From Ur to Shechem
We are witnessing the unfolding of the history of humanity in the conflict between Hamas and Israel. To understand what is taking place today in the Middle East, we need to understand these events in light of God’s Word. We need to draw abiding principles from the historical record of the path and sequence of events that brought us from the Garden of Eden to the present. This can only be understood when we believe the written record and the lessons taught in both the Old and New Testaments. Since the completion of the Canon of Scripture, this understanding only comes from a careful study of the Scriptures.
There is both plain/literal and figurative/literal language in the Bible, but what is plain and what is figurative must be clearly drawn from the immediate context, the context of the book, the historical context, the geographical context, and the context of the completed revelation of God.
We must always distinguish between interpretation and application to avoid falling into the error of mixing allegorical interpretation into our understanding of the text. Ur was a literal place. Shechem was a literal place. The author, writing God-breathed Scripture, provides an accurate history from God’s perspective. When we determine the meaning the author intended, only then can we make the appropriate application to our day.
The first eight chapters of the book of Genesis give a broad overview of the history of humanity from creation and fall to the flood. Chapter 9 begins the geographical and historical contexts of human history from the flood to God’s call of Abraham from Ur to Shechem in chapters 9 through 12.
Notice in Genesis 10:10 reference is made to a geographical area called Shinar. In each of seven of the eight references to Shinar in the Bible, Shinar represents the historical and geographical area where men continued to rebel against God after the flood. This is plain/literal language. It is not a metaphor so there is no need to resort to allegorical interpretation. Ur was in Shinar.
Following the flood, God called Abraham to separate himself from Shinar, a place of sin and rebellion, to Shechem, a place of promise and blessing. The call of God to individuals to come to Him is an outstanding and abiding truth throughout Scripture. God has always sought individuals who would believe in Him and seek to live in the light of His revelation.
Shinar was the land where mankind again rejected God despite the worldwide cleansing of the human race by the flood. This is seen in the scattering of the descendants of Noah and the confusion of languages. The outstanding and abiding principle from this passage is that God, the creator and sustaining of the universe, has always reached out in love to save individuals from sin and its consequences. During the millennia since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those who are called by God have repeatedly failed to separate themselves from the sin of the world and have suffered the consequences. This is still true today. It is a demonstration that “all have come short of the glory of God,” and all need a Savior.
Beyond and Back to Shechem
The arrival of Abraham with his family to Shechem is not the end of the story nor the end of the abiding principles we can draw from Shechem. Shechem represents the place where God began to teach those whom He called to Himself how to separate themselves from the sin and rebellion of the world. God’s people were to be instruments in God’s hands to proclaim to the world the truth regarding Himself and what He expects of His chosen people in every generation.
Each of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob failed to separate themselves fully from the world. Each left Shechem and each returned. The Jews have been, and still are, an integral part of God’s redemptive program both through their obedience and through their rebellion. From them, we learn of God’s faithfulness to His promises, His righteous judgment upon sin, His justice, and His longsuffering. Lessons can be drawn both from their obedience and from their disobedience and its consequences.
During our present dispensation, referred to as “the times of the Gentiles,”[i] God is governing through human government rather than a theocratic kingdom. Israel was meant to be, and one day will be, that theocratic kingdom. Today, for those who believe and follow Christ Jesus, there is no distinction between “Jew or Greek, slave or free, male nor female.”[ii] We live in a world where the God in Whom we believe is scorned by most of mankind. Therefore, any application we draw from the Bible must be drawn with this in mind. Like Abraham, believers today are called to separate themselves from the world and fully trust in the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
This was Abraham’s call by God. It was at Shechem that Abraham built the first altar to God. It was at Shechem that the Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would possess the promised land now called Palestine.[iii] It was where Jacob, returning from Haran with his two wives and family, purchased land and built an altar. The follies of Jacob and his sons at Shechem led to the animosity that has existed throughout history between the descendants of Abraham who were of the promise and those who rebelled against God.[iv]
It was no small thing that God chose Shechem as the place over which His blessings and His curses were to be proclaimed openly before the world.[v] During the time of Joshua, after God delivered His people from four hundred years of captivity in Egypt, God’s promised blessings were to be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim, and His curses from Mount Ebal. Shechem was in the valley between the two mountains. This was a public display to all the world of God’s promised blessing for those who followed Him and the curses upon those who rebelled against Him.
During the times of the Gentiles,[vi] these blessings and curses are still in force. They still apply in this current dispensation, not as written laws, but as moral principles drawn from the literal interpretation of God’s Word. This is the clear application of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well near Sychar and throughout the New Testament.[vii]
The geographical context of Sychar is the same location as Shechem. The Samaritans were the literal descendants of a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles. It was where Israel intermingled, first by choice and then by force, with the nations around them. All the animosity from history leading up to that encounter can be seen in the false worship of the Samaritans near Jacob’s well. It can be seen in the sinful life of the woman of Sychar. The message that Jesus delivered was that all who believed in Christ would find salvation and an unending quality of life with God.
In our day, when this animosity between Jews and the rest of the world is spilling over, it is the time for God’s people to look carefully at the lessons revealed in the Bible over thousands of years regarding reality from God’s perspective. We need to be transformed in our thinking by the renewing of our minds.[viii] We need to have the mind of Christ[ix] and by this determine our responsibility in this present dispensation.
