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Pioneers Of The Old West

Abraham was an "easterner," born in Ur Of The Chaldees in Mesopotamia (equivalent in territory to modern-day Iraq). According to the record, Abraham was happy where he was; given the choice, he probably would have remained amidst the seeming comforts and safety of where civilization was reborn and took deep root after The Flood. But God chose Abraham for a purpose; to leave Babylon (physically and spiritually - see Abraham And The "Tradition Trap") and to head west for the purpose of settling in a "promised land" that, although he and his descendants would have to fight the natives to possess it (even though those already there were actually preparing the way for the arrival of "Israel" - see "Land On Which You Had Not Labored"), it would, by means of events that took place there over the succeeding centuries, ultimately become a spiritual Promised Land for all people.



Out Of Babylon

The Lord appeared to Abraham while he was in Babylon, and told him to head west:


"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 show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3 KJV)

Abraham departed:


"So Abram departed, as The Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai [i.e. Sarah] his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came." (Genesis 12:4-5 KJV)

Settlement in the new land was not easy; drought, famine, and hostile natives were constant challenges, but the greatest test for Abraham came from God - the command to sacrifice his son Isaac, at the very place where God would actually sacrifice His own Son centuries later, at Mount Moriah in Jerusalem (in both cases, the son, and the Son, willingly submitted themselves their father's, and their Father's, command - see Isaac's Faith And Obedience)


"By Myself have I sworn, saith The Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice." (Acts 22:16-18 KJV)

Fact Finder: Is the physical Promised Land of the Israelites destined to be the capital of the spiritual Promised Land for all humanity?
See The Capital City



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