Last year (can you believe it?), we heard the story of how Terah, father of Abram, had taken their family on a long journey away from Ur in south Sumer, traveling hundreds of miles north to what was probably their ancestral stomping grounds. And then, entrapped by the familiar culture, the prospects for profit, and the ease of ending their journey, there Terah paused at Harran. Never would he go a step farther toward where God had rally been leading him (Genesis 11:31-32). It was into that settled state of half-measures that God renewed his call on Abram's life, effectively demanding that Abram “abdicate core elements of his identity,”1 and moreover insisting that Abram leave Harran and pursue the path onwards, with no details about a destination (Genesis 12:1-3). As one early Christian put it, God “put to the test the patriarch's godfearing spirit with the vagueness of his command.”2 Would Abram trust God's promises enough to gamble his whole life on it and go?
How does Abram react? Not with questions or objections. Instead, in silent acquiescence like his forefather Noah, Abram “immediately obliges.”3 “Abram went, as the LORD had told him” (Genesis 12:4); or, as the New Testament puts it, “by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place” beyond where he'd been (Hebrews 11:8). That prompt “obedience to the divine command,” when the command was so imposing, was “a great testimony to the patriarch,” early Christians thought.4
But Abram didn't go alone. “Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his [late] brother's son,” whom he at this point effectively adopted.5 They were Abram's household, not Terah's, now, even though Lot was now a growing man starting his own family. Abram also took “all their possessions that they had gathered,” all their movable property – he didn't go forth as a “poor, wayfaring stranger,”6 even though he “left secure economic conditions in response to a divine calling.”7 He left Harran as a man with resources,8 which he'd need to sustain his crew on the journey, “taking them to meet his needs” and theirs.9 Speaking of his crew, Abram brought “the souls that they had acquired in Harran” (Genesis 12:5). While some Jewish readers glossed this as “the persons whom they had subjected to their law,”10 and others took it as “the souls they had converted,”11 likely it's talking about servants in their employ. Not two decades later, we'll hear that just the adult men “born in his house” number over three hundred, so this seems no measly troop even now (Genesis 14:14). I wonder if, as Luther thought, they all “believed this preaching of Abraham” and so “followed the holy head of the household with the utmost joy,”12 or if instead they were – so far – simply along for the ride. Abram commits them to what, in human terms, seemed “an uncertain future.”13
But, in the words of one old preacher, Abram “believed the words coming from God, with no hesitation or uncertainty, but rather, with mind and purpose firmly decided, he set out.”14 What happened next? How'd they know which way to go? Maybe Abram had a general idea already that Canaan was the plan, or at least a good idea, since he was hardly the first to travel that way 'round the Fertile Crescent. But then again, the Bible adds that Abram “went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). So maybe he got a mental picture and walked until he saw it, or maybe he had a fresh prompting of direction day by day.15 God led him.
So Abram, obeying the call, trusted in the LORD to steer his steps. But the Bible includes precisely zero details about the journey they made. Probably setting out in the spring, they would have walked south from Harran down through the Balikh River valley until they reached the east-west road. Filing in among the other merchant caravans to where the road split, they might've taken the branch that led to Aleppo, then the trade center at Qatna, before the Kings Highway took them down to Damascus, another major stop for trade caravans; pushing on to the southwest could've led them to Hazor, a strategic site at the very north tip of Canaan.16 By that point, Abram had gone nearly five hundred miles from Harran, and these were rougher miles than the ones to Harran from Ur;17 at a rate of at most six miles in a day's time, given their herds and flocks, getting to Canaan would've probably taken around three months or so.18 And then, at last, there they were, with Canaan open before them.
Reading Abram's journey spiritually, we know that, just like Abram had to surrender his old life, at baptism Christians were traditionally called to renounce the devil and all his pomps and pleasures – or, as Paul put it, to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:12).19 In that moment, we, like Abram's troop, admit to being “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). And from there, we – again, like Abram – set out on a journey to somewhere we haven't yet seen: “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). Each day of that journey, we – again, like Abram – “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). One day, we know, we'll finish. We don't know how long it'll take. We don't know exactly which twists and turns God will lead us through. But we trust the country God has in store is better than the turf we're passing by.
As for Abram's troop, “they came to the land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:5). Whether Abram knows it or not yet, this is their destination, the land God said he'd show him. And, in retrospect, Abram has completed the journey his father Terah was meant to but never did.20 “And Abram passed through the land,” heading south into Canaan (Genesis 12:6). Likely the first part of Canaan he saw was Galilee. Imagine Abram walking the lake's western shore – and do you think Abram maybe paused over the empty plot where Nazareth would one day be?
