Tag Archives: 318 trained men

Abram Taught Men To Follow Yehovah

Abram taught menWe finished Genesis 12 and Yasher 13 this week in our Sabbath class; and as we have seen all along, it is the Yasher (upright) men of Yehovah who taught ‘ha·a·dam’ seed (men), just like Abram taught men to know and follow only Yehovah. A man of Elohim teaches women, if they teach them at all, to follow only their man.

Abram is only mentioned once in Torah before he leaves Haran for Canaan, for what seems to be the 1st time. Here is the fist time he is mentioned, at the end of Genesis 11.

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s woman, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. (Gen 11:31)

In my mind, before I read Yasher,  I saw 3 men and 1 woman (Torah does not even mention Nahor and his woman Milcah) leaving Ur with Terah.

The second time Abram is mentioned is when he leaves Haran for Canaan with Sarai and Lot and the people whom they had acquired in Haran. They? Who is they? And why does it not say “he”? Is it possible that Lot “went with” Abram, but he really did not “follow” Abram at that time?

So Abram departed as Yehovah had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his woman 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. (Gen 12:4-5)

It is just 3 years later (Abram is 78) that Lot (and his family) were taken captive by the 4 kings (Nimrod/Amraphel was one of them) who came out of the north with 800,000 men;  and Abram rallied “318 trained young men who were born in his own house” to kill 799,996 of those men.

Now when Abram heard that his brother [kindred] was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained young men who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (Gen 14:14)

318 young men born in his own house? And these are just the trained ones? Where did they all come from? And how can so few destroy so many? That is 2,516/1 odds. Yikes!

The answer to these questions is found in the book of Yasher; it gives us the rest of the story and makes sense out of Torah.

Abram Taught Men To Serve Yehovah

Abram lived in the home of Noah for 39 years. When he was 50 he left there and went back to see his father (Terah), who was the head of Nimrod’s host for over 50 years in Babylon. At his father’s house he broke all his idols and was brought before Nimrod and then thrown into Nimrod’s fiery furnace with his brother Haran (a “fence-sitter,” just like so many men today). Haran died, but Abram walked in the fire for 3 days in the sight of almost a million men, all the people of the land. The ladies and children watched from a distance.

Afterword Abram received great honor and riches from Nimrod, and 300 men (with their families) became Abram’s servants.

Yasher 12:41 And Abram went forth from the king in peace, and many of the king’s servants followed him, and about three hundred men joined him.
42 And Abram returned on that day and went to his father’s house, he and the men that followed him, and Abram served Yehovah, his Elohim [not Nimrod] all the days of his life, and he walked in His ways and followed His law.
43 And from that day forward Abram inclined the hearts of ‘ha·a·dam’ seed to serve Yehovah.

Two years later Terah, Abram, Lot and their women and their servants left Ur for Canaan, but only came as far as Haran. To my surprise, Nahor and Milcah did not go with them at that time; they must have been still dwelling in Babylon.

Yasher 13:1 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s woman, and all the souls of his household and went with them from Ur Casdim to go to the land of Canaan. And when they came as far as the land of Haran they remained there, for it was exceedingly good land for pasture, and of sufficient extent for those who accompanied them.

Please remember that Terah was a VERY wealthy man with many servants, and so were his sons (Haran and Nahor). When Haran died Lot would have inherited all that Haran had (including all his servants). I would guess, that when these men left Ur, that there were well over 400 men (many with families) who went with them. Abram is only 52 at this point.

When they reached Haran some (no number given) of the people of that land (men) joined themselves to Abram in the next 3 years.

Yasher 13:2 And the people of the land of Haran saw that Abram was good and upright with Elohim and men, and that Yehovah, his Elohim was with him, and some of the people of the land of Haran came and joined Abram, and he taught them the instruction of Yehovah and His ways; and these men remained with Abram in his house and they adhered to him.

Abram remained in Haran for 3 years before he left for Canaan the 1st time at 55, and he remained in Canaan for 15 years. How many men were born within his gates while he was in Babylon for 2 years, Haran for 3 years, Canaan for 15 years and now in Haran for the next 5 years?

At 70 Abram returned to his father and mother in Haran for 5 years. During that time 72 more men (with their families) joined Abram.

Yasher 13:20 At that time Abram returned and went to Haran to see his father and mother, and his father’s household, and Abram and his woman and all belonging to him returned to Haran, and Abram dwelt in Haran five years.
21 And many of the people of Haran, about seventy-two men, followed Abram and Abram taught them the instruction of Yehovah and his ways, and he taught them to know Yehovah.

When we pick up the story of Abram leaving Haran at 75 in Genesis 12, this time with Lot, we can finally begin to understand that Abram’s gates, a mobile tent city, was in excess of 1000 souls (nephesh) and perhaps as many as 600 men.

So now, “318 trained men born in Abram’s own house” begins to make more sense. All of these men, who have all left the kingdoms of their birth and joined Abram, are now spiritual men under Abram’s authority and dwelling in Yehovah’s kingdom on earth. And as Yehovah promised Abram…

I will bless those who bless thee, and I will curse him who curses thee; and in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3)

The 800,000 men, ‘ha·a·Dam’s’ seed, a.k.a. belial’s seed who took Lot and his family,  never had a chance! And that is exactly how it will be when Yehovah raises up His spiritual men, all over the earth, in the latter days.

Please join me as we go through these chapters together.

Abram Taught Men To Follow Yehovah

2G16 Genesis 12 and Yasher 13
[Click here to download this audio mp3]

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