Before you read this post, I encourage you to read Genesis 12.
This is the fifth installment to our Old Testament Story series. You can read the other installments here.
As we look at the Old Testament story, we take another leap forward in time. Noah was probably around 2500 BC, and Abraham is approximately 2000 BC. In Gen 12 you read about a fellow named Abram, who God will rename to Abraham in Gen 17:5. In Genesis 12, God calls Abram.
In a very real sense, this is the start of the Old Testament story. In Genesis 1-11, God is involved with people here and there, but as we reach Genesis 12 the approach changes. God is calling a particular people who will be the focus of his attention. That doesn’t mean that God is unaware of what is happening in China or Greece, but simply that for His own purposes He has chosen a particular family to whom He will especially reveal Himself.
The Watershed Moment
Let’s look at the opening verses:
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.” (Gen 12:1-3)
Whether reading evangelical, Jewish, or critical commentaries, everybody agrees that these are crucial verses. Tremper Longman speaks for many when he says, “One cannot overestimate the importance of these three verses not only for the Abraham story and the Pentateuch but for the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments.”1 But why? Why is this such a big deal?
With these words, God makes many promises. First, He promises Abram a land. Abram hasn’t seen the land yet, but it will be Canaan. It will be that strip of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea that has captured the attention of the world for about the last 4000 years.
Next, He promises Abram a people, a nation. The nation that will be known as Israel. The nation that will receive God’s Law. The nation that will hear from God’s prophets. The nation that will be ruled by God’s king.
Finally, God promises a blessing. This family will be blessed differently from any other family on earth because they will be in relationship with the living God. But that blessing is not meant to stay with them. That blessing is intended to spill over and become a blessing that touches the whole world. Again, it’s far from obvious at this point, but we have another hint at the coming mission of Jesus.
A Walk of Faith
We don’t know how God gave these words to Abram but it was enough that he packed up his bags, took his family, and went to Canaan. What kind of faith did this take? He has no idea the land he was going to. He had only the promises of God. In the same way we are pressing through this life trusting in God, heading toward a promised land that we only know through similes, metaphors, and visions recorded in scripture; we don’t really know what our promised land (heaven) will be like, but like Abram we trust God.
As Abram crosses Canaan, he builds altars to worship YHWH (Gen 12:7-8). Don’t miss this. In Canaan they don’t worship YHWH. As Abram builds these altars, he is claiming this land for the worship of the God who spoke to him in v1-3 and v7. Again, we know that the whole earth belongs to our God. Yet as Abram builds these altars it is a declaration that this land will worship a new God now.
A Walk of Immaturity
As the chapter ends, we suddenly see a very different side of Abram. The great faith we saw at the beginning of the chapter suddenly dries up as they get to Egypt and he rolls out his famous “she’s my sister” routine. (See Gen 20:13.) This may have been Abram’s habit, but it’s playing dangerous with God’s promises. God promises Abram that Abram would father a great nation, but he is letting his wife perhaps end up in another man’s bed. How could we be sure that the promised nation is really a descendant of Abram and not of Pharaoh?
God protects his promise. He “afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues” (Gen 12:17.) How long was Sarai in Pharaoh’s harem? It’s hard to say. But I’m glad this story is in the Bible. We see Abram as a great man of faith in v1-9. He has a degree of faith that most of us are not called to duplicate. Bible heroes can seem like supermen sometimes. But then we see Abram lying to Pharaoh because he’s worried somebody will kill him. That’s much more the man I see when I look in the mirror.
As we watch Abraham’s story develop over the next dozen chapters, we will see him grow into a man who trusts God more and more. In our next study we’ll see the ultimate test of his faith.
The Kingdom Begins
The kingdom of God really begins in Gen 12. It’s like a mustard seed, but it will grow. And the promise God made is Gen 3:15 is slowly coming into focus. Where is the one who will crush the serpent’s head? Well, of all the families of the world, one has been chosen. God has not forgotten his promise. He is slowly revealing his plans and purposes.
We’re only 12 chapters into the first book of the Bible, but already it should be clear to us that God is not in a hurry. His purposes work out very methodically. For a people like us – with lives accustomed to Instant Pots, next day shipping, and lose 10 pounds this month with this fad diet – God’s pace can be maddeningly slow. But He has a definite plan for how He will save the world, and He has a lot to teach us about patience.
- Tremper Longman III. Genesis. (SGBC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2016). 159. ↩︎
