Abraham and the Promised Land

About 2000 years before Jesus was born, there lived a man named Abram, who is spoken of in the Bible as the friend of God (Isaiah 41:8). He lived in the town of Ur Kasdim in Iraq, about 800 miles to the east of the land of Israel.The greatest commercial capital of the world at that time was Ur but the people of Ur knew nothing of the true God. They worshipped many false gods. The original people, from whom Abraham was called were descendants of Shem, Noah's son.... Abraham's father Terah had 2 other sons, Nahor and Haran the father of Lot (Gen 11:27). At the age of forty, Abram and his family moved to Haran, about 600 miles (975 kilometers) to the northwest.

There, at the age of 75, he received his calling from God... "The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:1-3).

Abraham migrates to Haran (caravan city)

Abraham arrives in Canaan April 15 1892 B.C.

On arriving in Canaan on April 15 1892 B.C., he travels as far as Shechem in the center of the land and is promised that the whole of the land will be his. The Lord appeared to him and told him that, "To your offspring I will give this land." (Genesis 12:7).

Abraham was born in 1967 B.C. in Ur Kasdim in Mesopotamia (Iraq) then moved with his father to Haran (northern Syria/southern Turkey) and that is where he got the instructions to go to Canaan, the Promised Land. God said to Abram: "Go from your land ... to the land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1) On that day, April 15 1892 B.C., God made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizites, Kadmonites; the Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims; the Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." (Genesis 15:18-21) "And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan as an eternal possession and I will be a God to them." (Genesis 17:8)

The journey into Egypt was apparently made not long after Abraham entered Canaan. Drought and famine, which intermittently brought suffering to Palestinian dwellers coimpelled him to seek food in a land where there was usually plenty in spite of the fact that there is practically no rainfall (Gen 12:10). While in Egypt, fear for his personal safety led the patriarch to represent Sarah as only his sister. This manifest lack of faith in God to protect His servants resulted in embarrassment and in Abraham's expulsion from the land (vs. 11to20). When Abraham returned to Canaan he is described as being "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold" (ch 13:1, 2). Lot also "had flocks, and herds, and tents" (v 5). Insufficient pasturage and water for these large herds led the patriarch and his nephew to separate. Lot settled first in the luxuriant Jordan Valley and later "pitched his tent toward Sodom," whereas Abraham returned to Mamre, near Hebron (vs. 6 to18) where he remained for approximately 20 years.

Abraham and Lot seperate

During this residence at Mamre a number of important events occurred. The first of these was an invasion of Canaan by a confederacy of four kings from Mesopotamia under the leadership of Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:1 to 10). Five kings in the vicinity of Sodom banded together against the invaders, but were defeated, with the result that their peoples and property were lost (vs. 11, 12). Upon learning that his nephew was in the hands of the invading army, Abraham pursued the Mesopotamian kings with his own private army of 318 men and rescued the captives from the vicinity of Sodom, together with their possessions (vs. 13 to16). It was upon his return from this expedition that Abraham met, and paid "tithes of all" to, Melchizedek, priest and ruler of Salem, as Jerusalem was then known (vs. 17 to24). Soon after this experience the Lord entered into solemn covenant with the patriarch, assuring him that, eventually, his descendants would possess Canaan as their own (ch 15). As the years went by at Mamre without the birth of an heir, Abraham took matters into his own hands and married Hagar, his wife's Egyptian maid, who presented him with his first son, Ishmael (ch 16:1 to 4). This ill-advised marriage brought discord into the home which culminated in the eventual banishment of Hagar and Ishmael from the home (chs 16:5 to 16; 21:9 to 21).

"The Angel Of The Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares The Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son (Isaac), I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me." (Genesis 22:15 to18)

Abraham remained in the vicinity of Gera and Beer-sheba until Isaac reached manhood (vs. 22 to 34). It was while the patriarchal home was at Beer-sheba that God tested Abraham's faith by calling upon him to offer his son as a sacrifice. Toward the close of this period of his sojourn in Canaan, Abraham returned to Hebron, where, a the age of 127 years, Sarah died (Gen 23:1, 2). By purchase from a local Hittite, Abraham came into possession of the first portion of Canaan that he could call his own, the Cave of Machpelah and the field in which it was located&emdash;and it was there he buried his beloved wife (vs. 3 to20).

