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.
Gen 12:4
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him
Abrahams obedience
I.
AT FIRST, ABRAHAMS OBEDIENCE WAS ONLY PARTIAL (Gen 11:31). It becomes us to be very careful as to whom we take with us in our pilgrimage. We may make a fair start from our Ur; but if we take Terah with us, we shall not go far. Let us all beware of that fatal spirit of compromise, which tempts us to tarry where beloved ones bid us to stay.
II. ABRAHAMS OBEDIENCE WAS RENDERED POSSIBLE BY HIS FAITH Gen 12:4-5).
III. ABRAHAMS OBEDIENCE WAS FINALLY VERY COMPLETE. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
An example of faith
I. THE DIVINE VOICE OF COMMAND AND PROMISE. Gods servants have to be separated from home and kindred, and all surroundings. The command to Abram was no mere arbitrary test of obedience. God could not have done what He meant with him, unless He had got him by himself. So Isaiah Isa 51:2) puts his finger on the essential when he says, I called him alone. Gods communications are made to solitary souls, and His voice to us always summons us to forsake friends and companions, and to go apart with God. No man gets speech of God in a crowd. The vagueness of the command is significant. Abram did not know whither he went. He is not told that Canaan is the land till he has reached Canaan. A true obedience is content to have orders enough for present duty. Ships are sometimes sent out with sealed instructions, to be opened when they reach latitude and longitude so-and-so. That is how we are all sent out. Oar knowledge goes no further ahead than is needful to guide our next step. If we go out as He bids us, He will show us what to do next. Observe the promise. Our space forbids our touching on its importance as a further step in the narrowing of the channel in which salvation was to flow. But we may notice that it needed a soul raised above the merely temporal to care much for such promises. They would have been but thin diet for earthly appetites.
II. THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. We have here a wonderful example of prompt, unquestioning obedience to a bare word. We do not know how the Divine command was conveyed to Abram. The patriarch knew that he was following a Divine command, and not his own purpose; but there seems to have been no appeal to sense to authenticate the inward voice. He stands, then, on a high level, setting the example of faith as unconditional acceptance of, and obedience to, Gods bare word.
III. THE LIFE IN THE LAND. The first characteristic of it is its continual wandering. This is the feature which the Epistle to the Hebrews marks as significant. There was no reason but his own choice why Abram should continue to journey, and prefer pitching his tent now under the terebinth tree of Moreh, now by Hebron, instead of entering some of the cities of the land. He dwelt in tents because he looked for the city. The clear vision of the future end detached him, as it will always detach men, from close participation in the present. It is not because we are mortal, and death is near at the farthest, that the Christian is to sit loose to this world, but because he lives by the hope of the inheritance. He must choose to be a pilgrim, and keep himself apart in feeling and aims from this present. The great lesson from the wandering life of Abram is, Set your affection on things above. Cultivate the sense of belonging to another polity than that in the midst of which you dwell. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Abrahams faith
Abraham obeyed. The obedience of faith Heb 11:8). Consider how his faith operated.
I. IT SUPPLIED NEEDFUL ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER.
1. Courage. Men were gregarious. Dwelt together for mutual aid and protection. He became bold to go forth alone.
2. Disinterestedness. Might have grown rich on the verdant plains of Mesopotamia. Gave up all at Gods bidding.
3. Great activity. At seventy-five years of age he gave up a life of comparative ease, and at a time when men are usually thinking of rest, he went out to found a nation, in a country that he knew not of.
II. IT OVERCAME SURROUNDING ATTRACTIONS.
1. The love of country. This, strong in all men, specially so in an Oriental. The memories of the past and sepulchres of his people endeared the place.
2. The ties of kindred. Though he tool: Sarai and Lot with him, many were left behind, to be seen no more. He went out, not knowing whither he went, and to dwell among a strange people speaking an unknown tongue. When Englishmen emigrate, they know the land, the people, and the language.
III. IT ROSE SUPERIOR TO PROSPECTIVE DANGERS.
1. An unprecedented journey. Ancient migrations were usually made along the shores of rivers. Pasturage and water for the flocks required this. Abrams path lay across a desert.
2. An unknown destination. To an inhabited land where opposition might be expected.
IV. IT LEANED CONSTANTLY ON GOD. His halting places were marked by the altars he reared. He walked not by sight; or the desert, the famine, and the Canaanite, might have hindered and discouraged him; but by faith. Learn–
I. The obedience of faith is the most perfect and acceptable obedience.
II. Without faith it is impossible to please God. (J. C. Gray.)
Abrahams journey
Great journey, suggestive of much! It reminds us of the Pilgrim Fathers and their memorable expedition; but they, unlike Abraham, knew something of the country to which they were going. It reminds us of the noble travellers, Ledyard and Park; the former saying, when asked when he should be ready to set off for the interior of Africa, Tomorrow; and the latter leaving again the peaceful banks of the Tweed for the sandy deserts which had nearly overwhelmed him before; but they, too, knew where they were bound, and besides were certain of renown, if not of safety, and both expected to return. A truer parallel to this wondrous journey of Abraham is found in the case of the dying Christian, who, full of faith and hope, calmly and cheerfully takes his plunge into the darkness of the future world. But he does this, partly at least, in obedience to necessity, whereas Abraham, who might have stayed at home, went in willing submission to the command of God. (G. Gilfillan.)
The blessed life illustrated in the history of Abraham
Let us notice how Abrahams circumstances helped his faith. Get thee out of thy country. He was to go away from his possessions, away from the land which he loved and ruled as a chief, unto a land that I will show thee. He is to find his possession in God. He looses his hold upon those things about him that he may grasp the hand of God, and find what God can give him. See further, his faith was helped by the departure from his kindred. Why from his kindred? We have often thought of the hardness, almost the harshness, of the call. It is strange that we have never thought about the mercy of this command. The troubles of Abrahams life came from the kindred that did go with him: Sarai, brave and faithful as she was, yet once or twice was rather a hindrance than a help to Abraham; and as for the ungrateful and worldly Lot, Abraham had to face many perils for his sake. Remember, too, that the kindred whom he left behind were idolaters; and the bitterest foes a man can have are those of his own household, specially in the matter of religion. Abraham, fearless as he was, yet like many a man of high courage, was so peaceable that he preferred a compromise to strife. His safety was away from his kindred, alone with God. And, turning to ourselves, how little do we know what friendships and early associations may help or hinder the life of God within us. There was yet a further aid to faith: And from thy fathers house. Abraham was to leave his fathers house, that henceforth he might live in a tent, and that tent was no less than a very sacrament. It was the outward and visible sign of the inward and invisible grace. It set forth Gods command, and it expressed Abrahams obedience. By it he said: I am a pilgrim here, on a journey, seeking a country which God hath promised to give me. Thus the tent, with all its surroundings, was in itself the reminder of the promise, and the prompting of his faith. Let us look back upon the incident once more, and turn to think of its relation to our own lives. The one great purpose of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is to do for us what God did for Abraham. The New Testament idea of the Christians life is throughout that of a resurrection. The Cross of Christ is our three-fold death: death to sin, death to self, death to the world. The life we now live is a life begotten in us by the Holy Ghost, who raised up Jesus from the dead; a new life with new faculties, and new aims and new relations. Born of God, our relationship is to God; our affections are set on things above; our home is in God; citizens of the Heavenly City, we are eager for its honours, and jealous for its glory. The Cross of Christ is to do for me all that God commanded Abraham; and I have not rightly found its meaning until it is to me a power so to use the world that in it everywhere I find the presence of God, and by it I am made more fit for His service and more like unto Him, blessed and made a blessing. So is it that by the surrounding of our daily life our God is seeking to lead us into the blessed life. So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him. And as he goes, leaving fathers house and kindred and country, shall we turn away and complain that the terms are so hard; that unless one be much more brave and resolute than most men it is vain to seek this good; that humanity so coarse as ours is incapable of any such sacrifice, and that our innate selfishness cannot endure the strain? Nay, verily; love loses all thought of sacrifice, and turns it all to joy. So Abraham departed–not driven, not trembling, but lured and won by the God of glory who had appeared to him with the gracious promise: I will bless thee;. . .and thou shalt be a blessing. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. And Abram was seventy and five years old] As Abram was now seventy-five years old, and his father Terah had just died, at the age of two hundred and five, consequently Terah must have been one hundred and thirty when Abram was born; and the seventieth year of his age mentioned Ge 11:26, was the period at which Haran, not Abram, was born. See on the preceding chapter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Abram departed, first from Ur, and after his fathers death, from Haran.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him,…. Or, “when the Lord had spoken to him”, as Cocceius renders the words; when he had called him a second time, even when in Haran, immediately after the death of his father Terah; as soon as ever the words were spoken to him before recorded, he immediately prepared and got all things ready for his journey, and departed from Haran, as he had done before from Ur of the Chaldees:
and Lot went with him; of his own accord, and he only, besides his wife Sarai and his servants, for Terah was dead, and Nahor and his family stayed behind.