But if he did, he didn't linger long. He continued on, we read, “to the place at Shechem,” a city in the heart of Canaan about a 42-mile hike south of Nazareth, “to the oak of Moreh” in the surrounding countryside, which, since 'Moreh' evidently means 'teacher,' may have been “a pagan site for oracles”21; and “at that time, the Canaanite was in the land” (Genesis 12:6). The land was in the midst of rebounding from a great population crash a few centuries before; by this point, it might've had about forty thousand inhabitants.22 And so “by faith he went to live in the land... as in a foreign land” (Hebrews 11:9), “in the manner of a nomad and refugee, like some despicable outcast; yet he made no difficulty of this situation,” but “trusted in God's promises.”23
Early Christians often held that, because of Abram's active faith in taking this journey, he “immediately became worthy of the greater favor of God.”24 And so, at the oak of Moreh, “the LORD appeared to Abram” (Genesis 12:7). Before, he'd heard God's call, but now, out of that greater favor, God somehow manifests himself to Abram.25 The destination becomes the scene of divine vision! As one ancient teacher taught, “as far as our created nature and its limitations go, it is an impossible achievement; but as far as God's loving-kindness goes, it is possible, since through his goodness he allows himself to be understood.”26 John tells us that “no one has ever seen God,” but that “the unique God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). Could it be that, when “the LORD appeared to Abram” (Genesis 12:7), Abram beheld Christ? Jesus, after all, later declared that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).
So “the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your seed I will give this land'” (Genesis 12:7). Childless Abram's own offspring will inherit the very territory he's now seeing around him in all directions; this land, even though now inhabited, will one day be turned over to them by the authority of the LORD God Almighty. From this moment on, it becomes “the land of promise” (Hebrews 11:9) – the start of a core theme of the entire Old Testament.27 If Abram's to become a great nation like God said (Genesis 12:2), he'll need all this land!28
It's an awesome pledge, one we'll unpack more later on. And Abram believes it. How does he respond to the gift of God? He “built an altar to the LORD who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7), and in this way Abram “gave thanks for the promises made to him.”29 The Bible says nothing about Abram making an offering on that altar,30 but ancient Jews and Christians usually figured that “he offered up upon it a burnt offering to the LORD who appeared to him.”31 Whether he does or not, Abram's response is evident gratitude and celebration.
But Abram's not done. “From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east” (Genesis 12:8). The route south from Shechem, past the walled city of Shiloh, keeps Abram in the lightly populated hill country, good grazing land that's still close enough to towns where he can buy and sell.32 The spot where he stops now, a little over twenty miles down the meandering road south from Shechem, puts Abram just over ten miles north of Calvary. He pitches his tent in the mile-long stretch between Bethel and Ai. 'Bethel' means 'house of God,' while 'Ai' means 'ruins' – and doesn't that capture something of where we live, suspended between the prospect of ruin and the inviting house of God?33
There, in this place of tension between the heavenly house of God and the ruination of hell, facing Calvary over the horizon, “there he built an altar to the LORD” – again (Genesis 12:8)! Notice, Abram doesn't build a city or house – he lives out of a tent he pitches here and there – but he does build altars, “monuments in honor of God.”34 Abram won't let his life make a permanent impact on the land, but he will imprint the land with a lasting testimony to a God of grace!35 Abram “leaves behind markers of God's presence throughout the land,”36 and thereby, in plain view of the Canaanite shrines in both Shechem and Bethel, unveils an alternative his new neighbors might consider.37 Though Abram has a heavenly hope which the promised land symbolizes (Hebrews 11:13-16), Abram stakes claims for God on the earthly land, aiming to reshape this world for God's glory.38
It was to that end that Abram “built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8). Some later Jews suggested it was on New Year's Day, “on the first of the first month, that he built an altar upon that mountain, and he called on the name of the LORD: 'You are my God, the eternal God!'”39 There “he erected an altar in thanksgiving” again and “performed the sacrifice of praise and righteousness,” at least a “spiritual sacrifice,”40 when he “invoked the name of God.”41 Maybe he was seeking guidance for where and when to actually put down firm roots.42 But certainly he was leading his troop, for the first time in Canaan, in “formal public worship” of the one true God – there at this altar he'd built on the land.43
As for us, likewise camped out in our little mile between the ruins and the house of God, “we have an altar” far greater than those Abram built, for ours is made fit for the offering that brings holiness to earth (Hebrews 13:10) – ours is an altar of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord who calls us on our journey, however long or however short it may prove. Jesus is the Lord who inspires the faith by which we walk each day we travel through this land. Jesus is the Lord who waits for us in the heavenly country, and “we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Jesus is the one for whom we, not for our own dwelling but to his glory, imprint the land, raising altars of praise where we can call on his name. Jesus is the one who, just over ten miles from where Abram worshipped, “suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood” (Hebrews 13:12), the body and blood he lifts at these altars he builds with and through and ultimately in us. “Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” (Hebrews 13:15), 'til our journey's done. Amen.
