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[bakheer]

Chosen

Bible Study on the Jewish People, the Land of Israel,
the City of Jerusalem, and Mount Zion

Stefan Haas

© 2018 TOS Verlag, Tübingen. All rights reserved.

Stefan Haas, Chosen; TOS Verlag, Tübingen, Germany. first print

ISBN: 978-3-9818040-8-9

eISBN (ebook): 978-3-9818040-9-6

German Original Title: Auserwählt

© 2018 – TOS Verlag, Tübingen, Germany. All rights reserved.

Typesetting: Stefan Gärtner

Cover Design: Annika Krempel, Jonathan Rager

Translation: Tina Pompe, Irmela Riehle, Ryan Peter Wick

Editing: Lynn McNally

Unless marked otherwise, all Scripture references are taken from the New

American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.

www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® is marked NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® is marked NKJV. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, translated by David H. Stern is marked CJB. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.

For dating events in the Old Testament, I refer to the book “Das Alte Testament. Entstehung – Geschichte – Botschaft“ (The Old Testament. Origins – History – Message), by Helmuth Egelkraut (W.S. LaSor, D.A. Hubbard, F.W. Bush), Gießen 2012, 5th edition.

I dedicate this book
to my beloved family – my wife Dorothee and our children
Samuel, Judith with Ari, and Simon with Mirjam,

to our spiritual parents – Jobst and Charlotte Bittner, who
taught us to love the Jewish people and Israel,

and to my many Jewish friends in Leipzig and Halle,
Germany, Israel, and in other countries, whose friendship
is very precious to me.

Table of content

What Others Have to Say about this Book

Chosen

1. The Covenant with Abraham

1.1 From the Beginning of Time to Abraham

1.2 Abraham’s Calling

1.3 Later Stages of Abraham’s Path

2. The Promised Land

2.1 Isaac

2.2 Jacob

2.3 Joseph

2.4 Moses

2.5 Joshua

2.6 The Time of Judges and Kings

2.7 The Prophets

2.7.1 Joel

2.7.2 Isaiah

2.7.3 Jeremiah

2.7.4 Obadiah

2.7.5 Ezekiel

2.7.6 Daniel

2.7.7 Zechariah

2.7.8 Nehemiah

2.8 Conclusions

2.9 What does the New Testament have to say about the promise of land?

2.10 So that Scripture Would be Fulfilled

2.11 Announcing the Destruction of Jerusalem

3. The Covenants

3.1 The Hebrew Lexical Field

3.2 The Covenant with Noah

3.3 The Covenant with Abraham

3.4 The Covenant with Moses and the People of Israel

3.5 The History of the Ark of the Covenant

3.6 A New Covenant

3.7 Which Covenant?

4. The Chosen People

4.1 Abraham and Isaac – The Son of Promise

4.2 Isaac and Jacob – The Chosen One

4.3 Jacob and the Twelve Tribes – the Chosen People

4.4 What kind of relationship does God have with the Jewish people?

4.5 The Beloved

4.6 The Firstborn

4.7 Servant of God

4.7.1 What does it mean to be a “servant of God”?

4.7.2 Where can we see Israel’s calling?

4.7.3 A Special Calling

4.7.4 A Special Story

4.7.5 A Special Revelation

4.7.6 The People of Israel in the Book of Revelation

4.7.7 A Special Price

4.7.8 What does this mean for us?

4.8 Occupied Places

4.9 What is the Letter to the Romans?

4.10 Amalek and the Origins of Antisemitism

4.11 A Hidden Message in the Book of Esther?

4.12 Neither Jew nor Greek?

5. Jerusalem and Mount Zion

5.1 Abraham and Jerusalem

5.2 Jerusalem’s Further History until David

5.3 David and Jerusalem

5.4 Mount Zion

5.5 El Elyon

5.6 End-Time Prophecies about Israel

5.7 Excursus on How to Treat Prophetic Words

5.8 Central Focus of Biblical End-Time Prophecies about Jerusalem

5.8.1 Focus 1: The Final Battle

5.8.2 Focus 2: Topographic Changes

5.8.3 Focus 3: A Change of Heart in the Gentiles

5.8.4 Focus 4: Prayer Revival in Jerusalem

5.9 The Valley of Decision

5.10 Thoughts on Chapter 5

6. What Does the New Testament Have to Say about Election?

6.1 The Family Trees of Jesus

6.2 “… so that Scripture would be fulfilled”

