We’re in the midst of discussing the cultural environment Abraham grew up in.
Like any other civilization from any time period, in Abraham’s time there was a mishmash of different people groups and lifestyles.
There were tent dwellers and wanderers who constantly moved to seek fresh pasture and water for their animals.
There were folks who could best be classified as “semi-nomadic” meaning they stayed put in a certain area longer than their nomadic neighbors who lived in portable tents.
Semi-nomadic folks usually lived in huts constructed out of the local plants native to the area they were residing in.
And their were permanent people groups who lived in cities ruled by a central government that levied taxes on their citizens and built impressive palaces, temples, roads and even sanitation systems.
All of these different people groups lived next to each other and formed a mutual dependence on each other for survival.
During this time, there were even tiny empires with small armies in existence.
For example, during Abraham’s time we had the Babylonian Empire.
However, don’t confuse this Babylonian Empire with the one that conquered Judah and sent them into exile.
That event occurred a good 1000 years after the time of Abraham that we’re dealing with here.
Now speaking of time periods, Abraham was alive about 200 years after the Tower of Babel episode that is recorded for us in Genesis Chapter 11.
Recall this was a time when all of mankind spoke only one language and the Lord came down and scrambled human languages so that mankind would be forced to break up into different people groups and disperse themselves all over the globe.
After that happened, in no time at all the whole host of people were all back to their hog wild sinning ways.
Idolatry had become common.
Sexual immorality was rampant and had even become a part of many cultures’ religious ceremonies.
Child sacrifice (today we would call it abortion) was also a regular practice.
It was actually amazing just how quickly the world again became thoroughly wicked, evil and depraved after the flood.
I’ll stop here for today.
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