Sermon from Worship on August 22, 2021, Lectionary 21 Have you heard the midrash about the young Abram and his father Terah? Terah is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy in Luke 3:34. Lot also traveled to Haran with Terah and Abram. The ancient Israelites did not listen. He was the son of Nahor, who in turn, was the son of Serug. A man walked in and wished to buy an idol. At face value, it seems that the fault lay with the the new generation that did not know God. Terah is prominently featured in Genesis 11:26-28. President Nelson shared the following story last April: I adored my parents. His father, Haran, died in Ur. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. I guess that is an ancient Jewish form of a homily imbedded in the text. 6. Hearken and Look; Or, Encouragement for Believers, Who was Abraham in the Bible? These were the feelings of Abraham, and he taught his fathers house, and all around him, as far as he had the privilege. Terah: Abrams father worshipped false gods and settled in Haran, Shems Descendants to Abram, Genesis 11:10-32. Learn how and when to remove this template message. When Abrahams father learned what had happened, he of course was greatly exercised; he inquired of Abraham who had done it. Would you like updates when content is posted? [30] The people of Abraham were then confounded with shame, and admitted that the idols were incapable of anything.[31]. 19 And Abram asked his father, saying, Father, tell me where is God who created heaven and earth, and all the sons of men upon earth, and who created thee and me. The family resided in Ur of the Chaldees. 35 And Terah, having heard the noise of the hatchet in the room of images, ran to the room to the images, and he met Abram going out. At this point, Terah took Abraham to Nimrod. Maybe. Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. I lean toward the side that says that corruption in the Church leads to corruption in society since the Church, like ancient Israel, is supposed to be the beacon of truth and light in the world. This paragraph that I am now writing on May 31, 2021, is an addendum to this post. The Samaritan tradition relates that Terah passed away when he was 145 years old. Makrim Shrz, Tafsr-i nimna, vol. Why did Lot offer up his daughters to be gang raped? And as he put it, The temple of the Moon attracted the devotion of Julian.3 This was over 2200 years after Abraham lived! While Terah was gone, Abram had destroyed all of the idols except the largest one. Abraham also learned that God desired not to leave the nations in darkness, but to redeem the nations from idolatry and that He was going to use Abrahams descendants to accomplish this. | GotQuestions.org, Who was Lot in the Bible? This is what happened shortly after Joshua died. Why did God allow Lots daughters to later have sex with their father? Terah, like many of his ancestors, was an adherent of polytheism and idol worshipper. Terah - Wikipedia Lot, who becomes a main character in Gen. 13:1-14:24, is cast in contrast to Abram. Like Noah, Terah also had three sons, Abram being one of them. 47 And how can you continue to do this and serve gods of wood and stone, who cannot hear, or speak, or deliver you from oppression, thereby bringing down the anger of the God of the universe upon you? Day in and day out, Terah worked diligently crafting "gods" of stone and wood. According to Genesis Rabbah 38.13 R. Hiyya, a first generation Jewish sage, tells the following story: Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. They were polytheistic and idol worshippers. | GotQuestions.org, Questions about People in the Bible (All) | GotQuestions.org. It is usually practiced toward a real or supposed higher power, whether such power is believed to have animate existence . [2] Terah also made and sold idols, as the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 38 explains. Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abrams lie (Genesis 12:17)? When this happens, they are open to manipulation by malevolent forces like we are seeing today in the United States and Europe. Abram thus left Haran at age 75, well before Terah died. In the religious world, we call the process of passing this knowledge to our children catechesis. They failed to catechize the next generation and so the chain was broken. Abraham's Father Terah was an idol worshipper. 30 And Abram viewed them, and behold they had neither voice nor hearing, nor did one of them stretch forth his hand to the meat to eat. But Abrams obedience would result in the development of the nation that God Himself would come down and visit through His sinless Son, Jesus. After his passing, Abraham departed from Haran. According to rabbinic literature Terah was a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) who manufactured idols (Eliyahu Rabbah 6, and Eliyahu Zuta 25). c. Terah was an idol worshipper. A man walked in and wished to buy an idol. This one, enraged against them on account of their behavior, took the hatchet and broke them all, and, behold, the hatchet is yet in his hands, as thou mayest see., Then Terah turned in wrath upon Abraham, and he said: Thou speakest lies unto me! Once he went on a trip and he placed Abraham in charge of the store in his place. - Elohim Nahor. Another reason why this happens is prosperity. Abraham is known to have done something similar. At one point in the book, he muses over possible causes that led to the near collapse of the Catholic Church in the West in the 1960s. [24] Abraham prayed for his father[25] to be forgiven by God, and although he continued to seek forgiveness, it was only because of a promise that he had made earlier to him. The Talmud notes that Abrahams age was 52 in 2000 AM (Anno Mundi). Perhaps Terah initiates the journey to Canaan as a reaction to Avram's actions. The rich pantheon of the ancient gods made it so there was no shortage of work for Terah. 