Sunday: Abram’s Departure
Read Genesis 12:1-9. Why did God call Abram to leave his country and family? How did Abram respond?
The last time that God had spoken to a person, at least as recorded in Scripture, it was with Noah, to reassure him after the Flood that He will establish a covenant with all flesh (Genesis 9:15-17) and that another worldwide flood will never come. God’s new word, now to Abram, reconnects with that promise: all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abram.
http://www.goodsalt.com/details/kibas0302.html?r=ssnet
The fulfillment of that prophecy begins with leaving the past. Abram leaves all that was familiar to him, his family, and his country, even a part of himself. The intensity of this going is reflected in the repetition of the keyword “go,” which occurs seven times in this context. Abram has first to leave his country, “Ur of the Chaldeans,” which is also Babylonia (Genesis 11:31, NKJV; Isaiah 13:19). This call to “go out of Babylon” has a long history among the biblical prophets (Isaiah 48:20, Revelation 18:4).
Abram’s departure also concerns his family. Abram must leave his heritage and much of what he learned and acquired through heredity, education, and influence.
Yet, God’s call to go involves even more. The Hebrew phrase lekh lekha, “go,” translated literally, means “go yourself” or “go for yourself.” Abram’s departure from Babylon concerns more than his environment, or even his family. The Hebrew phrase suggests an emphasis on himself. Abram has to leave himself, to get rid of the part of himself that contains his Babylonian past.
The goal of this abandonment is “a land” that God will show him. The same language will be used again in the context of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:2), to refer to the mount of Moriah, where Isaac will be offered and where the Jerusalem temple will be built (2 Chronicles 3:1). God’s promise is not just about a physical homeland but about the salvation of the world. This idea is reaffirmed in God’s promise of the blessing for all nations (Genesis 12:2-3). The verb barakh, “bless,” appears five times in this passage. The process of this universal blessing operates through the “seed” of Abram (Genesis 22:18, Genesis 26:4, Genesis 28:14). The text refers here to the “seed,” which will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Acts 3:25).
| What might God be calling you to leave behind? That is, what part of your life might you have to abandon in order to heed the call of God? |
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Abraham is a type and pattern for our faith. We are called to leave everything and follow God.
The journey actually began when Abram and his father Terah left Ur of Chaldeans. Genesis 11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
So the call and journey began back in the Ur of Chaldeans. Now in Genesis 12, God is telling Abram, “Continue the pilgrimage. Your father has died, now it is time to move on.”
Genesis 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”
None of us here can tell for certain what is going to be our tomorrow. We plan, we work, we execute great projects but man is unsure of tomorrow. All that we can do is to take one day at a time and trust God for each day. We do not know our tomorrow but we know God who holds our tomorrow.
The call of Abram begins with God. God calls Abram for his mission, his purpose and his plan. Abram just had to respond to God. God even today continues to call people for his purpose.
Here I see a sort of reversal of Babel, but some similarities as well. At Babel, the people wanted to make their name great while trying to be like God. Instead, God confused their plans. They left Babel and their own plans, in part because God wanted his plan for people to fill the earth to be fulfilled. But when God called Abram, God was the one who said he would make Abram's name great. Then God sent Abram away from the idolatrous land he lived in so that Abram's descendants could fill the earth and Abram would become a blessing to all nations. When God blessed Abram, Abram would then become a blessing to all nations. When we receive a blessing, we are to share it with others, and by sharing, we multiply the blessing.
Hello Karen,
I like your thought. The focus is not so much what God is calling us to leave behind, but how what is left behind frees us to be a blessing to those we meet on our faith journey. It is not so much where we are—Abram could have been a blessing in Babylon—but it is the possibilities God opens up when we step out of our comfort zone on our journey to promised land that broadens the blessing. That is where our faith in God needs to focus and grow. The focus is not on what we leave behind. (Philippians 3:13.)
