Terah’s Gods
(and Biblical Humor)
By Liaf
Several weeks ago I had a humorous message to add a little lightheartedness to an otherwise serious site. I should have been more specific. The subject here is serious, but that does not mean that we cannot have fun or see the humor in the Bible while learning an important lesson. In this message, I want to illustrate the very human search for God on the part of the Patriarchs of Israel. We will see their humanness and God’s calling in spite of themselves. In addition to the Bible, apocryphal books and stories add a specific dimension of understanding to the situations at hand. This reminds me of a story in the apocryphal book of Jasher when Abram was still seeking God. By the way, although the book of Jasher is not canonized, mention of it is found in Joshua 10:13 and II Samuel 1:18. If the Bible mentions it, that is good enough for me. At the very least, we can read what it says as long as the Bible is the benchmark used in discerning God’s Word.
Terah was Abram’s father. He was a very prominent and powerful person with servants and was well aquatinted with King Nimrod. Nimrod is of course where a lot of Babylonian doctrines originated that infiltrated our traditions in Judaism and Christianity. Anyway, a story in Jasher talks about twelve gods of wood and stone that Terah and the King worshipped. No doubt these where astrological in connotation. The story says there was one god for each month. You see, God placed His Word in the stars and constellations that tell the redemptive story of Christ by virtue of their names. However, mankind was inclined to twist this basic truth into worship of these astronomical bodies (the same goes for nature involving animals). The story goes on to say that God gave Abram an understanding heart. First Abram worshipped the sun, but when it followed its predictable course, Abram reasoned "surely this cannot be God." He did the same later with the moon and stars, but concluded likewise. This is where the story gets funny. Abram "had it" with the false gods that the powerful King Nimrod and the whole society worshipped. One day he brought "savory meat" to place before the twelve gods in his father’s shrine to see if they would eat the offerings. Jasher 11:30-32 says: And Abram viewed them, and behold they had neither voice nor hearing, nor did one of them stretch forth his hand to the meat to eat. And in the evening of that day in that house Abram was clothed with the spirit of God And he called out and said, wo unto my father and this wicked generation, whose hearts are all inclined to vanity, who serve these idols of wood and stone…… Later on, Abram was ticked off and took a hatchet and chopped the gods apart except for the "great god". He then placed the hatchet in the hands of the great god. Terah heard the commotion and ran in. Abram was just standing there and the great god. had a hatchet in his hand. When Terah demanded why Abram did this, Abram said (verses 39-40) I brought savoury meat before them [the gods] and when I came nigh to them with the meat that they might eat, they all at once stretched forth their hands to eat before the great one had put forth his hand to eat. And the large one saw their works that they did before him, and his anger was violently kindled against them, and he went and took the hatchet that was in the house and came to them and broke them all, and behold the hatchet is yet in his hand as thou seest. Do you think Terah bought that one? Of course not! How could that be? This was humorously ridiculous. I guess psychologists call that projection or something to that effect. Abram was projecting his anger onto the great god and made up a ridiculous story. When Terah did not buy the story because he did not believe his gods could do that, Abram then asked his father, "How can you serve them if there is no power in them to do this?" This story is akin to Jesus’ cleansing the temple. Righteous but violent outbursts can shake people to their senses.
Although this story is funny, It is amazing that we tend to idolize the great people of the Bible. However, a character such as Abram must have flesh and blood put onto him. He was really no different than we may have been when we searched for God. Nevertheless, God called him when said to him in Genesis 12:1-3: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And as I have said in many other messages, these great promises were passed down as the birthright that resulted in our great nations today (the truth of which this web site is based on). What did Abram later do? In spite of the calling of God and the great promises, yet he passed off his wife as his sister to both Pharaoh and Abimelech to avoid being killed out of jealousy (in Genesis 12 and 20). God had to intervene with his judgement since Abram did not have the guts to stand up (no pun intended) for his wife.
It is important to see the flesh and blood character of Abram both before and after he was aware that he was called of God.
These characteristics were passed down to his sons. Jacob (Israel) tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright--- obviously Jacob had the spiritual and intellectual discernment to see the value in it. But it was still obtained in a deceitful manner when Jacob used Esau’s profane appetite for his belly to his benefit. God promised Jacob the same great things as He reiterated the promises afterwards: "I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Yet, Jacob had his bad times and faltering in spite of the great promises that God assured him of. During the incidents when his sons Joseph and Simeon were in Egypt, Jacob feared losing his son Benjamin when Joseph demanded them to bring Benjamin there. Jacob said, "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." Jacob already thought he lost Joseph awhile back when their brothers sold him (but Joseph ended up in Egypt and became second in authority to the Pharaoh). Jacob went by the circumstances and had forgotten God’s promise of descendents as the sand of the sea. If he were to lose his sons, how would God keep his promises? It does not look like he had unwavering faith. Frankly, I never saw such conniving characters as these. They were basket cases. But I (and I hope you) take comfort in them. They were human, they were called, and yet they faltered. And God finally pulled through for them despite the circumstances. They had enough faith to hang on God’s promises. However, the intensity of the circumstances caused them to falter. Faith works two ways fortunately. They trusted God. When they were weak, God trusted in them--- He still kept his Word. Thus we can safely conclude that we are called in spite of our humanness just as they were called. We trust in God, but if we falter, He will uphold us. God can be trusted to keep his Word even when we are faithless!
Yes…. Jacob lived to see all his sons, and even Joseph’s sons whom he made prophetic blessings on all of them in accordance with God’s promises to him.
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)
II Timothy 2:13 and Hebrews 10:23