“Genesis 12:4-9”

Sunday, November 17, 2019

“So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain 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. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“So Abram when forth as the Lord had spoken to him...” (verse 4) We mentioned Hebrews 11:9 yesterday, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” The Lord called him to a difficult and life-changing undertaking, and, Like Noah ten generations before him, he heard and obeyed the voice and commandments of God. The text doesn't reveal the manner in which “the Lord had spoken to him,” but we know exactly how God “calls” people today. The Lord called Abraham out of Ur and out of Haran and into the Promised Land; and He calls us through the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14) to come out of a life of sin, error and transgression and into the truth, eternal life and promise of heaven that resides in Christ Jesus alone.

“And Lot went with him.” (verse 4) This information is given in preparation for the events recorded in the next chapter. “Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” This means that Abraham could not have been the oldest of Terah's sons, even though Genesis 11:26 tells us, “Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.” If Abram was 75 years old when his father died in Haran, and Terah lived to be 205 years old (Genesis 11:32), then he must have been 130 years old when his son Abram was born. So Genesis 11:26 actually indicates that Terah BEGAN having sons at the age of 75, but it was another 55 years before Abram came along.

“And the persons which they had acquired in Haran...” (verse 5) “The Jewish interpreters explain this of proselytes, and persons whom they had converted to the faith in one God. Such might probably be in Abram’s company; but the most part were his dependents and slaves (comp. Genesis 14:14), though the word “slave” suggests a very different relation to us than that which existed between Abram and his household. Their descendants were most certainly incorporated into the Israelitish nation, and we have direct testimony that Abram gave them careful religious training (Genesis 18:19). Thus the Jewish traditions record a fact, and by acknowledging Abram’s household as proselytes admit their claim to incorporation with the race.” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)

“And they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.” (verse 5) “They make a fresh start, and this time they arrive in Canaan. Although the text does not report the precise details of the route from Haran to Shechem, all available possibilities would have taken them through or near some of the great urban centers of the day. Since Haran lay on the banks of the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates, they most likely traveled southward along the Balikh Valley in order to reach the great east-west arterial road that led from Ur, Babylon, and Accad to Mari, where it branched into two. They then could either have taken the upper branch, leading to Aleppo, and then veered south past Qatna and Damascus, or they could have continued southward to the oasis of Tadmor (Palmyra) on the lower branch and then turned southwestward along the road to Damascus. Either way, they could have continued on to Hazor, a major commercial and military center, strategically placed in Upper Galilee at the junction of ancient and important roads leading to some of the main cities of Canaan. The narrative is silent concerning the route and the incidents on the journey in order to avoid diverting attention from the primary theme, which is the entry into the land and the first theophany, or divine revelation, that the patriarch experiences.” (Nahum Sarna)

“Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.” (verse 6) “Abram and the other patriarchs, in their pastoral migrations, generally avoided the well-inhabited areas in the northern part of Canaan and the coastal plain. They likewise kept away from the Plain of Jezreel and the Jordan Valley. By sticking to the central mountain range and the Negeb, they could enjoy a region that was suited to pastoral economy but was sparsely populated. They could wander with their herds without encroaching on the rights of others. At the same time, they were generally on the fringes of urban centers where they could obtain supplies, if need be, and also dispose of their own products.” (Nahum Sarna)

Shechem, “signifies 'shoulder,' and was the name of the ridge uniting Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, the summits of which are about two miles apart. As the name is thus taken from the natural conformation of the ground, it may be very ancient. The modern name of the place is Nablous... Mr. Conder...describes the valley as an oasis of remarkable beauty and luxuriance, but set, like Damascus, in a desert, and girt around by strong and barren mountains... The oak of Moreh, It was here that Jacob buried the strange gods brought by his household from Haran (Genesis 35:4), and here, too, Joshua set up the stone of testimony (Joshua 24:26; Judges 9:6); but as in Deuteronomy 11:30 the oaks...are described in the plural, it is probable that the word is to be taken as a collective for an oak grove. Such shady spots were favourite places for the tents of the wandering patriarchs. A famous terebinth, called after Abram’s name, long existed in Mamre...” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)

“Now the Canaanite was then in the land.” (verse 6) “This is no sign of post-Mosaic authorship, nor a later interpolation, as if the meaning were that the Canaanite was there at that time, but is so no longer. What really is meant is that Abram on his arrival found the country no longer in the hands of the old Semitic stock, but occupied by the Canaanites, who seem to have gained the ascendancy, not so much by conquest as by gradual and peaceful means. We gather from the Egyptian records that this had taken place not very long before Abram’s time. In the early inscriptions we read only of the Sati and Aamu, both apparently Semitic races... Subsequently we find frequent mention of the Amaor and the Kheta—that is, the Amorites and Hittites, evidently in Abram’s time the two most powerful races of Canaan.” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)

“The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.'” (verse 7) This is the first patriarchal divine appearance, or “theophany” recorded in Genesis. Genesis 12:1 says that the Lord “said” to Abram,” which is a different Hebrew term than “appeared”. The term “is used three times with Abraham (also 17:1; 18:1), twice with Isaac (26:2,24), and once with Jacob (35:9)... It is quite clear, however, that such a usage need not imply any visual accompaniment to the oral communication. Thus, the experience of the boy Samuel in the temple at Shiloh is purely auditory (1 Sam. 3:11-14), yet it is described as a vision (...1 Sam. 3:15).” (Nahum Sarna)

“'To your descendants I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.” (verse 7) With a heart filled with gratitude for God's deliverance and promise, Abram built an altar to offer sacrifice to the Lord. By doing so he acknowledged his acceptance of God's gift and consecrated the Land to Him. No mention is made of the actual sacrifice itself, however. Nahum Sarna observed: “Among patriarchs, acts of worship are always individual, never public. The patriarchs do not take part in any existing cult, and they always build new altars or reuse the one they themselves had previously erected. Significantly, we have no record of an act of worship by them outside the boundaries of the Land of Israel, and Abram refrains from putting up an altar inside the land before it has been divinely identified as the land of promise.”

“Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent...” (verse 8) The name “Beth-el” means “House of God.” It may have bore that name as an ancient shrine even before Abram's arrival, or could have been named “Luz” when Abram arrived, and only called Bethel after Jacob named it so (Genesis 28:19) “So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.” (Genesis 18:18-19)

Abram “pitched his tent.” (verse 8) Abram did not settle down in any one place in the Land of Promise, but traveled about surveying the various regions that would later be the inheritance of his vast posterity, as he journeyed his way southward. “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.” (Hebrews 11:9) “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.” “The situation of Abram’s tent between Bethel and Ai must have commanded a view of the valley of the Jordan and of the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Moab. 'Beth-el,' or 'House of God,' was probably also an ancient shrine, the modern Bêtîn, 9½ miles N. of Jerusalem.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) Abram built an altar there that he would later revisit on his return from Egypt as recorded in Genesis 13:2-4. Here he invoked the ancient custom instituted through the line of Seth by Enosh of “calling on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26) “Abram addresses God by his proper name, Yahweh, with an audible voice, in his assembled household. This, then, is a continuation of the worship of Adam, with additional light according to the progressive development of the moral nature of man.” (Barnes' Notes on the Bible)

“Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.” (verse 9) “That is, to southern and southeastern Judah around Beer-sheba, below the central hill country and the Shephelah. The name derives from a root meaning 'dry, parched,' indicative of the precarious rainfall in the area and the arid terrain. By now, Abram has covered the entire length of the country from north to south.” (Nahum Sarna)

Please read Genesis 12:10-20 for tomorrow.

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