Messiah In The Old Testament Episode 41
The Abrahamic Prophecies: The Egyptian Fiasco
Welcome to Messiah in the Old Testament. In today's episode, we're going to continue our multi-part series looking at Messianic Prophecies that are associated with the life of Abram. Of course, his name is going to change in a future episode to Abraham, and hence we call these the Abrahamic prophecies. Now, in our last episode, we saw Abram, his father Terah, his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot pick up and move from Ur of the Chaldees over to Haran.
They were on their way to Canaan, but for some reason they stopped and settled in Haran. Now, we have no idea why they stopped. The Old Testament does not tell us the answer to that. Of course, the sages have lots of ideas about such things. They felt that Abram and Terah and his family stopped in Haran because that was where Abraham was born, and that's where the whole family was from.
And they cite the evidence we talked about in our last episode about the city of Sanliurfa and the sacred pool full of sacred carp beside the sacred mosque that houses the grotto which is venerated as the birthplace of Abram. But again, the Tanakh does not give us the answer. Whatever reason, they settled there. Now, I think God wanted all of them out of that pagan society, and we've got lots of evidence for this. Now for me, the amazing thing is that we have direct evidence to that fact.
We know exactly where those two cities were located. We know where Ur the Chaldees is located, and we know where Haran is located. Ur the Chaldees in southwestern Iraq, just outside the city of Nasiriyah near the Imam Ali Air Base. It sits on a mound. The tell has been excavated, and it was about 100 years ago that a chap by the name of Sir Charles Leonard Woolley excavated the site.
Now he excavated over several seasons. He published all of his data. There's a lot of information out there. And we discovered, after sifting
through all that in our last episode, that Ur was a pagan city full of pagan temples dedicated to the worship of pagan gods. And all the rich homes had chapels in them dedicated to the pagan gods, and the smaller homes had altars dedicated to the foreign gods. So Ur was very much a pagan city.
Now Haran, we know where that's at. That's located 25 miles south of Sanliurfa, which we just referred to. It's in the plain of Haran on the tell called Haran. And that was excavated by a chap by the name of David Stormer Rice. He excavated only a couple seasons because he had untimely death, but during his excavations he revealed that there was a temple that was rebuilt by Nabonidus on the site, and it's called the Temple of Sin and is dedicated to the moon goddess. But Haran also was a place of pagan temples and the worship of pagan gods. Now we have direct evidence of this. Apart from all this archaeological stuff, we have it in the scripture. We know that Terah was a pagan, and he worshipped gods other than Elohim. We found that in Joshua 24:2
Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.
Additionally, we know that Laban, the great grandson of Nahor, was also pagan, and he kept household gods. This is found in Genesis 31:19
When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
The word translated as household gods is the Hebrew word MyIprV;t (terafim).
And this refers to a type of idol which is used for divination, usually in the form of a man. So, I think God was calling Abraham for sure, and probably his whole family, to come out of this pagan culture,
head to Canaan where God would establish a new order. Now, I think a symbol of all of this pagan culture is expressed in an artifact which is found in the British Museum.
It's in the Mesopotamian Gallery, which is G55. It's in a case which is actually real close to an artifact we showed you in a previous episode when we were doing the flood story of the Babylonians. We showed you the flood tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh. It's just around the corner from that. I'm going to put up a picture of this.
You'll see on this artifact, which is actually a tablet, it's called the Stele or Stele of Nabonidus. You've got a depiction of Nabonidus who is standing there in his royal robes. He's got his conical hat with a spike at the top. That is the typical headdress of the Babylonians. He's holding his royal scepter in his right hand, and you'll see that he is looking off into the distance and that there are three symbols over him. One, is the symbol of the crescent moon. The other one is the symbol of a star, and the third is the sun disk. Now you could argue these are the three brightest objects in the sky, the sun during the day, the moon during the night, and when the moon is down, the planet Venus is the brightest object in the sky. And indeed, these represent the moon, the planet Venus, and the sun.