6.3 Jesus and the Torah

6.4 Jesus’ Commission, at First Exclusively to the People Israel

6.5 What Jesus Thought about Election

6.6 The New Covenant

6.7 The Great Commission of Jesus and the Calling to be a Servant of God

6.8 Jesus’ Response to the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees

6.9 Warning of a False Assurance of Salvation

6.10 Other Quotes from the New Testament

6.11 Summary of Chapter 6

7. “Chosen”– a Summary

7.1 How do we position ourselves in the Middle East conflict?

7.2 The Election of the Jewish People

7.3 Election from a Jewish Point of View

Appendix

Appendix 1: Quotes on Anti-Judaism in Church History

Appendix 2: Independence Day Declaration

Bibliography

What Others Have to Say about this Book

Rabbi Zsolt Balla, Member of the Board of the Orthodox Rabbi’s Conference in Germany (ORD), Rabbi of the Leipzig Jewish Community

When my friend, Stefan Haas asked me to review his book “Chosen”, I was a little hesitant. I do not think it happens often that an evangelical pastor asks an orthodox rabbi to write an approbation to his book. Especially a book, which touches upon a lot of theological matters in areas, where Christianity and Judaism usually do not stand on the same side.

However hesitant I was initially, it was also clear that I would read those chapters I was sent to review. And all due to the amazing friendship Mr. Haas and I developed since June 2011, when we first met in the office of the Leipzig Jewish Community.

It was an unlikely meeting between a pastor and a rabbi, but the sincerity and passion of Mr. Haas to find the common denominator in our dialogue, was more than convincing.

Very often when it comes to interfaith dialogue, I honestly believe Christians and Jews do not always start from the right angle. We are different and we have different theological positions that are often exclusive. When we have this understanding, only then can we start a true dialogue.

It seems a very courageous step from a pastor to delve into the subject of what it means to be chosen. One of my first teachers told me that he was always bothered by the English word “chosen” and how people understand it. He always preferred the term “treasured”. “Treasured” does not mean better or worse. “Chosen” often has the connotation of better. Throughout the chapters I read it became clear, that Mr. Haas’ understanding on the word “chosen” is much better described by “treasured”. I firmly believe Mr. Haas went to the very end to prove that even Christian theology cannot reject this connotation, and this understanding is the beginning of a possibly fruitful cooperation. This cooperation will not come about quick. We have many centuries behind us with a heavy load on our shoulders. We cannot reject our past. But with sincerity and honesty we do have a chance. Especially if the cooperating parties are ready to understand that we do not have to agree on everything and we are different in our faith. But we do have the power of acceptance. And acceptance also means intellectual honesty, to be ready to admit that we do not always fully comprehend, what our own religion teaches us, and to take the time and reflect, to let ourselves to be changed by the divine teachings.

I wish Stefan and his “eshet chayil” - a wife of valor - Dorothee, and their wonderful children, Samuel, Simon and Judith, much strength to continue his efforts to teach those values and understanding to the Christian community, that can bring us closer with true understanding.

Max Privorozki, Chairman of the Regional Association of Jewish Communities in Saxony-Anhalt, Chairman of the Jewish Community in Halle (Saale)

Dear Stefan! It is my joy and honor to be able to write a few lines for your book “bakheer – Chosen“.

I am no theologian, so I do not want to say anything about the content of this book. It is something entirely different that is important to me. You and your church have proven that true Christians can take a very clear stand against antisemitism – something that was and is not necessarily to be taken for granted both in Christian-Jewish history, and in the present coexistence of Jews and Christians in Europe, especially in Germany. And you have shown how important it is to take a clear public position, making the right kind of suggestions to the people in charge of the government, responsible for the state-sponsored fight against antisemitism, on how to raise public awareness and how to actively counter current antisemitism.

