Abram leaves the Haran region And
Blessings and curses
The order was categorical. But before examining the motives for this departure it will be worth while considering exactly what it was that Abram was preparing to leave.
According to the passage quoted he was to leave his country, his family and his father's house. The country was the grassy land of Paddan-aram, the land of the Rivers, where, among all the Aramean tribes dwelling on this pasture land, the patriarch could count a fair number of cousins and relations by marriage. As we shall have occasion to observe in several chapters of the Scriptures, all these Arameans took care to choose their wives from the pastoral tribes of the same race as their own. Now, for spiritual reasons, it was important to separate Abram from the idolatrous peoples with whom, by force of circumstances he was regularly in contact. By his 'father's house' the Scriptures did not mean a building of brick, for Abram and his fellows had always been tent-dwellers. In fact this 'house' was the land of Paddan-aram, the Aramean people, the group of relatives who, on the plain, were to be encountered around the wells or on the bank of a stream to which the animals made their way in the evening. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that Haran, like Ur at the other end of Mesopotamia, was under the protection of the Moon-god Nannar, the guardian of the city. It was a centre of polytheism in which gods of all kinds swarmed.
In order to form Abram's soul according to his own pattern, to make him his 'kohen', to enable him progressively to open his eyes and his heart to YAHWEH's revelation, YAHWEH seems to have decided to separate Abram and his family on a remote plain, in a semi-desert region where, as YAHWEH's chosen one, he was to live in relative solitude, no doubt, but in a place suitable for spiritual training.
Blessings and curses
'I will make you a great nation,' YAHWEH promised Abram when ordering him to set off southwards. 'A great nation'? But Abram had no children, for his wife Sarai was sterile. Of course, in accordance with Aramean custom, his nephew Lot was in a position to continue the race and perpetuate his name, but this people could not have been regarded as 'sprung' from Abram, at least in the literal sense of the word.'I will bless you, I will make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing,' added YAHWEH.
I will bless those who bless you.
I will curse those who slight you.
All the tribes of the earth shall
bless themselves by you.
(Bereshith 12:2-3)
Thus Abram received the order to leave the country of Paddan-aram. Once again the patriarch folded his tents, loaded his beasts of burden and departed with his flocks of sheep. The caravan set out towards the land of Canaan, what is now Palestine. YAHWEH had spoken, HIS faithful subject obeyed. The history of the Chosen People had begun under the assured protection of YAHWEH.
You are here: Home > History > Abraham Love By YAHWEH > current