Pastor John,
As I was reading the very encouraging message of today’s TFE (Thought for the Evening): “Where do we go?” (https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfe11-16). I was reminded of something that I had only noticed about a week earlier, while reading through the book of Genesis.
Just like you wrote in the TFE, I, too, had been convinced, for a long time, that when God told Abram to leave his father’s house and go to the place He would later show him, Abram was still living in Ur of the Chaldeans. Well, as I was reading chapters 11 and 12 of Genesis recently, I realized that is actually not the case. 
Abram was still with his father, Terah and it was Terah who decided to leave Ur, and took Abram, Sarai and Lot with him (11:31) and they went to Haran and “dwelled there”.
Now, the next verse says that Terah died in Haran, so I’m not sure what God’s command for Abram to leave his father’s house practically meant, but what seems to be clear (at least for me) is that God spoke those words to Abram while he, his wife and lot were in Haran (12:1-5). As verse 4 says: “And Abram went as Jehovah had told him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.”
I thought this was something worth pointing out.
Zoli
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Hi Zoli.
It is always worth pointing out what the Bible says, so thank you for that. Yes, Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees with his gather and brothers, but it was Abraham, while still in Ur, who heard and responded to God’s call to leave:
Acts 7:
- And Stephen said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he wasin Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran,
- and He said to him, ‘Leave your land and your kinsmen and come to a land that I will show you.’
- Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran, and from there, after the death of his father, Godresettled him in this land where you now live.”
So, it appears as if Abraham had enough influence with his father and brothers that they went with him. We are told nothing about that, but it was definitely Abraham’s decision to leave Ur after God spoke to him.
Pastor John
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https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1859763938432516389