Setting: Genesis 12:1-5 Extra-Biblical Sources: Bereishit Rabbah 39:7
Abram has always been a brother and a friend. My father was always disciplining both of us for getting into the same mischief, along with Eliezer, who my father also treated more or less as his own son. And when my father died, it was Abram who assumed the role of father to me. While I did not voice my curiosity about the Annunaki the way Abram did, I confess that I have often shared many of his sentiments. The old religions are powerful, but religion, like the gods themselves, must surely grow and change with time. When many seasons had passed in Haran, Abram spoke with Terah, urging him to continue Westward, to the land of El Elyon, possessor of heaven and earth. Terah would hear no more talk of El Elyon, nor would he take one more step past Harranu, the burial place of his son. For Terah, life ended the day that Haran was cast into the flames, and so it was fitting that he should spend the rest of his days planted in a place called ‘Haran.’ Furthermore, what man can resist the religious inclinations of his wife, and who is more devoted to Nanna than Amathlai? It was Amathlai, in fact, who appeared with Terah in the midst of the household one morning and declared a blessing on Abram and Iscah, and their many possessions, and the many people they had acquired in Haran. When she revealed that Abram would be leaving Haran to journey west, to the land of El, the house of Terah were not surprised, but they were appalled. Should a man leave his father’s house when his father is still alive? Yet Amathlai declared that she had been visited in a dream, and that the gods had pardoned Abram from the obligations of filial piety, for the sake of a calling that is higher still. What calling could be higher than filial piety? Yet when Abram reassured me later that there was no disrespect between the father and the son, I was inclined to believe him. As Abram prepared to depart, it was mine to decide whether to journey with him westward or to stay here, in the world of Nanna. I confess, it was the land of El, more so than El Himself, that seemed to call to me. They say it is a land flowing with milk and honey. I hoped to find there an opportunity to increase my herds and to make a name for myself. Naturally, Eliezer, whose very name invokes the assistance of El, was keen for this opportunity to move closer to his homeland and to the god of his fathers. He spoke of a land that was well-watered everywhere, like the very garden of God. I was soon convinced that El and His land were the way of the future.