But they also depict gods, and the three gods involved here: The crescent moon is for Sin, the moon goddess. The star is the star of Ishtar, who is the goddess of fertility and prosperity. And then finally the sun disk is for Shamash, the sun god. These three gods were venerated all across Babylon. Now you could argue with me, OK, Dr. Smith, this tablet and all of this stuff you're talking about, the excavations at Haran and Ur, were artifacts from the late Babylonian empire period. Nabonidus was the final king of Babylon. But I would point to certain tablets and cylinders that have been excavated that are much older than Abram. And they discuss the multiple gods of Babylon, and before Babylon of the Uruks.
And then we've also got the temple, which is the ziggurat of Ur. It's a temple to the moon goddess Sin. And that was built in 2100 BCE by
King Ur-Nammu, and it was dedicated to the veneration of the moon goddess Nanna, which is her Sumerian name, but her Akkadian name is Sin. So there's a lot of evidence that this pagan culture went way back, way back to the time where Abram was living in Ur, and then later in Haran. Now, we know that God wanted the whole family to leave, but only Abram was eventually called out, and he took his wife and his nephew with him.
The sages agree that Abram was probably about 54 years old when he left Ur, which means he traveled to Haran and stayed there for 21 years because he was 75 years when he left [Haran]. We assume that he had a pretty comfortable living because when he left Haran, it talked about taking all the things that he had acquired while in Haran. So, I think he had a lot of stuff.
So when Elohim called Abram out of Haran, he gave him seven blessings or seven promises which would result in the establishment and the development of the nation of Israel. And then out of Israel would come Messiah. So these are promises that have Messianic implications. We know Abram was a type of Messiah, just like Job was when he worshipped God. And we know that Noah was a type of Messiah. Enoch was a type of Messiah. So these blessings not only refer to Abram, but they also refer to Messiah. So let's go through them real quick.
1) I will make you into a great nation
Certainly Abram was going to be made into a great nation, the nation of Israel. But Messiah, when he comes as a conquering king, he will also establish himself and he will become a great nation. His followers will become a massive nation.
2) I will bless you
3) I will make your name great
4) You will be a blessing to others
5) I will bless those that bless you
6) I will curse those that curse you
7) All people on earth will be blessed through you
So this brings us to the end of our previous episode. And now we're going to open up this next episode with a passage from Genesis 12:4
So, Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.
So, you've got Abram, his wife Sarai, and Lot.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
So think about it. We have to get three adults, all of their household goods, all their belongings, their actual house, their tents, and then all the manservants and the maidservants, the slaves, the shepherds, all the animals, the camels and donkeys and oxen and sheep. Can you imagine trying to get that whole menagerie from Haran all the way down to Canaan?
They would have had to have traveled in a giant caravan in order to get this mass of people and animals and stuff down there. Now, if you look on the maps and you calculate how far it is from Haran up just south of Sanliurfa down to Shechem, which was their destination, actually outside of Shechem at the great tree of Moreh, you'll come up with a total of 580 miles. That's based on highway travel. But those highways generally follow the old caravan routes, especially those that span across, the great distances in the Syrian desert. So I'm going to put up a caravan map.
First, I want to show you the archaeological site, which is Shechem. We do know the location of Shechem. It's just outside of modern-day Nablus. I've got an overhead shot showing you the archaeological site. This has actually been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's on a 10-acre plot of land. So we know where Shechem was, and we know that the great tree of Moreh would have been very close to that.
So now I'm going to put up your caravan routes. We've got a map here that shows the caravan routes, and this is more from the time of the Assyrian Empire rather than prior to, but the caravan routes basically were the same back in the day of Abraham. So our starting point is Haran, which is up there at the very top of our map, and you'll see it winds around and goes to a city called Rasafa. Now, in Abraham's time, it would have been Resappa, and that was a regional capital. From there, they would have gone straight to Damascus. They would have traveled on this major caravan route, which is called the King's Highway. They would have gone through Tadmor or Tudmor, which is modern-day Palmyra. And once they reached Damascus, then they would have switched caravan routes and gone by the Via Maris. Now, that's obviously a Latin name, and it would have been the name used by the Romans when they controlled the territory. Via Maris was present before then, but it's still referred to mostly as the Via Maris or the Way of the Sea.
