Beth-el

And his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father's house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou [know] not of;  And this because they have turned their hearts away from me, to worship [pagan gods]; therefore I have come down to visit them, and to destroy him who hath lifted up his hand against thee, Abraham, my son, to take away thy life.  Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.  As it was with Noah so shall it be with thee; but through thy ministry my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am thy God.  (Abraham 1: 16-19)

 

God identified Himself to Abram in Ur as Jehovah, whom we understand to be the pre-mortal Jesus Christ.  He told him to flee Ur because of the idolatry of the people in the form of human sacrifice.  Abram himself was placed upon the sacrificial altar, but was saved by an angel of the Lord.  His father repented of his sin of idolatry and went to Haran with Abram and his wife. 

How long they lived there, we don't know, but eventually Terah reverted to his pagan ways.  This time, Jehovah told Abram to leave with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all of people who had converted to monotheism in Haran (the Bible calls them the "souls that [he] had gotten in Haran."

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotton [gathered through conversion] in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.  [It is marked on the map to the right as Damascus.]



Altar at Beth-el

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed [descendants]  will I give this land: and there [built] he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.  And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, . . . and there he [built]an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12: 5-8)

Beth-el is Hebrew.  It means house of God/Elohim (beth meaning house and el short for God or Elohim.)  It was an appropriate name for in Beth-el was the town of Salem (later Jeru-salem) wherein lived the great patriarch, high priest, and King of Peace, the venerable Melchizadek.

Gebara Education 2016