From Shechem to the Present
In chapter 3 of John’s gospel account, John the Baptist summarizes the Word (logos) of God, (see the Prologue in Jn 1:1-18). The context is the night visit by Nicodemus in chapter 3:1-21. The apostle John ties this visit to the Baptist’s declaration. The Jews, especially Nicodemus, should have known the essence of the promises made to them and the salvation of God’s chosen people. Note the following text and the terms the Baptist used:
"The Father loves (agapao) the Son, and has given all things into His hand. "He who believes (pisteuon - Present Active Participle) in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey (apeithon - Present Active Participle) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." [Eng. - apathy][x]
To find the abiding principle of this text we need to understand the apostle’s message. The apostle John repeatedly uses the Present Active Participle in his gospel to define individuals who are by nature believers, followers, etc. In the immediate context, the Baptist uses the terms “believes” and “obey.” Both are Present Active Participles. The term obey (apeithon, Eng. apathy) refers to those who refuse to be persuaded. He is referring to the words (ta hremata) Jesus was speaking to them at that time.[xi]
Later in his gospel account, John reports that Jesus taught:
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words (ta hremata) that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. "But there are some of you who do not believe (Present Active Indicative)." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe (Present Active Participle), and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father." As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore.[xii]
Notice the context in chapter 6. By this time in Jesus’ ministry, He had gained a large following through performing miracles and teaching. He has clearly identified himself as the Son of Man, Messiah the Prince,[xiii] the incarnate Son of God, who came to teach and perform miracles. This is why He is identified as the Word (logos) in the prologue of John’s gospel account.[xiv] Many at that time claimed to believe. Maybe they prayed a prayer or openly confessed with their mouths their belief in Jesus as a great teacher and miracle worker. They were disciples, but when it came to His deity, they left Him and no longer followed Him.[xv]
In the Americanization of the Gospel, or maybe we should say the Westernization of the Gospel, the plan of salvation has been to simply pray a prayer or just believe and it will be true. Paul ends the doctrinal instructions in his letter to the Church in Rome in chapter 7. Chapter 8 begins with the practical applications of these instructions. One important challenge:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.[xvi]
Many today claim to be followers of Christ Jesus but have not been transformed by the renewing of their minds. Praying a prayer or even confessing with our mouths does not fulfill the admonition to be renewed in our minds. This is why what is taking place at this very moment in the Middle East between Hamas terrorists and Israel is so widely misunderstood. Without this transformation, an individual is stuck in a mode of Western thought. They are conformed to this world and cannot see what God is doing throughout the world.
Repeatedly throughout history since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has made Himself known but has been rejected. We can debate all day what place man’s free will plays in genuine salvation. The truth is that “none seek for God.”[xvii] We are not saved by family lineage, one’s own personal beliefs, or the will of others. Only God saves us.[xviii]
So how does the journey of Abraham from Ur to Shechem relate to today’s events? First, we need to include in the renewing of our minds the many opportunities mankind has received to know God and trust Him. For Abraham and his descendants, it was believing by nature that God exists and had given them promises. Today, all who by nature are believers are born of God.
It is in times of conflict when those of us who believe by nature turn to God and trust in Him and what He is doing that we demonstrate that we are by nature believers. The writer of the Book of Hebrews put it this way:
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.[xix]
No matter the circumstances, genuine faith in God’s love,[xx] which is shed abroad in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word enables us to understand His purpose for the fiery trials of life.[xxi] Circumstances should not cause us to doubt the love of God for mankind (philanthropia)[xxii] nor change our love for God.[xxiii]
Abraham was not called to judge the world or even change it. He was to separate himself from it. From his original call to the present, history records generation after generation of those God calls to Himself who fail to separate themselves from the world. This does not mean physically removing ourselves. Instead, it is living out our faith before others so that they can see through us the God in Whom we trust.
As Abraham and his immediate descendants moved to Shechem, away from Shechem, and then back to Shechem, the world witnessed the blessings and curses of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. This is why God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans to Shechem. He did not call him to change the world nor judge the world. Even when God drove his descendants from the land of promise and scattered them among the nations because of their disobedience, they were instructed to be a blessing to the nations.
We need to understand and obey God’s calling of us as His witness today. God has called us to be a blessing to the nations. But we do this only by leading lives of separation from the sin and rebellion of the world.
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[i] Lk 21:24.
[ii] Gal 3:28.
[iii] Gen 12:8.
[iv] Gen 33:18ff.
[v] Deu 11:29; 27:12; Jos 8:33.
[vi] Lk 21:24.
[vii] Jn 4:1-42.
[viii] Rom 12:2.
[ix] 1 Cor 2:16.
[x] Jn 3:35-36.
[xi] Cf., Rom 1:15-32.
[xii] Jn 6:63-66.
[xiii] Dan 9:26.
[xiv] Jn 1:1-18.
[xv] Jn 6:66.
[xvi] Rom 12:2.
[xvii] Rom 3:11.
[xviii] Jn 1:13.
[xix] Heb 11:6.
[xx] Jn 3:16.
[xxi] 1 Pe 1:6.
[xxii] Titus 3:4.
[xxiii] 1 Cor 13:1-13.