Our Father Abraham, Fighting Idols

[SHADOW=royalblue]Our Father Abraham, Fighting Idols, And A Dead Waiter [/SHADOW]

by
Randy Weiss

The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham .
. . And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall
shew thee. (Acts 7:1-3).

I am a Jew. My father taught me to love the God
of Abraham. As an infant, a moyel brought me into the
covenant of Abraham through circumcision. As I grew
in the Jewish community, that same moyel became my
Hebrew teacher and taught me to love the example of
our father Abraham.

Why is he known as “Our father Abraham?” How
do Gentiles relate to the father of Judaism? As a Jewish
believer in Jesus, these concepts fascinate me. I want
you to share my passion for Israel and the Jewish people
because God made a promise to those who bless the
Jews. God declared, “I will bless them that bless thee,and curse him that curseth thee” (Gen 12:3).
You have a Jewish connection to the Christian faith and I want to
help you find it. My prayer is that you will fall so deeply
in love with the God of Israel that you will visit the land
of Israel and allow the Bible to come alive. I want you
to be a tool in God’s hand to bless the Jews. Our father
Abraham might be a doorway to your greatest blessing.

His story, and the history of my people begin in
the 12th chapter of Genesis. This is where we enter the
headwaters of the river of Jewish life. The river of faith
flowed from Abraham, to his son, and then to his
grandson. God’s love was revealed from generation to
generation. That is why He is called the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Judaism, faith is
transmitted as a father passes on the love of God to his
children.

It is also through Abraham that non-Jews are
invited to understand the concept of faith that brings all
believers into the family of God. By faith, Abraham
journeyed to the land of promise. By faith, he led Isaac
up Mt. Moriah as a willing sacrifice to God. Abraham’s
faith was tested and Scripture validates it for all
generations to see.

Abraham “believed in the LORD; and he counted
it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Paul
quoted this in Romans 4:3 explaining the foundations
of Christian faith. We follow in the spiritual footsteps
of Abraham when we believe. The Hebrew word used in
that famous text is “heh-eh-meen (believe).” This is
where we get our word “amen.” When a preacher says
something great in church, we often shout “amen!”
What we are really saying is, “I believe” what the
preacher said. Each person who believes in the God of
Israel exhibits our father Abraham’s faith. Abraham
should be remembered with every “amen” since he is
credited with the first record of the word being used in
the Bible! Quite a testimony, don’t you think?

Let me share another testimony. Abram is my
namesake. My friends call me Randy, but in the
synagogue, when I am called up to chant a blessing
during the reading of the Torah, they call Avram, ben
Moshe Aron and I know they are calling me. That is my
Hebrew name. I am Abram, the son of Moses Aaron.
Abram was the name of my father’s grandfather. Moshe
Aron was my Dad. Jewish children are often named this
way. It is customary to be known as the son of our
father. This practice is quite ancient. Jewish kings and
prophets were often identified by their Hebrew name
followed by the name of their father. We are connected
to those who went before us. Generation to
generation--Judaism lives--the God of Israel is made
known, that is why it is seen as a tragedy when a Jew
comes to faith in Jesus.

This was made clear to me early in my walk of
faith. My Christian journey began in February of 1973.
As you might imagine, this caused a scandal in the
Jewish community. I was identified as a traitor and
shunned by friends and family. Eventually, a very
strange invitation came to me. My former Hebrew
teacher called me to a meeting. He had a profound
impact on my life. From moyel to mentor, this man
taught me to read from the Torah, he trained me to
sound the ram’s horn, he prepared me for my Bar
Mitzvah, and groomed me to lead the junior
congregation of our synagogue. I assume that my
conversion was one of his worst disappointments.

In an effort to bring me back into the fold, I was
invited to his home to visit with a highly respected rabbi
from Israel. This dignitary from a distinguished
talmudic institute in the Holy land seemed to be on a
mission. As you may guess, I was apprehensive, yet
compelled to show honor to my parents and my former
teacher so I went.

The evening was grueling. I listened to numerous
arguments against my newfound faith. The rabbi was
courteous as long as I made no defense of my faith.
Since I felt no sense of obligation to argue, I just quietly
listened until a fateful moment.

The rabbi spoke of our father Abraham. He
ridiculed my decision to believe in Jesus and asked me
how I could show such disrespect for the faith of our
fathers and the history of our people. His argument
turned on a statement that Abraham “had chosen God”
and this was why Jews throughout history had an
obligation to remain Jewish.

It was then, after what seemed like many hours of
sitting through a one-sided debate, I spoke one quiet
statement. I was heavily “out-gunned” by my elders.
They were both Bible experts and distinguished
religious leaders. I was just a young new believer in
Jesus. Yet something stirred within my soul. In spite of
his skill and reputation, I knew the rabbi was incorrect.
Quite passively I said, “Rabbi, Abraham did not choose
God. God chose Abraham .”

That was the end of congeniality. The rabbi did
not receive my humble correction as it was intended. He
was insulted and the discussion ended abruptly. I had
disarmed him without realizing what had occurred. In
retrospect, I know that God helped me. The Ruach
HaKodesh—the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Jesus.
The Spirit of God had given me those few words that I
spoke that night. He also taught me an important lesson.
The rabbi was wrong about our father Abraham. God
wants us to believe rightly. In later years, I learned that
many myths about Abraham exist with Judaism. Since
very little is known with certainty about the early years
of Abram’s life, many legends have developed to fill in
the blanks.

One such rabbinic tale suggests that Abram’s
father Terah was a professional idol-maker. Abram
could have taken over the family business and made a
good living in Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 12:28). Instead,
he believed God and journeyed to the land of Canaan.
The story of his exit is very colorful within Jewish lore.
The following account is my paraphrase of an ancient
Jewish legend.

When Abram was a young man, he told his
mother that his father’s idols were hungry. Abram
requested that she prepare a meal for them. She cooked
a nice dinner but they did not eat anything. Abram told
her that the idols did not like her cooking. So she
worked very hard and served a sumptuous banquet for
the wood and stone idols. When no one was looking,
Abram smashed all but the largest idol with an axe.
Then he placed the axe in the hand of the large idol.

When his father heard the commotion, he came
and found all but one of his idols destroyed. Terah
screamed at Abram, “What have you done? Why did you
smash my idols?” Abram responded with intensity,
“Dad, they were hungry. I just fed them. When the little
ones reached to take their portion, the big idol killed the
rest of them.” Terah was exasperated. He turned to
Abram and said, “What nonsense! I made these idols.
They cannot move. You smashed them Abram! You put
the axe in the hand of the remaining idol. Now you tell
me lies and expect me to believe that the idol did this
terrible thing.” Abram said, “Dad, you are right. You
made these idols with your own hands. They cannot
move, they cannot breathe, they cannot deliver you from
your enemies, and they cannot protect you from sickness
or death. Why do you worship them? There is only one
true God. He created the heavens and the earth. He is the
only God that I will worship!” With that, Abram
smashed the last idol and left town on his journey of
faith.

Abraham has always been a role model inspiring
Jews to believe in God. However, the rabbi gave
Abraham more credit than was due him. When I think of
the one-sided debate with the rabbi so many years ago, I
am reminded that the Bible does not credit Abraham
with the wisdom to choose God. No human virtue was
involved. I still believe my simple response was
profoundly correct. “Abraham did not choose God. God
chose Abraham.” God alone is good and I thank God
that He permits us to believe in His Son Jesus.

This article began with a quote about Abraham
from Stephen, the first Jewish-Christian martyr. The
message will conclude with a note about Stephen. He
was “full of faith and power, (he) did great wonders
and miracles among the people.” Stephen was an
ordained waiter appointed to the post when the twelve
disciples stopped serving tables to spend time in prayer
and Bible study (Acts 6:2). But Stephen served more
than food! He also served the truth. He told the whole
story from Abraham to Jesus. The religious leaders
responded by killing the waiter. Stephen held to the faith
of our father Abraham and was rewarded by spending
eternity with Jesus. How about you? What do you
believe about Jesus?

My e-mail address is
randy@crosstalk.org.

In closing, I want to remind you that Abraham
took his son to Mt. Moriah. This is also where Jesus
ministered and is home to the Western Wall of our
ancient Temple in Israel. Like Abraham, I believe we are
all on a journey of faith.

Thank you.
People do not realize how deeply Christianity is immersed in Judaism.

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