Abraham, Friend of God

Lesson 9 1

After leaving Ur, Abram’s first stop was Haran.

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What do we know about Haran?

❖ Abram stay there until his father, Terah, died.

❖ When Abram left Haran, Nahor (Abram’s brother) and his family, along with their family idols, remained in Haran.

❖ While at Haran, Abram and Sarai led others to worship and to serve the true God, and these people left Haran with them.

❖ Haran is close to the city of Nahor (Gen. 24:10), where Abraham’s servant returned to find a wife for Isaac.

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Haran 6

Haran 7

Haran, Beehive Houses 8

Abram then traveled to Shechem, where he camped under the oaks of Moreh, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, in a wide grassy valley that had olive groves and gushing springs.

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But to Abram a heavy shadow rested upon the wooded hill and fruitful plain, for the Canaanite was in the land.

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There were open-air groves with altars for false gods and places for human sacrifices. Abram, however, clung to God’s promise, but he had distressful forebodings as he pitched his tent. (See PP 128.)

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And wherever he pitched his tent, close beside it he set up an altar and called everyone within his encampment to the morning and evening sacrifice. His example was in sharp contrast to the Canaanitish worship of idols, and some of the Canaanites began to worship the true God.

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In addition to the oaks, the wide valley, the olive groves, the gushing springs, and the mountains, what else do we know about Shechem?

❖ The bones of Joseph were buried there.

❖ Jacob’s well, beside which Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, was in Shechem.

❖ Joseph’s brothers took their father’s flocks to Shechem, and it was there that Joseph went to find them, but they had already left Shechem for Dothan. (It was at Dothan that the brothers captured Joseph and threw him in a pit.) 16

❖ Jacob took all the strange gods of his household and all of the earrings of his household and hid them under an oak in Shechem.

❖ Abimelech was made king in Shechem, and when Jotham was told about it, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and addressed the Shechemites.

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Shechem lay in the center, beside Mt. Gerizim (the southern mountain) and directly opposite Mt. Ebal.

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At the time of the conquest of Canaan, it became a city of refuge, and it was there that Joshua gathered all the tribes for a renewal of the covenant just before his death. 19

When Abimelech made himself king over Israel, he had his capital at Shechem, and when the city rebelled against him, it was destroyed and sown with salt (Judges 9:22-45). The city was later rebuilt as Jeroboam’s capital (1 Kings 12:25).

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Shechem was in a narrow valley that runs east and west between Mt. Ebal on the north (3080 feet high) and Mt. Gerizim on the south (2890 feet high). The elevation of Shechem itself was 1800 feet.

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Sheche m 22

Mt. Ebal at Shechem 23

Mt. Gerizim at Shechem 24

Shechem is often associated today with Nablus, a city in the West Bank, a geographic area on the west bank of the Jordan River (about 26 miles east of Tel Aviv, Israel, and 39 miles north of Jerusalem) which Israel invaded and captured from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967 and over which it continues to maintain control.

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Nablus, with Mt. Gerizim in background 27

Nablus is predominately an Islamic city. In Abram’s time, Shechem was a Canaanite city. Who were the Canaanites?

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The idol-worshipping inhabitants of the land of Canaan were called Canaanites, and according to Genesis 10:6, they were the descendants of Canaan, one of the sons of Ham. (

SDA Bible Commentary

, vol. 8, p. 169) 29

Where was the land of Canaan?

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Biblical Canaan is the whole country west of the Jordan, from Gaza and the Dead Sea in the south to various points north.

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It is not known when the descendants of Canaan moved into the land of Palestine, but they were there by the time Abram arrived, and they were in possession of the largest and strongest cities in the country until dispossessed by the Israelites.

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The Canaanites were descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, but they were not worshippers of the God of Noah.

Nimrod was also a son of Ham.

From whom did Abram descend? (Shem) 35

How many Canaanites were there?

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We don’t know, but they had many neighbors: And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. (Exodus 33:1, 2) 37

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The Canaanites served other gods.

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The chief gods of the Canaanites were El, Baal, Anath, Asherah, Dagon, Hadad, some of which are mentioned in the Bible. These gods were worshipped in temples, a number of which have been excavated, and in open-air sanctuaries (called “high-places” in the Bible). . . .

