GOD CALLED ABRAM

Passage: Genesis 12:1-9

Key verse: 1

NIV

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household(A) to the land(B) I will show you.(C)

2 “I will make you into a great nation,(D)
    and I will bless you;(E)
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a](F)
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;(G)
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.(H)”[b]

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot(I) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old(J) when he set out from Harran.(K) 5 He took his wife Sarai,(L) his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated(M) and the people(N) they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,(O) and they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through the land(P) as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh(Q) at Shechem.(R) At that time the Canaanites(S) were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram(T) and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.(U)”(V) So he built an altar there to the Lord,(W) who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel(X) and pitched his tent,(Y) with Bethel on the west and Ai(Z) on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.(AA)

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.(AB)

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Footnotes
  1. Genesis 12:2 Or be seen as blessed
  2. Genesis 12:3 Or earth / will use your name in blessings (see 48:20)
  3. Genesis 12:7 Or seed
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

ESV

The Call of Abram

12 Now (A)the Lord said[a] to Abram, “Go from your country[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 (B)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 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and (D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[c]

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 (E)Haran. 5 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, 6 Abram (F)passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to (G)the oak[d] of (H)Moreh. At that time (I)the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, (J)“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 to the hill country on the east of (K)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. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

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Footnotes
  1. Genesis 12:1 Or had said
  2. Genesis 12:1 Or land
  3. Genesis 12:3 Or by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves
  4. Genesis 12:6 Or terebinth
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway
1. God called 75 years old Abram (1-3). When the world after the Babel Tower incident was dark and chaotic, God began a new history of redemption by calling one old man, Abram. It required for Abram a painful separation from his people who were idol worshiping and from his father's household, his comfort zone. It required going to an unknown land trusting in God's guidance alone. If he obeys, God promised him abundant blessings: to make childless Abram into a great nation, a nameless into a great man, a hopeless person into a source of the blessing of all nations through the Messiah, Jesus, his descendant. God is God of hope. He called 75 years old Abram to be the source of blessing for all generations of the entire world. God is mighty who can change a dead person into a blessing. He calls each of us from sin and death with the promise of salvation and blessing too. 2. Abram obeyed God's word (1 -2 ). How did Abram respond? Abram left, as the Lord had told him. His faith was based on the word of God and not on his calculation. God also promised to give him the land, Canaan where Canaanites were already living in. Yet Abram thanked God, building an altar wherever he went and called God's name many times. He took his fatherless cousin, Lot with him too.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for calling such a worthless and useless sinner like me for your redemptive history. Let me follow your word giving thanks in all my pilgrimage.

One Word: I will make you into a great nation.