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Studies in Genesis, Introduction to Abraham, Lesson XXVI Genesis 12
From chapter one of Genesis to our current position in chapter 12 it is very clear that God’s arrow of purpose is aimed squarely from Eve toward His only begotten son, Jesus Christ and has now begun to define further the person and peoples from whom this promised avenger of Satan’s treachery will come.
For God brings on the scene a son of Shem, a son of Terah, a son named Abram who will please Him, a son who obeys the command of God, in an obedience directed by faith.
Terah, Abrams father, had intended to go to the land of Canaan but found Haran to be a comfortable place so it became a rest stop until he died.
But after his death Abram heard from the Lord and received orders to proceed to his next duty station, that elusive land called Canaan.
So we will begin our move from that rest stop of Haran to join Abram as he completes his and his father’s journey to the Promised Land. So let us read to learn of that in Genesis 12:1-8, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 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 gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. 8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
In entering this chapter we leave behind what is called the Bible’s primeval history and move into the Bible’s patriarchal history, for the remainder of the book of Genesis will describe the life of Abraham through the life of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and his brothers.
In our study of God’s book of beginnings we have travelled through many generations but always on the line toward God’s ultimate goal of his creation.
The incarnation of His Son, the Savior, that man, that God-Man proven by Biblical Genealogy to be in the line of Adam, Noah, Shem and Abraham.
Within this chapter we will find a covenant of God with Abraham which is still applicable to all believers.
For it is an unconditional covenant, a unilateral one-sided covenant, a sovereign act of God whereby He unconditionally obligates Himself to bring to pass definite blessings and conditions for the covenanted people.
This covenant is the thread which ties the remainder of the Old Testament together and is critical to a correct understanding of Bible prophecy.
So here is a man, a great and godly man, whose life takes up nearly one fourth of the book of Genesis and is referred to in many other places in both the Old and New Testaments.
Even the false religion Islam holds Abraham second in importance to Mohammed so the Koran refers to Abraham in that book 188 times.
The Apostle Paul, as recorded in Romans 4 chose Abraham as the ultimate example of a man who is justified before God by faith apart from works.
James recalled in James 2, Abraham as a man who demonstrated his faith to men by his works.
And chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews points to Abraham to illustrate a man who walked by faith devoting more space to him than to any other individual listed.
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians Abraham is lifted up as a father, for Paul wrote that Christians are the sons of Abraham by faith and therefore rightful heirs to the blessings promised him.
So if we desire to know about faith and a walk of faith God says to us look at my servant Abraham and his walk as I brought him along a process designed to strengthen his faith and to make him into the great and godly man he became.
God is good for He provides all things to make his children godly but his children must obey His word in order to reach that place.
So our reading of chapter 12 reveals to us the call of Abraham but where was this call given?
It is assumed it was given in Haran but Stephen of the New Testament, facing stoning, preached this in Acts 7:2-4:
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
So the call in chapter 12 could have been referring to a call when Abram was in Ur or this was the same call, perhaps a repeat call after they had settled in Haran and after the death of Terah.
But chapter 12 verse 1 does indicate a past tense when it uses the word had: Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And go to chapter 11 with regard to Terah’s leaving Ur where it simply says:
and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
In this there is no call of God to Terah mentioned as it is in chapter 12 so perhaps Terah was leading his family out of Ur in response to Abram’s call mentioned by Stephen in the book of Acts.
This idea is bolstered by what Joshua said in Joshua 24:2,
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (river Euphrates) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.
So from this we can tell that Terah was an idolater, like those of his day and from this conclusion it is easy to understand God’s command for Abram to leave his father’s house as it is stated in Genesis 12:1.
And this leaving his father’s house did not occur until Terah died and Abram was 75 years old but remember his age was just about middle age for Abraham lived until he was 175 years old.
But we can see that God’s call to Abram to leave his father’s house and go to Canaan was answered in bits and spurts as Abraham learned the walk of faith upon which God guided him along.
So I believe it clear that Abram was called in Ur and that call as described by Stephen in the book of Acts included an appearance of the God of Glory to Abram when he was in Mesopotamia, the location of Ur.
And this appearance came with a very specific command.
Abram was told in detail what he must leave behind.
Abram, leave behind your country, your kindred, and leave behind your father’s house.
