Episode 261 - "Abram obeys the LORD" - Genesis 12:4-9

Gen. 12:4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

The first three verses of chapter twelve give us the LORD’s call to Abram to leave his home and extended family and go to a place the LORD would show him. This command of the LORD reveals how the LORD would bless him by making him a great nation and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. As you may remember, Abram and his wife Sarai were unable to have any children. So, from a human perspective, this has the appearance of a shallow and impossible promise.

But as we pick up the story in verse four, “Abram went, as the LORD had told him” (Gen. 12:4). Abram was like Noah in this regard. The LORD spoke to them, and they obeyed his word, even though the LORD’s message to each of them seemed crazy or, at least, contrary to human reason.

We are told that Abram took Lot, his nephew, with him and his wife Sarai. Lot’s dad had died, and Noah’s dad, Terah, had taken responsibility for him. Then, Terah died, and Lot became the responsibility of his uncle Abram. The reader is set up to wonder if perhaps Lot will become the child to Abram through whom this “great nation” will come since Sarai was barren. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran, and Sarai was not much younger. As the life expectancy decreased, the child-bearing years decreased as well and Abram and Sarai were getting beyond that point.

It is at the end of verse five when we learn the direction that the LORD is taking Abram and his family. They had been from (modern day) southern Iraq near the Persian Gulf to Haran in the northwest, up into Syria near or just across the border with Turkey and down into “the land of Canann.” That’s where Terah was originally headed when he left Ur in the south and then settled in Haran in northwest modern day Iraq. Scholars discuss and debate when Abram first received this call from the LORD. Was he still in Ur, and his father was on board? If the chronology of these events has been reordered, it’s probably not that important. What is most important is the LORD’s revelation specifically to Abram and that Abram responded in obedience to the LORD. I would suggest that if we learn nothing else from Abram, we must learn to respond positively to the LORD’s commands regardless of whether it seems a bit crazy or not.

What follows is that Abram came into the land of Canaan. Remember that it was Canaan, the son of Ham, who Noah cursed because of Ham’s sin. In fact, Noah would say that Canaan’s descendants would serve Shem’s descendants. Verse six states that the Canaanites were in the land, and the LORD says in verse seven that he is going to give that same land to Abram’s offspring. (v. 7) What offspring? Is the LORD being cruel? As if to strongly affirm this promise, the LORD didn’t just speak to Abram; he appeared to him. Abram responded by building an altar to the LORD in that place. Instead of complaining or doubting, he worshipped the LORD right there. He understood that it was a holy and sacred event. I think this is a beautiful thing we see here. How often do we sense that God has done something special for us? Do we make an intentional effort to identify it and worship in response? What a wonderful lesson for us!

I find it interesting that Abram didn’t remain there. I take this as the LORD had more to show him. Abram moved on and stopped in between two towns near each other, Bethel (means House of El - El was the name by which God was known from Adam down to Abram) and Ai. Abram built another altar and called upon the name of the LORD. What this is saying is that Abram is proclaiming the identity and greatness of the LORD in the land of Canaan. He is essentially beginning to fulfill the LORD’s promise that he will be a blessing to the families of the earth. Abram is worshipping by testifying to the LORD to people who need to know about him.

What a great lesson we can learn from this by first, obeying the LORD’s commands, secondly, responding to the LORD’s work in our life by commemorating it and acknowledging God’s work in thankfulness, and finally, by testifying to others the greatness of the LORD.

May we learn and follow in Abram’s example.