So they would have gone from Damascus over to Hatzor. Hatzor would have been a large, fortified Canaanite city at the time. And then once they got to Hatzor, they would have headed south down through the Judean hills. And they would have gotten to Shechem, which we said is right outside the city of Nablus. Now, their destination, final destination, was h®rwøm NwølEa (’aylon Moreh). NwølEa (’aylon) in the Hebrew means oak, terebinth, or very large tree. And then h®rwøm (Moreh) is a proper name, but it also has meaning. It means archer. It's from the root hry (yarah), which means to shoot, cast, or throw. So if it was part of a great stand of trees, then there would have been game within there, and there would have been archers or hunters that
went to hunt that game. So, that's probably how the tree got its name, the giant tree of the archer. Now, once Abram arrived at his destination, of course, they would have set up their camp. But Job made it his regular custom to sacrifice to the Lord, and I think Abram was of the same ilk as Job, and I think Abram made it his custom to sacrifice to the Lord. We certainly have description of several altars that he erected. Now, Genesis 12:7 says:
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Now, this is a very significant verse, and I think it's worth taking the time to kind of tear this apart and get the fullest meaning possible out of the verse.
Now, let's start out with the Lord appeared. We know LORD is in all caps here in the NIV. That's referring to the LORD's proper name, which we usually call it Adonai, out of respect to the LORD, but the NIV uses LORD in all caps. So we know that's the hÎwhy (Yad-HehVav-Heh). He appeared, and the word appeared in the Hebrew is ar´y (yayrah). It's from the root har (ra’ah), which means to see. The verb form of that root. the form used here, indicates the idea of making oneself visible, appearing. It's exactly what the English word says. It's appear, it's presenting oneself, but it's the idea of you're not there, and then you're suddenly there, you appear.
So Messiah, we know from previous episodes, is the part of Elohim that physically appears on earth so men can see Him. So, we know that when Elohim appears in person, like He did to Abram here, that this was actually Messiah that showed up and talked to Abram. And it doesn't matter if it's Abram, or Isaac, or Jacob, or Moses, or Aaron, or whoever it is that is talking to the LORD, and the LORD appears to them, that physical manifestation is Messiah. So this whole event here obviously has Messianic implications.
Now He said to your offspring, I will give this land. That's obviously a gift to Abram that's going to enable him to build this nation of Israel, and by way of that, bring about the coming of Messiah. So this has Messianic implication. And then finally, He named the altar. And He built an altar there to the Lord who had called to Him.
So, the altar was hRarˆ…nAh hÎwhy (Adonai Hannir’eh) and Hannir’eh or Adonai Hannir’eh means the LORD who appears. So these three things have Messianic implications. Let's go through those three individual Messianic prophecies.
1) God appeared to Abram in person so that he could be seen. (Abram actually saw Messiah) This points us to Messiah, the part of Elohim that appears to men in human form so that we will be able to see him.
2) The name Adonai Hannir’eh, the God who Appears, points us to Messiah who is the part of God that appears and can be seen by men.
3) God promised the Land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring. This was Messianic provision to ensure Messiah’s line would continue through Abram’s line.
So hRarˆ…nAh hÎwhy (Adonai Hannir’eh) is just one of the many names that have been ascribed to God, and we're going to go over all these names in our next episode. And we're going to talk about the meaning of Elohim's many names and how that applies to Messiah. So, from Shechem, Abraham moved south. We don't know the timing or how long he was there in Shechem, but he moved further south. Genesis 12: 8 says:
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and 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.
Now Bethel is located approximately 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Most scholars believe the ruins of Bethel and the location of Abram's
altar and other events that occur in this same location, such as Jacob's vision of the ladder extending from heaven to earth and angels going up and down, that also happened in this exact area.
Now, the scholars point to an Arab village which is called Beitin, and it is actually real close to a Jewish settlement called Beit-El, so BethEl. So obviously everybody kind of converges on this area and believes that this is the area [of Bethel].