And Abram was seventy five years old when he departed out of Haran; by which it appears, as has been observed, that he was not Terah’s eldest son, born when he was seventy years of age, Ge 11:26 for then he must have been at this time, one hundred and thirty five years old, since his father, who was just now dead, lived to be two hundred and five years old, Ge 11:32 so that Abram must be born in the one hundred and thirtieth year of Terah: how many years before this time he was converted from idolatry cannot be said with any certainty; various are the accounts given by the Jewish writers; some say that at three years of age he knew his Creator; others at eight; others thirteen; others more probably when forty; others fifty one; others fifty two; and others say he was sixty years old when he began publicly to assert the unity of God in heaven z: however, all agree it was before the age here mentioned, as it may well be concluded.
z Vid. Pirke Eliezer, c. 26. Maimon. Hilchot obede cocabim, c. 1. sect. 3. & Comment. in ib. Juchasin, fol. 9. 2. Shalshelet, fol. 2. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Removal to Canaan. – Abram cheerfully followed the call of the Lord, and “departed as the Lord had spoken to him.” He was then 75 years old. His age is given, because a new period in the history of mankind commenced with his exodus. After this brief notice there follows a more circumstantial account, in Gen 12:5, of the fact that he left Haran with his wife, with Lot, and with all that they possessed of servants and cattle, whereas Terah remained in Haran (cf. Gen 11:31). are not the souls which they had begotten, but the male and female slaves that Abram and Lot had acquired.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Arrival of Abram in Canaan. | B. C. 1920. |
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.
Here is, I. Abraham’s removal out of his country, out of Ur first and afterwards out of Haran, in compliance with the call of God: So Abram departed; he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but did as he was bidden, not conferring with flesh and blood, Gal 1:15; Gal 1:16. His obedience was speedy and without delay, submissive and without dispute; for he went out, not knowing whither he went (Heb. xi. 8), but knowing whom he followed and under whose direction he went. Thus God called him to his foot, Isa. xli. 2.
II. His age when he removed: he was seventy-five years old, an age when he should rather have had rest and settlement; but, if God will have him to begin the world again now in his old age, he will submit. Here is an instance of an old convert.
III. The company and cargo that he took with him.
1. He took his wife, and his nephew Lot, with him; not by force and against their wills, but by persuasion. Sarai, his wife, would be sure to go with him; God had joined them together, and nothing should put them asunder. If Abram leave all, to follow God, Sarai will leave all, to follow Abram, though neither of them knew whither. And it was a mercy to Abram to have such a companion in his travels, a help meet for him. Note, It is very comfortable when husband and wife agree to go together in the way to heaven. Lot also, his kinsman, was influenced by Abram’s good example, who was perhaps his guardian after the death of his father, and he was willing to go along with him too. Note, Those that go to Canaan need not go alone; for, though few find the strait gate, blessed be God, some do; and it is our wisdom to go with those with whom God is (Zech. viii. 23), wherever they go.
2. They took all their effects with them–all their substance and movable goods, that they had gathered. For, (1.) With themselves they would give up their all, to be at God’s disposal, would keep back no part of the price, but venture all in one bottom, knowing it was a good bottom. (2.) They would furnish themselves with that which was requisite, both for the service of God and the supply of their family, in the country whither they were going. To have thrown away his substance, because God had promised to bless him, would have been to tempt God, not to trust him. (3.) They would not be under any temptation to return; therefore they leave not a hoof behind, lest that should make them mindful of the country from which they came out.
3. They took with them the souls that they had gotten, that is, (1.) The servants they had bought, which were part of their substance, but are called souls, to remind masters that their poor servants have souls, precious souls, which they ought to take care of and provide food convenient for. (2.) The proselytes they had made, and persuaded to attend the worship of the true God, and to go with them to Canaan: the souls which (as one of the rabbin expresses it) they had gathered under the wings of the divine Majesty. Note, Those who serve and follow God themselves should do all they can to bring others to serve and follow him too. These souls they are said to have gained. We must reckon ourselves true gainers if we can but win souls to Christ.
IV. Here is their happy arrival at their journey’s end: They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; so they did before (ch. xi. 31), and then took up short, but now they held on their way, and, by the good hand of their God upon them, to the land of Canaan they came, where by a fresh revelation they were told that this was the land God promised to show them. They were not discouraged by the difficulties they met with in their way, nor diverted by the delights they met with, but pressed forward. Note, 1. Those that set out for heaven must persevere to the end, still reaching forth to those things that are before. 2. That which we undertake in obedience to God’s command, and a humble attendance upon his providence, will certainly succeed, and end with comfort at last.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
4. So Abram departed. They who suppose that God was now speaking to Abram in Charran, lay hold of these words in support of their error. But the cavil is easily refuted; for after Moses has mentioned the cause of their departure, namely, that Abram had been constrained by the command of God to leave his native soil, he now returns to the thread of the history. Why Abram for a time should have remained in Charran, we do not know, except that God laid his hand upon him, to prevent him from immediately obtaining a sight of the land, which, although yet unknown, he had nevertheless preferred to his own country. He is now said to have departed from Charran, that he might complete the journey he had begun; which also the next verse confirms, where it is said, that he took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew with him. As under the conduct and auspices of his father Terah, they had departed from Chaldea; so now when Abram is become the head of the family, he pursues and completes what his father had begun. Still it is possible, that the Lord again exhorted him to proceed, the death of his father having intervened, and that he confirmed his former call by a second oracle. It is however certain, that in this place the obedience of faith is commended, and not as one act simply, but as a constant and perpetual course of life. For I do not doubt, but Moses intended to say, that Abram remained in Charran, not because he repented, as if he was inclined to swerve from the straight course of his vocation, but as having the command of God always fixed in his mind. And therefore I would rather refer the clause, “As the Lord had spoken to him” to the first oracle; so that Moses should say, ‘he stood firmly in his purpose, and his desire to obey God was not broken by the death of his father.’ Moreover, we have here in one word, a rule prescribed to us, for the regulation of our whole life, which is to attempt nothing but by Divine authority. For, however men may dispute concerning virtues and duties, no work is worthy of praise, or deserves to be reckoned among virtues, except what is pleasing to God. And he himself testifies, that he makes greater account of obedience than of sacrifice, (1Sa 15:22.) Wherefore, our life will then be rightly constituted, when we depend upon the word of God, and undertake nothing except at his command. And it is to be observed, that the question is not here concerning some one particular work, but concerning the general principle of living piously and uprightly. For the subject treated of, is the vocation of Abram which is a common pattern of the life of all the faithful. We are not indeed all indiscriminately commanded to desert our country; this point, I grant, is special in the case of Abram; but generally, it is God’s will that all should be in subjection to his word, and should seek the law, for the regulation of their life, at his mouth, lest they should be carried away by their own will, or by the maxims of men. Therefore by the example of Abram, entire self-renunciation is enjoined, that we may live and die to God alone.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 12:4. And Lot went with him] Kurtz understands that God had not intended that Lot should join Abram on his journey. This (he says) is sufficiently manifest from his later history. But God allowed it, probably, from condescension to Abrahams attachment to his family. It would be more strictly proper to say that, as the narrative presents it, Lot joined the company of his own prompting, and not by Divine command, as in the case of Abram. It was, therefore, upon his own responsibility (Jacobus).Seventy and five years old] Abrams age at the second stage of his journey is now mentioned. Hence we can determine that he departed from Ur five years before.