Later life and old age. With the passing of Sarah, Abraham realised that his own life might soon end. Though Isaac was nearly 40 years of age he was yet unmarried, and the patriarch felt constrained to make provision for the perpetuation of the family line concerning which the promises had been made. Accordingly, he sent his trusted servant Eliezer to Mesopotamia, where his kinsmen (Gen 22:20 to24) lived, to arrange for a wife for Isaac who might be expected to understand and appreciate the covenant privileges and responsibilities (ch 24:1 to 9). The mission was successful, and in due time Eliezer returned to Canaan with Rebekah, a daughter of Bethuel, Abraham's nephew, a son of his brother Nahor (vs. 10 to 67). Love cemented the union thus arranged, and some 20 years later the first children were born (ch 25:20 to26). For about 35 years after his marriage, Isaac shared the ancestral home with his father Abraham, who married again and reared several children born to him by his wife Keturah (vs. 1 to 4)

Prior to his death, at the age of 175 years, Abraham arranged for the transfer of all his property, with the rights and privileges appertaining to it, to Isaac as heir to the covenant promises (Gen 25:5), while to his other sons he gave substantial gifts of cattle and herds and sent them away to the eastward (v 6). Ishmael and Isaac buried their father in the Cave of Machpelah, the place where Sarah had been buried some time earlier (vs. 8 to 10).

"And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel, and said to the servant, "Who is the man yonder, walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into the tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." (Genesis 24:64-67 RSV)

"Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah." (Gen.25:1-2 ) who Abraham later sent away eastward to the east country from what became the land of Israel (the God-commanded property of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -where they founded some of the Arabian nations of today .

Midian was one of the sons of Keturah. Centuries after Abraham, did Moses marry and have children with Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro the Midianite?

In spite of the frailties that are common to man, Abraham persevered in his life-long purpose to follow wherever God should lead, whether it be on the long trek from Ur to Canaan or to Mount Moriah to offer his only son, the son of the promise. Through the fires of trial, delay, and disappointment, his faith was perfected, so that he became "the Friend of God" (Jas 2:23). The high esteem in which his descendants rightfully held him

 

A chronology of the patriarchs.

Name	Age at Birth of Son	Age at Death	Reference for Age at Birth of Son	Reference for Age at Death
Adam	130	930	Genesis 5:3	Genesis 5:5
Seth	105	912	Genesis 5:6	Genesis 5:8
Enos	90	905	Genesis 5:9	Genesis 5:11
Cainan	70	910	Genesis 5:12	Genesis 5:14
Mahalaleel	65	895	Genesis 5:15	Genesis 5:17
Jared	162	962	Genesis 5:18	Genesis 5:20
Enoch	65	365	Genesis 5:21	Genesis 5:23
Methuselah	187	969	Genesis 5:25	Genesis 5:27
Lamech	182	777	Genesis 5:28	Genesis 5:31
Noah	502	950	Note 1	Genesis 9:29
Shem	100	600	Genesis 11:10	Genesis 11:11
Arphaxad	35	438	Genesis 11:12	Genesis 11:13
Salah	30	433	Genesis 11:14	Genesis 11:15
Eber	34	464	Genesis 11:16	Genesis 11:17
Peleg	30	239	Genesis 11:18	Genesis 11:19
Reu	32	239	Genesis 11:20	Genesis 11:21
Serug	30	230	Genesis 11:22	Genesis 11:23
Nahor	29	148	Genesis 11:24	Genesis 11:25
Terah	130	205	Note 2	Genesis 11:32
Abraham	100	175	Genesis 21:5	Genesis 25:7
Isaac	60	180	Genesis 25:26	Genesis 35:28
Jacob(Israel)	74	147	Note 3	Genesis 47:28
Joseph		110		Genesis 50:22

THE PROMISED LAND

The Promised Land is described for us in detail in the Bible "The Lord said to Abram 'Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever... Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you'" (Genesis 13:14 to 17). "The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this Land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates'" (Genesis 15:18 to 21). "I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates" (Exodus 23:31). The entire Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), Gaza, the Golan Heights, and all of Jerusalem, was given by the Lord to the people of Israel in perpetuity.