The idolatrous religious rites were connected with gross immorality . . . The sacrificial system was similar to that of the Hebrews, but besides clean animals, unclean beasts and sometimes human beings, especially children, were offered on Canaanite altars. (

SDA Bible Commentary

, vol. 8, p. 171, paraphrased) 40

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The Canaanites . . .

❖ offered children in sacrifices to Molech.

❖ had strong cities with high walls (Jericho was one of them).

❖ had abandoned themselves to the foulest and most debasing heathenism. (PP 492) ❖ owned the Cave of Machpelah which Abraham bought.

❖ were idolators.

❖ battled Joshua at Bethhoron, when the sun stood still.

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❖ were without natural affection, idolators, adulterers, murderers, and abominable by every corrupt thought and revolting practice. (PP 688) ❖ were cruel and licentious. (MH 280) ❖ had filled up their measure of iniquity.

❖ lived only to blaspheme heaven and to defile the earth.

❖ of Hazor were led by Sisera at one time.

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❖ held communion with evil spirits (PP 688).

❖ had neighbors of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

❖ were idolators, and Abraham would not allow Isaac to have a Canaanite wife.

❖ were wives of Esau.

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When the Israelites once decided to attack the Canaanites against God’s command, this is what happened: 47

The Canaanites had heard of the mysterious power that seemed to be guarding this people, and of the wonders wrought in their behalf; and they now summoned a strong force to repel the invaders [the Israelites]. The attacking army [the Israelities] had no leader. No prayer was offered that God would give them the victory. They set forth with the desperate purpose to reverse their fate or to die in battle. Though untrained in war, they were a vast multitude of armed men, and they hoped by a sudden and fierce assault to bear down all opposition. They presumptuously challenged the foe that had not dared to attack them. (RH, November 5, 1903) 48

The Canaanites had stationed themselves upon a rocky tableland reached only by difficult passes and a steep and dangerous ascent. The immense numbers of the Hebrews could only render their defeat more terrible. They slowly threaded the mountain paths, exposed to the deadly missiles of their enemies above. (

Ibid

.) 49

Massive rocks came thundering down, marking their path with the blood of the slain. Those who reached the summit, exhausted with their ascent, were fiercely repulsed, and driven back with great loss. The field of carnage was strewn with the bodies of the dead. The army of Israel was utterly defeated. Destruction and death was the result of that rebellious experiment. (

Ibid

.) 50

That first defeat of Israel, by inspiring the Canaanites with courage and resolution, had greatly increased the difficulties of the conquest. Nothing remained for Israel but to fall back from the face of their victorious foes, into the wilderness, knowing that here must be the grave of a whole generation. (

Ibid

.) 51

God knew the dangers to which his people would be exposed. Satan would work through those corrupt idolaters to destroy Israel, and temptation would address them with all the grace of manner and fascination of art. 52

Few realize the power of Satan to ensnare and lead astray. Even in the days of Israel it had been for thousands of years his constant study to make the way to destruction easy and inviting.

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In this hellish work the great adversary employs numberless co-laborers to attract unwary feet away from God, away from Heaven. In view of all these allurements in the wrong direction, the Lord carefully instructed his people how to conduct themselves in order to resist temptation. (ST, January 13, 1881 par. 14) 54

The apparent severity of God’s dealings with the Canaanites did not, as many suppose, proceed from harshness or cruelty. The love of God is beyond our comprehension; it is high as the heavens, and broad as the universe. Every soul whom he has created is precious in his sight,-- so precious that he gave his only begotten Son to die for that lost, perishing sinner. When men shall manifest toward their fellow-creatures a love superior to this, then they may talk of compassion where God has exercised severity. (ST, January 13, 1881 par. 15) 55

The children of Israel had learned by their own bitter experience that the first step taken in departing from God makes the next step more easy, while the way to return becomes as difficult as are the ice-clad mountain steeps to the benumbed traveler. 56

It seemed a small matter to our first parents to do only one little act which God had forbidden,--to take from the forbidden tree the fruit so attractive to the eye and pleasant to the taste; but by this one act they forfeited their allegiance to God, the great lawgiver, and opened the flood-gates of misery to the world.

