HOLY ZION , THE RISE OF LEGEND #

CHAPTER 6 THE ABRAHAM #

                                                                                     Origins and calling

        Te rah   , the ninth in descent from Noah , was the father of three sons: Abram, Nahor and  Haran. In his youth, Abram worked in Terah's idol shop   .  Haran was the father of  Lot, and thus Lot was Abram's nephew. Haran died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees .

                                                                   Abram married Sarah ( Sarai) , who was barren. Terah, with Abram, Sarai, and Lot, then departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran , where Terah died at the age of 205. God had told Abram to leave his country and kindred and go to a land that he would show him, and promised to make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless them that bless him, and curse them who may curse him .Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Cannan .  

                                                                                                  Sarai                

                  There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram and Lot and their households, traveled to Egypt . On the way Abram told Sarai to say that she was his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him. When they entered Egypt, the Pharaoh's officials praised Sarai's beauty to Pharoh , and they took her into the palace and gave Abram goods in exchange. God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with plagues, which led Pharaoh to try to find out what was wrong. Upon discovering that Sarai was a married woman, Pharaoh demanded that Abram and Sarai leave.

                                                                                Abram and Lot separate

                      When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area, Abram's and Lot's sizable herds occupied the same pastures. This became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each family's cattle. The conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram suggested that Lot choose a separate area, either on the left hand or on the right hand, that there be no conflict amongst brethren. Lot chose to go eastward to the plain of where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, and he dwelled in the cities of the plain toward Sodom . Abram went south to Hebron  and settled in the plain of Mamre , where he built another altar to worship God .

                                                                                          Chedorlaomer

                           During the rebellion of the Jordan river cities  against Elam , Abram's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by the invading Elamite  forces.  The Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodom's armies.  Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of sodom  which made them a visible target.

                                                                            One person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants. Abram's force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of siddim .When they caught up with them at  Dan  ,Abram devised a battle plan by splitting his group into more than one unit, and launched a night raid. Not only were they able to free the captives, Abram's unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah, just north of Damascus.They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, and recovered all of the goods from Sodom that had been taken.