On the southern end of the village of Beitin there's the ruins of a crusader watchtower which is called by the locals Al-Burj Beitin or the Tower of Beitin, and I've got a picture of it. This obviously is an old picture showing a bunch of monks standing on the ruins of the watchtower. There was a crusader church nearby. Over the years there were Byzantine churches, there were mosques, there were synagogues. This obviously is a highly important area for all three religions, the Jewish, the Christian, and Muslim religions. So Abraham built his second altar now. So if you're keeping track, there are going to be a total of five altars that he built.
We know that Messiah appeared to Abraham, but that wasn't the only time. There are two other times, or three times, that Messiah is going to appear to Abram. So this is obviously something that Abram is used to doing.
Now, where did he learn it? We talked about in previous episodes father to son, father to son, handing down the tradition of sacrificing on the altar. Certainly, Adam did that to his sons, and certainly Abram did that for Isaac and Jacob. But where did Abram get it? Because Abram's father, we just told you, was a pagan, and it says not only him, but his ancestors. So we're talking probably Nahor and Serug, somewhere back up the line. Our righteous line that points us to Messiah went off track.
The sages believe that the gap was plugged by Abram going and living in the house of Shem and Noah and learning the ways of the LORD there, which is where he would have learned about sacrificing.
Now let's talk about this altar. He built it specifically so that he could call on the name of the LORD. What does it mean to call on the name of the LORD? If I call on somebody's name in modern parlance, it has kind of a soft meaning. I do this in the name of Donald Trump, the president, at the time of this presentation, or I do this in the name of Abraham Lincoln. You're invoking their name; you're calling on their name. But let's see what the Hebrew says.
In the Hebrew, the word name, we know because it's the name MEv (shaym), one of the sons of Noah, and we know that that word means your reputation, your fame, your brand, your name. The word that's used for called, where Abram called on the name of the LORD. He called, it’s from the word arVqˆ¥y (yiqra’), which means cry, utter, call out in a loud voice, proclaim, read aloud, summon, broadcast. These are out loud words, not quiet words or thought words or praying to yourself words. He wasn't praying, meditating like we do at the Western Wall. He was crying out to the Lord. He was screaming to the Lord.
Now, this may not make a lot of sense as to, Messiah is also going to call in the name of the Lord. He's going to cry out to the Lord. For the Christians, this makes a lot of sense because when Jesus Christ was on the cross, he cried out to his father in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. And then before he died, he cried out in a loud voice and gave up his spirit. So this idea of crying out to the LORD is very vivid and very important to Christians, but this is clearly a Messianic prophecy.
4) Abram as a type of Messiah cried out to the LORD in a loud voice (yelled or screamed). So it will be with Messiah. He will cry out to the LORD in a loud voice. He will call on the name of the LORD.
So this second altar was built to honor Shem Adonai, or the name of the LORD. Abram, after he built this altar and cried out to the Lord, he went further south. And this is found in Genesis 12:8
Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Now the Negev is in the southern part of Israel. To get to the Negev from Bethel, you would have to go right by the city of Jerusalem, but you'll notice there's no mention of Jerusalem. They didn't go through Jerusalem. They didn't stop at Jerusalem. There's no mention even of Jerusalem. So, the Negev today would not be a very hospitable place for Abram and his entourage of animals and servants and slaves and soldiers and all the people that were with him. Because even though it's a very beautiful place and it's a fun place to go hike, it's not a very good place to bring a huge amount of animals that need grass for grazing and water to drink.
I'm going to put up a picture. It's one of my favorite pictures. This is taken from a lookout, which is right on the edge of Mitzpe Ramon. This is looking at the crater. It's not really a crater. It's called a makhtesh. This is Makhtesh Ramon. They look like craters. It looks just like a lunar landscape. And you can't imagine Abram and his family and his entourage camped down there in the middle expecting the animals to find much food to graze on down there.