1 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 128.
2 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 31.9, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:243.
3 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 259; cf. Alex Varughese and Christina Bohn, Genesis 12-50: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (Beacon Hill Press, 2019), 38.
4 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Genesis 12:4-5, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 132:185.
5 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.154, in Loeb Classical Library 242:77; cf. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 31.16, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:247.
6 “Wayfaring Stranger,” hymn #162 in E. A. Hoffman, et al., Gems of Gospel Song (R. E. Hudson, 1881), 110.
7 Zvi Shimon, “Distinguishing Abraham from the 'Terahides': The Ideology of Separation Behind Etiology,” in Elizabeth R. Hayes and Karolien Vermeulen, eds., Doubling and Duplicating in the Book of Genesis: Literary and Stylistic Approaches to the Text (Eisenbrauns, 2016), 142.
8 Tremper Longman III, Genesis (Zondervan Academic, 2016), 162.
9 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Genesis 12:4-5, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 132:186.
10 Targum Onqelos Genesis 12:5, in Aramaic Bible 6:63.
11 Targum Neofiti Genesis 12:5, in Aramaic Bible 1A:86.
12 Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis 12:5, in Luther's Works 2:280.
13 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 78.
14 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 31.15, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:247.
15 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 31.19, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:250.
16 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 90; Shaul Bar, Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (Peter Lang, 2015), 20-21; Alex Varughese and Christina Bohn, Genesis 12-50: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (Beacon Hill Press, 2019), 39.
17 John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 209.
18 Stephen K. Ray, Genesis: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary (Ignatius Press, 2023), 131.
19 Bede, On Genesis 12:4, in Translated Texts for Historians 48:247.
20 Terence E. Fretheim, Abraham: Trials of Family and Faith (Fortress Press, 2024; reprint from University of South Carolina Press, 2007), 31; Zvi Shimon, “Distinguishing Abraham from the 'Terahides': The Ideology of Separation Behind Etiology,” in Elizabeth R. Hayes and Karolien Vermeulen, eds., Doubling and Duplicating in the Book of Genesis: Literary and Stylistic Approaches to the Text (Eisenbrauns, 2016), 134-135.
21 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 207; cf. Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 134.
22 Aaron A. Burke, The Amorites and the Bronze Age Near East: The Making of a Regional Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2021), 162-163, 233, 241.
23 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 31.20, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:251.
24 Bede, On Genesis 12:5-7, in Translated Texts for Historians 48:249.
25 Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17 (Eerdmans, 1990), 377.
26 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Genesis 12:7, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 132:190.
27 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 92.
28 John C. Lennox, Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt (SPCK, 2024), 59.
29 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 32.7, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 82:259.
30 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 132; John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 211.
31 Jubilees 13:4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:82; cf. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.157, in Loeb Classical Library 242:79; Bede, On Genesis 12:7, in Translated Texts for Historians 48:249.
32 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 90-91.
33 John C. Lennox, Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt (SPCK, 2024), 62.
34 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 79.
35 Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17 (Eerdmans, 1990), 378; John Goldingay, Genesis (Baker Academic, 2020), 212.
36 Tremper Longman III, Genesis (Zondervan Academic, 2016), 162.
37 Jonathan Grossman, Abraham: The Story of a Journey (Maggid Books, 2023), 20-21.
38 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 132; Stephen K. Ray, Genesis: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary (Ignatius Press, 2023), 132; John C. Lennox, Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt (SPCK, 2024), 62.
39 Jubilees 13:8, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:83.
40 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Genesis 12:8, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 132:197.
41 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God 16.9, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/7:208.
42 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 132.
43 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 135.
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