Page 11 - lesson2.vp

Lesson 2 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course 11

What, Exactly, Was Abraham? “And Haran died...in the land of his nativity ”IN
(By John C. Green) UR OF THE CHALDEES."

The identity of Abraham is one of the Do you grasp this thought? -- Haran was
least understood and most misquoted of Bible born in the City of Ur of the Chaldees! Since
facts. There are three questions we should ask: Haran was Abraham’s brother, we can safely
(1) Who was Abraham?, (2) What was his assume -- scholarship also supporting this view --
nationality? and (3) Was Abraham a “Jew”? This that Abraham also was born in Chaldea.
article will analyze and put to rest the many Abraham, therefore, was a CHALDEAN!
misconceptions about the man Abraham.
Now, in view of his triple back-ground,
The man Abram -- later known as just what was Abraham? What was his
“ABRAHAM” -- came from an illustrious line nationality? He was, on the basis of this Bible
of ancestors. His family tree contained no less a revelation, a descendant of Shem and Heber at the
personality than ANCIENT NOAH. same time, a NATIVE CITIZEN OF CHALDEA.
Abraham’s family line descended from Noah’s This, then, is the answer to question Two.
son SHEM. So, we should begin by tracing
Abraham’s descent! Now let us examine the third and perhaps
most contentious question, “WAS ABRAHAM
In Genesis 10:1 we read: “Now these A “JEW”?”
are the generations of the SONS OF NOAH:
Shem, Ham and Japheth...." Continuing from Indeed, on the basis of his TRIPLE
this verse, we have listed for us a number of background, we must honestly conclude that
SHEM’S descendants. In Verse 24, and again Abraham was not a “Jew”! By no stretch of the
in Genesis 11:14, we find in the line of Shem a imagination does his Biblically revealed
man called EBER or HEBER. Since Heber was background reveal or permit this! Then too, he
in the line of SHEM, he was automatically a was NOT an ISRAELITE nor ever called one!
SHEMITE. Heber’s descendants were known
as HEBREWS. But the Bible does clearly reveal that
Abraham was a S H E M I T E -- HEBREW-
Trace this line down to Genesis 11:24 and CHALDEAN! Perhaps new and shocking to you,
you learn of a man named TERAH. Then, in but true!
verse 26 we learn that Terah had three sons, “And
Terah....begat ABRAM, Nahor and Haran.” “But,” you insist, “didn’t Abraham BE-
COME THE FIRST “JEW”’?”
Abraham - note it carefully -- was a
descendant of NOAH -- through Shem and Again, I invite you to examine and
HEBER. This makes Abraham a “HEBREW- analyze the facts and Biblical information relative
SHEMITE” or a “SHEMITE-HEBREW.’ Thus, to this question! Let’s review the Bible record!
this is the answer to Question One.
If we carefully search the statements of
By researching a little further, we find in the Bible, we must honestly confess that we
Genesis 11:28, that Abraham’s brother Haran search in vain to find recorded even ONCE such
died -- but we also learn something further statements as: “ABRAHAM THE ‘JEW,’"
enlightening relative to our research. It reads: “ABRAHAM THE FIRST ‘JEW.’” or even
“ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF THE ‘JEWS’!”

The Correct Meaning of Names