Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 12 : 1-20
said later by the Apostle on the Hill of Ares, of the Athenian
people and their philosophers, that they were indeed
C t
cc very religious” (or superstitious,” Acts 17:22) . The
ruling deity at Ur was Nanna (known among the Semites
as “Sin”). The city abounded in many other temples and
shrines dedicated to other gods. There were also many
public chapels, wayside shrines, household chapels, and
other evidences that idolatry flourished throughout the
city, including terra cotta figurines indicative of the Cult
of the Earth-Mother, which was often the most debased
form of pagan “religious” ritual. The following note
(HSB, 21) is important: “Abraham has often been con-
ceived of as an ignorant nomad, an illiterate and un-
educated ancient. This is not so. Archaeological discover-
ies have shown that Ur of the Chaldees was a center of
advanced culture. There were libraries in the schools and
temples. The people used grammars, dictionaries, encyclo-
pedias, and reference works along with textbooks on
mathematics, religion, and politics. What was true for
Babylonia was also true for Egypt where more than a
thousand years before Abraham’s time, writing was well
established. It is quite possible, therefore, that Abraham
left written records which were incorporated in the Pen-
tateuch.” (For a study of the archeological discoveries
relevant to the Patriarchal Age, at Ugarit, Hattusas, Mari,
Nuzi, Larsa, Nippur, Lagash, Uruk (Erech), etc., The
Biblical World, edited by Pfeiffer, published by Baker
Book House, Grand Rapids, is highly recommended.)
3. The Call of Abva7m (12:l-3)
(CECG, 129) in re Gen. 12:1-5, as follows: “An
attentive consideration will suffice to show, from the close
resemblance of the phraseology in this passage and in Acts
7:2-3, that Moses refers to one and the same call with
Stephen; and that he now only resumes, in his characteristic
manner, the subject of Abram’s departure from his native
land, which had been briefly related in ch. 11 : 3 1, in order
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