Daily Bread

Acts 7:4 - "Then he came out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And after that his father died he was made to move into this country where you now dwell."

Abraham was born in Ur, which was a town in southern Mesopotamia and southern Babylon (Genesis 11:28, 31; Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7). Evidently, Abraham's father was involved in this call to some degree. It may be that he came with Abraham because he believed in the call on Abraham's life. Terah began to have sons at 70 years of age and he died in Haran at the age of 205 (Genesis 11:26, 32). Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran after his father's death. Therefore, Terah would have been 130 years old when Abraham was born (Genesis 12:4). We cannot be certain how old Abraham was when God first appeared to him in Ur but we do know that he was married to Sarai long enough for Sarai to be classified as barren, a title given to those who have little to no hope of ever having children. Abraham may have been 70 years old, which would have made Terah 200 years old. It may be that Abraham needed to take care of his aged father and also his orphaned nephew Lot and this is why they left Ur with Abraham. We know that Abraham was very prompt in obeying God as exemplified by his speedy response to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:3. It may be that God appeared to Abraham giving him the promise at 70 years of age at which time his sojourning began (Galatians 3:17; Hebrews 11:8; Exodus 12:40). The sojourning of Abraham and his descendents during the time of Promise would last a total of 430 years as testified by both Paul and Moses.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org