So, I don't think they were down in the deep desert. They must have been more up towards Beersheba. Now having said that, there has been some archaeological evidence which raises an interesting point. There have been several excavations showing that there have been settlements in the past in the deep Negev where there's very little water supply and not enough grass to keep your animals alive. But there is evidence that people settled and lived there.
For example, if you're familiar with the area of Nitzana, there's a reserve there. And they did some excavations. And near Nitzana, they discovered a fire pit which had ostrich eggs in it. And they did the carbon dating, and these ostrich eggs were estimated to be about
4,000 years old, which puts us right at the time of Abram. So if they had ostrich, they had animals, they would have had to have something for those animals to eat. So maybe 4,000 years ago, the Negev wasn't so desert-like. Maybe it was greener and a more hospitable place for Abram and his entourage to live. Now this whole desert thing brings up the point that Abram and all of his animals and servants and slaves and soldiers were dependent upon a water source.
They were dependent upon having grass, food for the animals, having the ability to get food for themselves. And in order to live, they would need a lot of resource. And if any of that resource would disappear, then they would have to move on. So if the grass, you know, they ate it all up and there was no more grass, they'd have to move on to better grazing pasture. Or if the rain stopped falling and all the rivers and streams dried up and the wells were drying up, then they would not have enough water. And this is exactly what happened. In Genesis chapter 12:10-20, we've got a description of such an event. It starts out:
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
We know Abram was 75 years old when they left Haran. Don't know how long it took to get to Shechem and how long they stayed in Shechem and then in Bethel and then in Negev. I don't know how many months or years transpired during that time. But we know that Sarai was 10 years younger than Abram, so she must have been at least 65 when they left Haran. So she probably would have been in her mid-late 60s. And if she was such a beautiful woman that Abram was worried about getting killed because of her beauty, that tells you that Sarai was a very, very beautiful woman. Now we know that Sarai
was born to Abram's father. She was his half-sister. So saying that she was his sister, although deceptive, wasn't absolutely untrue.
Let's continue our story:
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
It appears that Pharaoh's officials were always on the lookout, always on the scout, looking for beautiful women that they could confiscate and drag into Pharaoh's harem. And sure enough, Abram's concerns were real. And because they said she was his sister, they would take her into the harem, and they would, instead of killing Abram, they would actually reward him. Now, what happens next? I think the best way to describe it and answer what it was like in Egypt at the time and why Pharaoh did what he did comes from an excavation at Tell El-Amarna, a very famous excavation. It's where all the Amarna letters come from.
Tell El-Amarna is in the Al-Minya Desert just across the Nile from modern-day Kafr Khozem. And the excavation unearthed numerous clay tablets and cylinders, and these are the Amarna letters. They're written in a form of Akkadian, which is, of course, a cuneiform language. And these letters have been translated, and it turns out they were correspondence between Pharaoh's court officials and other court officials, other kings. And there were letters demanding that the kings send their sisters and daughters to Pharaoh so he could have them as wives and concubines. There's transactions where Pharaoh paid the more significant, richer kings, gold in return for their sisters and daughters. Some of the lesser kings didn't get any reward. There were some that were writing letters complaining about the quality of the gold. So this system where Pharaoh would be after beautiful women and willing to pay gold for the wealthier ones and just confiscate the lesser ones That, I think, explains fully what happened to Abram. Now, this is validated by excavations that took place in the Valley of the Kings.
They excavated the tomb of King Thutmose III, and they discovered three wives buried there in the tomb, and they had gold sandals and gold finger and toe stalls, and I'll show you a picture of those. These are actually found at the Met Museum in gallery number 118 if you want to go see them.
