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According to Heb. 11:, Abraham when he obeyed God did not know the land that
God had promised him, and so the language of Gen. 11: 31 written after the event must
be considered as supplemental. Terah, whose name among other meanings seems to be
`wanderer', was evidently moved by the call that had come to his son, but the thing to be
noticed is that although he made that trek from Ur of the Chaldees as far north as Haran,
he never `passed over' the Euphrates. After six hundred miles separation from Ur, he
still dwelt in the same country and had in reality made no essential change. Terah's
movement is like many religious movements, they fail in essentials. They change from
one denomination to another, but remain a denomination all the same. Abraham was
called `The Hebrew' for he passed over the dividing river. Terah was never a `Hebrew'.
He came out of Ur, but he died in Haran, a city of the same country. He had but changed
one denomination for another. Terah died in Haran, and until he died he was a hindrance
to faithful obedience.
Terah represents the `old man' who can be religious and do almost everything except
`pass over'. Only when the old man dies can the believer rise and walk in newness of
life. We are, however, tracing the history of the Seed and must not allow ourselves too
many doctrinal excursions, but the reader will doubtless perceive that the spiritual history
of the individual believer finds an echo many times in the record of the Seed and its
conflict.
No.23.
Cain and Canaan were both "of that wicked one".
pp. 144 - 148
As the different attacks are made by the enemy upon the life and purity of the true
seed, certain terms are introduced which mark the spiritual side of the conflict and reveal
the character of the provision and protection afforded by the Lord. These we shall have
to consider together as a whole when we have pursued this theme further, but the reader
may be helped by an anticipation of this particular study. Certain words and phases
emerge as the story of the seed progresses, and the following will indicate the nature of
this particular aspect of truth.
(1)
The first prophecy of the Seed. Gen. 3: 15.
The bruising of head and Heel.
(2)
The second reference, Seth. Gen. 4: 25.
"Instead." The principle of substitution.
(3)
The third reference, Noah. Gen. 5: 29.
"Comfort" because of "curse".
(4)
The fourth reference, The Ark. Gen. 6: 14.
Propitiation (Pitch).
(5)
The fifth reference, barrenness. Gen. 11: 30.
The flesh set aside.