7. Delivered at Provo, Sunday Afternoon, August 28th, 1881, Reported by Geo. Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error. [35] By this he argued that since Azar was an idolater and Abraham was one of the prophet's ancestors, it is not possible for Azar to be Abraham's father. Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14). After they came back, they were troubled by the wreckage and soon realised that Abraham could be behind this. Later, a woman walked into the store and wanted to make an offering to the idols. Genesis 31:19,30,32,53 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. Abraham was born and brought up in the magnificent city civilization of Babylon -- Iraq.This was the civilization that tried to produce the ultimate man-constructed "house", the Tower of Babel. Rabbi Hiyya relates this account in the Genesis Rabba: Terah left Abram to mind the store while he departed. However, Abraham spent many years in the house of his ancestors Noah and Shem (in Africa . [23] When Abraham offered his father the guidance and advice of God, he rejected it, and threatened to stone him to death. 48 Now therefore my father refrain from this, and bring not evil upon thy soul and the souls of thy household. Abraham's Early Life - Chabad.org Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1971, Ruse, Austin, No Finer Time to Be a Catholic, Crisis Publication, Manchester, N.H., 2021, Time-Life Books, editor, Sumer: Cities of Eden, Lost Civilization Series, Time Life Education, 1993, Voegelin, Eric, Order and History, Vol. Abraham told him that the gods had had a quarrel among themselves, and, said he, here is the fellow, (pointing to the big one he had spared) that did it. Said the father: My son, why do you tell me such a thing. According to the Book of Genesis 11, Terah was the son of Nahor, who was the son of Serug, who was the son of Reu, who was the son of Peleg, who was the son of Eber, who was the son of Shelah, who was the son of Arpachshad, who was the son of Shem, who was one of the sons of Noah . PDF The Role of Terah in the Foundational Stories of the Patriarchal Family Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 11:26 - Bible Meanings ( Genesis 31:53) We include this description as a contrast. [21] From the Quran 74/6, "And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham said to his a Azar: Do you take idols as deities? But really, the blame with the parents. (E.g., Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33.) Terah, having heard the crash of the hatchet on the stone, ran to the room of the idols, and he reached it at the moment when Abraham was leaving it, and when he saw what had happened, he hastened after Abraham, and he said to him, What is this mischief thou hast done to my gods? Abraham answered: I set savory meat before them, and when I came nigh unto them, that they might eat, they all stretched out their hands to take of the meat, before the big one had put forth his hand to eat. [37] In Dua Umm Dawood, a supplication recited by Shi'ite Muslims cited to be from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, the supplicant sends blessings on a person by the name of 'Turakh'. Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: Genesis 31:53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. When his father returned and queried who had broken his gods, Abraham blamed the biggest idol. 34 And when he had done breaking the images, he placed the hatchet in the hand of the great god which was there before them, and he went out; and Terah his father came home, for he had heard at the door the sound of the striking of the hatchet; so Terah came into the house to know what this was about. He then posits the idea of poor catechesis and gives a poignant illustration from his own life: When I began to consider conversion to the Catholic Church in the late 1980s, I approached young people I knew to be Catholic and asked them what I should read. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. ", Terah is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. One of his sons, Haran, passed away while the family was still in Ur. Nimrod asked Abram: "Why do you not worship my god?" So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Why did God send the Israelites to Egypt for 400 years (Genesis 15:13)? "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.". was terah an idol worshipper was terah an idol worshipper - nui.no When I looked it up online I found that it was in the Midrash. The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented (Zohar Genesis 1:77b) and Rabbi Abba B. Kahana said that God assured Abram that his father Terah had a portion in the World to Come (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12). In the Genesis narrative, Terah took his family and left Ur to move to the land of Canaan. 59 Now therefore put away this evil deed which thou doest, and serve the God of the universe, as thy soul is in his hands, and then it will be well with thee.
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