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"Now Adonai said unto Avram: 'Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and
from they father's house, unto the land that
I will show thee.'"
In this weeks Parsha we are introduced to a
man "called of God" to leave his country,
his kindred and his father's house in pursuit
of a place and a promise, yet to be revealed.
Our reading opens up with the phrase, "Lek
Leka." "Lek Leka" literally means,
"be take yourself." A Midrash interprets
this to mean, "Go forth to find your authentic
self, to learn who you are meant to be."
What was it about Avram's "going forth"
that would cause him to find his authentic self
and learn who he was called to be? Why couldn't
he find himself in Haran? Why would God call
him to "go forth" before he knew his
authentic self and what he was called to be?
To answer this question, let us first examine
Avram's surroundings. It is a well-documented
fact that our surroundings influence 'who we
are' and 'what we become.' Avram was born and
raised in the Ur of the Chaldees, which is usually
identified with Mugheir, a town on the Euphrates
east of its intersection with the Tigris. The
name Ur occurs in the inscriptions as Uru, which
was one of the old Babylonian royal towns and
a centre of the moon-god worship. The name "Chaldees"
is often used in the Bible as a synonym for
Babylonians. Haran, where Avram had migrated
to when he and his household left Ur, was a
town on the highway from Mesopotamia to the
West; the converging point of the commercial
routes from Babylon in the South, Ninevah in
the East, and Damascus in the West. Babylon,
at that time, was the most powerful empire in
the world, with a highly developed city-civilization,
commercial society, and literary culture. It
was also a nation of Idolatry. Concerning Haran,
Rashi states, 'In this land of idol worship
thou art not worthy to rear sons to the service
of God.' -- the evil surroundings would contaminate
them. The Midrash explains that the command
was issued for the benefit of his fellow-men.
'When a flask of balsam is sealed and stored
away, its fragrance is not perceptible; but,
opened and moved about, its sweet odour is widely
diffused.'
As we see throughout the scriptures, God calls
men out of idolatrous surroundings unto Himself,
and Avram was no different--or was he? According
to tradition, Avram sought to find the truth
about God through creation. There are many stories
that recount how Avraham refused to walk in
the way of the Tower-builders, and broke away
from the debasing heathenism of his contemporaries.
One such story is as follows: In his early childhood
one night, he looked at the stars under the
clear Mesopotamian sky, and felt, 'These are
the gods!' But the dawn came, and soon the stars
could be seen no longer when the sun rose, 'This
is my god, him will I adore!' he exclaimed.
But then the sun set, and he hailed the moon
as his deity. When, in turn, the moon was obscured,
he cried out: 'This, too, is no god! There must
be One who is the Maker of the Sun, Moon and
Stars.' Having gradually reached the momentous
conviction that the Universe is the work of
One Supreme Being who is the God of righteousness,
Avraham endeavored to open the eyes of others
to the folly of idol-worship, and became the
Preacher of the True Faith. In his father's
house, the story continues: There stood one
great idol and a large number of smaller ones.
Abraham broke all the smaller ones and then
placed the hammer in the hand of the big idol.
'The quarreled among themselves,' he later explained
to his dumbfounded father, 'and the big one
thereupon took a hammer and shattered them all.
Behold, it is still in his hand!' 'But there
is no life and power in them to do such things,'
his father answered in rage. 'Why then do you
serve them? Can they hear your prayers when
you call upon them?' was his reply. (Socino
Chumash page 200)
In summary, Avram concluded that, by observing
nature, there was only One God. Yet, he was
unable to truly know this God is his present
surroundings. Who is this God? What was His
Name? Where does He come from? All of these
questions were answered after Avraham "went
forth."
After ten generations of silence, God heard
the cry of a seeking heart. He found one man
he could reveal himself, he found Avram. Jeremiah
29:13 reveals God's heart toward a man that
seeks for Him, "And you shall seek me,
and find me, when you shall search for me with
all your heart. And I will be found of you saith
Adonai." One man He could call to be a
witness to the world that "the LORD he
is God." The reality of God could not be
found in the midst of idolatry. Avram had to
"come out" from among them and be
taken to a Land where God would chose to reveal
Himself.
Like today, the religions of Babylon were "idolatrous
and self seeking."-- appealing to "the
lust of the flesh." Men looked inward to
find themselves and their destinies, entreating
the gods for the powers and the means necessary
to achieve them. The Bible says, "Obsession
with self in these matters is a dead end; attention
to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious,
free life." [Romans 8:6 (Msg)] Today there
are many popular books, movies and seminars
that attempt to help you discover life's meaning
by "looking within yourself" or "self-help."
But the scriptures teach us that, "it is
God who directs the lives of his creatures;
everyone's life is in his power." [Job
12:10 (TEV)] Men are made by God, for God. God
made Avram for a specific purpose. It was not
until he responded to God's voice through faith-based
obedience that he could begin to find his true
self and the purpose he was born to fulfill.
It is only in a relationship with the Creator
that man can truly know himself. Avram had to
leave the life of "self-help" to find
God's life of "self-sacrifice," the
means by which all men "find their authentic
selves and purpose. The Bible says, "Self-help
is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way,
my way, to finding yourself, your true self."
[(Matthew 16:25 (Msg)]
In addition to the above, the scripture teaches
us "the just shall live by faith (faith
based obedience)." True faith leads a man
to self-sacrifice. There is only one medium
by which man can access the knowledge of God
and that is 'faith.' Faith based obedience is
the vehicle by which God reveals himself and
His Kingdom. A man who is willing to "hear"
and "obey" the call of God, will inevitably
find himself "going forth" as his
father Avraham. Only by "going forth"
in "faith based obedience" would Avram
begin to know his God and himself, for he was
made in "the image of God.
To accomplish such we learn that, "we leave
our home first, then our neighborhood, and finally
our country. Emotionally, however, leaving one's
geographic country of origin is easier than
leaving one's family. These are the main influences
that mould a person's thoughts and actions.
The words also indicate the severity of the
trial being imposed upon him. He was to cut
himself completely adrift from all associations
that could possibly hinder his mission. A similar
'call' comes to Avraham's descendants in every
age and clime, to separate themselves from all
associations and influences that are inimical
to their Faith and Destiny. The destination
of the journey is not specified, to increase
the test of Avram's faith in the Divine call.
He was to follow withersoever the will of God
would direct him. Even our Lord and Savior,
was called to leave his heavenly country and
father's house in glory and abide in the same
Land as his father Avraham. (Yochanan 1:14 &
Mattyahu 1:1)
It is notable to mention that, "for the
first time in the scriptures, a journey is undertaken
not as an act of exile as in Adam or Cain, or
a quest for domination as in the generations
of Babel, but as a response to a divine imperative."
Zornberg.
At one time or another every man and woman is
faced with the same calling as Avraham-a call
to "go forth" and follow God. A call
to faith based obedience and self-sacrifice,
a call to come out from among the world. If
he chooses to follow this call, he will find
himself, his purpose and eternal life.
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Glossary:
TEV--Today's English Version
Msg--The Message
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