Scripture: 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. 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. 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.”
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. 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, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 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. 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. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Genesis 12:1-9 ESV [Click here to read the entire chapter.]
Observation: Recapping Yesterday’s Daily Focus, while in Terah’s homeland of Ur of the Chaldeans, his youngest son, Haran, fathered Lot, Milcah, and Iscah before his untimely death in the presence of his father. Terah’s oldest son, Abram, married Sarai (who remained infertile until old age), and the middle son, Nahor, married his niece, Milcah. Meanwhile, Terah decided to leave Ur and seek a better life in Canaan. So he took Abram, Sarai, and his grandson, Lot, and headed northwest to Haran (modern-day Harran, Turkey), where he instead settled and died.
Today’s reading encompasses God’s calling of Abram (whom God later renames Abraham; 17:5). Commanding Abram to leave his homeland and extended family, God promises to make a great nation from (and name for) Abram. Still, this promise is not just for Abram’s benefit but for blessing all families on earth. Yahweh further assures Abram that he will bless those Abram blesses and curse those who disrespect him. So, Abram leaves Haran with his wife Sarai (later named Sarah: 17:15), nephew Lot, and his servants and possessions gained in Haran and sets out to the southwest toward Canaan. Upon arriving, Abram travels to Shechem and settles at the oak of Moreh, where the Lord reveals himself and speaks to Abram, promising to give this land to his offspring. So, Abram builds an altar to the Lord. Abram then relocates to the hill country between Bethel and Ai and again builds an altar to the Lord, calling on Yahweh’s name. Lastly, he sojourns to the Negeb (an arid region in the southern part of Israel).
Takeaway: Moses, the masterful narrator, weaves a tapestry of subtle details that echo from the Garden of Eden to Ararat to Haran and then point to the future from Shechem to the hill country between Bethel and Ai to the Negeb. In a fascinating thread of continuity, we see God speak similar covenantal blessings first pronounced to Adam and Eve (1:28), then to Noah (8:20-22), and lastly to Abram (vv.2-3). With each blessing, the implication is to be fruitful and multiply. This intriguing pattern of divine communication leaves us with a sense of anticipation, wondering what the future holds and how these blessings will unfold. And a clue comes from each backdrop. When humankind rebels against God, provoking his judgment, the Lord follows with a gracious means of salvation for a remnant, whether for Seth east of Eden, Noah over the flood waters, or Abram west of the Babel dispersion.
Secondly, the narrative directs Moses’ audience to the future: to Abraham’s grandson Jacob and Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership. Indeed, Jacob visited the same three sites where Abraham called on the Lord when he returned to Canaan from Haran with his wives, servants, and possessions (Genesis 34-35). And Joshua later led the nation to victory and possession of the land in Shechem (Joshua 24), the hill country between Bethel and Ai (Joshua 8), and the Negeb (Joshua 10-11).
Our takeaway? A running theme in this passage will thread its way to Christ: God’s judgment leads to his blessings of salvation. Time and again, we see God addressing his people’s sinful rebellion that makes way for his blessings of redemption, whether with the patriarchs, the nation of Israel, or the church. At its center point is Christ, who, with God the Father, incarnated a rescue plan that begins and ends with a blessing:
- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV)
- “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24 ESV).
These blessings remind us that Christ, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, continues his marvelous work of bringing us to the conviction of our sins (judgment) that sets us free from sin’s tyranny (salvation).
Our part? Like Abram, “Go.” Move out trusting in and obeying God’s covenant blessings fulfilled in Christ and orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of our sins, assures us that the Father has forgiven us, and spurs us to carry on with the Son’s mission: to be a blessing to others just as the Father and Son have blessed us.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for your Son, who, together with you, has blessed us beyond measure. And we thank you that even your judgment of our sins is for our good, to bring us to repentance where we can embrace your forgiveness and be set free to go and bless others. Still, we can be remiss in showing gratitude and paying it forward. So please help us cooperate with your Holy Spirit to confess our sins, receive your forgiveness, and bless others for the sake of your Son and his kingdom. Amen.
Rev. Gordon Green, M.Div., M.A. Counseling
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