The Lord commanded Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you." Today Abram sets out for the land of Canaan in obedience to the Lord.
"So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him." (Genesis 12:4a) I think Abram took on a fatherly role for his fatherless nephew Lot. Abram himself was childless. Lot was the closest thing he had to a son.
"Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there." (Genesis 12:4b-5) We will learn later in Genesis that Abram lived to be one hundred and seventy-five years old. He's not even halfway through his life when he sets out for Canaan. We might consider him "middle aged" when he sets out for Canaan, but making huge changes in middle age isn't as easy as when you are young and adventurous and unencumbered by dependents. Abram is responsible for his wife, his nephew, and "the people they had acquired in Harran". Who are these people? Some scholars believe they are servants who work for the family. Others believe that these people are converts to the God of Abram who chose to go with Abram into Canaan. This is because a literal translation of the word "people" in verse 5 is "souls" in the original text. So the author of Genesis may be saying that Abram won souls to the Lord while he lived in Harran.
"Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land." (Genesis 12:6) This tree must have been of the type that lives for hundreds of years, since Moses speaks of it as if his readers are familiar with this landmark.
The Canaanites are descended from Noah's son Ham, the son upon whose lineage Noah prophetically placed a curse. They were wild and uncivilized. They worshiped false gods. Later in the Old Testament we will be told that some sects of the Canaanites practiced child sacrifice. They were an exceedingly wicked and violent group of people, and Abram must have felt overwhelmed when he reached the land of Canaan and saw the great task that lay before him and his people. The reason I think this is because the Lord appears to him in Canaan to encourage him.
"The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offspring I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him." (Genesis 12:7) The road of obedience is not always smooth. Sometimes we need the Lord to repeat His promise to us to reassure us that we are on the right path. We know in our hearts that He told us to do this particular thing, but when difficulties arise we can fall into doubt and discouragement. We may ask ourselves, "Did the Lord really tell me to do this? Or did I misunderstand?" When Abram reached Canaan he may have begun to wonder whether he misunderstood the Lord. Our faithful God who is so patient with our weaknesses shows up at just the right time to give Abram the confidence he needs. As an act of faith, Abram builds an altar and worships the Lord in the very place the Lord spoke to him. Abram doesn't know when or how the Lord is going to give him offspring. He doesn't know when or how the Lord is going to give his offspring the land of Canaan. But he believes the Lord will do it, and because he believes the Lord he goes ahead and praises the Lord for things not yet seen.
"From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev." (Genesis 12:8-9) Abram knew the importance of having a place of worship everywhere he went. At each step of the journey he was saying, in the manner of the prophet Samuel, "This far the Lord has helped us." (1 Samuel 7:12)
Wherever you are today, this far the Lord has helped you. You wouldn't have made it this far without Him. It would be a good idea to stop and thank Him for that today. And, like Abram, thank Him for the things He's going to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment