Ambassador for Christ Ministries, Inc. - 146/Genesis 12 - The Abrahamic CovenantBY APOSTLE JANICE L WILLIAMS scriptures printed in red are words spoken by JESUS TO ALL OF OUR JEWISH FRIENDS Sunday December 6th, 2015 is the first night of Hanukkah; the Jewish Festival of Lights.The holiday lasts eight days and will run this year through December 14th. The key ceremony at the center of Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, is lighting a menorah each night. The eight nights of lighting the branched candelabrum represent the eight nights a one-day supply of oil miraculously lasted for a small band of Jewish people in 165 B.C. fighting to defeat the Greek army. Some people also celebrate Hanukkah by eating foods fried in oil, such as potato pancakes called latkes. There are also customary games children play, like spinning a dreidel, and they receive chocolate coins called gelt for victory. ^Star of David Hanukkah menorah^ MORE BACKGROUND Some 2100 years ago the Land of Israel came under the rule of the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus, who issued a series of decrees designed to force his Hellenistic ideology and rituals upon the Jewish people. He outlawed the study of Torah {1st 5 books of the Bible written by Moses} and the observance of its commands, and defiled the Holy Temple in Jerusalem with Greek idols.A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land. When they reclaimed the Holy Temple, on the 25th of Kislev [Jewish calendar month of December}, they wished to light the Temple’s menorah (candelabrum), only to discover that the Greeks had contaminated virtually all the oil. All that remained was one cruse of pure oil, enough to last one night—and it would take eight days to procure new, pure oil.Miraculously, the one-day supply of oil lasted eight days and nights, and the holiday of Hanakkah was established.To commemorate and publicize these miracles, many Jews light the Hanakkah menorah (also known as a chanukiah) on each of the eight nights of Hanakkah. This year 2015, the lighting of the menorah will start on Sunday night December 6th.

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THE PLACE WHERE JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

Ambassador for Christ Ministries, Inc.

146/Genesis 12 - The Abrahamic Covenant

BY APOSTLE JANICE L WILLIAMS

scriptures printed in red are words spoken by JESUS

TO ALL OF OUR JEWISH FRIENDS

Sunday December 6th, 2015 is the first night of Hanukkah; the Jewish Festival of Lights.

The holiday lasts eight days and will run this year through December 14th. The key ceremony at the center of Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, is lighting a menorah each night. The eight nights of lighting the branched candelabrum represent the eight nights a one-day supply of oil miraculously lasted for a small band of Jewish people in 165 B.C. fighting to defeat the Greek army. Some people also celebrate Hanukkah by eating foods fried in oil, such as potato pancakes called latkes. There are also customary games children play, like spinning a dreidel, and they receive chocolate coins called gelt for victory.

^Star of David Hanukkah menorah^

MORE BACKGROUND

Some 2100 years ago the Land of Israel came under the rule of the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus, who issued a series of decrees designed to force his Hellenistic ideology and rituals upon the Jewish people. He outlawed the study of Torah {1st 5 books of the Bible written by Moses} and the observance of its commands, and defiled the Holy Temple in Jerusalem with Greek idols.

A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land. When they reclaimed the Holy Temple, on the 25th of Kislev
[Jewish calendar month of December}, they wished to light the Temple’s menorah (candelabrum), only to discover that the Greeks had contaminated virtually all the oil. All that remained was one cruse of pure oil, enough to last one night—and it would take eight days to procure new, pure oil.
Miraculously, the one-day supply of oil lasted eight days and nights, and the holiday of Hanakkah was established.
To commemorate and publicize these miracles, many Jews light the Hanakkah menorah (also known as a chanukiah) on each of the eight nights of Hanakkah. This year 2015, the lighting of the menorah will start on Sunday night December 6th.

Genesis 12

Promises to Abram

1/ Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2/ I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3/ I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”4/ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Modern Haran in Turkey, near the Syrian border, was once a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia. Today, it is home to a distinctly Syrian Arab influence. Locals there speak Arabic as well as Turkish.

Haran is famous for its traditional 'beehive' adobe houses, constructed entirely without wood. The design of these homes {shape, construction materials of mud-brick, and strategically placed ventilation holes on the walls and ceiling} makes them cool inside (essential in that part of the world) and is thought to have been unchanged for at least 3,000 years. Some were still in use as dwellings until the 1980s. However, those remaining today are strictly tourist exhibits.

Harran must have existed as a settlement from around the 18th century BC. Excavations have confirmed that the site was settled in the 3rd millennium BC and clay tablets dating from the 18th century BC mention the town and other neighbouring settlements which frequently bear the names of Abraham's relatives.

In subsequent years Harran became a centre for sun and moon worshippers. The remnants of a double temple to Sin (moon) and Shamash (sun) found in Haran dates from the 16th century BC. Domination by different nations (such as the 13th century Assyrian Empire) did little to change Harran's status as a sky-worshipping centre and when the Babylonians arrived (556-539 B.C.) they also encouraged the Sin cult. Even the successors to Alexander the Great and the Romans revered the moon god.
The town was known in those days as Karrai and later Carrhae and was much fought over by competing empires. In 53 BC the Parthian Orodes II annihilated the army of Crassus there. While in Harran in AD 217 Caracalla was murdered on the way from the temple to the ruler's palace. It was AD 382 before all heathen shrines were destroyed by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Great and that included the Sin Temple at Harran. Interestingly despite the flux of various rulers some towns in the hinterland escaped the various religious changeovers that swept through Harran. In nearby Soǧmatar the Sabian cult continued worshipping astral bodies {the planetary heavens of astrology, as well as evil spirits at their shrines and temples up until the early Middle Ages.

REVIEW WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY #89/HOUSE CLEANING CHECK TIME

5/ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6/ Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. 7/ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Joshua 24:2-3 NKJV

2/ And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. 3/ Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.

8/ And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9/ So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

^ABOVE CLIPART FROM BIBLE HISTORY ONLINE^

Abram in Egypt

10/ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11/ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12/ Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13/ Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
14/ So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.

BELOW IS A PICTURE OF BEAUTIFUL ANCIENT SEMITE WOMEN ABOUT TO ENTER EGYPT.

15/ The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.

PAUSE AGAIN

PSALM 105:6, 23 KJV * 6/ O ye seed of Abraham his {GOD'S} servant, ye children of Jacob his {GOD'S} chosen. 23/ Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

SEE PICTURES BELOW OF BEAUTIFUL ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WOMEN; DESCENDANTS OF HAM

CONTINUE

16/ He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17/ But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18/ And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me?

Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19/ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20/ So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

PAUSE AGAIN

PSALM 105:13-15 KJV * 13/ When they {the seed of Abraham/the children of Jacob who was later named ISRAEL, by GOD} went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
14/ He {GOD/YAHWEH} suffered {allowed} no man to do them wrong: yea, he { GOD/YAHWEH} reproved kings for their sakes;
15/ Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

^ABOVE CLIPART FROM BIBLE HISTORY ONLINE^ 

THERE'S MORE COMING YOUR WAY FOR THIS BIBLE STUDY. I HOPE YOU'LL COME BACK TO EXPLORE WITH ME THE ESTABLISHED EGYPTIAN LAW IN THE LAND OF THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT AT THE TIME OF ABRAM {LATER NAMED ABRAHAM BY GOD} AND SARAI {LATER NAMED SARAH BY GOD}.

CONTINUING WITH ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LAW

Egyptian law, the law that originated with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under King Menes (c. 2925 bc - the first known recorded lawgiver). It grew and developed until the Roman occupation of Egypt (30 bc). The history of Egyptian law is longer than that of any other civilization. Even after the Roman occupation, elements of Egyptian law were retained outside the major urban areas.

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION COMES FROM blackhistoryheroes.com/2013/02/42-laws-of-maat-under-kemet-law-and.html

THE 42 COMMANDMENTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT/42 Laws of Maat Under Kemet Law

{Kemet is the name the native African people of the country now known as Egypt called themselves in their surviving writings. Many scholars refer to the people as "kmt" or Kemet. The surviving artifacts of the Kemet viziers and scribes evidence that Kemet rule of law was “Maat,” contained at least in part in observing the 42 Laws of Maat.}

I have not committed sin.
I have not committed robbery with violence.
I have not stolen.
I have not slain men or women.
I have not stolen food.
I have not swindled offerings.
I have not stolen from God/Goddess.
I have not told lies.
I have not carried away food.
I have not cursed.
I have not closed my ears to truth.
I have not committed adultery.
I have not made anyone cry.
I have not felt sorrow without reason.
I have not assaulted anyone.
I am not deceitful.
I have not stolen anyone’s land.
I have not been an eavesdropper.
I have not falsely accused anyone.
I have not been angry without reason.
I have not seduced anyone’s wife.
I have not polluted myself.
I have not terrorized anyone.
I have not disobeyed the Law.
I have not been exclusively angry.
I have not cursed God/Goddess.
I have not behaved with violence.
I have not caused disruption of peace.
I have not acted hastily or without thought.
I have not overstepped my boundaries of concern.
I have not exaggerated my words when speaking.
I have not worked evil.
I have not used evil thoughts, words or deeds.
I have not polluted the water.
I have not spoken angrily or arrogantly.
I have not cursed anyone in thought, word or deeds.
I have not placed myself on a pedestal.
I have not stolen what belongs to God/Goddess.
I have not stolen from or disrespected the deceased.
I have not taken food from a child.
I have not acted with insolence.
I have not destroyed property belonging to God/Goddess.

*NOTE #12 & #21 ABOVE*

NOW WE CAN FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY PHAROAH WAS UPSET THAT ABRAM DID NOT TELL HIM THAT SARAI WAS HIS WIFE.

NOW WE CAN TRULY APPRECIATE GOD GIVING MOSES 10 COMMANDANTS FOR MANKIND TO KEEP.

{NOTE - definition for precept: a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought."moral precepts" SYNONYMS: principle, rule, tenet, canon, doctrine, command, order, decree, dictate, dictum, injunction, commandment}

NOW WE CAN REALLY TRULY FULLY APPRECIATE THE MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD EXTENDED TO ALL THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST JESUS; WHO DIED FOR ALL SINNERS LIKE MYSELF THAT HAD TRANSGRESSED GOD'S LAWS GIVEN TO MOSES, BEFORE RECEIVING JESUS AS MY LORD AND SAVIOR AND THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THAT ENABLES US TO WALK UPRIGHT WITH SPIRITUAL POWER TO OBEY GOD'S LAWS.