Golden Text.—“I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” Verse 2.
1 “Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and 2 be thou a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the 3 families of the earth be blessed. So Abram went, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of 4 Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan 5 they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite 6 was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. 7 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east; and there he builded an altar unto the 8 Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What command had the Lord given Abraham? Verse 1. (2) Where was Abraham when he was first called of God? Heb. 11:8; Gen. 11:27-32. Note 1. (3) What promise was made to Abraham at this time? Verse 2. Note 2. (4) How was God’s care to be manifested to Abraham? Verse 3. (5) Whose direction did Abraham follow? How old was Abraham when he left Haran? Verse 4. (6) Whom did Abraham take with him? To what land did he come? Verse 5. Note 3. (7) At what place in Canaan did Abraham first stop? What people was in that land? Verse 6. Note 4. (8) Who appeared to Abraham at this place? What definite promise was made to him here? Then what did Abraham do in recognition of the Lord’s presence? Verse 7. Note 5. (9) To what place did he remove his camp? What did he do there? Verse 8. Note 6. (10) In what direction did he afterward journey? Verse 9.
NOTES.
1. Apostasy after the Flood.—Altho Noah lived till two years before Abraham’s birth, and Shem till Abraham was 150 years old, the world had again become very wicked in Abraham’s day. Abraham was a direct descendant of Shem, being of the tenth generation. By this time, however, the world had become so corrupted, and the truth of God so perverted by false worship, that Abraham was called out from his country and people, in order that he might be a repository of the truth, and raise up a family and a nation that would obey it. The first call came to Abraham while he was yet in Mesopotamia. Acts 7:2.
2. God’s Blessing.—No one ever received the blessing of God for himself alone. “Freely ye have received, freely give,” is the principle of God’s dealing with His creatures. So Abraham received the blessing that he might impart it to others; and so it is with us.
3. It seems strange at first thought that God would bring Abraham away from his country and kindred because of idolatry, and then plant him right in the midst of the grossest kind of heathenism. But it was because in the former land they had had the light of truth and were rejecting it, and there was more danger of Abraham’s becoming contaminated by his fast-apostatizing friends than by the heathen who knew not God. Then Abraham was a missionary to those who were in total darkness, just as the apostles turned from the Jews to preach to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46. See, also, article “Abraham a Missionary,” following this lesson.
4. The Canaanites were the descendants of Ham (Gen. 10:6), who bore the curse of his father, Noah, and was doomed to be a servant of his brethren (ch. 9:20-27). And now the land is given to Abraham, a descendant of Shem. Ch. 17:8.
5. Abraham had left his country and friends at the command of the Lord, and now the Lord gave him sojourn in another country, no doubt better suited to his secular calling, and where he could enjoy a closer relationship to his heavenly Friend, and promised him even the whole earth, because of his obedience. Abraham counted himself but a sojourner in the earthly land, and looked for a better country, that is a heavenly. Heb. 11:8-16; Matt. 19:29.
6. The encampment between Bethel and Ai was about twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Bethel and Ai were about five miles apart. It was at Ai where Israel, Abraham’s seed, met their first defeat in the land of promise, because they did not seek counsel of God in the faith of Abraham.