Gen. 12:5. All their substance that they had gathered] Heb. All their gain which they had gained. A term descriptive of property, whether in money, cattle, or any other kind of possessions.And the souls they had gotten in Haran] Heb. And the souls which they did (or made). Nephesh, here used, denotes collectively the persons (servants) taken with them from Haranas in Eze. 27:13. The Sept. renders it , every soul. The verb to do, or make, here used, is rendered by the Sept. , acquiredas Deu. 8:17; Gen. 1:12. The Chald. renders, All the souls he had subdued unto the law. Some understand it, therefore, of proselytes made to the true religion from among the heathen at Haran. But the general sense which best suits the context is that of bond-servants, which Abram had acquired. These were gotten commonly by conquest, or by money. Here it seems to be the latter (Jacobus).Gotten] Strictly, made, descriptive of the gain in slaves, male and female (Lange). Not only gotten, as secular property, but had made obedient to the law of the true God (Wordsworth).
Gen. 12:6. The place of Sichem] Some understand the expression as meaning the neighbourhood of Sichem; others, of the site where it afterwards stoodspeaking by way of anticipation. Most expositors regard the words, the place of, as redundantthe place Sichem. It may more likely mean town or village of Shechem. At the time of Jacobs arrival here, after sojourning in Mesopotamia, Shechem was a Hivite city, of which Hamor, Shechems father, was chief man. And it was at this time that Jacob purchased from him the parcel of ground (of the field) which he gave to his son Joseph, where was Jacobs well (Joh. 4:5). The name means shoulder or ridge (Jacobus.) Shechem was one of the oldest towns in Palestine.Plain of Moreh] The rugged and mountainous nature of the country seems to forbid the idea of any plain existing there. The best authorities render the Heb. alion Moreh, the oak of Moreh. The name may have been derived from its owner or planter. Oaks, from their great size and durability, would be convenient as landmarks in those early ages. They were also a meeting-place for the performance of religious rites.And the Canaanite was then in the land] This notice was most probably added to show that the land was not empty at that time, but that the subsequent promise implied a displacement of inhabitants then in possession. Nothing can be more natural than such a notice; and there is not the slightest reason for supposing it to be an interpolation of later date than the narrative itself (Alford). These words note the great obstacle Abram had to contend with. The author of Genesis evinces in this clause his knowledge of the Canaanites, pre-supposes their nature and character to be known in such a way as a late writer could not do (Jacobus).
Gen. 12:7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram] This remarkable phrase first occurs here. We know not in what manner God appeared to Abram, but in some way he felt that God spoke to him. The possibility of God appearing to man is antecedently undeniable. The fact of his having done so proves the possibility. On the mode of His doing this it is vain for us to speculate (Murphy).Unto thy seed] Not unto thee. To Abram himself He gave none inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on (Act. 7:5) (Murphy).Will I give this land] God at first signified His purpose of merely showing to Abram a distant land in which he was to sojourn; he now speaks of giving it, but not immediately to himself, but to his seed; doubtless for a further trial of his faith (Bush).And there builded he an altar unto the Lord] In Shechem, as Jacob did afterwards (Gen. 23:20). Thus, by means of a religious act, he assumed the proprietorship of the land. The sanctuary stood here in the time of Joshua (Jos. 24:1; Jos. 24:25-26), and the law was proclaimed with blessings from Gerizim, and curses from Ebal (Deu. 27:12; Jos. 8:33-35). Here, also, Joshua gave his parting counsels to the people (Jos. 24:1; Jos. 24:25).
Gen. 12:8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain] Heb. mountainwardsindicating the nature of the district, and not any particular mountain. A similar expression in Gen. 19:30.Bethel] This name signifies house of God. At this time the place was called Luz, and did not become Bethel until so named by Jacob after his vision (Gen. 28:19). It does not appear that any town was ever built on the precise spot to which Jacob gave this name; but the appellation was afterwards transferred to the adjacent city of Luz, which thus became the historical Bethel. Modern researches have not been able clearly to identify the site of this ancient city; but there is a ruined village and monastery about eighteen miles south of Naplons or Shechem, and north of Jerusalem, which is generally supposed to indicate very nearly the spot (Bush)On the west] Heb. from the sea, or seaward. The expression rests upon the fact that the Mediterranean Sea was the western boundary of Canaan. In the same way, the desert is used for the south (Psa. 75:6), where from the south is the rendering of the Heb. from the desert.Hai] Heb. The Ai. The word means, a heap of ruins. The H represents the Heb. definite article. It was a royal city of Canaan, and was the first taken by the Israelites after the passage of the Jordan (Jos. 7:3-5). The exact site is not known.Called upon the name of the Lord] As Jehovah.
Gen. 12:9. And Abram journeyed, going on still towards the South] Heb. He broke up his encampment, going and pulling up southwards. Thus he advanced from place to place by degrees, according to the customs of nomadic life; but his general direction was southwards. The fact is noticed in Heb. 11:10.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 12:4-9
ABRAM ON HIS JOURNEY.THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH
Faith in God implies something more than listening to His voice, and receiving as truth what He reveals. It is a living principle which must show itself in action. Abram is now on his journey in obedience to the command of God. We have here an instance of the belief of the heart, as distinguished from a mere intellectual assent. When a man believes with the heart, he acts upon that belief; he is full of energy, and to obey the will of God is his meat and drinkthe means by which his true life is sustained. We have here an example of the obedience of faith.
I. It was prompt (Gen. 12:4). Abram had left Ur of the Chaldees, and now he must leave Haran, the place of his fathers sepulchre. Devotion to the memory of an aged parent might tempt him to linger there, but he obeys the stronger claims of God and presses forwards to the Promised Land. He breaks the closest ties of nature, and having just light enough to walk bybut not for full knowledgehe accepts the difficulties and trials of a life of faith. Like St. Paul, he acted upon his convictions at once, gave no opportunity for counter influences to operate, and conferred not with flesh and blood. There was in his obedience an appearance of hurry, of impetuosity. Worldly prudence imposes caution upon men in taking any new important step. Friends and interests have to be consulted, and probabilities of success must be calculated. A wise man, in the affairs of this life, will do nothing rashly. Hence the popular maxim that second thoughts are best. And that maxim is true when applied to ordinary affairs, for in these to act on the first impulse is unsafe. But this advice is not good when applied to matters which concern the soul. In those things which regard the conscience, first thoughts are the truest and best. He is a wise man in the things of this world who pauses to consider before he commits himself to any important step, but he is a foolish man who, in the things of the eternal world, delays between the thought and the action. When God commands, to delay is to be disobedient. Faith makes haste to obey. The children of faith, in serving God, are set free from all other masters. The authority under which they act is supreme, and therefore they have no need for deliberation. Such was Abramready to hear the Divine voice, prompt to obey it.
II. It was considerate of the interests of others. After the death of his father, Abraham took his providential place as the leader of the colony. He sought to urge others to obedience to the Divine will by the force of his authority, or by the milder influence of his example. He was known to his Maker as one who would command his household after him, and win them to the ways of righteousness. True piety is never selfish. He who has received the mercy of heaven catches the spirit of the Divine benevolence, and longs for others to share the same blessings. He partakes of that blessed Spirit whose chief attribute is liberality. Abraham was not content to be a solitary servant of Godto be absorbed in attention to the salvation of his own soul. Religion contemplates no man as an isolated portion of humanity, but rather in his relation to others. The fire of devotion is not only hot within, but resplendent without, giving light to all around. The lights of the world, like the sun, are publicthey are intended to bless far and wide. The call of Abraham had regard to the spiritual interests of others. Religion implies society. Where two or three are gathered together, God is present to bless. It is not in lonely solitude that the righteous man enjoys the blessings of salvation; he partakes thereof with others. God designed to found a Church by means of His servant Abraham, who was thus to be a source of blessing to all nations. The life of faith acquires a sublime value by the consciousness that its blessings are shared by other souls.
1. The believers joy is increased. Religion is not a cold assent of the understanding, but engages the affections of the heart. When the heart is full, the joy that swells it must overflow.
2. The believers idea of God is enhanced. He thinks of the benevolence of God as plenteous and wide.
3. The believers faith is greatly strengthened. It is possible to imagine a faith so real and well-founded that a man could hold it against all the world. Still, he who is quite alone in his faith labours under great disadvantages. He is liable to many discouragements, and often tempted to doubt as to whether he is right. A mans confidence is greatly increased when he meets with another believer. Religion in man requires the aid of society.
III. It was maintained in the midst of difficulties. To all human appearance, Abraham had little else than discouragement throughout the whole of his course. However much he might have been inwardly supported, an ordinary observer could not discern that he had received any real benefit from his belief in God.