You are a good example how to fight antisemitism effectively. You were absolutely right in saying modern anti-Semites hide behind the so-called “justified” criticism of the State of Israel, creating an alibi for themselves. Unfortunately, there are far too few upright Christians who feel instant concern whenever anybody says, “You have to be able to criticize Israel’s policy without immediately being called an anti-Semite.” And you also recognized quite rightly, you can criticize everything, even the State of Israel. But you should remain fair and not indulge in hypocrisy.

A year ago, I suggested to our Jewish Community in Halle to present the Emil-L.-Fackenheim Award for Tolerance and Understanding to the “March of Life” Movement, initiated by your spiritual parents, Jobst and Charlotte Bittner. The congregational governing body accepted this suggestion unanimously, and in April 2017 we organized a very moving and important event: the March of Life in Halle (Saale) on Yom haShoa, followed by the Award ceremony. To be truly honest, it was the cooperation with you that caused me to suggest giving the award to March of Life. It was this cooperation that made me realize (probably for the first time) that we really do have friends among the Christians who do not simply act because it is a social obligation, but rather stand with us wholeheartedly.

Benjamin Berger, Congregational Leader of “Kehilat ha’she al Har Zion” (Congregation of the Lamb on Mt. Zion) in Jerusalem

We are living in an era that could be called “post-Christian”. Especially in Europe, so many have lost their way in life. If we want to go or get anywhere, however, we need a map or someone who can show us the way.

WWII left behind a lot of damage. Countless people lost their trust in God. Slowly and step by step, the first and second generation after the war kept drifting further and further away from their faith in the living God of Israel. Also, many Christians were uprooted, and their Christianity became dead religion. At the same time, just after the war and following the deep suffering of the Holocaust, after 2000 years many thousands of Jews returned to their homeland Israel, the land God promised to Abraham – because they understood they can only have one homeland on this earth: the land of Israel. So God began gathering them this way. Slowly, even some Christians started understanding that the promises given by the prophets of old many thousands of years ago were beginning to come true in our modern time step by step before our very eyes.

In his book, Stefan Haas leads us through the Bible, showing us the unique relationship between the God of Israel, the people of Israel and the land of Israel. For Christians it is so crucial to find their way back to this God – and to this people and this land. God is making history in this land and through its capital Jerusalem. Christianity and humanity that has not yet found its way back have completely lost the divine perspective and sense of direction. The living God is the God of Israel; and the nations who have recognized this God and His work in history (especially as far as the people of Israel are concerned) have rediscovered their way and found back to their true identity in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King of the Jews.

Reading his book, Stefan Haas leads us back in salvation history – a history that every child of God has a part in. Our true roots are neither Greek, nor Roman or European. If we call ourselves Christians, our true roots are “Hebrew”. Jesus told the Jews of His time who were part of His flock, I have other sheep that I gather. Together with you they will form one flock and have only one shepherd. “I am the good shepherd.”

May this book be helpful for all who read it, helping them to find their way back to the God of Israel, to the people of Israel and to the land of Israel.

Sister Joela Krüger, Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary

Stefan Haas has collected and put together the many scattered segments of our Biblical knowledge, creating a clear, big picture. In it, we can find and the history of our church, people, and family. But it does not stop here. This book shows a way out of our extremely dangerous neutrality zone into a future with hope.

Harald Eckert, Christian Friends of Israel

The book “Chosen” by pastor and Bible teacher Stefan Haas greatly enriches the German Christian book market and is a very necessary supplement. There are at least three reasons: Firstly, the author does not shy away from tackling some of the most central and sometimes controversial questions concerning what makes the fact that the Jewish people are chosen collectively so distinct and unique. He does so warmheartedly, but also directly and straightforwardly – always referring to the Bible as the main compass of his analysis. In the process, he touches on some of the darkest spots in Church history, showing ways how to shine light into this darkness. And he also touches some of the Jewish people‘s most existential questions and painful aspects of their centuries of suffering – but always with a Biblical perspective of hope and the vision of a glorious future. This bold clarity and directness is a first hallmark of this book.

