Genesis 12:1, commentary and pictures

God at seventy-five told Abram dwelling in his own country to leave his country, his relatives and his father's household for a strange unknown land God would show him, where he would live as pilgrim and stranger. The command came after the flood when idolatry had become widespread, and God had already kept Abraham from idols in his youth and now required complete separation because the pleasure-loving idolatrous influences around him in Mesopotamia endangered his knowledge of the true God and his character. He obeyed by faith without knowing his destination or asking about ease or fertility, resting wholly on God's promise to guide and protect him though the call was a severe trial amid Canaanites, poverty and famine. The call was joined to a covenant to make him a great nation with Canaan as an everlasting inheritance and to make him God's chosen witness and light-bearer to preserve truth and bless all families of the earth through the promised Messiah, not for selfish honor. That same call still requires those who serve God to leave hindering associations, plans and earthly hopes and follow His clear leading even into hardship, trusting Him to provide as Abraham did.

Call's Words and Setting

The command came to Abram at seventy-five years old, while sojourning in his own country, to get out from his country and from his kindred and from his father's house and household to a land God would show and reveal to him. That land was unfamiliar, unknown and strange to him, where he was to live as a pilgrim and stranger apart from his ancestral home and graves. The call to leave home was a test and trial beyond measure.

It came after the flood when people had again increased, hundreds of years after the flood, when wickedness and well-nigh universal, widespread idolatry had increased and God left the hardened transgressors to their evil ways. It came to Abraham of the line of Shem, a descendant of Shem, chosen to keep God's law for future generations. God had already revealed Himself to Abraham in his youth, giving him understanding and preserving him from idolatry. With full sight of the dangers involved, He was calling him out from the gods his fathers served and from idol worship and degraded idolatrous living to serve Jehovah.

The promise and command to leave Ur of the Chaldees begins a 430-year sojourning ending at the giving of the law at Sinai. That sojourning includes Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as strangers in Canaan and is not time in Egypt alone, where Israel was only about 215 years. The 400 years of sojourning and affliction begins about 30 years later when Ishmael persecuted Isaac.

Reasons God Required Separation

God required Abraham to leave because the idolatrous and pleasure-loving influences surrounding him in Mesopotamia were unfavorable to right character and endangered his spiritual perception, his sense of the sacredness of truth, and his knowledge of the true God. God knew how strong the temptations would be if he remained, so the command was to separate His servant from every species of idolatry and to remove him from seductive influences. It was not for Abraham's best spiritual interest to remain where he could not exert a blessing influence over his relatives.

He could not introduce the new order of things in his household and cultivate home religion while surrounded by idolatrous kinsfolk and friends. Separation freed him from human influences, familiar associations, former ties, and earthly ties that could interfere with obedience and with receiving God's instruction and learning His purposes. His motives and actions were beyond the understanding of his idolatrous relatives and friends.

God separated Abraham from the influences of his former life so He could educate, train, and qualify him for his work as keeper of the sacred oracles and of the law for future generations. Living among strangers would help form a distinctive character different from the world, and his simple obedience showed one to whom capabilities for service could be entrusted. The call came after the flood when people had again increased and wickedness and well-nigh universal idolatry had increased, and God left the hardened transgressors to their evil ways, choosing Abraham of the line of Shem.

That separation enabled him to establish a new order in his household and cultivate home religion apart from corrupting influences. Going out meant listening to the voice of Christ, deciding to obey the law of God, and taking accountability to instruct his children and household to keep the way of the Lord and to do justice and judgment. This was God's providence opening a new method and a wise arrangement to cut off His people as far as possible from all connection with the heathen, making them a people dwelling alone and not reckoned among the nations. In this way the knowledge of the true God and of His laws and commandments, and the true faith in its purity, would be preserved in the world from generation to generation by his descendants, who would exalt God's law.

The Lord directed Abraham to leave his idolatrous country and separate from his relatives in order to carry out God's will. God called him away from his idolatrous relatives to live in Canaan and sent him to a country he did not know, where He established him so he could be an influence for good. This served God's purpose of bringing Heaven's gifts to all peoples through a people who would preserve God's truth and bless every nation through the promised Messiah.

Abraham's Faithful Obedience

Abraham obeyed by faith, departing and going out without knowing where he was going or where he would go, moving out without seeing the future opened before him. His call exemplifies the sacrifice required of those called to sow the truth, leaving old associations and surrendering plans and earthly hopes to go forward into the unknown. He had no outward evidence beyond God's promise that his descendants would possess Canaan, yet he went wherever God led, resting on faith that God would keep His word, guide him, and protect him, showing faith, reliance, and trust in God.

