13 Jan. Genesis 11:27&37,12:1-7

13 Jan. God makes a covenant agreement with Abram

"This is the family history of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot..."

"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son) and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram's wife) and moved out of Ur of Babylonia. They had planned to go to the land of Canaan, but when they reached the city of Haran, they settled there..."

"The LORD said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your relatives and your father's family, and go to the land I will show you.'"

"I will make you [and your descendants] a great nation,

and I will bless you.

I will make you famous,

and you will be a blessing to others.

I will bless those who bless you,

and I will place a curse on those who harm you.

And all the people on earth

will be blessed through you."

"So Abram left Haran as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gained in Haran."

"They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there. Abram travelled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time."

"The LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'I will give this land to your descendants.' So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him."

(Genesis 11:27 & 31; 12:1-7)

The Biblical account recommences nearly a thousand years after the building of the Tower of Babylonia when Abram was born in the Amorite kingdom of Mesopotamia, in c.1900BC.

Terah and his family (including his sons Abram and Nahor, and his grandson Lot) lived at Ur in Mesopotamia.

Terah and his family decided to move from Ur and followed the River Euphrates upstream for about 600 miles / 950km to Haran (in modern-day Turkey). Terah appears to have re-named the place 'Haran' in memory of his son who had died before the family left Ur (Genesis 11:27-28).

At Haran, God called Terah’s son Abram (later called Abraham) to “Leave your country… and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) God established a new covenant agreement with Abram to give his family the ‘promised land’ of Canaan (later called Palestine).

This solemn agreement – which was renewed on many occasions – becomes the recurring theme of the 'Old Testament' (literally meaning ‘The Old Covenant’ or 'Old solemn agreement').

In c.1855BC, Abram and his nephew Lot set out for Canaan, about 400 miles / 640km away, with their tents and flocks. They arrived in Canaan and Abram built an altar to the LORD by the sacred tree of Moreh at Shechem.

Haran, where God called Abram, is one of the oldest cities on earth that is still inhabited today. Founded by settlers migrating west from Mesopotamia in the 18th century BC, the city was at its peak during the Hittite empire, based on Central Anatolia in the 12th century BC. It was already centuries old when the Hittites fought Ramesses II of Egypt at the Battle of Kadesh in 939 BC.

Modern travellers to Harran (Haran), near AltinbaÅŸak in eastern Turkey, can sense the antiquity of the settlement when they encounter its decaying walls, the ruins of the ancient 11th century citadel, and the remains of the Old Mosque.

The photo (by Glumik) shows Haran's unique beehive-shaped mudbrick houses that originated in the 3rd century BC and which have been rebuilt in the same style many times during the intervening centuries.