GOD BEGINS a new phase of His plan to redeem humanity in this week’s study, as Abram is called from his homeland to journey south into Canaan.

We explain again why Abram was not from Ur in Sumer, but from a town near modern Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey. As you can see by the map to the right (click to enlarge), travelling to Canaan by way of Harran makes no sense. And beyond that, there are other cultural reasons that point to Abram’s northern Mesopotamian origins.

We also discuss the significance of two of the key sites in the early years of Abram’s life in Canaan. Shechem was a city sacred to the ancient Amorite god Resheph, the plague-god and gatekeeper to the underworld known in the time of Jesus as Apollo, and Sodom, which we’ll explore in more detail in a few weeks, was very possibly the center of a cult devoted to Baal-Peor—which may have been another incarnation of that fallen angel.

To find out more about the evidence for identifying Tall el-Hammam in Jordan as ancient Sodom, log on to www.DigSodom.com.