1. He was a wanderer in the land which God had promised to give him. He has no estate or dominion there assigned to him, but travels about as a wanderer from place to place. This was a continual difficulty in the way of faith in a promise that God would give him that land to dwell in.
2. He is beset by enemies. The Canaanite was then in the land (Gen. 12:6). Others were already in possession, so that he could not pass through the country without challenge. One would have thought that, having received the Divine promise, which seemed to speak of temporal good in abundance, his way would have been made clear before him, and he would have but to rest and enjoy.
3. The Divine promise opened up for him no splendid prospect in this world. The land was to be given not to himself but to his seed. In the case of the patriarch himself the promise appeared to point to an earthly reward, but in reality had no such fulfilment. To Abraham himself He gave none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on (Act. 7:5). The promise referred to things remote and beyond the limits of his own earthly life. Here was faith which could trust in God against all appearances, and when denied of a present earthly reward. The children of this world are under the tyranny of the present. They believe that one now is worth many hereaftersone good actually in possession is worth more than a doubtful and late reversion. The faith of Abraham regarded a prospect higher than this world. It was enough for him that God had spoken and He would fulfil His word in His own way.
IV. It respected the outward forms of piety. Abraham was not satisfied with private devotionwith those exercises of the soul, which, though true and real, are invisible to others. He made a public profession and exhibition of his faith. He built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 12:8). Of such an action we may say
1. It was unworldly. When the men of this world find a fruitful plain, they build a city and a tower to enhance their own greatness, and to transmit their fame to coming generations. The children of faith make it the first duty to raise an altar to God. They regard all things as consecrated to Him whose they are, and whom they serve. The action of Abraham in building an altar amounted to the taking possession of the land for God. Thus the believer holds the gifts of Providence as the steward of them, and not as their possessor.
2. It satisfied a pious instinct which meets some of the difficulties of devotion. It is difficult for man to realise the invisible without the aid of the visible. Hence the pious in all ages have built places in which to worship God. This arises from no desire to limit God in space; but in order that men might feel that He is present everywhere, they must feel that He is specially present somewhere. God meets man by coming down to his necessity.
3. It was a public profession of his faith. Abraham was not one of those who hid the righteousness of God in his heart. He made it known to all around him by outward acts of devotion. Such conduct glorifies God, and gives religion the advantage that is derived from the corporate life of those who profess it.
4. It was an acknowledgement of the claims of God. By building an altar and calling upon the name of the Lord, Abraham confessed that all claims were on the side of God and not on that of man. He confessed that sin requires expiation, and that all true help and reward must come to man from above. The only religion possible to man is that of penitence and faith.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 12:4. Obedience to the utmost of the Word of God is the necessary issue of a sound faith.(Hughes.)
The rule of the believers life is what God has spoken. The Divine word directs him in the way.
No sooner did Abraham receive the Divine command than he obeyed it. When acting in the ordinary affairs of life, and from mere worldly considerations, prudence may dictate delay, and the propriety of consulting friendly advice, but when the call is evidently from above, when the direction is clearly from God, to be dilatory is to be disobedient. Faith is prompt in compliance, and makes haste to execute the will of our Heavenly Master. Though the journey to be undertaken was above three hundred miles in length, and rendered formidable by deserts, high mountains, and thick forests, yet the patriarch implicitly puts himself under the conduct of that Providence whose summons had called him forth, and following its leadings bade defiance to difficulty and danger. (Bush.)
Every true believer longs for companions in his faith.
So Abram departed. So starts the spirit of faith. Long is the struggle to leave fathers house. To go forth not knowing whither we go, is trial enough. To go forth from Fathers house at once seems impossible. Thus the old man of our fallen spiritual life, though it cannot really help us to Canaan, is still clung to. Indeed, at first it seems to help us. It is written, not Abram took Terah, but Terah took Abraham; for often some energy which is really corrupt is active, apparently in a good direction, when the elect is called. But Terah never passes Jordan; he can reach Chanan, no further. Having got thus far he has been long enough pilgrim, he dwells there. Once with the old man leading us we went forth to go into the land of Canaan; but we only got to Chanan and dwelt there. But the old man was buried; then again we started to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan we came.(Jukes: Types of Genesis.)
Gen. 12:5. He who shows the obedience of faith is fitted to be a leader of other souls.
Piety moves along the lines of natural affection. A man may desire most of all the salvation of his own household, without deserving the imputation of narrowness and partiality.
No great spiritual work is wrought in any soul without affecting many others.
Though the sense of making proselytes is not conveyed by the words in their primary meaning, yet they are expressly thus rendered in the Jerusalem Targum; and the Chaldee paraphrase has, All the souls which he had subdued unto the law, and the fact that Abraham is afterwards said to have had three hundred and eighteen trained (Heb. catechised) servants in his house, as well as his acknowledged character as a pious man, makes the supposition altogether probable. The true sense of the phrase, at any rate, so nearly approximates to this, that we cannot hesitate to adduce the example of Abraham as an admonition to us, that, wherever the providence of God shall place us, there we are to labour to be makers of souls, to gain proselytes to our Heavenly Master, to increase to the utmost the number of those who shall devote themselves to His fear and service.(Bush).
Faith moveth souls only to the Land of Promise. Such was Canaan, Heb. 11:9; good in itself, Deu. 8:7-9; Eze. 20:6; Jehovahs Land, Hos. 9:3; Holy Land, Zec. 2:12; Land of Immanuel, Isa. 8:8; a type of heaven, Heb. 11:9-10.(Hughes).
Gen. 12:6. Pilgrimage is noticed first. Abram dwells in tents to the end, possessing nothing here save a burial place. And the spirit in us, which obeys Gods call, will even yet dwell in tents and be a pilgrim. The old man may rest in outward things and be settled, but the spirit of faith has here no certain dwelling-place. Its tent is often stretched by rains and winds; yet the spirit of faith lives, and by these very trials is kept from many snares. For the called one cannot be as Moab, settled on his lees. Moab hath been at ease from his youth, he hath settled on his lees, he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remaineth in him, his scent is not changed (Jer. 48:11). Abram, and David, and Israel, have all been emptied from vessel to vessel. Pilgrimage is their appointed lot, because true life is always progressing, moving. In the course of this discipline, trials befall them which others never meet with; failures, too, are seen, such as we never see in the prudent worldly man. When did Nahor go down to Egypt, or deny his wife? When did Saul, like David, go down to Achish, and play the madman? But in this same course God is seen, and man is learnt.(Jukes: Types of Genesis.)
The children of faith are but pilgrims in this world. Others are in possession of the land: they are bound elsewhere.
The believer should follow the command of God, though, to all human appearance, no definite end be reached. A strong faith should be able to bear the utmost trial.
This first halting place of Abram and his household in the Land of Promise was the City of Samaria, called Sychar, where Our Lord sowed the early seeds of His Gospel doctrine in His conversation with the Samaritan woman (Joh. 4:5); and it was the same place at which Philip first preached in the transition of the Christian Church from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Act. 7:5), where it should be rendered a city of Samariathe phrase being the very same in the Greek as in Joh. 4:5(Jacobus).
The enemies of God are still in the land through which we pass in our faiths journey. The believer is more than a pilgrim on the earth, he is also a stranger.
Gen. 12:7. He who created the spirit of man can have access to it in whatever way it pleases Him.
God does more than act upon men by the outward circumstances of life. He can appear to the spirit of man and impress it by His presence and His word.
And the Lord appeared unto Abram. A reference to various other passages where a similar event is described, leads to the belief that such manifestations were vouchsafed for the most part in dreams and visions of the night, when supernatural revelations were made in such a way as to carry the evidence of their Divinity along with them. But until we know more of the nature of spirits and of the mode of spiritual communications, we must be content to abide in comparative ignorance on this whole matter. Certain it is that that Almighty power which has raised our bodies from the dust, which has formed the eye and planted the ear, and whose inspiration hath given us understanding, can avail itself of any avenue that it pleases to reach the sentient spirits of His creatures, whether in their sleeping or waking moments, and impart the knowledge of His will. To the pious and humble mind it will be matter rather of devout admiration and praise than of curious research, that the Father of our spirits is thus pleased to manifest His presence in the secret chambers of the soul, and by unknown channels to infuse strength, peace, confidence, and refreshing joy into the hearts of His servants, who are disposed to make sacrifices and to encounter perils for His sake. The Scriptures teem with assurance to such that they, like Abraham, shall not fail of their reward, even in the present life.(Bush.)