Richard
Hello Richard, I would even venture to add that sometimes we may even not have room for the blessing because we are so focused on what's around us at the time. In Abram's surroundings of a wealthy city, even if he had tried to share the blessings God gave him, many people would not have been open to receiving, because they thought they had enough already. In today's world, some feel they already have enough; some are unwilling to make drastic changes in order to receive a greater blessing that they cannot see; but some will be ready to hear the call of the Holy Spirit and accept when we share the blessing of knowing Jesus lives us and wants us to spend eternity with him. And we also must remember to be looking for ways to meet others' needs, which is also a way to bless others.
Just to add to my previous comment. When Abram received God’s call, it resulted in his father Terah and nephew Lot leaving Ur. (Genesis 15:7; Acts 7:2-4.) Later, his brother Nahor left Ur and settled in Mesopotamia (Genesis 24:10). So even though not all of his family made it to the promised land, at least they left Babylon. I think that was a blessing for all of them.
Richard, please explain I thought that both Harran and Ur were cities in the area known as Mesopotamia, Ur in the south and Harran in the north. It also seems that the city named after Nahor was in Mesopotamia.
Abraham told his servant to go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife to my son Isaac. So to which country was he referring? Could it be Mesopotamia?
The term "mesopotamia" is derived from the Greek and means between rivers. Generally, this would cover the area that is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq. The bible maps I have show Babylonia in the southern portion (where Ur is located) and Mesopotamia in the northern portion of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. The study notes advise that the Hebrews made this distinction between the two areas.
So even though Nahor and his family did not initially move with Terah, Abram and Lot to Haran, he later moved to be closer to them, establishing the town of Nahor in Mesopotamia (not Babylonia).
Hope this helps.
I am very familiar with the idea of moving to a "far country". At the tender age of 17, I left my home in New Zealand to continue my education in Australia. My father had decided that would be the best course of action. My plan was to go to Auckland University, which was only about 150km from home, but my father thought that I would be better of studying at Avondale College in a Christian environment. I have to say that I was not entirely opposed to the idea because the reward would be a degree from the prestigious London University. I was young and had never been away from home for more than three days. Suddenly I was by myself in another country and had to make a lot of decisions without Dad and Mum's input. Further, I had lived in the relative isolation of a dairy farm and cities and close communities were quite scary for me.
I had to learn a lot. I made mistakes and I failed in my academic program. I actually had to go back home for a couple of terms and worked in a concrete pipe factory. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I went back to Australia and never failed another examination (and I sat an awful lot of them over the years). I look back now nearly 60 years and when I think of all the things that happened to me during that time, I am sure that Lord has been with me and helped me learn from my mistakes.
Abram was called out of the Mesopotamian area on an educational journey. He made mistakes and had to learn some tough lessons on the way. Sometimes he even repeated his mistakes! He did not have all the answers and it was not long before he could no longer turn to his father and ask for parental wisdom. There were times when he questioned the call of God. He even lost patience with God at times.
If there is one thing I have learned from Abram's story, it is that education is a continuing process. I don't mean that in the limited sense of academic education, but in the education of a developing relationship with God and one another.
Maurice, there are some questions that came to mind as I read your comment: Why did not Abram just ask God to lead him? Would that not have prevented a lot of problems in his life?
But with a bit of reflection on my own life (and yours), the answers are obvious. God is not a cosmic bible answer man who tells us exactly what to do in every situation. Although at times he may provide clear direction, he has already given us principles that lead to life and expects us to learn how to apply them. Just telling us how to do everything would stunt our emotional, mental and spiritual growth.
As we learn to humbly apply these principles to the circumstances and relationships we encounter in life, our character develops in ways that mirror his. Learning to use these principles develops our faith in his Way, his Truth and his Life. That is the faith journey that leads us into his presence and his promised land and rest.
In my own life, it is when I have let the pressure and stress of a situation dictate an “obvious” course of action or when I have assumed that something that seemed to work before will work again that disaster occurs. The hubris of man is to keep doing things his way over and over again and expecting better results to his problems.
It is like the last days call - Rec 18:4 Come out of her my people. To leave all sins behind and follow Jesus.
The invitation that God made to Abram is the invitation He does to us every day, to leave our past behind and move foward to a 'land' where He can lead us. He knows how much more profitable we can be in this 'new' environment, perhaps not necessarily a physical one, but definitely a new place in our spirituality. Let's move out of Babylon and move foward to the spiritual Canaan, until the day we meet our eternal home for real!