And God told him the reason for this separation was to build a great nation, a new nation, unlike any other nation.
Separation from those who would not fit into this nation was paramount for this nation was to have a new culture, religion, and philosophy. And it was to be governed and ruled by God himself.
These things were clear but God left much out for God expected Abram to walk by faith simply believing God and walking in every direction God chose to walk.
God said leave your father’s house unto a land that I will show thee.
I remember well my military days when my wife and I examined our Navy orders to leave a comfortable and settled place for parts unknown.
Look back 56 years with me as I read my first navy permanent duty station orders, dated 31 Aug 1961.
Ens Ludwig H. Opager (CEC) USNR, Upon completion instruction and when directed detached TEMDUINS; proceed Hastings, Nebr., report CO, NAD, duty.
Accounting data 1721453.2218 22/31600 210091
Signed W.R. Smedberg III
So could orders be more brief?
Abram received 70 or 80 words of orders, mine were under 20 words.
So where is Hastings Nebraska?
I thought I was in the Navy so why was the Navy in the middle of the country and why was I needed there.
Couldn’t the navy fill me in on what I was facing and what was there to support my family?
No Sir, for that is not the Navy way, at least it wasn’t then.
My duty was not to reason why, or how but my duty was to simply obey and do or die.
I was to trust those in authority to provide the way, the how and the when, and not to fret over any of it.
So God the greatest of military commanders orders Abram to the land which I will show you.
I at least knew of the city where we would go but Abram only knew of the land and not where he would bring his family to settle.
Hebrews 11:8, tells us and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
What a lesson this is, for God calls all of us, all who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ to walk as Abraham walked, to walk by faith.
We are not called to have faith in a plan but faith in a person.
And that person has declared I will be with you forever, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
So what matters in your geography?
Who cares as long as your faith is in that person?
Your obligation is to put all of your trust in Him as He makes a way for your life.
Go back a chapter and recall the men of Babel who chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the Earth.
Their god was themselves, the group who could band together and make their own way.
They stove, they labored to find security and renown by joining together and building a great city.
They pursued blessing in the product of their own labors, rather than in the promise of God.
Perhaps you face a decision in life.
What is your strategy in making that decision?
What are the parameters?
Do you figure out what is most profitable and add up all the income and outgo, the pluses and the minuses or are you ready to do what God calls you to do.
Faith is like that!
Faith is as an obedient child holding his or her mother’s hand not worrying about provision or safety for she simply trusts in her mother.
So the response to the command of God to Abram is, in effect a reversal of what the men of Babel attempted.
I don’t know Abram’s circumstances in Ur but most likely Ur was a place of stability, of security and family.
But God called him to leave that city and exchange that life of works to a life of faith, walking day by day at the behest of God.
God promised to make of him a great nation, and blessings, and a great name, blessings those who bless him, and cursing those who curse him and promising him that through him all families of the earth will be blessed.
This, the men of Babel sought by their own labors, a life of works but God blesses lives of faith and their dreams were scattered with them as they fled Babel and filled the earth as God commanded.
Abram had a choice, to obey God or go his own way.
That choice is given to all of us for God has provided His word to all with specific calls to join His family and do what His family is called to do.
We call God’s command to Abram a covenant but this word covenant does not appear with regard to Abraham until chapter 15 where specific details of the covenant are spelled out.
But here in chapter 12 the general features of the covenant are given.
Three major promises are contained in this covenant, a land, a seed, and a blessing.
Abram set out to a land called Canaan but did not know where he would be in that land until at Shechem, where God promised to give “this land” to Abram.
It would not be until chapter 15 that a full description of the land was given.
Genesis 15:8, In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
So by this description we see a large land, a land much greater than Israel has ever been but a land which will be realized when Christ sits on the throne during his thousand year reign on Earth.
It will include the present lands surrounding Israel and how far it goes into Saudi Arabia is not known but it could include all of that land.
Abram was promised this land but it never belonged to him in his lifetime and God told this to him clearly in:
Genesis 15:13-15, And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
What a lesson this is for us for faith may carry you beyond the grave as it did Abraham for God will indeed give this land to his seed.
Think about the thrill of Abraham’s seed coming out of a land of affliction finally into the land promised to their father Abraham and knowing firmly that God keeps his promises. |