In the deepest trials God often manifests Himself most clearly. If the call of faith seems hard to flesh and blood, the warrant of it will be made all the stronger. The revelation of God is graduated to the needs of the soul.
When God is seen by the inner eye, then only has a man true spiritual knowledge. All other religion but that which is in this way derived is but the religion of tradition or authority; and does not rest upon that real knowledge of the truth which comes of the vision of God. The inspiration of the Almighty is the source of mans understanding and true wisdom.
God reveals Himself and His purposes gradually, so rewarding one degree of faith as to beget another. The land was first shown to Abraham, and afterwards the promise was uttered that God would give it to him.
There he builded an altar unto the Lord.
1. The spiritual feelings of the soul express themselves in outward acts of devotion.
2. The gifts of God should be consecrated to His service. Noah thus consecrated the new world, and now Abraham the Land of Promise.
3. The believer should assure himself of a title to his inheritance. Abraham, by building an altar, took possession of the land on the ground of the right secured to him by faith. However poor and unpromising the prospect around us, we can secure our title to the heavenly Canaan.
As he went along he erected altars to commemorate the mercies of God, and to remind his posterity that this was really their own land. Here we have that strange feeling of human nature, the utter impossibility of realising the invisible except through the visible. Churches, what are they built for? To limit God and bind Him down to space? or to explain God to us, to enable us to understand Him, and to teach us that not there only, but in every place He is present? Consider then what the land of Canaan became. Gradually it was dotted over with these stones, teaching the Israelites that it was a sacred land. What these stones did for the Israelites our memory does for us; it brings back in review our past life. Remember, I pray you, what that life will be to you when it all appears again. Blessed, thrice blessed, is the man to whom life is as it was to Abram, dotted over with memorials of communion with God. But your lifethat guilty thought and act, that unhallowed feelingdare you see it come before you again? I pray you remember that this return of all the past, to memory, in the day when God shall judge your life, is no dream, but one of the things that must be hereafter.(Robertson.)
Wherever he had a tent God had an altar, and an altar sanctified by prayer.(Henry.)
Abraham erected an altar.
1. As a protest against the idolatry around him. He was everywhere surrounded by idolatrous neighbours, and it was due to his high calling to show allegiance to the true God. As the Canaanites were a fierce and proud people he would thereby expose himself to persecution. But he would not deny God even at the peril of his life.
2. As a pious example to his household. He was a man of some social distinctionthe lord of a large household. We hear afterwards of his having three hundred and eighteen trained servants, born in his own house. How great must have been the influence of his example upon these! They saw continually before them a hero of the faith who was not ashamed to confess the true God, amidst the ridicule and scorn of the heathen around him.
3. As a recognition of an atoning sacrifice for sin. Ever since the Fall all worship had to take account of the fact that sin requires expiation. Though nothing is here stated of sacrificial offering yet the building of an altar fairly implies this.(Jacobus.)
On the hill east of this sacred ground Abram built another altar, and called upon the name of the Lord. Here we have the reappearance of an ancient custom instituted in the family of Adam after the birth of Enoch (Gen. 4:26). Abram addresses God by His proper name Jehovah, with an audible voice in his assembled household. This, then, is a continuation of the worship of Adam with additional light according to the progressive development of the moral nature of man.(Murphy).
It is the characteristic of the members of the true Church of God that they call upon His name.
Gen. 12:9. We may on various occasions change places, provided we carry the true religion with us; in this we must never change.(Fuller).
Abraham pulled up and pitched his tent, from point to point, during the course of his journey. Such is our condition as Christians. We have here no continuing city, but are moving towards a permanent home. We do not dwell in tents, but our habitations in this world are sufficiently moveable to remind us that our true rest is not here. There is no fixity in our human life. Our houses change their inhabitants often, and we are passing on to other scenes.
To all points, East, and West, and South, God orders the motions of the saints, to leave some savour of His truth everywhere.(Hughes).
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Abram and History! Gen. 12:1-20.
(1) The unchanged habits of the East, says Stanley, render it a kind of living Pompeii. The outward appearances, which, in the case of the Greeks and Romans, we knew only through art and writingthrough marble, fresco, and parchmentin the case of Jewish history we know through the forms of actual men living and moving before us, wearing the same garb, speaking almost the same language as Abram and the patriarchs.
(2) From Ur of the Chaldees, remarks Landels, comes forth, in one sense, the germ of all that is good throughout succeeding generations. His appearance, like that of some great luminary in the heavens, marks an epoch in the worlds history. A stream of influence flows from himnot self-originated, but deriving its existence from those heaven-clouds of Divine dew of blessing resting upon this lofty summit of his soul.
(3) Widening as it flows, and promoting, in spite of the occasional checks and hindrances it meets with, spiritual life and health, that stream is vastly more deserving of exploration and research than the streams of the Lualaba and Niger, or the sources of the Nile and Zambesi. Such exploration and research will be productive of incalculable benefit to those who engage therein with right motives and aspirations.
Truth springs like harvest from the well-ploughed field,
And the soul feels it has not searched in vain.Bonar.
Father of Faithful! Gen. 12:1-9. Here we have
1. The Call (Gen. 12:1);
2. The Command (Gen. 12:1);
3. The Covenant (Gen. 12:2);
4. The Conditions (Gen. 12:3);
5. The Compliance (Gen. 12:4);
6. The Conversion (Gen. 12:7); and
7. The Considerations.The call was from God. The command was to leave his native land. The covenant was protection and preservation, etc. The condition was that of simple trust and confidence. The compliance was that Abraham journeyed first to Haran, thence to Canaan. The conversion of Abraham was evidently the erection of the altar, erected wherever he pitched his tent. And the considerations are
(1) That God calls and commands each of the sons of men to come out from a world lying in wickedness, and make life a pilgrimage to heaven.
(2) That God covenants and conditions with each of the sons of men obeying this call to crown their lives with loving-kindness and tender mercies.
(3) That God counts and compensates for all sacrifices and sufferings endured in complying with His call with the Crown of Life that fadeth not away.
One of the chivalry of Christ! He tells us how to stand
With rootage like the palm, amid the maddest whirl of sand.Massey.
Abrams Call! Gen. 12:4.
(1) The Talmud, in face of Genesis 12, asserts that Abram left Ur on account of Nimrods attempt to kill him. The kings design, however, was frustrated by Eleazar, a slave of Abram, whom Nimrod had presented to him. He told Abram of the kings dreamof the interpretation which the wise men put upon itand of the kings design to kill him. So Abram hastened to the house of Noah, and remained there hiding while the servants of the king searched his own home and the surrounding country in vain, and he remained a longer timeeven until the people had forgotten him. Then Abram said to Therach, his father, Let us all journey to another land; let us go to Canaan. And Noah and his son Shem added their entreaties to his, until Therach consented to do as they wished. And they went forth to Charran.
(2) The Scripture asserts a Divine call. It assures us that this Divine call did not include the name of the land to which he would take them. It authorises the belief that Abram obeyed Gods command in simple faith, i.e., in entire ignorance of the where. And it associates Charran with Abrams emigration only so long as Terah lived. The puerilites and perversions of the Talmudic Tales bear on their faces their own condemnation as false witnesses; whereas Gods word has on it the impress of truth.
Pure is the Book of God, with sweetness filled;
More pure than massive, unadulterate gold;
More sweet than honey from the rock distilled.Mant.
Obedience of Faith! Gen. 12:4.
(1) Suppose a man were to build a tower without any foundation, intending to place the foundations on the roof. What would happen it is easy to surmise. The fabric would very soon give way. Many do this in spiritual things. They place the foundations of faith upon the superstructure of obedience. It is obedience that must rise up on the basis of faith. Trust in God and do the right, is a wise maxim; but some make the proverb an inverted pyramid. Place Pharaohs great pyramid on its apex, and we can easily conceive the result. Abram first believed, then obeyed God.
(2) Hasten onward with your troop to yonder ravine; hold your ground there until I arrive with the main body of the army. Such were the orders of the great general to one of his brigadier officers, and he was obeyed. But whence sprang the subalterns obedience? He trusted his generals Until I arrive with the main body of the army. Faith was not the blossom, it was the root, and obedience the flower. Abrams obedienceso prompt and perfecthad its root in Divine trust. Believing God, he obeyed, and went forth, not knowing whither.
Yes! strong in faith I tread the uneven ways,
And bare my head unshrinking to the blast;
And if the way seems rough, I only clasp
The hand that leads me with a firmer grasp.Lynch.
Moral Emigration! Gen. 12:5.
(1) When Abram announced his determination to go forth, his keen-sighted friends doubtless inquired to what land he was directed. But the intending emigrant knew not. They would suggest that all might be a delusion; or that it might be far off, and the way perilous; or that, even should it be reached, he might find it a bleak and inhospitable desert. But Abram trusted God on all points.
(2) When Bunyan allegorized the sinners call from the City of Destruction, he fully realised its analogy to that of Abram. To the dwellers in the City of Destruction the Promised Land was more or less a doubtful realmif not doubtful in its existence, certainly so in its locality and characteristics. But the moral pilgrim would not be deterred from the Divine emprise. He trusted God on all points.
(3) When a young man receives the Divine call to forsake a world lying in wickedness, and become a stranger and sojourner in the earthly land of promise and grace, what efforts are put forth by friends to dissuade him from such an emigration. Many, alas! have failed in the fiery ordeal. They have not been able to resist the plausible insinuations, the subtle surmises of professed friends. They have not trusted God on all points.
Faith feels the Spirits kindling breath
In love and hope, that conquer death;
Faith brings us to delight in God,
And blesses een His smiting rod.
Canaan Route! Gen. 12:5. Westward they went. Two days travel would bring them to the border of the Euphrates, which would be about ten or twelve feet deep. On rafts of skin, Abrahams goods and chattels would be carried to the western bank; or he may have used boatscircular boats, round like a shield, as an old historian describes thembuilt of willow boughs, covered with skins and smeared with bitumen. Once on the west side, a seven days journey would bring him to Aleppo. The Arabs have a tradition that Aleppo derives it name from haleb, because Abrahams servants here milked the kine to give to the poor inhabitants. Thence Abraham would proceed to Damascus, and southward to Canaan by way of the beautiful upland district of Gilead and Bashan. On his way, from crag and peak, the pilgrim would catch many a glance of the Home of his pilgrimage.
From every mountains rugged peak
The promised land I view;
And from its fields of fragrant bloom
Come breezes laden with perfume,
To fan my weary brow.
Moreh! Gen. 12:6. Abraham crossed, no doubt, at the ford of Bethabara. Here would rise before him a stretch of mountain country, several thousand feet high. The only way to enter upon it would be by the ravines of the watercourses, known as the wadys. These are steep and winding, and often narrow. Most of them are dry, except in the rainy season. But sometimes they widen out into little valleys and strips of meadow, with a spring gushing up. One of these wadys opens with a beautiful rich plain, and as it leads to the place of Sichem probably this was Abrahams selected route. One translation says that Abram came to the plain, but the Hebrew word is oak of Moreh, a little plain between the rocky ridges known as Ebal and Gerisim. No more beautiful and fertile region could the patriarch have selected for his pilgrim tent and altar.
The fresh young leaves on the hoar oak trees
Quivered and fluttered in glee;
And the merry rills from the mighty hills
Shouted his lullaby.Schnberg.
Divine Repetitions! Gen. 12:7.
(1) In many aspects there is a remarkable parallel between this portion of Genesis and the Gospel narratives of the New Testament. Here we have the Son of God calling Abraham, first in Ur, then in Haran. In the life of David we have this reiteration, so to speak, of Divine will, a reiteration apparent in the prophetic calls. In the New Testament we have the Son of Man calling the disciples twice over at the beginning of His ministry, and again twice over after His resurrection. Even in the Acts of the Apostles Paul seems to have had a similar double call. The same Divine repetitions reappear in the Apocalyptic annals of the Patmos seer.
(2) The spiritual lesson is that Gods Holy Spirit often repeats His callthe second being in more emphatic and explicit terms. It has been suggested that Abraham was remiss in complying with the call in Ur, hence its repetition in Haran. But this is mere conjecture. The analogy of faith is progressivea fuller development of the Divine ideal and intention. The captain gives his soldiers a general apprehension of his design and their duty, and on the march he more fully unfolds his design and unveils their duty.
So, darkness in the pathway of mans life
Is but the shadow of Gods providence,
By the great sun of wisdom cast thereon,
And what is dark below is light in heaven.Whittier.
Promised Possession! Gen. 12:7.
(1) Old Canaan was a very nice country. Yet in itself it was scarcely worth while promising in possession. It was nothing to the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, of Cyrus, of Alexander, of the Csars, or of the sovereigns of England. Is it not, therefore, asks Gibson, perfectly obvious that the promised possession was not the gift of so many acres, but of a land separated from the nations, from heathenism, from the wickedness of a corrupt world. And that for the worlds sake.
(2) It was the Lords startling statement to the proud children of Abram after the flesh, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Messiahs day had begun in Abrahams day; the patriarch saw it, and was glad. The day of salvation was scanned by Abram on hopes lofty summit by faiths eye, as Moses surveyed the promised land from Nebos towering height. This land expanded and widened out into the renewed world. He beheld the fertile and fruitful fields of the Messianic land of grace.
He heard the promise as one hears
The voice of waters through a wood;
And Faith foreran th appointed years,
And graspd the substance of the good.
Heart-Hunger! Gen. 12:8.
(1) The amlia, a small jellyfish or speck, driven by its instinctive craving, searches for that in the environment which is fitted to its use. It then makes its whole self into a stomach to wrap about the food which it has secured. Under excitement from this instinctive craving, the locusts go forth in bands, and, braver than the Amazonian warriors of Ashantee, scale walls and smother with their dead bodies the fires which are lit to oppose their progress. In the world of struggling races, this instinctive unrest acts like a mighty hammer to spread out the nations, and fuse them under its blows. This craving, pure and simple, is constitutional, and, therefore, Divine in its origin. In the case of man, the introduction of sin, while it has distorted that craving, has intensified the hunger.
(2) The traditions, therefore, about Abram have doubtless a solid substratum of truth. Abram craved after God. His heart hungered after a knowledge of God. Augustine of Milan tells of a deep-seated craving which he long tried to satisfy. Such was the heart-hunger of Abram when God revealed Himself as the true and satisfying food. Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon the earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. When Abram fed upon this knowledge of God he was satisfied. We do not say that heart-hunger ceased. Far otherwise. Each feast of the heart upon Divine knowledge whetted the appetite for more, while it furnished strength and ministered satisfaction.
Still, still without ceasing.
I feel it increasing,
This hunger of holy desire.Guyon.
Travelling South! Gen. 12:9.
(1) There are in this country about forty-five species, says Neil, of the orchis. All these plants are pilgrim-travellers. The early purple, Orchis Mascula, every year throws out a new bulb or tubercule, always on the side towards the south. By this means it always changes its position, and little by little advances to the southward. It thus steadily travels on to the bright home of this family of flowers in the tropicsthe cloudless land of sun.
(2) And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. The soul, which has heaven for its home patiently grows heavenwardgrowing up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Southward from the cold, bleak wastes of worldly conformitysouthward to the warm haunt of everlasting flowersthe land of unclouded sunshine.
So live that you each year may be,
While time glides softly by,
A little farther from the earth,
And nearer to the sky.
Pilgrim Purpose! Gen. 12:9.
(1) Dwellers in houses are exposed to dangers such as the dwellers in tents do not fear. Passive waters become stagnant, while the ruffled waves abide incorrupt. Abrams tent was often searched by winds and rains; yet he was safe from the stagnancy of city life. The gipsy knows little or nothing of the fevers associated with settled dwellings of brick and stone. Moabs ease leads to Moabs being settled on his lees; whereas, Israel by captivity learns what is in his heart towards God, and what is in Gods heart towards him.
(2) Abrams tent-life was a Divine purpose. It was linked with the encountering of storms and tempests. But the lofty pine of Norway becomes statelier, and strikes its roots more firmly amid the crevices of the mountains, the more the breezes battle amid its spreading boughs. If my life has been one of trouble, it has also been one of much spiritual blessing. I gained more strength and acquired more knowledge from my varying experience of calm and storm, than otherwise I should. It is through the Divine mercy.
Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream:
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.Bonar.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) Abram . . . departed out of Haran.The command given him in Ur may have been repeated in Haran; but more probably Abram had remained there only on account of Terah. At his death (see note on Gen. 11:26) he resumed his migration northward.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ABRAM IN CANAAN, Gen 12:4-9.
4. Departed Abram obeys, and goes forth from Haran, westward, over the river, as it was ever called by the Hebrews, the great Euphrates, afterwards the boundary of the kingdom of David and Solomon, separating Aram from Padan-Aram, the fertile Mesopotamian plain from the Syrian desert, and henceforth he was Abram, the Hebrew, the man who had crossed the border from beyond the great river, ( , LXX of Gen 14:13,) the emigrant, the pilgrim, ( peregrinus, perager,) a typical name of spiritual depth and beauty . See note on Gen 10:24. He crossed the high chalk cliffs which wall the plain on the west, and forded the broad strong stream with wife and nephew and dependants, his flocks and his asses and camels, and entered the Syrian desert, a pilgrim, henceforth a type of all who set out on the heavenly pilgrimage . The manners and habits of the East are to day so nearly what they were in Abram’s day that we can easily picture the scene .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So Abram went as Yahweh had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran.’
Abram obeyed the voice of God. Lot, his nephew also went with him. It is very probable that through Abram’s witness Lot too had begun to worship Yahweh. It is possibly difficult to comprehend what a major step for Abram this move was. To the ancients membership of the tribe was a sacred duty and to leave it was to dismember the tribe. But Abram has the call of Yahweh and his act is therefore a declaration of faith.
Abram’s age at leaving (seventy five) indicates according to the Hebrew text that Terah was still alive when he left. Terah was ‘seventy’ when he begat Abram (Gen 11:26). Seventy plus seventy five (Gen 12:4) is one hundred and forty five. Terah died at two hundred and five. Thus he would live for another sixty years.
However we have already seen that the ‘seventy’ indicates a divinely perfect birth and the seventy and five here may suggest the divinely perfect time (seven intensified) plus five (the covenant number). It is explaining why Abram acts at this point in time. Thus the numbers may not be intended as literal numbers. Furthermore the Samaritan Pentateuch gives Terah’s age on death as one hundred and forty five. It thus sees Abram as leaving Haran on the death of his father. This is the tradition known to Stephen in Acts 7.
(The Samaritan Pentateuch, comprising the five books of Moses, is a separate and very ancient tradition of the Hebrew text, which, with a few particular alterations, was preserved by the Samaritans).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Abraham’s Journey to Canaan
v. 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. v. 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 into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. v. 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. v. 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. v. 8. And he removed from thence, broke up his encampment, and went 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. v. 9. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 12:4. So Abram departed The Lord HAD commanded Abram, Gen 12:1 to leave his country; in consequence of which, with Terah his father, he came forward 120 miles from Ur to Haran (ch. Gen 11:31.) on his journey: but being delayed there by Terah’s death and other particulars, he now prosecutes his purpose; and, attended by his nephew Lot, and all the children and servants in dependance upon him, he undertook the long journey of more than three hundred miles, through the dangerous and barren deserts of Palmyrena; and crossing over the high mountains of Lebanus, Hermon, or Gilead, entered into that country where he was an utter stranger, and to which he was led, wholly in obedience to the divine command!
Observe; Abram, without hesitation, obeys, though old to seek a settlement, yet satisfied, if God was with him, he should find a rest in every place. We have, 1. His company to the land of Canaan: his wife and nephew. Both chose to share his lot, as both had chosen his God for theirs. Learn, (1.) Those who have one hope, will have one way. (2.) It is a great mercy when husband and wife go heavenward together. 2. His substance, servants, and goods he removed; for he had no thoughts of returning. Note; They who set out for heaven, must never think of going back. As it was a strange land, he needed a present provision. In our way to glory, God forbids not a prudent care for daily bread. And he took with him all the souls under his care and government, that they might be partakers in the promised blessings. They who serve God themselves, will reckon it their greatest gain, if they can win others to serve him too. 3. His arrival. They who go out under God’s promise, will arrive safe under his blessing. Though the way to heaven be long or difficult, God can conduct us through, and bring us thither at last: Go on, and trust in him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
If my Reader be among the aged, and is fearing that he may have outstayed the day of grace, I do not know a more precious encouragement than what this verse holds forth, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Forget it not my aged brother, that Abram the great father of the faithful, was 75 years old, when the visions of God began with him.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 12:4 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.
Ver. 4. So Abram departed. ] He had now enough, having such precious promises, though he previously had nothing else. He parted with his friends and kindred, but is now become the friend of God, and akin to Christ. Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the gold in the world worth one day’s society with Jesus Christ, and his Holy Spirit, said that noble Marquess Galeacius Caracciolus, a who being nephew to Pope Paul V., and a prince of great wealth and power, left all for Christ, living and dying a poor exile at Geneva, that he might enjoy the liberty of his conscience, and serve God according to the truth of the gospel. Remarkable is that which Calvin writes of him in his dedicatory epistle to him, set before his Commentary upon the First Epistle to the Corinthians, – Etsi neque tu ,& c.
And Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed.
a His life is set forth by Mr. Crashaw.
b Life of Caracciolus , by Crashaw, p. 11.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 12:4-9
4So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 8Then he proceeded from there to the mountain 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. 9Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
Gen 12:4 “Abram went forth” Josephus (Antiq. 1.8.1) says Abram left because his family refused his new message of revealed monotheism, which was unique in the Ancient Near East.
“Lot went with him” Josephus (Antiq. 1.8.1) says Abram adopted Lot because he had no children. This is possibly another example of Abram trying to help God with His promise of descendants (cf. chapter 16). Taking Lot (and also his father Terah, cf. Gen 11:31) seems to violate YHWH’s directive of Gen 12:1 c.
“seventy-five years old” The people mentioned early in Genesis (chapters 4-9) lived to extreme ages. It is uncertain why.
1. sin had not spoiled the earth
2. years were counted differently
3. literary symbolism (like pre-flood Sumerian kings)
Whatever the reason, Abram was still a “young” man.
When one compares this verse with Act 7:4 and Gen 11:32, there seems to be a sixty year discrepancy. However, probably Abram was not listed as the first son because of age, but rather renown (cf. Hard Sayings of the Bible, p. 49). Often modern interpreters treat the ancient Hebrew text and culture as if it were our own. Their view of “accurate” history and ours is not the same. One is not better than the other, just different.
“Haran” In Gen 11:26 “Haran” (BDB 248) is Terah’s son who died in Ur. Here it is a city (BDB 357) to the northwest. Both of the cities Ur and Haran were centers of worship to the moon god/goddess, Zin. The name means “roads” (BDB 357) in Sumerian and, therefore, was probably on a major trade route (Nineveh, Carchemish to Damascus). In Gen 48:7 Jacob says he came from “Paddan” (BDB 804), which also means “roads” and may be another way of denoting Haran in Aram or Syria (cf. Deu 26:5). It is also probably “the city of Nahor” (cf. Gen 24:10) from which Jacob got his wife Rebekah, sister of Laban.
SPECIAL TOPIC: MOON WORSHIP
Gen 12:5 “Abram” This name (BDB 4) means “exalted father,” “exalter of father,” or “exalted one is my father.” See note at Gen 11:26.
“Sarai” The meaning of this form of Abram’s wife’s name is uncertain (BDB 979, KB 1354). The new form in Gen 17:15 means “noble lady” or “princess” (BDB 979 II, KB 1354 II, cf. Jdg 5:29; 1Ki 11:3; Isa 49:23).
“persons they had acquired in Haran” “Acquired” meant “made” (BDB 793). Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) says Abram made people through magic to show God’s power. The rabbis say this refers to converts from Abram’s preaching, but in context it refers to bought slaves and servants, as well as their children.
“the land of Canaan” The term “Canaan” (BDB 488) originally refers to a son of Ham (one of Noah’s sons, cf. Gen 9:18; Gen 9:22; Gen 9:25; Gen 9:27; Gen 10:15). Part of the area his descendants occupied took on this name. It came to mean “low land” as opposed to “high land” (low hills), therefore, it denoted the coastal plain from Egypt to Sidon in Phoenicia. However, after the Philistines settled on the southwestern coast, just north of Egypt, it came to denote the coastal area north of Philistia. As it was invaded by the Hebrews in the book of Joshua it came to refer to land on both sides of the Jordan River. The land of Canaan had about 100 miles of coast land and at its longest was about 180 miles in length and its width varied from 20 to 120 miles.
