Chapter 12 - 13: The covenant with Abram
Terah moved from Ur and settled in Haran. When Terah died God said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." So Abram went.
This must be the loudest declaration of faith. No ifs, no buts, no thinking about it, no asking for more details. Nothing. Note that at the age of 75 Abram was still without a child, yet he believed the promise of God to make him a great nation. If you looked at the genealogy of Noah in chapter 10, the people in those days started having children at around 30 years old.
Also Ur must be a comfortable place to make home. Terah decided to settle there. If God had not called him, Abram would not have move. They were just a family of two and all his kinsmen were in Ur.
Today, if you were asked in a Bible quiz, "Who is the father of faith?" The answer would be, Abraham.
In the New Testament, the Bible had these to say:
Acts 7:2-4 "The God of glory appeared to Abraham and said to him, "Depart from Mesopotamia and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you. Then he departed from the land of Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land which you are now living; yet he gave him no inheritance in it."
Hebrew 11:8-10 "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith be lived as a foreigner in the land promised to him and looked forward to the city whose builder and maker is God."
The other question I want to address is; "Why did God chose Abram?". Is Abram a religious person? Who knows? Joshua recalled in Joshua 24:2 that Terah served other gods.
Is Abram a good person? Who knows? All we knew was he has no problem passing off his wife as his sister, to appease the authority, in order to safe himself. Not once but twice.
God pointed Abraham in the general direction and Abram packed all that he possessed and started walking. He came to Shechem. At the oak of Moreh the Lord appeared to him and said, "This is the land I will give to your descendents". He reverently built an altar and worshipped God.
He arrived at a land facing a severe famine. The Bible did not record that he had a problem with this. He did not murmured against God. He just moved to Egypt to fend for himself.
Sarai was a beautiful lady and Abram was afraid that the princes of Pharaoh might kill him to get Sarai. So Sarai was to pose as his sister to gain the favour of the princes of Egypt. When he reached Egypt, the princes had Sarai stayed with them and rewarded Abram with much wealth. God was not pleased with this situation and afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues. When they learned of the cause of their problem they chased Abram out of Egypt. So he went back into Canaan. When he reached the second altar that he had built, he worshipped the Lord. Yes Abram was still worshipping God.
We would have problem understanding why God punished the Egyptians rather than Abram if we lost focus on the objective of the Bible. This is a book about the plan of God and His salvation. His people are His people. There is no "His good people, or His weak people". God takes care of His own against those who are not His people. The justice of God is beyond human understanding. How can Christians who misbehaved more badly than non-Christians hoped to obtain salvation? This is what God wanted to teach us here.
Not only was Abram not punished, his wealth increased tremendously. Lot who was fortunate enough to stick with Abram, was also blessed. So much so it was not possible for both parties to manage their flocks properly. The best solution was for each to go their separate ways. To Abram, Lot must be like a son, so he gave him the first pick to where he would like to graze his flock. To Lot this was strictly a business decision, no sentiment. He chose the green valley of Jordan.
But with God on his side, Abram was stress free. The Lord said to Abram, looked in all directions and whatever you see is yours. Your descendents will be as much as the dust of the earth. Abram's reply was to build an altar by the oaks of Mamre (his third) and worship God.
Abram appeared to be a very focus person. His answer to life was to worship God and he held God responsible for the rest. Later in Matthew 6:31 - 34, Jesus preached this attitude of Abram.
