horses or camels, but there were chariots and wagons drawn by long eared donkeys, and sailing ships that brought cargoes up from the Persian Gulf. Houses were made of brick, often two storyied, with blank walls on the street to keep out dust and noise and a pleasant courtyard inside surrounded by balconies. In the marketplace businessmen haggled and complained about hard times, sighing that things were better "In the old days." They were saying it four thousand years ago, and they are saying it still.
An ancient legend says that Abram's father, Terah, was a maker of idols, and that as a boy Abram sold these images of clay in the streets of Ur. The legend, which is recorded in the Jewish Book of Jubilees, written three centuries before Christ, relates that Abram finally reproached his father for such idolatry. "What can these statues do for anyone?" he is supposed to have said. "They are nothing but bits of clay. The true God cannot dwell in such lifeless things!"
Only a legend, but sometimes legend is a shimmering cloak for truth. In any case, we know from the Bible that the time did come when Terah decided to leave Ur. The reason is not given. Perhaps it was economic; bad times, declining business. Perhaps it was dissatisfaction with the paganism that surrounded him. Anyway, Terah left, taking with him his son Abram, and Abram's wife. Sarai, and a grandson whose name was Lot. They settled in the town of Haran, and there Terah finally died. This left Abram the leader of the clan, with his nephew, Lot, as second in comand.
Now God has been watching Abram, and what He saw must have pleased Him, because one day when Abram was in his seventy sixth year the Lord spoke to him suddenly, giving him an order and making him a promise. The order was simply to leave Haran and "get thee unto a land that I will show thee." The promise was magnificently unconditional; "I will make of thee a great nation, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.." One might almost say that the remainder of this extraordinary collection of writings that we call the Bible is the story of how that great promise to Abram was fulfilled, and is still being fulfilled.
So Abram and Lot assembled their caravans. Driving their sheep and cattle before them, they moved slowly south into the land of Canaan at the eastern end of the Meditierranean Sea, the territory of modern Israel. There a famine made them push on eventually into Egypt, but when the famine was over they came back. By now the herds of Abram and Lot were so great that there was not enough grazing land for all the animals. Their herdsmen were beginning to quarrel, and so the two leaders agreed to separate peacefully. Abram remained in Canaan, on a plain belonging to a man called Mamre. Lot went to live in the city of Sodom near the shores of the Dead Sea.
The valley of the Jordan River was a pleasant place, but it was constantly being fought over by petty kings and tribal chief mountains. At one point Lot and his family were made prisoners and carried away by some of these marauders.When he heard of it, the peaceful Abram armed some of his own followers, pursued the invaders, inflicted a sharp defeat on them, and enabled Lot to return safely to his home.
But Sodom and the nearby city of Gomorrah had become evil places, full of corruption. No doubt the inhabitants were convinced that morals were what they chose to consider them. No doubt the intellectuals among them proclaimed that God was dead.
But God was not dead. He was watching with growing anger. And eventually the day came when He decided to act.
: )
Always remember Jesus loves you!
1|1|Thank you!|Skaytes|skaytez@gmail.com|07:20:04|03/20/2010|
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2|1|Thank You|WillaD|wila111@bellsouth.net|19:33:22|03/20/2010|
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Willa