Secondly, this book explains very convincingly the consistent and integral testimony of the Old and New Testament concerning the unique calling of the Jewish people and the ensuing consequences and promises. It shows the amazing continuity of the Jewish people’s significance and role in salvation history right from the beginning with the patriarchs to its completion in the book of Revelation. We discover how the calling of the Church of Jesus is imbedded in this history and how God‘s two covenant peoples are closely interwoven, which becomes increasingly visible and effective in the end times. The process leading to the veil being taken away from the eyes of the Jewish people with regards to Jesus as their Messiah is intricately interwoven with the process leading to the removal of the veil of antisemitism, replacement theology and triumphalism from the eyes of the Church of Jesus with regards to the Jewish people. These two processes are inextricably intertwined. It is the second great merit of this book to explain this from the unified witness of the Scriptures.

Thirdly, I really appreciate the way this book puts extremely complex and sometimes highly charged issues in great clarity of thought and wording. This clarity has to be recognized as the fruit of in-depth study of the matter. It does not come at the expense of depth and substance, but rather it presents deep insight in a way that makes it accessible and comprehensible to a broad audience. That is a great asset.

So I do hope this book will find wide distribution and produce great effects in the minds and hearts of the readers. “Thank you, Stefan, for rendering this great service!”

Gottfried Bühler, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem – German Branch (ICEJ)

Seven decades ago, the Jewish people rose up out of the ashes of the Holocaust, and with the founding of the State of Israel they gained their independence. On May 14, 1948, a Jewish dream that was many centuries old came true. Ancient prophecies of Jewish prophets that had long since been considered dead and gone are becoming a living reality before our very eyes. Over the past decades we have become eye witnesses of Israel’s unparalleled restoration in which we can recognize God’s mighty hand at work.

Almost simultaneously with the restoration of Israel, we saw the birth of a global Christian revival that has brought tremendous growth to the worldwide Body of Christ.

However, we also do see antisemitism on the rise again. It often presents itself under the guise of “anti-Israelism”. We as Christians should therefore be all the more aware of the Jewish roots of our faith and recognize that God’s covenant with Israel and the Jewish people is an eternal covenant. This also means that we have to raise our voices against antisemitism. God is encouraging the nations to help put His plans with Israel into action, and not just to be passive spectators. As Christians, we are privileged to intercede for Israel, the Arab nations and all nations in prayer. Allow this book to inspire you to faithfully stand with God and to support His plans with Israel wholeheartedly.

Chosen

Several years ago, I was sitting in the lobby of the famous King David Hotel in Jerusalem, when an elderly man sat down next to me. An American Jew, he was a wealthy business man who owned multiple companies in the U.S., as I discovered after our encounter. He started a conversation and asked me what I was doing in Israel. I told him that I, as a Christian, was on a trip with a group to pray for Israel. In the course of our conversation, I somehow mentioned the term “chosen people”, describing the Jewish people. We did not know each other and had hardly exchanged a few sentences.

Suddenly he looked directly at me with piercing eyes and asked me, “Why are we the chosen people and for what?” I was speechless. What was especially shocking for me was the fact that he did not ask this question in any provocative way. It obviously was a very serious question for him that just burst out of him. He probably had already thought a lot about this before. And in this one question I was able to sense a lot of other very honest questions and insecurities.

“What does God think about us? Are we really the chosen people? Why? And for what? Are we still the chosen people? Or has God turned away from us? Why have we been experiencing so much rejection and persecution from the nations for centuries? What about Auschwitz? And the Holocaust? How could this happen to us?”

After giving some thought to the question, I found a preliminary answer. Nonetheless, I just could not stop thinking about it; it had a very lasting effect on me. “Why are we the chosen people and for what?” I started thinking about the Jewish people.

Since then, I have been able to get to know the land of Israel better – a wonderful and beautiful country. And yet, at the same time, it is a region torn by conflicts. Repeatedly, the Prophet Daniel calls it the “Beautiful Land” 1. Since the times of Moses, it has been called “a land flowing with milk and honey”. It is the land promised to Abraham. And for centuries it has been the land millions of Jews worldwide have yearned for.