So the most significant thing is the names of these three wives were Minhet, Menwi, and Merti. These are Western Semitic names, obviously not Egyptian names. So they came from Semitic territories. So Hebrew is part of that Western Semitic language, and you might recognize that third name, Merti. It's the older name. The more modern form is Martha, so a name you're familiar with. So, if Abram shows up with all this myriad of oxen and camels and donkeys and sheep and all this wealth and affluence, all these servants and soldiers, the court officials might assume that this is a mighty king that's coming to visit Pharaoh and pay homage to him. So, they would have taken his sister, and then Pharaoh would have been obligated to pay him large quantities of gold, silver, and other stuff. So let's read on:
He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
And we talked about in the Job prophecies how wealth back in that time of the patriarchs was measured more in your number of servants, your number of camels, your number of donkeys, instead of how much gold you had, although gold and silver obviously was important too. So Pharaoh paid out a huge, huge payout for Sarai. So we also know in Genesis 13, which we'll get to in our next episode, that there was also gold and silver involved. And we think that this is probably where Sarai acquired Hagar, her maidservant, who will play into future episodes. She was Egyptian, and this is probably where Sarai acquired her. Now, everything's humming along for Pharaoh. He's got this beautiful, gorgeous, most beautiful woman in the region in his harem. He's all excited. But then, reading on:
But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
Now, several important things jump out in this verse. First of all, the selective nature of the diseases. They affected Pharaoh and his household. It doesn't mention that the people of Egypt were affected. We know that Abram, Sarai, and all of his people were unaffected. So this was a selective serious disease. And let's look at the whole idea of inflicting serious diseases. What does that mean? In English, it sounds bad. I mean, I wouldn't want to be inflicted with a serious disease, let alone multiple serious diseases. But let's see what the Hebrew says. It's much more dramatic in the Hebrew. So let's start out.
The word inflicted is oÅ…gÅny (yenagga‘). And the root of that word is ogn (naga‘). And it means to touch, reach, or strike. So the idea of being struck with a disease. So you would say he was stricken with polio or he was stricken with the flu. That is the exact word and the exact meaning. So they were stricken with some sort of infectious disease. Now, serious diseases, that's what they were inflicted with. The word diseases is from the same root.
And the phrase serious diseases is MyIlOd…g MyIoÎgn ( naga‘im gedolim).
And it's from that same root, ogn (naga‘). And in the noun version, it's basically plagues. It's like a nasty infectious disease. So like a bubonic plague, or for us, COVID-19, or any pandemic. That is what we're talking about. And then when you add the adjective MyIlOd…g (gedolim), we know that word, gadol, it means to increase in volume or influence. So that means that the diseases involved were very, very bad. They were amplified in their magnitude and in their seriousness. And so it wasn't just one plague that broke out. Everything's in the plural, so it's the multiple plagues. So you can imagine Pharaoh. If he saw that his entire household, as well as him, so this includes all his beautiful women of the harem, they're all affected by this outbreak of plague. He would like jump into action immediately. He would want to know where the plague is from, how to stop it. So I'm sure they would have looked into it. And perhaps the plague started in the
harem where Sarai was. And they made the association because of the proximity to Sarai. Maybe he called in all of his wise men and astrologers. And they divined for him that the disease was coming because he had taken Sarai. That was probably his most recent action. And they concluded that this very, very beautiful woman taking her from Abram was bad and that Abram's gods or God would be punishing them. So Pharaoh flew into action, and he decided that he was going to get rid of Abram. He's going to give Sarai back to Abram and get him out of his country as soon as possible so that these plagues would leave. So Pharaoh summoned Abram:
So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
So he left completely intact and unharmed. He didn't have the plague. Sarai didn't have the plague. Lot didn't have the plague. None of his people had the plague. None of his animals had the plague. They walked away totally unscathed.
Now, if you think about it, this is the first set of selective plagues that were being foisted upon Pharaoh, his household, his country, but not affecting the others. This is the first time, but this certainly foreshadows a future event, which we'll get to when we talk about the Exodus. This is clearly a foreshadowing of those future events. And then also the fact that Abram and his wife and his nephew and all of his people walked away unscathed with all their gold, all their silver, all their cattle. They plundered Pharaoh. Pharaoh thought he was getting the most beautiful woman in the world, and instead now he's out a huge amount of gold, silver, and cattle and animals. So this was the first time where Abram and his descendants plundered Egypt. But it's not going to be the last time, and we know when we get to the story of the Exodus, this same exact thing is going to happen. So this is a foreshadowing of the future Exodus from Egypt. So, this has
Messianic significance. Because now Abram has been increased in wealth and influence, and he just keeps getting richer and richer. There's just no getting around it. When he was in Haran, he acquired a bunch of stuff. And along the way I'm sure he's acquired stuff. And now Pharaoh made him a very wealthy man. So this is Messianic prophecy number five:
5) God’s miraculous provision to Abram at the hand of Pharoah provided the means for the line of Messiah to thrive and move forward.