The complete description of the land which Abram's seed was to inherit is shown above The boundaries are from the River Euphrates (at the top of the map), to the Hills of Lebanon, to the great sea (the Mediterranean), to the great Egyptian river. The great Egyptian river is what we call the Suez Canal. A small river was connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea before they installed the Canal.

The Cuneiform tablets found at Ebla state, that "Assyrian kings went across the desert and fought a battle at the great Egyptian river. Then they proceeded westward to fight another battle at the Nile."

12 of the worst natural disasters in U.S History

 God said that in the end time He would restore the land of Israel and the people of Israel back to their land. Bill Clinton began to encourage Israel to divide her Covenant Promised Land. From that moment the U.S. has experienced 12 of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.

Abu Jihad, Yasser Arafat's deputy, at the PLO's Algiers summit in 1988 said: 'What we are doing is carrying out a two-phase strategy. This is a policy that says first we get a Palestinian State next to Israel, then we use it as a base to destroy what remains of Israel. In order to get to the first step we must persuade the world of our good intentions, that we don't intend to carry out the second phase.'.... In other words these are deceptions aimed at gaining the support of the nations of the world for a policy which in fact they would disapprove of, namely the destruction of Israel. --- According to the Koran, muslims are not obligated to honor any agreement or peace treaty made with non-muslims

In 1991, The U.S. State Department drafted the Madrid peace conference, a conference designed to force Israel to give up land for peace. The conference was to begin on October 30. That same day the largest storm of Atlantic history, formed in one day off the coast of Nova Scotia and started moving westward. Recorded by meteorologists as one of the most powerful storms ever, it damaged the entire east coast and slammed 30 foot waves into the shore.

1992, The Madrid peace conference was to resume on August 23, again pressuring Israel to surrender land in exchange for peace. The same day, Hurricane Andrew slammed into southern Florida, the worst natural disaster to to hit the United States up to that time with an estimated $25 billion in damage

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The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize

Allowing the progress in the negotiation with the Palestinians, Rabin received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman Arafat.

On November 4, 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a gunman in central Tel Aviv after attending a rally. He was laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. In April, 1997 President Clinton vetoes the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

In 1995 Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty and the United States Congress passed a resolution requiring that America's embassy be built in Jerusalem by 1999. The nations of the world all have their embassies in Tel Aviv. However President Clinton refused to allow it to be....On January 21, 1998 the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke into the media and the proceedings consumed a major portion of Clinton's time and energy.

On December 12, 1998, President Clinton visited the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss the land for peace process on the same day,the House of Representatives voted four articles of impeachment against him. Recently the Oprah TV Show stated that many US school children now engage in oral sex even in the rear of the school bus because everybody does it - it is not actually having sex according to President Clinton; they say.

On September 20 1998, as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel would give up 13 percent of Judah and Samaria, the same day ..Hurricane George is formed with 110 mph winds and gusts up to 175 mph. The hurricane is moving at breakneck speed and hits the U.S. coast and stalls causing continuous devastation.

On September 28 1998 as the hurricane stalls, Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize this land deal. Later, Yasser Arafat addresses the United Nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state, all the while the stalled Hurricane George pounds the Gulf Coast, causing enormous damage. The same day that Arafat departs the country, the storm begins to dissipate.

On October 16 1998 Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinians and Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel met at the Wye River Plantation on Chesapeake Bay. They were outside of Washington DC in Maryland The next day. On October 17 1998, awesome rains and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area was deluged with rain. The rain and flooding in Texas continued until October 22 and then subsided. The floods ravaged 25 percent of Texas and left over a billion dollars in damage. On October 21st President Clinton declared this section of Texas a major disaster area.

On November 30 1998, Yasser Arafat came to Washington DC again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian State. The goal was to have Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat and the Palestinians more than $3 billion in aid. President Clinton promised $400 million in American aide while the European nations contributed more than $1 billion. On the same day, the Dow dropped 216 points and the very next day on December 1st 1998 the European Market had its third worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of dollars of market capital were wiped out.

On May 3, 1999, the day that Yasser Arafat was scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital, the same day the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States, a Super Tornado swept across Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds were clocked at the fastest wind speeds ever recorded. The declaration was postponed at the request of President Clinton.