What does “being chosen” actually mean? Why does God choose a particular people – a land, a city, and a mountain? For what? What are His plans with them? And how is this supposed to work? Has this already been fulfilled in history? In John 4:22 (NIV), we read about Jesus talking to a non-Jewish woman.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know;

we worship what we do know,

for salvation is from the Jews.

“Chosen” – that is what we would like to talk about in this book. I wish you much blessing while reading it!

Stefan Haas

1see Daniel 8:9; 11:16.20.41.

1. The Covenant with Abraham

1.1 From the Beginning of Time to Abraham

In the first eleven chapters of the Bible, we read about the story of a global disaster. It begins with a golden era, a time of unimaginable beauty: God creates a wonderful world, the best paradise possible. Mankind is doing tremendously. There is only good, not even the slightest notion of suffering, distress, sickness, death, mourning, frustration, hopelessness, senselessness, or poverty. There are also no relational problems whatsoever. Man and woman experience God’s presence and love firsthand on a daily basis. They see Him and speak with Him.

Then man falls into sin. It is like adultery: In one moment, the trust and relationship between God and man are totally destroyed. So they have to leave paradise and lose access to the invisible world. They no longer see or experience God and are on their own now in a dark world. Within only a few decades, they lose every bit of knowledge of God. At the same time, sin runs ever more rampant – like a torn piece of cloth that cannot be sown back together. As early as Chapter 6 of the Bible, we read that God’s heart is deeply troubled and saddened by how evil humans have become 2. The tear widens, until we read in Chapter 11 about the Tower of Babel, the subsequent confusion of languages and dispersion of all peoples throughout the earth. All of this leads us to today’s reality. Sin has destroyed everything.

If you did not know this story and were to read it for the very first time, you would hardly be able to bear the tension in Chapter 11. “And what now?!” It almost feels like the day after a global nuclear war. What can possibly come next after this greatest disaster in humanity?

All around the globe, it has become dark. Let us take a look at those involved: Is there anyone who could still make a difference now? Humans are evil through and through, godless, and lost beyond hope of redemption. They have no more chance to change the situation by themselves. And God? What is He going to do now?

If God had not intervened at this point, humanity’s story with God would have ended as Genesis, Chapter 11 describes it. And what does the Lord do? In this world, which has become so dark, far to the east, He ignites a single light. God calls a single man with whom He starts a new story after this disaster: Abraham. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this story. It is not just the story of a single man from far away in the east. It is the beginning of an entirely new relationship between God and man. We will only be able to understand God’s story with mankind once we understand His story with Abraham. For this, we have to pay close attention and listen very carefully to God’s words. While doing so, we will see that there are two coordinates in God’s subsequent history with mankind, which from God’s point of view designate the epicenter of history: The Jewish people and the land of Israel (including the capital Jerusalem and Mount Zion).

What happens, then, on the “Day After” – after the huge disaster? While in Chapters 1-11 we always had a certain global perspective, now the focus is suddenly on a single man. We are introduced quite discreetly to the family line of a certain Abraham 3. We read about how already his father Terah, together with his family, had left his home in Ur in Chaldea to move to Canaan.

Let’s take a look at the map:

image

Map 2 – created with Bible Mapper 5.0

To go from Ur in Chaldea (in today’s Iraq, in the lower right corner of the map) to the land of Canaan, Terah had to first travel north on the Silk Road (gray dotted line), because the more direct path would have taken him through the desert. The route from Ur to Haran is about 900 miles long and probably led through the areas now known as Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Erbil. So Terah and his family went as far as Haran and settled there. However, the Bible does not tell us why he did not continue his journey from there (as opposed to his original intention).