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God alone can measure the evils which may result from one wrong step,--evils which at the critical moment the tempted soul does not consider. The only safeguard for frail, erring man is to obey, without hesitation or argument, the expressed will of God, regardless of all promise of pleasure or profit as the reward of sin. When God speaks, it is enough. (ST, January 13, 1881 par. 16) 58

The generation that succeeded Joshua were directed to carry forward the work which he had left unfinished; but they did not obey the divine command to utterly destroy the heathen. 59

Some of the tribes made war on the Canaanites, but failing to receive the help which they should have had from their brethren,

they became weary of the conflict

, and spared their most dangerous enemies.

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Frequent intercourse soon removed all fear of dange

r; and now the Israelites took another step in transgression,

by connecting themselves in marriage with the heathen

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When this was done, the difficulties of the situation were greatly increased. It was no easy matter to make war with relatives, and to extirpate or banish their own kindred. (ST, June 2, 1881 par. 3) 62

By their disregard of God’s command, the Israelites had woven for themselves a net in which their feet were soon entangled.

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Ere long, many of the Hebrews were induced to attend heathen festivals. Lascivious songs and licentious indulgence, formed a prominent part in the idolatrous worship.

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Exposed to these contaminating influences, the Israel of God steadily became corrupted. In imitation of the gods of the heathen, images were made to represent Jehovah, and thus idolatry spread like a plague throughout the land. {ST, June 2, 1881 par. 4} 65

The Israelites, having again separated themselves from God by idolatry, were grievously oppressed by these enemies. The property and even the lives of the people were in constant danger. 66

Hence the villages and lonely dwellings were deserted, and the people congregated in the walled cities. The high-roads were unoccupied, and the people went from place to place by unfrequented by-ways.

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At the places for drawing water, many were robbed and even murdered, and to add to their distress, the Israelites were unarmed. Among forty thousand men, not a sword or a spear could be found. (ST, June 16, 1881 par. 3) 68

But, Abraham was “the friend of God” and set us a worthy example. His was a life of prayer.

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When his tent was removed, the altar remained, and when roving Canaanites who had received instruction from Abram came upon one of these altars, they repaired it and there worshiped the living God.

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The Song of Moses Deuteronomy 32:1-43

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Moses, just prior to his death, not only rehearsed to Israel the important events in their history, but at the command of God he embodied them in sacred verse. . . . The people of Israel were required to commit to memory this poetic history, and to teach it to their children and their children’s children. It was to be chanted by the congregation when assembled for worship, and to be repeated by the people as they went in and out about their daily duties. 74

This song was not only historical, but prophetic. It recounted the wonderful dealings of God with his people in the past, and also foreshadowed the great events of the future, the final victory of the faithful when Christ shall appear the second time in power and glory. (ST, May 26, 1881 par. 12) 75

It was the imperative duty of parents to so impress these words upon the susceptible minds of their children, that they might never be forgotten. “Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.” {ST, May 26, 1881 par. 13} 76

The condition of society today is the same as when God presented before Israel the abominations of the heathen; and the same warnings are necessary to the remnant people. Spiritualism is advancing through the land in triumph. “The spirits of devils working miracles” are going “forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Men are seeking unto them that have familiar spirits; but the people of God cannot in any sense follow the practices of the world. They must keep the commandments of the Lord. The line of separation must be distinctly marked between the obedient and the disobedient. There must be open and avowed enmity between the church and the serpent, between her seed and his seed. {ST, August 26, 1889 par. 7} 77

God is slow to anger. He gave the wicked nations a time of probation that they might become acquainted with Him and His character. According to the light given was their condemnation for refusing to receive the light and choosing their own ways rather than God’s ways. God gave

the reason why He did not at once dispossess the Canaanites

. The iniquity of the Amorites was not full. Through their iniquity they were gradually bringing themselves to the point where God’s forbearance could no longer be exercised and they would be exterminated. Until the point was reached and their iniquity was full, the vengeance of God would be delayed. All nations had a period of probation. Those who made void God’s law would advance from one degree of wickedness to another. Children would inherit the rebellious spirit of their parents and do worse than their fathers before them until God’s wrath would fall upon them. The punishment was not less because deferred (MS 58, 1900). (2BC 1005.6) 78