In October of 1999 , As Jewish settlers in 15 Israeli settlements on the West Bank were evicted from covenant land at the urging of the US, the the same day the Dow Jones Industrial averages lost 5.7 percent and on n October 15th the Dow lost another 266 points, and a hurricane slammed into North Carolina. The next day, October 16, 1999 the fifth most powerful earthquake in the 20th Century, rocked the U.S..The quake was centered near Joshua Tree, California and was felt in three states.

George Bush Jr. pledged to stay out of the peace negotiations begun by Bill Clinton between Israel and the Palestinians, but shortly into his administration, he changed his mind In June of 2001, President George Bush Jr. sent CIA director George Tenet to Israel to attempt to implement the Mitchell Plan, a plan calling for among other things, cessation of new building in the Jewish settlements. On the same day that Tenet met with Israeli and Palestinian officials, tropical storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved over Texas, the President's home state, and dropped over twenty-eight inches of rain over the Houston area alone, causing over $4 billion dollars in damage. The storm then moved to Florida and up the east coast causing damage as far as Pennsylvania. Meteorologists claimed Allison was one of the worst tropical storms in history.

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On August 23 2005, with U.S. encouragement 10,000 Israelis are evacuated from Gaza and thousands lose their homes.

The same day, hurricane Katrina is formed near the Bahamas. When it strikes 2,000,000 Americans are evacuated from the Gulf Coast, 2000 people die and 350,000 lose their homes. .The damage is 200 billion dollars.according to NBC News, This is the worst natural disaster to ever hit the United States.

2,000,000 Americans evacuated U.S. micromanages Gaza evacuation of five West Bank communities

October 16, 2007, ©  WorldNetDaily.com ..... Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources speaking to WND today said the evacuation of the five West Bank communities was heavily micromanaged by officers of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. One Palestinian official said that at one point last week, Palestinian Authority officials were calling into the U.S. consulate several times per hour to report on the Israeli evacuation. ..Israel National News reported the Israeli police brutalized several Jewish activists while attempting to evacuate the community. ."The United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests," Rice said.

17 Fires Scorch California

Following the latest Gaza evacuation micromanaged by Condoleeza Rice, more than 500,000 people have been ordered to evacuate parts of the US state of California being engulfed by massive wildfires. Fierce winds are fanning 17 fires (see above) that have scorched land stretching from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. National Guard troops and Red Cross workers have been called in to help. The fires had consumed well over 1,400 homes and commercial structures, with the authorities reporting that 68,500 homes remained threatened. President George W Bush has declared a state of emergency in seven counties in California, authorising Fema to tackle the fires..

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Bill Clinton uses Army Tanks against American citizens

On February 28, 1993, ATF agents in National Guard helicopters zoomed in on the Branch Davidians' church and home, Mount Carmel Center, they did so with guns blazing,. Bill and Hilary Clinton, Janet Reno and Democratic presidential candisate, General Wesley Clark who supplied the Army tanks, were responsible for the deaths of more than 74 men, women and children who died in the inferno, including twelve children younger than five years of age. David Koresh's unarmed father-in-law, who stood with him at the front door of the church while the unarmed Koresh begged ATF agents to back off, was killed by gunfire from ATF agents on the ground. The agents shot wildly and threw grenades at the building for more than an hour, even as Davidians called "911" to beg for a ceasefire. ATF snipers later killed one Davidian as he tried to reenter the Mount Carmel Church to join his family.

At dawn on April 19, 1993, and throughout the morning, tanks rammed holes in the main building and pumped (in the FBI's words) "massive amounts" of CS gas into the building, despite knowing that inside were more than a dozen children. The tanks demolished parts of the compound and created tunnels for the wind to blow through. The buildings at this point were saturated with inflammable CS gas and spilled kerosene. ...Around midday two U.S. military pyrotechnic devices were fired into the main building, igniting a fire which (because of the holes in the walls allowed the wind to gust through) spread rapidly through the complex of buildings and became an inferno and more than 74 men, women and children died. Fire trucks were prevented by the FBI from approaching the inferno. After the compound had burned down the ATF flag was hoisted aloft to signify 'victory'.

The local sheriff investigated and found no basis for complaints against the Branch Davidians. According to him these were law-abiding American citizens. In his April 20th news conference Bill Clinton growled that Janet Reno should not have to resign "because some religious fanatics murdered themselves." Two days later he re-asserted, "I do not think the United States government is responsible for the fact that a bunch of fanatics decided to kill themselves." Janet Reno told the House Judiciary Committee hearing that early April 20th, "The second call I got was from the president of the United States, saying, "That-a-girl"

Two years to the day after the April 19 fire, the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, where many federal offices were housed, was bombed. 168 people died.

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In 1993, President Clinton issues five executive orders regarding abortion issues. They include: 1) reversing Title 10 regulations banning abortion referral by federal employees; 2) repealing the Mexico City Policy; 3) lifting the ban on funding for fetal tissue transplants; 4) instructing military hospitals to perform abortions; and 5) asking the FDA to review the import ban on RU 486

President Clinton used the strategic use of Executive Orders to bypass Congress and the will of the American people. In violation of the Constitutional balance of powers, Mr. Clinton said he would legislate by Executive Order if Congress did not bow to his legislative agenda. "I have a continuing obligation to act, to use the authority of the presidency and the persuasive power of the podium, to advance America´s interests...," said Mr. Clinton. ..... There was no debate, no media coverage, and no vote ... just President Clinton signing into law whatever he believed "is the right thing to do." "Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool," said Mr. Clinton´s senior advisor Paul Begala.

In 1995 both chambers wisely passed a budget bill that allowed oil drilling in Alaska only to have President Bill Clinton veto it...The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that the total amount of technically recoverable oil in the coastal plain (excluding state and native areas) is between 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels. Today America faces a major economic crisis because of our dependance on foreign oil.

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 Clinton praises Iran - Feels "at home" there

The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily (by Amir Taheri) 5, March, 2005

Where is the country that Bill Clinton, former Democratic president of the United States, feels ideologically most at home?...Before you answer, here is the condition that such a country must fulfill: It must hold several consecutive elections that produce 70 percent majorities for liberals and progressives. ......If you thought of one of the Scandinavian countries or, perhaps, New Zealand or Canada, you are wrong.

Believe it or not, the country Bill Clinton so admires is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Here is what Clinton said at a meeting on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, just a few weeks ago: "Iran today is, in a sense, the only country where progressive ideas enjoy a vast constituency. It is there that the ideas that I subscribe to are defended by a majority."

And here is what Clinton had to say in a recent television interview with Charlie Rose: "Iran is the only country in the world that has now had six elections since the first election of President Khatami (in 1997). (It is) the only one with elections, including the United States, including Israel, including you name it, where the liberals, or the progressives, have won two-thirds to 70 percent of the vote in six elections: Two for president; two for the Parliament, the Majlis; two for the mayoralties. In every single election, the guys I identify with got two-thirds to 70 percent of the vote. There is no other country in the world I can say that about, certainly not my own."

Not surprisingly, Clinton's utterances have been seized upon by the state-controlled media in Tehran as a means of countering President George W. Bush's claim that the Islamic Republic is a tyranny that oppresses the Iranians and threatens the stability of the region.

Clinton does not seem to remember images of American diplomats paraded in front of TV cameras, blindfolded, and threatened with summary execution every day. Images that did lasting damage to the good name of Iran as a civilized nation. Clinton also ignored the fact that Iranian agents in Lebanon, led by the liberal progressive Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Mohtashami, organized and carried out a string of terrorist attacks in the 1980s that cost the lives of over 300 US citizens, including 240 Marines.

 Carter praises Hamas

2007: June 23, (by Joseph Farah) During a speech to Ireland's eighth annual Forum on Human Rights, the 83-year-old former Democratic president called for recognition of one of the most vile, hateful, murderous terrorist groups in the world, Hamas, a strategic ally of both al-Qaida and Hezbollah. ... Frankly, Carter seems to be a fan of Hamas. He commended the group's "superior skills and discipline" in routing Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. The U.S. is the rogue or the criminal. .... To Carter, Hamas is a victim.

 

In 1989 during Bill Clinton's second term as U.S. President, MAK the American CIA in Afghanistan joined with Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden's Mujahedeen (Holy Warriors.). Bin Laden became the head CIA man in charge of MAK during the Afghan War.....On September 11, 2001. shortly after Hilary Clinton became a Democratic Senator from New York. Islamic terrorists slipped in and slit the throats of unsuspecting pilots and destroyed the New York World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon. "This is an insane instance of the chickens coming home to roost," one U.S. diplomat in Pakistan told the Los Angeles Times. "