Day 6 - Genesis 12:1-20 - The Call of Abram

A Common Theme: Obedience

It seems that there is one clear, definite characteristic that great men (and women) of God have in common: obedience. Abram is no different. Genesis 12:1 says, “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.” Genesis 12:4 begins with, “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him…” Notice what God is really saying to Abram in verse 1: “Leave everything you know and are comfortable with to go to a place you’ve never been.” God doesn’t even tell Abram where He’s going to take him. And to Abram, it didn’t matter. The “where” didn’t matter because he trusted the “Who!” May we too be men (and women) who go when God’s tells us to where God tells us, without question or hesitation. We should never be worried about the where, because we have confidence in the Who!

Pretty Amazing Promise

Look at God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12:2, 3: “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.” Wow! First, God promises to make him a great nation. Next, God blesses his name. Then, God says He will bless those who bless him and curse those who dishonor him. Finally God promises to bless the whole earth through him. Let’s take a little closer look at each of these promises:

1. A great nation – Have you ever seen how proud people are when they become grandparents? Furthermore, have you ever seen how proud people are when they become great-grandparents? And they’re not only proud of the first grandchild or great-grandchild. They’re proud of each one. And they keep count. Have you ever wondered why that is? I believe it’s because we all have a desire to leave a legacy. The larger the family, the larger the potential of that legacy. God promises Abram that He is going to make him a great nation. That is a pretty amazing legacy. If we look a little deeper though, something else should jump out to us as clearly evident: According to Genesis 12:4, Abram was already 75 years old, and he didn’t yet have any children. Imagine being a person who doesn’t have any legacy (no children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) at 75 years old. How excited would you be if God told you that not only will you have a legacy, but it will be great (greater than the stars in the sky [Genesis 15:5]).
2. A great name – I am intrigued by the contrast between this situation and the one from our previous study in the previous chapter. The people who tried to build the tower to heaven in Genesis 11 did so in an attempt to make a name for themselves. No name was made for them. From what we read, Abram did not attempt to make a name for himself. He was a humble man. A name was made for him. It is impossible to make a name for yourself (no matter how hard you may try). Only God can make a name for us. And ironically, the only way that happens is if we don’t desire it.
3. A blessing and a curse – Have you ever had a friend that you decided you would always want to be with you if you ever got in a fight? You know, the strong, tough one who gave you a little bit of a sense that nobody would want to mess with him and thus wouldn’t want to mess with you. Well, multiply that by infinity and you will know what Abram must have felt like. Basically God tells Abram that He’s got his back. The even more amazing, awesome, humbling thing in all this is that God has our back too.
4. A blessing for all – The last part of the promise is easily the most awesome. God tells Abram that it will be through him that all families will be blessed. This is a clear reference to the fact that Jesus, the Savior of mankind, would be born as a descendant of Abram. It was through his line that God the Father chose to send God the Son to die as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. After all, there is no way to the Father but through Jesus (John 14:6)

Praising God

There are two occasions where we see that Abram built an altar to God (Genesis 12: 7, 8). The first altar Abram built came after the LORD appeared to him – because of something God had done. The second altar Abram built came out of his desire to call upon the name of the LORD. I think that our praise to God needs to include both these same elements. We need to praise God in response to all He does and we need to praise God just because of who He is!

Famine

It’s so intriguing to me that Abram went to Egypt as a result of there being a famine in the land where he was. As we read in Genesis 41-47, this is the same situation that ultimately led Jacob and his offspring to travel to Egypt and live there. In fact, they remained in Egypt for hundreds of years (in slavery) before God led them back to the land He promised (Promise Land) through Moses and Joshua.

Beautiful Woman

Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abram was 75 years old when he left on his journey. Genesis 17:17 tells us that when Isaac was born, Abraham (his name had just been changed from Abram) was 100 years old and Sarah (her name had just been changed from Sarai) was 90 years old. This means that Abram was 10 years older than Sarai, which means that when Abram was 75, Sarai was 65. So, Sarai was at least 65 years old when Abram is convinced that her beauty will work against him and he asks her to say she is his sister instead of his wife (Genesis 12:11-13). And Sarai was at least 65 when the Egyptians saw that she was beautiful and the princes of Pharaoh praised her to Pharaoh so that she was taken into Pharaoh’s house (12:14, 15). I would think that based on the evidence in this passage, Sarai was incredibly beautiful…at 65 years old! How is this relevant? Well, it was because of her beauty that she ended up at Pharoah’s house and it was because of her beauty that Pharoah dealt well with Abram, giving him wealth—sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys and camels (12:16). It’s no coincedence that these things happened. God had it planned all along.

Sanctity of Marriage

I had an unsaved friend recently comment to me that there is no longer sanctity of marriage. He said it is only a myth. I, of course, took offense to that statement. As I explained to my friend, it’s not that there is no longer sanctity of marriage, it’s that many people don’t respect or honor that sanctity. We see how clear God is on the sanctity of marriage in Genesis 12:17-20. Sarai was already married to Abram and God did not approve of another man (even the most powerful man in the nation) messing with a married woman. God created marriage. And God created the sanctity of marriage. By definition, marriage has sanctity. We simply choose whether or not we will respect and honor it. If we disrespect and dishonor it, we disrespect and dishonor God!