Abraham’s Walk of Faith…Learned from Whom?

Let’s take a deeper dive into the life of Abraham vs Noah. In case you did not see the first article about Noah, check it out (here).

To quote from that article...“The Bible does not say that Abraham walked with the Eternal, but rather that he was told to walk…”

“And when Abram was ninety nine years old, YHVH appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be perfect.” Genesis 17:1

We saw that the Bible mentions that both Noah and Enoch walked with G-d, but note that in the description of the beginning of Abraham’s life God told him to walk before Him. Is there a difference? Is Abraham somehow more righteous than Noah? How would Abraham know what it means to walk with G-d? Was anyone alive to instruct him? Adam died before the flood. So did all the righteous lineage of the family of Seth, EXCEPT Noah! And of course, Noah died in the year 2006 from Creation– which was 350 years after the flood (1656) which is 58 years after Abram is born (See the following concerning Abram/Abraham).

So how many of the descendants of Adam knew him? According to the biblical timeline of the dates of the birth and death of Methuselah, Adam was still alive for many years of Methuselah’s life. And Methuselah died around the year of the flood. Though Noah did not know Adam, Methuselah did– for he was alive for 247 years of Adam’s life. Methuselah also knew Enoch, though Enoch was “taken” some 69 years before Noah was born, so Methuselah served as a bridge, if you will, between Adam, Enoch and Noah, who all are reported in the Torah as having walked with YHVH. Adam and Noah both were coexistent with Methuselah. And Noah lived until a year or two of Abram’s birth. But Shem was alive during the entire life of Abram/Abraham. So we see Adam, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abram– A short father to son line to pass on the story of Adam before G-d’s call to Abram.

Now we see Shem, born 98 years before the flood (see Genesis 11:10 where it states that Shem was 100 years old two years after the flood) and lived another 500 years after the birth of Arphaxad places his death from the year of creation (hereafter referred to as anno mundo a.m.) 2158 a.m. For calculating the birth of Abraham (70 years into Terah’s life—Genesis 11:26, Terah being born 1878 a.m.) would make the birth of Abram to be in the year 1948 if, indeed he was the one born in Terah’s 70^th year; And I take this as based on 1). Abram was mentioned first in the verse recording the births of the three sons of Terah 2) Abram was the only spiritual character that stands out in the story. See Gen 12:4. From a clear stating of Terah’s birth in 1878 plus 70 years for the birth of Abram would give us the year 1948. Check out this chart:

There is a common teaching that Abram stayed in Haran until his father’s death, but the timing does not line up. Terah
died at 205 years of age. Abram was born in Terah’s 70^th year but left Haran when he was 75. Lets see more on this:

In Genesis 12:1 Abraham is told by YHVH:

“Get thee out of they country, and from they kindred, and from they father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee;”

Did Abram leave very soon after the call to go? He obviously did not wait many years to leave. Why does the text mention his father’s house if his father was still alive? If his father’s house no longer had his father in it, then it would not have been a test for Abram, for his father would no longer have been there to detain him. And why later in relating to his servant in the seeking of a wife for Isaac did Abraham mention that he had left his father’s house and his kindred as G-d had instructed him? Since he left both his father’s house and kindred, neither his father nor his kindred were dead at that time. Later when Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac he tells him:

Gen 24:7 “The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.”

And when we think of why Abraham did not go back himself to find a wife for Isaac, we remember that he had been told to leave that land, his father’s house AND his kindred. So he did not want to return there now, and he commanded the servant:

Gen 24:6 “And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.”

Here is something from another source:

“The ‘problem’ with Terah being 130 when Abraham was born has to do with why Abraham regarded his own ability to beget a son at age 100 doesn’t work out (Genesis 17:1,17): and (Abraham) laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old?’”Apologetics Press

So, assuming that Abram was born when Terah was 70 and he himself was 75 when he left Haran, we find that Noah and Shem were both still alive. Abram being born in 1948 a.m., would indicate that Noah dies 58 years later in 2006 a.m. while Abram is still in Haran and before the call of YHVH. Abraham dies in 2123. Shem dies in 2158 outliving Abraham by 34 years! So he had a lot of time to teach him about the Creator, 175 years of his life and 105 years after he left his father’s house and kindred.

Of course, Noah and Shem may not have lived in the same neighborhood of the Middle East, but later we see Shem appear in Abram’s life.

Shem was Melchizedek. How so?

1) Shem was the only one left of the royal line from Seth, 2) Melchizedek was king of Salem, which seems to be Jerusalem. 3) Melchizedek was a righteous king according to his name, and 4) is declared “priest of the Most High G-d”. 5) Abram paid tithes to him after the battle of the kings. (When the Bible uses, El Elyon (Most High G-d), it is not talking of just any god that is worshiped by whomever. Elyon is used here for the one and only G-d. Check out my other article on Abraham and Melchizedek here.

So as I stated at the beginning, Abram, later called Abraham, had to learn to walk with YHVH: (We remember that Noah is mention as having walked with God, but here Abram is commanded to walk before God.)

“And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHVH appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be perfect.” Genesis 17:1

And this if fitting for the father of all those who are sons of Abraham. The walk has to be learned! Since Noah and Shem were still alive during the life of Abram, he would have learned from them even before G-d spoke to him and guided him directly.

As I said in my first article: The Flood—Noah’s Fault? Part one: Condemning Noah, the obedience levels of Noah and Abraham were different. By no means did Noah cause the flood because he did not wrestle with God! On the other hand, Abraham clearly had trouble believing the Eternal’s promises up to the point when he was praised by the Almighty in Genesis 15. Before this time he gave his wife away twice out of fear, he took Hagar at Sarah’s suggestion to create a son… Even so, his walk in Emunah was growing for the Torah records:

“And he believed in YHVH; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Gen 15:6

Still later, he argued with G-d about the destruction of Sodom. Perhaps he still lacked trust that God knew what He was doing…Perhaps he had heard the horror stories of the flood and didn’t want this to happen to anyone ever! But in the end the Almighty taught Abraham to trust and the rest is history!

For the sake of Torah,

Ariella