Matthew 16:24. Becoming a follower of Christ - a Christian - involves growing forward from that which would hold us back. This is part of the willingness to deny self that the verse says is essential. And the taking up the cross is the pain and discomfort that is often involved in self-denial - denying the old, habitual impulses that are conformed to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:2) and scream out to be satisfied. Leaving all that is familiar is often not an easy thing to do, even when we are willing to 'go'.
Gen.9:15 reads: ”and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you [Noah] and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Noah received this promise on behalf of all mankind that their physical life would not again be destroyed by a flood.
Yes, Abram received more than a promise regarding his posterity's establishment and physical security in the land of Canaan; his was a spiritual promise to be fulfilled in the very distant future.
'If you physically and spiritually leave behind ‘Babylon’, accept me as your God, I will bless you and your descendants; trust me, it will be for your own good – 'lekh lekha' '!
God asked Abram to abandon all he 'knew and believed' and forge a relationship with the God of Promise based on faith and trust; God offered Abram a new, on His spirit based life, and Abram accepted.
God is calling everyone to leave behind the ‘way of this world’ - unrighteousness, unbelieve and doubt - , and fully commit to live according to the revealed Will of God by faith.
Once again we see God's eternal plan for immortal Sons,in the shadow of Abraham
and the reality in the Son of God.
Amen !
Here we proved that our God is a promise keeper. All we need to do is to listen to his call, and follow his commands for a better future. He made us , so he knows our future.
Amen !!🙏
My first job out of college was Assistant to the Land Use Planner. I loved that job. The Town Planner, Jay, was 30, about 10 years older than me, and he often treated me more like a little sis than a boss. One of the coolest assignments he gave me was to create the wording for a new business district just outside of the town center at an abandoned racetrack. The Narragansett Development District. (The large, chain supermarket never did move in there, but the NDD with all of that carefully wrought wording still remains in the Land Use and Development Code.) Jay brought in experts from various fields to educate me about things I should know, engineering issues or environmental protection considerations and so forth, and he also fed me articles from current urban planning magazines to inspire me. I felt respected by him and grateful he trusted me to do something so responsible. He discussed every idea with me and he took the lead with ultimate veto authority of what went to the Planning Board and Town Council for final draft, but he gave me so much autonomy and he honestly rejoiced with me about any good idea I came up with.
One day on my way to work at 8 am, I was waiting at a red light. Suddenly I heard a sharp "toot" and looking up into my rearview mirror I saw my boss Jay flailing his arms in the driver's seat of the car behind in an exasperated shrug and pointing up. I looked forward and sure enough, the light had turned to green. When we got to the office, he came stomping in noisily behind me (he was a pretty big imposing figure) and I couldn't tell if he was honestly frustrated with me or not. He shook his head and puffed out his cheeks,saying: "What, were you waiting for the right shade of green or something?!!"
I laughed so much at that. (In my defense, I had noticed that the green arrow was a bit of a different shade of green than the other green lights.) I'm sure he was teasing, but also there was probably something important waiting in the office and he didn't want my daydreaming self to hold him back.
A working relationship with Jay was great, a real growing-up experience. I think our relationship with our Heavenly Father/Boss is a lot like this. God shows us so much respect with the power of choice and by asking us to share projects with Him. He tenderly prepares us to do a good job and He takes real delight in our works that are the results of the way He has patiently educated us. He is proud of us. He sees Himself in us. He enjoys planning with us. And then sometimes God toots His horn and says, "Will you just GO, please! It's a green light. Are you waiting for the right shade of green? What is the holdup? Time is ticking down on planet Earth and we have work to do!"
Ester, I love your comments. They are very well applied to the lesson, along with very simple and impacting. I have been out here for a couple years and I never reply. Some of the comments are more on a higher level than where my brain goes. However, you are very simplistic and apply your comments to practical living, I love reading what you have to say. Thank you
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement, CL! This blog is a gift from God to be able to share with each other. 🙏