Abraham's Call

English Standard Version Chapter 12

The Call of Abram

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

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

So, let’s take a little time and set the stage a bit here

This story takes place roughly 2000 years before the time of Christ

There was a man named Terah who was from a place called Ur.

Ur was in the land of the Chaldeans

We won’t spend a lot of time looking at what the land of the Chaldeans was like

Not a lot is known about this area, especially this early in history

Later, it became quite a hot spot as it was fought over extensively and conquered multiple times by

Assyrians

Babylonians

Persians

Other than that, as far as geography, it was in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

It was low-lying and marshy, so there was plenty of moisture to grow crops

And, it’s pretty safe to say that the people were pagans, worshiping inanimate objects and not the One True God

But, if you back up in your bibles to the end of chapter 11, you can see in verse 26 that Terah, at the age of 70, fathered 3 sons:

Abram, Nahor, and Haran

Haran died

And sometime after that, in 11:31, Terah took Abram, Abram’s wife, Sarai, and Abram’s nephew, Lot, who was the son of Haran, who had died

And they all set out from their town of Ur, and began to head north and west out of the land of Chaldea

They began to head toward the land of Canaan

But then they reach a town called

Haran (the same name of Abram’s brother who died)

And for some reason, they stop there

The route that they were taking was a main trade route between the east and the west

Along the fertile crescent

And for whatever reason, they just stopped and settled in this area

And it’s here that Terah reaches the end of his life and dies

And it’s here that God calls out to Abram and says,

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

Now, if you were to read just this passage, it looks like God just shows up “out of nowhere” and puts a call on Abram’s life while he was living in the land of Haran

However, if we look at the NT, we actually get a different picture.

Stephen on trial

Gives a history of the Jewish people to provide a foundation for Jesus being the Messiah

And in his history, he gives us a bit of a different picture than the Genesis account.

he says this

Acts 7:2-4

English Standard Version Chapter 7

Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.

So, as I read the Genesis story, the question on my mind is, “Why did Terah take Abram and move to Haran?”

What inspired him to leave Ur?

Well, the answer possibly is this

that already when they were still in Ur, Abram received a revelation and a call from God and a leading to head west toward Canaan

Because God had a plan and a purpose for him

And even though the Genesis account makes it looks like God just comes out of nowhere to speak to Abram at Haran

God already had His hand on Abram in Ur.

And perhaps the calling was so strong that Abram was able to persuade the rest of his immediate family that they needed to begin heading west

The call of Abram

Go from

your country

your kindred

your father’s house

The Blessing

you will be a great nation

I will bless you

You will be a blessing

Those who bless you will be blessed

Those who curse you will be cursed

ALL the families in earth will be blessed in you

The obedience of Abram

So Abram went vs. 4