If you go to church regularly, you will likely be regularly exposed to teachings on major Christian topics such as grace, faith, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and salvation. You might spend weeks or months studying one of those topics.
There are probably many times you have heard a Scripture and said to yourself, “I wish someone would give me a short lesson on a particular word or topic. Not a long treatise, but enough to get a better understanding.” The purpose of this series is to do that for a wide variety of topics. For that reason, some of these videos are shorter than the typical Eyewitness episodes.
As we often caution, we are not trying to add to what the Bible says, we are trying to add context that will help you understand the Bible better. So, please read the applicable Scriptures in the study guides for these stories so you will know exactly what the Bible says.
Abraham (Abram) is known as the father of Jewish people. He was the first of the patriarchs and lived in the time period around 2000 BC. Terah was Abram’s father when the family lived in Ur of the Chaldeans (modern Iraq).Terah and his family started a move to Canaan, but stopped on the way when they got to Harran, where the family settled down.
Terah died at when he was 205 years old. Some time after that, the Lord told Abram to move the family, and Abram did so at the age of 75 years old. The story is told in Genesis 12:1-5 and it sets the stage for the rest of the Bible.
Joshua 24:2 quotes God as saying that Terah worshiped other gods. From a later account of Rachel, it is likely Terah had family gods, which were idols the family worshiped. It is likely Abraham worshiped those same family gods.
Genesis 12:1 says the Lord told Abraham to take his family and go from the country where he was to a country God would show him. It seems to be implied if Abram obeyed that command, God would do several things: make Abram into a great nation, bless him, make his name great, make him a blessing, treat people as they treat Abram, and all peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. Abram went as instructed, so it follows God would do all of those things.