Now, I find this whole fiasco that Pharaoh found himself in at the hands of Abram and his wife Sarai to be quite stunning. I mean, these obviously were devastating plagues, and Abram walked away plundering them. I wonder later on when Moses was talking to the Pharaoh of his day if he would hearken back to that story of Abram and how Abram plundered the Pharaoh of the time and how the devastating plagues came on Pharaoh. I wonder if he whispered those facts into Pharaoh's ear or even if they remembered the stories. Obviously, Moses knew the stories, but I don't know if Pharaoh did. So we're going to continue looking at our Messianic Prophecies found in the life of Abram. We're just getting started.
Next episode we're going to pick up where Abram is leaving Egypt, and we're going to find out exactly how big his haul was when he left Egypt, and then we're going to continue our story. And it's just, to me, very exciting, all these Messianic Prophecies that are pointing towards the prosperity, pointing towards the increase, pointing towards Abram's offspring turning into this great nation that would dominate the world and would be the source for Messiah coming. So join us next time.
Thank you for watching our show today. We hope that you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Now, after watching this episode you might be saying to yourself, “Who is this Messiah that Dr. Smith is talking about?
Is he talking about the Christian Messiah? Is he talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary. And then lived a blameless and holy life on the earth and then was tortured and crucified. And after he died he then was resurrected from the dead after three days. Then after people witnessed this, he was then taken up bodily by Elohim into heaven from the Mount of Olives.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Muslim prophet Isa. Isa Ibn Maryam, the messenger, who was sent by Allah to bring a message to the people. The Quran says he that lived a holy and blameless life, was born of the virgin Mary. He fulfilled all the Jewish prophecies in exact accordance. But one difference, instead of being crucified, he then was taken up by Allah into heaven before the Romans laid hands on him. And he awaits there now in the fourth heaven where at the end of days at the day of judgment he will be revealed to all.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Jewish Messiah? The Messiah who has not yet been revealed that the entire Jewish world is waiting for his revelation. Now, the beautiful thing is that you can hold to any of these beliefs. And we can all still learn together about Messiah. We can learn about our Christian Messiah. We can learn about our Jewish Messiah. We can learn about our Muslim prophet Isa who will be revealed. It doesn’t matter what you believe. You can even be an atheist or agnostic and still learn from this program about Messiah. Now, I have to admit I am a Christian so I approach things, obviously, from a Christian point of view. And I promise you, as we reveal these prophecies, which I believe have all been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Or will be fulfilled when he comes back, returning in the clouds in the same way he was taken up. I believe that all of this is true, but I promise you I will do my very best to present these prophecies from a neutral point of view. And try to keep my Christian bias to a minimum. Obviously, it will pop up from time to time, but I will try to stay only in the Tanakh and try not to get into the New Testament very often. Now, if you want more information about Messiah, we have resources for you.
We have a website which is findingmessiah.org. Now, on that website you are going to find several resources. You will find links to all the videos, all the episodes that we have created so far. You will find links to download the transcripts of any of these episodes. And then you will find a section where you can get more information about Messiah through frequently asked questions. And then there is a section for donation. If you want to come alongside our ministry at Finding Messiah.
Now, there’s going to come a time in this series where you are going to be confronted with the question: What are you going to do with Messiah? Who do you believe Messiah is? Which of these Messiahs do you believe Dr. Smith is talking about? And Messiah will become real to you if you look at all the information presented and come to your conclusions. So, join us as we continue our journey through the Old Testament Scriptures looking for all the Messianic Prophecies. And join us next time as we reveal those to you.