Chapter 2. Abraham Uncivilized
Part 4 Abraham and the Legend, The Prodigal Son
In The Legends of the Jews Abraham’s ancestor, Reu, prophesied when Serug,
his son, was born: “From this child he shall be born in the
fourth generation that shall set his dwelling over the highest, and
he shall be called perfect and spotless, and shall be the father of
nations, and his covenant shall not be dissolved, and his seed shall
be multiplied forever.”
There were stories of Nimrod
attempting to prevent Abraham’s birth by causing midwives to
abort male children and even kill them as infants. Abraham survived
miraculously. Later, the counselors and princes speak to Nimrod of
Abraham, the child.
“Our
king and our god! Wherefore art thou in fear by reason of a little
child? There are myriad upon myriad of princes in thy realm, rulers
of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of
tens, and overseers without number. Let the pettiest of the princes
go and fetch the boy and put him in prison.”
Our
king and our god?
Kings were gods. The word “god” represents an office, not the being. A god is simply someone with the power to judge. Abraham knew this and so did Moses, Jesus, and
Paul. This is why they said that they served other gods beyond the
flood (Joshua 24:2).
Men were
worshiping other men as gods by paying them homage and giving them
power. This is not such a foreign idea in modern thinking when you
realize that “worship” is simply homage and allegiance.
This power or
authority corrupted the leaders who eventually weakened and oppressed
the people. The idols were objects that represented that authority.
By the symbol of the god you displayed, people knew under what house
or authority you were , i.e. who your patron was.
If you
displayed the idols or symbol of a specific government office, then
you were protected by the authority of that office. Like a passport
or flag, they were displays of the authority under which you
belonged. Nimrod was an appointer of
gods, or Apotheos, of the civil powers of the State. As one who stood before gods,
he was a god who ruled and judged the people instead of the LORD.
Abraham would not worship, pay homage, nor give allegiance to Nimrod,
nor show respect for the symbols of his office, nor the authority of
his appointed princes or lesser gods.
This is really not any different than
modern governments who establish themselves from the top down.
Governments of men have always used a chain of command to exercise
authority over each other. Kings or presidents see themselves as the fountainhead of justice for their subject citizenry,
supplanting God as gods. They even call themselves “lawmakers”
and “sovereign”. Abraham, Moses, and Jesus offered a
different type of government. His government was not a centralized
authority from the top down, but was a system based on freedom,
individual rights, and liberty. God has always warned men of the
effects of central governing authorities.
“…This
will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will
take your sons… to make his instruments of war, and
instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters…
And he will take your fields, and your goodliest young men…
and put them to his work… And ye shall cry out in that day
because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8:11-18
Moses,
Samuel, and Jesus expressed the same precepts as Abraham. When Jesus
ordered his Apostles not to be like the princes of the gentiles,
who exercise authority one over the other, he was repeating a precept as valid today as it was from the
beginning. It appears that men have returned again to the mire of his
own making, disregarding the words of Jesus and the prophets, while
proclaiming themselves Christian and believers.
There are many stories about
Abraham which are not included in the Christian Bible. Abraham is
reported to have said to his father and mother in Babylon, “Ye
serve a man of your own kind, and you pay worship to an image of
Nimrod.”
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