FBC: The Plumb Line

Genesis III: Session 2

November 10, 2016 Speaker: Chuck Hartman Series: Genesis III

Topic: Theology Class Scripture: Acts 7:2–7:7, Acts 14:16

Genesis III – Lecture Outline Week 2

The Geography of the Ancient Near East – Acts 7:2-7; 14:16

I. The Hermeneutical Importance of Archaeology, Demography, & Geography
A. Accurate to the Age Discussed; not to the Age Written
1. Customs and Places long lost; discovered by Archaeology in the 19th Century
a. Ur III Dynasty – the Sumerian Renaissance
(a) Ur-Nammu – an enlightened Semite
b. The Kingdom of Mari and the Commercial center of Haran
(a) Why did Terah settle in Haran? Also a center of the cult of Sin, the moon-god
(b) Paganism amidst the descendants of Shem
II. Who were the Canaanites?
A. Prima facie conclusions – Hamitic people from Canaan, the son of Ham
B. Archaeological & Historical Evidence
1. Canaanite essentially synonymous with Amorite, and very similar to Phoenician
a. Universal agreement that the people were Semitic, not Hamitic
b. Hamite possibly displaced by Semitic migrants; the land keeping the name though the people lost the ethnicity
c. ‘Canaan’ may also mean ‘purple,’ as the Greek root of ‘Phoenicia’ does
d. The term ‘Canaanite’ also came to mean a merchant, a trader of goods
C. Covenantal or ‘Remnant’ History
a. The governing family as our take-off point is that of Shem, not Ham or Japheth
b. Follow the pattern of Seth  Noah, only now it is Shem  Terah
c. The narrative deals with the family of Shem, including it pagan apostasy in Ur and Haran, and it early occupation of the land that would become the inheritance of Abraham’s descendants
(a) Acts 14:16
III. Egypt
A. Prime Example of the Goyim – the main representative of the nations in the Old Testament
1. Are the people of God ever told to go down to Egypt?
2. Abraham learned – forbad his servant from taking Isaac back to Mesopotamia
B. Hyksos Dynasty – remarkable providence
1. Semitic ‘Shepherd Kings’
a. Joseph’s rise to power and his odd advice to Jacob
b. Now there arose a king who did not know Joseph

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