A'bra.ham [Father of a Multitude] was given this name by God to group all the people with the spirit of exaltation and he was declared the father of them when he was 99 years old, and as reaffirmation of His promise that A'bra.ham's offspring would become many. Gen.17:5.
A'bra.ham was the 10th generation from Noah through Shem. Although listed 1st in the spiritual sense among the 3 sons of Terah, a practice that is followed in the case of several other outstanding Bible characters, he was not the firstborn in the physical world. The Scriptures show that Terah was 70 years old when his 1st son was born, and that A'bra.ham was born 60 years later when when his father was 130 years old (Genesis 11-12).
Abraham was a native of the Chaldean city of Ur, a thriving metropolis located in the land of Shinar, near of Nimrod's onetime royal city of Babel, near the present junction of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. In A'bra.ham's time , the city of Ur was steeped in Babylonian idolatry and the worship of its patron moon-god Sin. Abraham proved to be a man of deep faith in God and, as a consequence, he earned the reputation of being called "the father of all those having faith."(Romans 4:11)
Since True Faith is based on Accurate Knowledge, A'bra.ham apparently received his understanding by personal association with Shem since their lives overlapped by 150 years.
While A'braham was still living in Ur, God commanded him to move out to a strange land leaving behind everything. There in that country God said He would make out of him a great nation. Terah, now around 200 years old and still the family's patriarchal head, agreed to accompany Abraham and Sarah, his wife, on this long journey, and this is the reason that Terah as father of A'bra.ham is credited with making the move toward Canaan. (Genesis 11). Lot, a fatherless child, son of A'bra.ham's brother Haran, was adopted by his childless uncle and aunt, and so accompanied them. Haran fathered Lot and two daughters, Iscah and Milcah; the latter married her uncle Nahor. Haran died before the family left Ur of the Chaldees. To understand why he died in the spiritual sense we have to look at the residence that A'bra.ham took in Northern Mesopotamia, named Haran. The name itself means "mountaineer" and since the spirit of Haran was no longer with the Chaldeans, it resided in that city. A'bra.ham resided there temporarily and in this spirit Terah died. Then the city is listed among the nations conquered by the kings of Assyria.
Sometime after leaving Haran, Abraham sent his "oldest servant" to the city of Haran in which the spirit of his brother Nahor resided, to find a bride for his son Isaac. Later, Jacob, his grandson, went also to Haran to escape the wrath of his brother Esau and to find a wife among the daughters of his uncle Laban. At a well, near haran, Jacob met Rachel. (Genesis 27-28-29).
In the 8th century BC, Assyrian King Senna-Cherib tried to intimidate Hezekiah, the servant of God, with messages boasting about his forefathers' conquest of Haran and other places. (2Kings 19; Isaiah 37). Assyrian sources refer to Haran as the "road"in the spiritual and the physical way, because of its location being on the caravan route it linked with cities such as Nineveh, Asshur, Babylon, and Tyre, as well as the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 27).
A'bra.ham went out of Haran and crossed the Euphrates River on the 14th day of the month that later became known as Nisan, following the death of his father Terah. Every move that A'bra.ham did falls exactly in the spiritual calendar planned by God towards the completion of His Plan. That would mean that the crossing marked the end of 2,083 years of human existence according to the most ancient man made calendar. A'bra.ham stayed in Haran for a suitable length of time after his father's death before living Haran, and he was 75 years of age when he went out of it.
He travelled through Damascus until he got to Shechem, North of Jerusalem near the big trees of Moreh. Here God appeared again to him confirming and enlarging his covenant promise by declaring:
"To your seed I am going to give this land."(Genesis 12). From there he marked the presence of God along the way through altars toward the Southern part of Palestine. In time of severe famine compelled A'bra.ham to move temporarily to Egypt, and to protect his spiritual and physical life, he did not represented Sarah as his wife, only as his sister. And, just as A'bra.ham feared, Pharaoh took beautiful Sarah into his household, to be his wife. But, before he could violate her, God had Paharaoh giving her back. A'bra.ham then returned to Canaan to the campsite between Beth-El and Ai.
Due to the increased size of their flocks and herds, A'bra.ham and Lot had to separate their belongings in their spiritual and physical terms. Lot selected the basin of the Lower Jordan, a well-watered region, similar to the Gardens of the Lord, and later established his camp near Sodom. (Genesis 13). A'bra.ham was told to travel about through the length and breadth of the land, like symbolizing a cross, and to dwell among the big trees of Mamre in Hebron, South West of Jerusalem.
When 4 allied kings, headed by Mesopotamian King Chedorlaomer, were successful in crushing a revolt of 5 Canaanite Kings, Sodom and Gomorrah were sacked and Lot was taken captive together with all his property. A'bra.ham upon learning of this, "quickly mustered 318 of his Trained Household Servants," made a Forced March in Hot Pursuit Northward to beyond Damascus, and with God's help, defeated a far superior force.
Lot was rescued and the stolen property recovered (Genesis 14). As A'bra.ham was returning from this great spiritual and physical victory a "Priest of the Most High," Melchi-Zedek, who was also the King of Salem, came out and blessed him, and A'bra.ham, in turn, "gave him a 10th of everything."
A'bra.ham separated the most holy of everything to be offered to the Most High. It does nothing to do with man made assumption that A'bra.ham offered material revenue to the Most High. What A;bra.ham offered was the most divine and sacred of everything to the purpose of being "True Servants of the Most High." From this 10th, all the true servants of God mentioned in the Bible embrace the role model that we as Christians have to follow in order to be called "Servants of the Lord."
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