Gen 12:6 “Shechem” The name (BDB 1014) means “shoulder blade.” This city is located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It is the site of several momentous occasions: (1) the blessing and cursing of the covenant (cf. Deu 11:29-30; Jos 8:30-35); (2) covenant renewal service (cf. Joshua 24); (3) site of the meeting between Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) and Jeroboam (northern labor leader) after Solomon’s death, which resulted in a split between Judah and Israel (922 B.C.).
“oak of Moreh” Moreh means teacher (BDB 435). Trees marked sacred sites for Semitic people. This was possibly the site of a Canaanite altar or oracle (cf. Gen 35:4; Deu 11:30; Jdg 9:37). The tree is a terebinth (BDB 18, “big tree”), possibly an oak (cf. LXX). A good source for information on the plants and animals mentioned in the Bible is UBS’, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, second edition.
“the Canaanite was then in the land” This is viewed by most commentators, even Ibn Ezra, as a later addition, but seen in light of Genesis 9, it implies that the land was populated by descendants of Canaan.
SPECIAL TOPIC: PRE-ISRAELITE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINE
Gen 12:7 “The LORD appeared” This is the common VERB “to see” (BDB 906) used in a specialized sense (i.e., a physical visual appearance of Deity, cf. Gen 12:7 [twice]; Gen 17:1; Gen 18:1; Gen 26:2; Gen 26:24; Gen 35:1; Gen 35:9; Gen 48:3). In Gen 12:1 YHWH speaks to Abram, but here He appears! Often YHWH appeared in the form of “the angel of the LORD.”
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ANGEL OF THE LORD
“To your descendants I will give this land” This was a great promise for Abraham’s descendants (lit. “seed,” cf. Gen 13:15; Gen 15:18), but Paul saw the singular “seed” as referring to the Messiah (cf. Gal 3:16).
“so he built an altar there” These altars were ways of commemorating special events or appearances (i.e., Gen 8:20; Gen 13:18; Gen 22:9; Gen 26:25; Gen 33:20; Gen 35:7; Exo 17:15; Exo 24:4; Jos 8:30; Jdg 6:24; Jdg 21:4; 1Sa 7:17; 1Sa 14:35; 2Sa 24:25). Sacrifice was a way of expressing in a visible way one’s sense of God’s presence, care, and provision. The visible sacrifice became invisible in smoke and rose to God.
Gen 12:8 “Bethel” This means “house of God” (BDB 110). From Gen 28:19 we learn that this city was originally called Luz until Jacob’s day. This later name and the last phrase of Gen 12:6 imply that this account was recorded later and may have existed for a period as oral tradition. The exact time, person, and methodology of the composition of OT books is uncertain. See Introduction to Genesis, vol. 1A, D. 1.
“called upon the name of the LORD” When one compares this verse and Gen 4:26 with Exo 6:7, there seems to be a contradiction. However, possibly the name was originally used without understanding its full covenant significance. This phrase implies a worship/ritual setting (cf. Gen 4:26; Gen 12:8; Gen 13:4; Gen 21:33; Gen 26:25).
SPECIAL TOPIC: “THE NAME” of YHWH
“Ai” This meant “heap of stones” (BDB 743) and was a city, or possibly the ruins of a city, close to Bethel.
Gen 12:9 “journeyed on” This literally means “pulled up tent pegs” (BDB 652, KB 704, Qal IMPERFECT). It reflects the nomadic life of Abram, as does “pitched his tent” in Gen 12:8.
“Negev” This means “the south” (BDB 616, cf. Gen 13:1; Gen 13:3). It is not desert, but arid pasture land at certain times of the year.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
seventy and five. The Law was 430 years “after” this (Exo 12:40. Gal 1:3, Gal 1:17). Abram 100 when Isaac born, and 105 when Isaac recognized as his “seed” (Gen 21:12). This 25 + 5 explains the 400 years of Gen 15:13 and Act 7:6. See note on Gen 15:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and Lot: Gen 11:27
departed out: Heb 11:8
Reciprocal: Gen 11:26 – Abram Gen 11:31 – Haran Gen 16:3 – had Gen 17:24 – General Gen 17:26 – General Gen 25:7 – General Gen 26:5 – General Gen 27:43 – Haran 1Ki 17:15 – did according Eze 27:23 – Haran Mat 21:6 – and did Act 7:4 – came
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FIRST COLUMBUS
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.
Gen 12:4
At this time there was no special nation belonging to the Lord. The Lord was even then but beginning to set apart a people for Himself. To create that people, He had first of all to make a family, and to make that family to select one man. After the Flood and the tower of Babel there was only one kind of people all over the world, and those people were very far from God. Here and there might be one who had a heart prepared; and there was one in that family, Abraham, and the Lord spoke to him and told him a very strange thing. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will shew thee. He is not even told the name of the land, or how he is to get there. Get thee out. So Abram departed. This is a marvellous word in its great simplicity. The Lord said to him, Depart, and so Abram departed.
I. Abraham might have done a great many other things than that simple thing of going out because God had said, Go out. Of course Abraham had some spiritual apprehension. He listened, he must have listened, or he would not have heard the voice of God. He listened, and he heard, and he understood, and he assented, and very likely he was staggered by the greatness of the promise made to him, that all nations should be blessed in him. Who was he? Nobody! He was to leave his kindred and his land, and he might have taken a very long time to consider that command; he might have talked about it considerably. It was something to talk about. He might perhaps have written a song about it. It was a very fine subject for a song. There have been songs written about it. He might have sung a song called, for instance, Faithful Abraham, go, and then have sat down.
II. But he would not have been the father of the faithful if he had done so.What is it that he did? He obeyed; and the one thing that God asks of us is to obey; and if we will not obey, all the talking and singing and even praying goes for nothing.
There are many ways of being disobedient, but only one to be obedient. One may be disobedient in a very impudent kind of way. One may say, No, to God; but, as Christ has pointed out in the parable, one may be disobedient in saying all the time also, Yes. One may be disobedient to God most courteously, most piously; but he is disobedient for all that. One may be disobedient by constantly putting off to another month or year, or week, or day. Not now, Lord. And then we lose the blessing and promise: and we may lose more than that; we may lose the faith altogether, because after a little while a man must agree with himself, and if his conduct does not agree with his faith, then he will make his faith agree with his disobedience.
So if God tells you to do a thing, do it. There is one thing that I know God tells you to do, each one of you. This, said Christ, is the work of God, that ye should believe on Him whom He hath sent. It is an act of obedience to believe in Christ. So much is it an act of obedience that Christ says that when the Holy Spirit comes, He shall convince the world of sinWhy? Because they are murderers, or thieves, or liars? No, Because they believe not in Me.
Illustration
During Colonel Sir Henry Havelocks stay in England, a gentleman went one evening to his house in compliance with an invitation. In course of conversation Mrs. Havelock turned to her husband, and said, Why, dear, where is Harry, referring to their son. Colonel Havelock started to his feet. Why, poor fellow, hes standing on London Bridge, and in this cold too! I told him to wait for me there at twelve oclock to-day, and in the pressure of business I quite forgot the appointment. It was now about seven oclock in the evening. The Colonel went to deliver his son from his watch on London Bridge, and excused himself for leaving his guest, saying, You see, sir, that is the discipline of a soldiers family.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 12:4. So Abram departed He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. His obedience was speedy and without delay, submissive and without dispute. So should ours be to him who says, Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Abram’s response 12:4-9
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Since Lot voluntarily chose to accompany Abram, he probably believed the promises as well (cf. Ruth). Abram’s call had been to separate from his pagan relatives, so he was not disobedient by allowing Lot to accompany him. [Note: See ibid., p. 207.]
Probably Abram viewed Lot as his heir (cf. Gen 11:27-32; Gen 12:4-5; Gen 13:1-2).
"Since Mesopotamian law-codes allowed for the adoption of an heir in the case of childlessness, this becomes an attractive hypothesis with respect to Lot." [Note: Helyer, p. 82.]
Abram lived 75 years with his father, then 25 years without his father or his son, and then 75 more years with his son, Isaac.