Abraham's Heritage
by Pastor Don Elmore
Abraham lived during an unique time in history. In the period shortly after the flood of Noah, the life spans quickly and dramatically dropped from one generation to the next (Genesis 11):
- Noah 950 years
- Shem 600 years
- Arphaxad 438 years
- Salah 433 years
- Eber 464 years
- Peleg 239 years
- Reu 239 years
- Serug 230 years
- Nahor 148 years
- Terah 205 years
- Abraham 175 years
- Isaac 180 years
- Jacob 147 years
- Joseph 110 years
A careful mathematical study will show that Abraham’s father, grandfather, great grandfather, great-great grandfather; great-great-great grandfather, great-great-great-great grandfather, great-great-great-great-great grandfather, great- great-great-great-great-great grandfather, great– great-great-great-great –great-great grandfather, and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather were all alive during Abraham’s life. The first to die was Abraham's great-great-great grandfather Peleg when Abraham was 48 years old.
Three of them (Salah, Shem and Eber) outlived Abraham. Seven of them lived during the life of Abraham’s son Isaac and three of them lived during the life of Abraham’s grandson Jacob (See Chart, NCM #116).
No wonder there was no need for a written record of the history of the Adamic race (Bible) at that time. For Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all connected to their heritage by means of their ancestors.
Especially the knowledge that was imparted to them by Noah and Shem (with whom he lived for 39 years), who lived before the flood, during the flood, and after the flood. Plus, they knew Methuselah who had lived for 247 years with Adam. Thus, the knowledge of the history of Eden and the Garden was only one person removed from hearing it from an eye-witness.
Abraham was connected to his past. He knew the heritage of his race. He knew that there were extra-Adamic races. He knew the circumstances that brought about the flood and the destruction of the land of Eden. He knew what happened in the Garden. He knew about Cain and his descendants.
LIVING DURING A TIME OF GREAT EVIL
But Abraham lived during a time of great evil. He was born and grew up in the Babylonian Empire of Nimrod. Prior to his 50th year, the construction of the Tower of Babel had been divinely stopped and the peoples scattered. The land was in total rebellion against God.
And Abraham’s father (Terah) was the head prince in Nimrod’s government. He also practiced the religion of the empire — idol worship. So, how did Abraham become the friend of God and the recipient of God’s covenant?
One reason was, as mentioned previously, Abraham was connected to his past generations. Therefore he was able to have a vision for the future. He knew what had happened to his race and what role he was to play in its future—he had a purpose to his life.
As a result, he was able to stand against the vast majority of his peers and remain faithful to His God—even facing as a consequence death. He testified of his faith before his father and before King Nimrod and was sentenced to death by being cast into the fiery furnace.
Many of today’s Adamic children are disconnected. Let alone not having any connection to their history during the four thousand years of the Old Testament—they are even disconnected to the history of their parents and grandparents! As a consequence, they are ill-prepared to meet the deceptions that are commonplace in today’s world of Mystery Babylon.
A COMMON ERROR
Abraham overcame the religious and immoral evils of the Babylonian Empire and later the Canaanite Empire—including the notorious evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was not tempted by the riches of the cities of the plain—he remained separated. For in those cities, even counting his nephew Lot and his family, there were less than ten righteous people!
Abraham even lived among the Rephadim (giants) and the sensuous and immoral Canaanites. How did he remain faithful to God?
Abraham had been personally instructed by Noah and Shem for 39 years (between the ages of 10 and 49 years old) in the ways of the LORD. And Abraham followed those instructions as his guide during his life (Genesis 26:5).
These instructions of God provided Abraham with the knowledge of the importance of economic dominion, rather than economic bondage. Abraham did not marry Sarai until he was financially self-sufficient. After surviving three days and night in the Babylonian blast furnace, he was showered with gifts and servants from the kings and princes of the Babylonian Empire. By the time of his death, Abraham was one of the wealthiest men in all the earth.
Compare Abraham’s life with the typical Anglo-Saxon American’s life. The apparent prosperity of couples when they get married in today’s generation is for the most part an illusion. While they usually both have a good looking cars—they are in debt for them. While they both may have a college diploma—they are in debt because of them. And many have credit card debt besides!
The average newly married couple begin their lives together in a large financial pit. It is not unusual for a new family to begin with a substantial amount of debt:
- $40,000: $20,000 each of student loans
- $20,000: $10,000 each of car loans
- $16,000: $8,000 each of credit card loans
- $76,000: Total debt
Add to this a mortgage payment and the possibility is very slim that this family will ever achieve financial independence. More likely, both will have to work and, at most, they will have only two children.
Later in Abraham’s life he was vexed that he was childless and that his inheritance would go to his servant and not his son. Are most parents and grandparents providing a savings and/or an investment for their children or grandchildren? Are they teaching their children how to save?
What if a newly married couple went into their marriage with no debt and savings each of $50,000? Don’t you think that they would be on a stronger foundation of financial dominion than the typical American family that lives from paycheck to paycheck?
Do our young children have as a goal to prepare themselves to build a family without being in economic bondage? Or do they as teenagers rush out and buy an expensive car and spend all of their earnings on car payments, car maintenance, and car insurance and have nothing left, or worse, are in debt, after working for several years? They worked for naught.
BOOMS AND BUSTS
Writer J. Franklin Snook observed that “economists have long recognized that there are seven-year and fifty-year cycles influencing the economy. A slow-down, or recession, occurs every seven years; and a crash, or depression, every fifty years. Debt build-up and inflation are the causes of both recessions and depressions. Deflation is brought about, under capitalist economy, by bankruptcies and foreclosures.”
The Law of Abraham’s God provides instructions, if obeyed, that would make these cycles a benefit rather than a curse. God, in His concern for the welfare of His people and kingdom created a system for His kingdom that would free His people from the bondage of debt—and thus, have the opportunity for financial freedom.
“At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release any debt which his neighbor owes him: he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother, because it is called the year of the LORD’S release. Of a foreigner you may exact it again; but that which you have with your brother you shall release, SO THAT THERE WILL BE NO POOR AMONG YOU” (emphasis added; Deuteronomy 15:1-5, Lamsa translation.)
The implication is that without this regular release of debt—there would be poverty in the land. But the LORD’s release prevents recessions and depressions by relieving the economic pressures of debt build-up without bankruptcies and foreclosures. With debt pressure released, prosperity continues unabated. There is no debt to be inherited by the next generation, so there are no poor (debt-ridden) under this Law system of God.
“So with usury (interest) eliminated, with prices down and wages up, taxes only ten percent of income, no debt, and prosperity running high, everyone can take a vacation every seventh year, for obedience to these laws will launch the nation into an era of prosperity surpassing anything “the eye hath seen, or the ear heard, or that has entered into the heart of man” (1 Corinthians 2:9a).”
APPLICATION
Knowing the instructions of the God of Noah, Shem and Abraham, shouldn’t we instruct our children on the dangers of unnecessary debt? Our humanistic, socialistic country will not even consider releasing debt every seven years—in fact the Congress has just recently pass a law that limits bankruptcies—especially Chapter 7.
It was reported that the average American family’s savings rate last year was for the first time—NEGATIVE. This means that the average American family is getting more in debt each year—rather than increasing in wealth.
The Divine law does not permit a debt build-up to be inherited by the next generation; for all debts must be liquidated or cancelled every seventh year. While we are powerless to relieve the many generations that are mortgaged by our national debt, we are able to control the stress and economic slavery caused by our personal and family debt. Let’s not be the tail, but the head.