In Genesis 11:32, we are told that Terah died in Haran aged 205. After that, the story of Abraham begins in Chapter 12. It sounds like Abraham only left Haran after his father had died. Once you add up the years, though, you will find this is not true. Terah was 70 years old when Abraham was born 4 and Abraham moved from Haran when he himself was 75 years old 5. So Abraham left the city of Haran when his father Terah was 145, but who actually lived to be 205. After 25 years of waiting, his long-awaited son Isaac was finally born. At that time, Abraham was 100 years old 6. And – his father Terah was still living in Haran – by now 170 years old. This means that Terah could have known Isaac as an adult.

So Abraham’s father left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans for the Land of Canaan for a reason we do not know. A little bit more than halfway, he stopped and settled in Haran. At this point, the Lord speaks to Abraham and calls him.

1.2 Abraham’s Calling

We read about this in Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV).

Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Let us take a closer look at these verses, because they are so fundamental. These three verses consist of nine individual elements:

1. Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house

2. to a land that I will show you.

3. I will make you a great nation.

4. I will bless you

5. and make your name great.

6. You shall be a blessing.

7. I will bless those who bless you,

8. and I will curse him who curses you;

9. and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Studying the content of these verses, we can see that there are three main focus points:

1.A land which the Lord will show to Abraham.

2.A people whom the Lord will make into a great nation.

3.Much blessing: The words “bless“ or “blessing“ appear five times within just two verses. The climax of this blessing is the fact that the Lord says that through Abraham all families of the earth will be blessed. In Hebrew, we have the word image “mishpachah” here, which in Modern Hebrew is the common term for “family”.

At this point, we have to realize that there are, generally speaking, two different types of promises in the Bible: Conditional promises and unconditional promises. We can actually lose conditional promises 7 if the condition is not fulfilled. Which type of promise do we have here in Abraham’s case? If any, the only condition is the first part of the first verse, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house (…)”. Abraham did this. After this, there were no further conditions on which the fulfillment of God’s promises would have been dependent on. So the promises in Genesis 12:1-3 to Abraham have to be fulfilled – otherwise God would be a liar.

Let us take a closer look at verse 3 in Hebrew:

imageimage “I will bless those who bless you” – even if you do not speak Hebrew, you can see that the same word appears twice in the Hebrew: to bless and to bless.

imageimage “and I will curse him who curses you” – generally most English translations would use the same word here twice. However, in Hebrew, two different words appear:

imageimage (arar) – “I will curse” 8.

imageimage (qalal) – on the other hand means in its basic form: “to be little, unimportant, despised” 9. The Hebrew verb form (piel) used here in Genesis 12:3 points to “making someone little or despised” 10 – and in this sense also to “curse”.

This part of the verse could therefore be translated as follows. “I will curse him who treats you with contempt.” We should be very aware of this statement. This does not speak about outright antisemitism, the persecution of Jews, or the Holocaust. This covers so much more. It begins with simple contempt or even just indifference.

I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt. When the living God pronounces a curse, there are very practical consequences for our lives. It may mean, for example, that certain areas of life just do not prosper – no matter how much we try or how much effort we put into it. Or maybe our lives or part of our lives are simply a desert (for example relationships, finances, career, or success). A curse cannot be changed by means of effort, work, or intelligence. A curse has to be forgiven and broken. In order for this to happen, though, we first have to recognize the curse.

And now let us address the goal and focus of the entire calling – the last part of the verse: “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” It is God’s plan that along the path He takes all of mankind will be touched through Abraham. This means that we are included in this story. We cannot just read about God’s story with Abraham as spectators. We ourselves are a part of this story: Either we are under the curse that comes from treating Abraham and his descendants wrongly, or we receive the blessing. It is the beginning of God’s new story with all of mankind. But vice versa, this also means that from now on, mankind has to face the challenge that its story only exists within the coordinates God Himself has determined. From this point on, the story of the Abraham’s descendants and the land of Israel (with the capital Jerusalem and Mount Zion) are in the center of world history. God has already set the course with His first step towards mankind after the fall of man: with Abraham. And this course will never change.

1.3 Later Stages of Abraham’s Path

Let us take a closer look at important later stages of Abraham’s path. After his calling, Abraham did in fact set out. He left his father Terah, his brother Nahor, and other family members, and left for the land that God was going to show him 11. Then we read in Genesis 12:6-7, “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.”