Abraham's Vision to Move
Genesis 12:1-9
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 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 the one who curses 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 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come 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 on 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 invoked the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Two Imperatives
Verses 1–3 record God’s call to Abram, and verses 4–9 record Abram’s obedience. The call had two imperatives, each with subsequent promises. The first imperative was to get out (Leave your country … go to the land, v. 1), and the second imperative was to be a blessing. (The second imperative, in v. 2, is imprecisely rendered in many versions, including the NIV, as a prediction, you will be a blessing. But lit., it is, “Be a blessing.”) His leaving started a chain of reactions. If Abram would get out of Ur, God would do three things for him, so that he could then be a blessing in the land (the second imperative); and he had to be that blessing so that God would do three more things for him. This symmetry should not be missed, for it strengthens the meaning. Abram’s calling had a purpose: his obedience would bring great blessing.
Three promises were based on God’s call for Abram to leave his land: (a) a great nation, (b) a blessing for Abram, and (c) a great name (v. 2). These promises would enable him to “be a blessing” (the second imperative, v. 2). Based on this obedience were God’s three promises to: (a) bless those who blessed him, (b) curse anyone who would treat him lightly, and (c) bless the families of the earth through him (v. 3). To bless or curse Abram was to bless or curse Abram’s God. Unfortunately God often had to use other nations to discipline His people because, far from being a blessing to the world, they were usually disobedient. The third promise takes on its greatest fulfillment in the fact that Jesus Christ became the means of blessing to the world (Gal. 3:8, 16; cf. Rom. 9:5).
The idea of faith is stressed in these passages. Abram was told to leave several things—his “country,” his people, and his father’s household (Gen. 12:1). But he was told nothing about the land to which he must go. His departure required an unparalleled act of faith.
The promissory call looks ahead to the travelogue of Abram’s faith that ends at Mount Moriah, where, upon hearing the Lord’s command again, he offers his son as sacrifice (22:1–19). The command at 22:2, lit., “Go yourself unto the land of Moriah,” recalls the beginning, lit., “Go yourself from your land” (12:1). As we observed earlier, these two commands are the “bookends” in the narration of the patriarch’s obedient walk. Abram is called upon to leave both his past and his future in placing his trust in God.
No obligations are placed upon Abram to maintain the promises (as for Israel at Sinai); he must only respond to the Lord’s command to “leave,” an act of loyalty. There is at work here the assumption of an existing relationship. The commitment rests with the Lord to “show” the patriarch the land that awaits him. In relating the promises of vv. 2–3, God is the initiator and consummator. Abram is dependent on the Lord to achieve the promises; he only has the divine word to rely on. Abram is the passive recipient of the divine will. His status in the arrangement between the two parties is illustrated when the covenant is formally ratified (15:8–15). Abram is a witness to the covenant ceremony, not a participant (15:17); only the Lord (symbolized by the firepot) passes through the animal parts. Circumcision (17:11–13) and the offering of Isaac (22:16–18) are not covenant prerequisites for Abram to enter into covenant; rather these are obedient steps of faith, which assume an existing commitment already made by God (12:1–3; 15:6, 18; cf. Jas 2:20–24).
Although the patriarch does not dishonor his heritage (e.g., Abram turns to his kinsmen for Isaac’s wife, 24:4), it will be of no aid to him in answering God’s command. The solace of country and family must give way to a higher allegiance. This is the requirement of those who enter the kingdom, as Jesus taught, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37).
Since the biblical genealogies indicate that Abram is the 10th generation from Shem, the son of Noah, it has been 10 generations since Yahweh spoke directly to anyone according to the biblical account. Previously, God gave humanity a blessing and promise after the flood. Now, after the judgment of the Tower of Babel (11:1–9), God speaks a blessing to the world again through Abram.