[I originally wrote this for "God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit", available alongside my other books.]
Did you
know that Abraham wasn’t supposed to be the father of us all?
Most, if not all
Bible-reading Christians, recall that every Jew, every Hebrew, every
“Israelite” by birth, traces his or her geneology to the man whom Israel is named
for – Israel, aka Jacob, son of
Isaac, and grandson of Abraham
(originally named “Abram”), who is the true progenitor of the Jewish people. Abram
was the one with whom God first pledged the “Abramic Covenant”, and whom He first led to the Promised Land of
Canaan. The text is in Genesis chapter 12, not long after Noah’s adventures
have washed the world clean once again (although, of course, sin accompanied
the eight fallen humans on the ark over the floodwaters), and immediately
following a chapter of ‘begats’ which most of us skim past to get to the
‘important stuff’, like this passage:
1Now 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. 2And 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. 3I 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.”
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5And 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, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at
Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the Lord
appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he
built there an altar to the Lord, who had
appeared to him.
All
of that is pretty clear, and verses 1-3 are plainly the Abramic Covenant of
which I just spoke. Often we applaud Abram’s faith, as well we should – the
unknown author of the book of Hebrews points out the scariest part for most of
us trying to put ourselves in his sandals:
8By faith Abraham obeyed when
he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was
going.
Basically,
God said, Abram, get up, take your wife
and nephew, leave everything and everyone you know, and head out
southwest. “Great, God – where are we going?” Sorry, Abram, that information is classified. “Okay – let’s go!”
That’s
scary! That’s also complete trust in your Lord and Saviour. And Abram
should indeed be praised for that faith – because
he wasn’t the first one to have that pitch given to him… Read Genesis 11:27,31-32…
27Now these are the
generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran
fathered Lot. 31Terah took Abram his son and
Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son
Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into
the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in
Haran.
The
orders from God are left out, probably to save face for Terah, but what was he supposed to do? Go
“forth together…to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran,”
what happened?
Undoubtedly, Terah balked at God’s orders. “There’s nothing but desert that direction, Lord! I’m not taking
my family out there!”
And the Lord allowed it…but to Terah, His
Covenant would NOT be made.
Abraham
became the father of more than the grains of sand – because he had faith in His
God, and his own father didn’t.
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