It was a long, long time after Noah and the seven who were with him went out of the ark and heard God’s covenant with them and saw its beautiful sign in the sky. Now there were many people in the earth, and though they were not so wicked as the people had been before the Flood, they had forgotten the God to whom Noah built his altar and offered sacrifices, and from whom he heard the promise of blessing. Instead of worshiping Him who is the maker of the heavens and the earth, they were worshiping the sun and the moon and the stars, and even idols made by men. Of course they could not obey the God whom Noah served when they were giving all their thought to idols, neither could God speak to them, because they would not listen to his voice.
Among the people who were descended from Shem, the oldest son of Noah, there was a man named Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. He made up his mind to take his family and move away from the place where he was then living to Canaan, a country far from Ur. We do not know just why he decided to do this, but he started from Ur with his son Abram, his nephew Lot, and Abram’s wife, Sarai. They did not go to Canaan, but stopped at a place called Haran, and there Terah died. Terah was a worshiper of idols, but Abram, his son, had somehow kept the faith in the one true God, and did not bow down to the moon or stars or to idols of wood or stone. Because Abram loved the heavenly Father, God could speak to him, and Abram could hear God’s voice, and his love made him wish to do just what God asked him to do. So it happened that at Haran Abram heard God speaking to him, and saying, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” God did not tell Abram where he wanted him to go, he only said, “I will show you the land,” but he gave him a wonderful promise, for he said, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
Now, Abram not only loved God but he believed that God knew what was the best for him, and that God would do just what he promised. So Abram did leave his country and his relatives and friends. “By faith Abram when he was called, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Taking his wife, his nephew, his flocks, and servants, he started from Haran, and God led him down into the land of Canaan, the very land to which Terah had intended to go when he left Ur. No doubt, as Abram journeyed he kept saying to himself as he entered a new part of the country, “I wonder if this is the land where the Lord wants me to live.” But as no sign was given, he kept on until he came to Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and there he found that he had reached the land to which the Lord had called him to go. Let us read from the Bible just what happened there (Genesis 12:6, 7). The Canaanites were heathen people, and on all sides Abram saw idols and idol worship. But he knew something far better than that, and as he journeyed through the land he built altars to the true God and offered sacrifices wherever he pitched his tents.
In all this Abram was earning a name for himself, though he did not know it. He loved God so much that he listened for his voice. When God spoke he obeyed gladly; and he showed his love by praise and prayer and worship. Would you like to know the name that Abram earned? It is one that has been given to him through the thousands of years since he lived, and it is the most beautiful name that anyone could ever have. He is called “The Friend of God.”
PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Ask the children if they would like to see the place in the Bible where Abram is called the friend of God, and help them to find James 2:23. Then show them the first line on page 25 of the work book on which they are to write the last four words of that verse.
LESSON 9
THE CORRELATED LESSON
What did I tell you the first five books in the Bible are called? (Books of Law.) What is the color of the ribbon for those books in our rainbow bookmark? Let us see how many of our memory texts belong with the red ribbon. Where is the verse that tells about the creation of the world? (Genesis 1:1.) Where is the verse that tells what God gave Adam to do in the Garden of Eden? (Genesis 2:15.) There was one about Noah—where will we find that? (Genesis 6:22.) And one about the rainbow—(Genesis 9:13). All these are in the first book—the book of Genesis, and because that is one of the books of the Law I will give you a red slip to mark the place of each of those verses. What was the verse about hiding from God? That verse was in the book of Jeremiah. Let me tell you how to find it. Open the Bible in the middle. What book is there? (Psalms.) Now turn to the right and you will find first Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Isaiah, and then comes the book we are looking for—Jeremiah. Turn through the chapters until you find the 23d, and the 24th verse of that chapter. This book belongs in a group of five that are called books of the Major Prophets and they are marked by the green ribbon. (Give the children a green slip and let them put it in as a mark for the memory text in Jeremiah.) What was the verse about love? That is in one of the books of the New Testament. If you take the part of your Bible that is to the right of Jeremiah and open that part in the middle and then take the right hand little part and open that in the middle, you will find you have 1 Corinthians. Then you can find the 13th chapter and the 4th verse. The ribbon for these books, which are called Letters, is violet, so we will put a violet slip in to mark the place of this memory text. (The only other text which they have had is Hebrews 11:8a, c. They can find that by turning to the right from 1 Corinthians, and that may also be marked by a violet strip of paper. Drill by having the children find the verses by subjects.)