Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Calling of Abraham


Alice C. Linsley

To understand Abraham's call it is helpful to investigate the circumstances at the time of his father's death in Haran. Knowledge of the Horite marriage and ascendancy pattern proves especially helpful. As with all the Horite rulers, Terah had two wives. They resided in separate settlements on a north-south axis. One lived in Ur and the other in Haran. Terah traveled between his wives, a distance of at least 730 miles. Likewise, Abraham's territory extended between Hebron, where Sarah resided, and Beersheba, where Keturah resided.

The Horites were ruler-priests who maintained water shrines. Abraham's father was such a ruler. His territory extended along the Euphrates from Haran in southern Turkey to Ur in southern Iraq. At that time, there was a large system of lakes at the midpoint between Haran and Ur.

Terah means "priest" and Terah controlled the water commerce between Ur and Haran. He had three sons: Abraham, Nahor and Haran. It is assumed that Abraham must be the first born as he is listed first in Genesis 11:26. However, as in the case of Keturah's first born son Yaqtan, the son listed first is not the first born (Gen. 25:1-3). Terah's first born son was Nahor, the son of his half-sister wife, and Nahor was Terah's proper heir. Na-Hor means "Horus is exalted." Terah left all his possessions to Nahor and sent Abraham away to establish his own kingdom.

Other sent-away sons include Abraham's sons Yishmael and Yishbak. Yishbak means “sent away.” (The initial Y is a solar symbol indicating a ruler under divine protection.)  Before he died, Abraham "made grants" to his other sons and sent them away from his son Isaac (Gen. 25:6).

This feature whereby sons were sent away to establish kingdoms drove Kushite expansion out of Africa into Mesopotamia, India and beyond. Nimrod, the son of Kush, is an example of a sent-away son who became a great kingdom builder in Mesopotamia. This feature is important also in understanding Jesus Christ's true identity. He left the glory of His Father as a sent-away son. He set aside His immortal nature (kenosis) in order that He might stoop to save. He became mortal that He might redeem a people for Himself and establish an eternal kingdom.

Before his death, Terah made a grant to Abraham and sent him away from Nahor. As with all sent-away sons, God promises to deliver a kingdom by divine power. This pattern speaks of the Son of God who is heir to the eternal kingdom. Abraham's call is to possess the Kingdom. Psalm 2 declares this concerning the Kingdom: He said to Me, "Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession."

The sending forth of Abraham constitutes a divine call and appointment. It means that a kingdom will be gained, not according to the worldly means of ascension, but as God directs. Sent-away sons receive divine protection, guidance, territory, authority, and heirs. This pattern is found with Cain, Abraham, Moses, Yacob, Yoseph, Samuel and David. In II Samuel 8:18, David’s sons are called priests. Rulers, priests and prophets were chosen from the Horite caste. In these persons we are granted a glimpse of the Son of God, Yeshua. In Genesis 3:15, He is called the "Seed" of the Woman.

When Abraham went to Canaan he did not abandon the tradition of his ancestors. He continued the marriage pattern of his Horite people, taking a cousin wife from among his Horite kin. Horite rulers married the daughter of Horite rulers (endogamy) because they believed that the Seed of God would be born of their ruler-priest bloodlines. That is why the lines of priests intermarrried exclusively and why unchaste daughters of priests were burned alive (Lev. 21:9). Sexual impurity was not tolerated.


The misguided claim of idol worship




In Joshua 24:2 we find this peculiar remark: “In olden times, your forefathers – Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.”

The implication is that Terah fell into worshiping contrary to Horite tradition while living “beyond the Euphrates.” This represents the Bible's criticism of Asian dualism in which the sun and moon were regarded as equals.



Further, in ancient Horite symbolism, Ra's right eye is represented by the sun and the left eye is represented by the moon. Together they are the eyes of Horus, but the moon eye is weaker than the sun eye. It is idolatry to regard the weaker as worthy of equal honor. This explains why Abraham's father was accused of idol worship in Joshua 24. Other than this accusation, there is not a single shred of evidence that Abraham or his father were idolaters.



From Abraham's seed comes the Seed of God

Abraham left his father’s territory as a response to God’s call whereby God would deliver to Abraham a kingdom. To gain that kingdom, he needed a proper heir. This was not Eliezer, but the firstborn son of Sarah who was barren. Yitzak (Isaac) was the son whose miraculous coming into the world was to bring Abraham a kingdom. This speaks of the Son of God.


Jesus is the fulfillment of the expectation of Abraham's Horite people. He is a direct descendant of the Horite ruler-priests. About Him it was written "My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet...” (Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, p. 216)

Note the similarity to the Messianic reference in Psalm 110:1: The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The substance of Abraham's faith centers in the belief of his people that the Creator made a promise to their ancestors in Eden that a woman of their bloodlines would conceive the Divine Seed who would overthrow the curse and restore paradise and perfect communion with the Creator. From this faith Christianity emerges organically. Christians affirm that the Creator has been busy fulfilling that promise in Jesus Christ, the Divine Seed/Son. The core of Christianity can be traced to the beliefs of Abraham and his ancestors. It predates all the great world religions. Christianity is not original, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in great antiquity, and herein rests its authority.


Abshalom Yisrael said...

Good Day Alice,

who were the Shemites or descendants of Shem. Are the Arabs and the Jews of today their descendants.


Alice Linsley said...

Shalom, Abshalom. God is good.

The descendants of Shem and the descendants of Ham are ethnically the same people. They are Horite (Horim), a caste of ruler-priests. Today not all Jews have Horite blood. Gentile converts do not.

It is important to remember also that the lines of Shem and Ham intermarried. This is the evidence of the King lists of Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11. That is why some Jews, some Sudanese, some East Africans, some Arabians, and some Yememis can trace descent from the Horites.

Yisrael Abshalom said...

Shalom Alice,

are their any articles in Just Genesis or any other resource that can help me understand the significance of the altars at Shechem, Hebron, Beersheba,Moriah (Zion) and Bethel.



Alice Linsley said...

Shalom, Yisrael.

You might find these articles helpful at Biblical Anthropology:

Best wishes to you!

Elaine said...

Thank you for an interesting blog. I want to ask about this statement: "Other than this accusation (in Joshua) there is not a single shred of evidence that Abraham or his father were idolaters."

Terah, had 3 sons, including Nahor and Abraham. Nahor's sons included Laban. When Laban's daughter left him, she stole the household gods. (Gen. 31:19). When Laban made an oath, he made it by the gods of his father Nahor, and - some manuscripts include -the gods of his father Terah. (Gen. 31:53) The Israelites were still following gods, presumably these gods, in the Promised Land (Gen. 35:2, and the afore-mentioned verse you cited in Josh. 24) So there does seem to be evidence that Terah (and probably Abraham of the house of Terah) worshipped idols.

Alice Linsley said...

Elaine, The word that appears in reference to Laban's "idols" is not the Hebrew word for idols, which is pesel. The word that appears here is teraphim, which simply means "the things belonging to Terah." Terah was Abraham's and Sarah's father and his name means "priest." These "things" were probably ancestor figurines representing his holy ruler-priest ancestors. See this: