About Abraham

A brief report on some facts about Abraham from the Old Testament Study by Rev. Michaël Merle by John-Peter Gernaat
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It is necessary to read the end of Genesis chapter 11 and all of chapters 12 and 13 to accompany this report. The story of Abram, or Avram, as he was named by his family, takes us from the second post-Atlantean Epoch where the story of the Tower of Babel occurred to the third post-Atlantean Epoch, the Egypto-Chaldean Epoch. Is the story of Abram a biographical story as we would write a historical biography today? No. This story explains deep mysteries is the form of allegories, or maybe even more precisely through imaginative imagery, a form of story symbology. A full understanding of the meaning of words and the spiritual development of the time unravels this story for us.

The name Abram tells us that this name has a connection to a father figure, as it means exalted father. This connection may be to the Father-God. His wife is Sarah, which means princess, which also lets us know that she is someone with her own knowledge and wisdom. The symbol of a princess in a fairy tale would identify the character has carrying ‘beauty” but also “brains”, as in wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

Abram leaves his father’s house, which means that he leaves the clan where he has had his home since birth and where he is expected to move up the ranks to becoming an elder before he dies. His wife left her father’s house to move into the clan or house of Abram’s father. This was the normal life of the time. For a man to leave the house of his father, to leave the clan, and to travel to another country was unheard of. It tells us that Abram had acquired wisdom of his own that had given him the ability to act on his own cognisance when he received a calling.

Abram travels two thousand kilometres. He is accompanied by a younger relative, his nephew Lot and his family, for whom Abram is like a father. Abram is not yet father to his own son.

YHWH (Yahweh), who is an Elohim, appears to Abram. This means that a relationship is established between Abram and YHWH. As time passes only the lower Hierarchy can appear to human beings. YHWH who is a being of the Sun has aligned himself with the Moon (see the story of Cain and Abel in the January articles). In the lands through which Abram travels there is a very strong connection to the Moon Goddess or Moon Cult that is evident in the Babylonian culture. Abram never leaves the Moon Cult. The Hebrew people who are strongly connected with YHWH remain connected to the Moon Cult. Because of YHWH’s connection to the Sun the stories of the Old Testament also bring to light elements of the Sun, which ultimately is the preparation for the Christ.

Abram travels to a place called Bethel where he erects an altar. But Bethel is not a place as much as a description. El is the name of the almighty god of the Canaanite world. Beth is the dwelling place, therefore the house or temple of El. Today we still find in names that contain ‘el’ a reference to God: Michael. Gabriel, etc. When Abram builds an altar, he builds it to the one with whom he has a relationship: YHWH, who is himself a servant of El. Abram cannot have a relationship to El directly, only through YHWH.

The description of the journey of Abram to Egypt, the land of the Sun Cult, is entirely allegorical. This story refers to Abram meeting the great initiate of the Sun Culture in the form of the Pharaoh (a priest-king). Michaël digressed to tell something of the story of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten broke completely with the traditions of his time to announce that there was only one God. He was a monotheist, and this must align him with Abram who was the first human being to follow the One God and became the father in faith of three monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Akhenaten was born Amenhotep but took the name Akhenaten which means servant of and son of Aten, the God of the Sun, the one almighty God. Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti and considered to be the father of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun would have been named Tutanaten but abandons the ideas of his father and again becomes a follower of Amun (one of the old gods) thereby becoming Tutankhamun.

The journey of Abram and Sarah to Egypt is the entry into a mystery school where they will acquire a new wisdom. One of the great wisdoms of the Pharaoh was the blood relationship. It was common for the Pharaohs to marry their sisters. By Abram calling Sarah his sister, Abram is demonstrating a great insight into the relationship he has with Sarah. It shows that Abram is wedded to someone who is his equal. Pharaoh takes Sarah as his wife because Sarah is, according to her name, a princess and she is beautiful, meaning full of her own wisdom and insight. Taking Sarah as wife means that Pharaoh takes Sarah as a partner in the initiation mystery. Because Sarah is able to enter into the mystery school of Pharaoh, Abram is able to gain enormous wealth of wisdom and the riches of insight, symbolised as possessions described in the story. It is important to understand the symbology, and not to fallaciously understand that prosperity is a symbol of connectedness to the Divine.

The mysteries of the Pharaoh, amazing as they are, do not fully satisfy the seeking of Abram. This is symbolised by the plagues that are sent. This is again seen in the story of Moses. Both Abram and Moses experience a ‘rich’ life in Egypt and then plagues that free them to continue on their journey. This story and the whole of the Old Testament is about a development. Abram carries with him the wisdom he has gain from this experience. When Pharaoh realises the depth of the relationship between Abram and Sarah, that she is not only his sister (his equal) but that he has wedded her, thereby drawing her into an initiate relationship, Pharaoh must send Abram and Sarah away. Abram and Sarah go into the depth of the Egyptian mysteries. Then they journey back to the place where Abram has established his tent and raised an altar to YWHW. Abram brings back all that he has gained as a new richness of spirituality and offers this as a worthy sacrifice at the altar of YHWH.

In this process Lot has also acquired wisdom (a lot of flocks, and tents) that allows him to take an independent decision and he goes his own way with his family. Now Abram is in a position to become a father to his sons who are yet to be born.

Here is a story of a man whose inner journey is represented by his outer journey. His time is Egypt represents the acquisition of the wisdom of the Egyptian Mysteries through a process of initiation. He establishes a new relationship with Sarah, she becomes his sister in spiritual development as well as being his wife. Abram now becomes not only a great father figure, but in Sarah we also find a great mother figure. Sarah is elevated to the same status as Abram in relation to the nation that will be founded.