He went at God's bidding with perfect confidence, without reasoning about or questioning God's purposes, without asking whether the land would be fertile and pleasant or whether he would have ease. He grasped God's will with sanctified intellect and living faith at the command of a God he scarcely knew, pressing on in the narrow way while cultivating his capabilities and wisely employing his powers, with God disposing his heart to obey. The call to leave home was no small trial but a severe test and trial beyond measure to his faith. Obeying brought him into a land occupied by Canaanites whose idolatry he had to meet, where he could see no possession he could claim as his own, with poverty, hunger in famine, and other trials, yet his faith and confidence endured, and in that perplexity God preached the gospel to him and showed him the possession for an eternal inheritance.

Abraham trusted and obeyed the same divine voice that later told him to offer his son, requiring not only faith but trust, and his faith produced action and fruits. His integrity, generosity, hospitality, reverence and love for God, unselfishness, courage, kindness, and strict obedience in performing God's will commanded respect as a mighty prince. Through that righteous course people in Mesopotamia, Canaan, Egypt, and Sodom, with his servants, household, and neighbors, could see God's character and were led to fear, love, and reverence God. As a rich sojourner who took his possessions to use as God required he pleased God and showed one to whom capabilities for service could be entrusted.

Wherever he pitched his tent his first work was to build an altar for God and worship Him there with those accompanying him as pilgrims and strangers, showing by action that God came first, showing respect for God's holiness, and putting provision for worship first of everything. Abraham and his descendants did not receive the promised possessions as a possession during their lifetimes, owning only a burial place bought from the Canaanites. He died in faith looking for a better country, that is, an heavenly, not regarding this world as his home.

Promise and Worldwide Mission

The command to leave country and kindred and father's house for a land to be shown was joined to a covenant of promise to make Abraham a great nation and a blessing to all families of the earth. In that perplexity of entering a land occupied by Canaanites where he could see no possession to claim, God preached the gospel to him and showed him the possession he would have for an eternal inheritance, with Canaan promised as an everlasting possession. The call to leave home was a test and trial beyond measure through which God was revealing Himself to Abraham. The promised possessions were not received during his lifetime, for he owned there only a burial place bought from the Canaanites, did not regard this world as his home, and died in faith looking for a better country, that is, an heavenly.

God had chosen Abraham as a witness to bear a message to many people and as His chosen representative to reveal His righteousness. He was sent out as God's light-bearer to keep God's name alive on earth, becoming a light-bearer to the heathen and serving as God's messenger. This call served God's purpose of bringing Heaven's gifts to all peoples, for Abraham was to become the father of a people set apart who would preserve God's truth, exalt His law, and bless every nation through the promised Messiah. That blessing was not a selfish end for Abraham or his descendants. Hundreds of years after the flood God so called him away from his idolatrous relatives to live in Canaan.

God designed to make Abraham an example of faith and true devotion for His people afterward living on the earth, having already revealed Himself to him in his youth to give him understanding and preserve him from idolatry. His integrity, generosity and hospitality, reverence and love for God, and strict obedience in performing the divine will commanded respect as a mighty prince. His godly example, righteous course, and faithful instruction led his servants and all his household and neighbors to fear, love, and reverence God. The call offered no promise of worldly honor or reward.

Claiming the promises made to Abraham does not by itself make a person Abraham's child or assure eternal blessings, but sharing in them is joined to the faith and piety Abraham showed. Abraham trusted and obeyed the same divine voice that later told him to offer his son, and his faith produced action and fruits. The call required not only faith but trust in God. Abraham was saved by faith in Christ in exactly the same way sinners are saved today. The promise belongs with God's promises to Isaac and to Jacob, which Jacob remembered alongside the promise to himself. It marks the beginning of the history of God's chosen people leading to deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the exodus, recalled as part of God's covenant associated with the land God later gave Israel without their laboring for it. God is not dependent on Abraham's descendants for fulfilling His purpose, but as He called just and obedient Abraham out from a heathen people, He can call others to His service now, quickening hearts as lifeless as desert stones by His Spirit to do His will and receive the fulfillment of His promise.

Application to Believers Today

The call to leave country, kindred, and father's house for a land to be shown illustrates that those called to serve God and sow the seed of truth may have to leave old associations and surrender established plans and earthly hopes, going forward without knowing where they will go, as an example of sacrifice and separation required of God's light-bearers who live as pilgrims and strangers to keep His name alive on earth. God still calls people in the same way when surroundings and associates hinder right resolve and prove the worst spiritual enemies, commanding separation from every species of idolatry because He knows how strong the temptations are if they remain. The call is to change surroundings and cut loose from associates at once without waiting too long lest they become earth-bound, obeying His warning in the strength of Christ who paid with His own life for their salvation.

Believers whose companionship and associations are unfavorable to spiritual health, where constant temptation works to destroy virtue and steadfast principle, should for their souls' sake remove at seventy-five years old as Abraham did when promised to be made a great nation, departing as commanded to a place with different associations, less pressing difficulties, and clearer light. Such a different place and different associations can help escape some of Satan's snares and break some of the nets laid for the feet, as leaving the familiar home did for Abraham when he went where he was directed. Yet such a move does not place anyone beyond Satan's temptations and does not alone make anyone a doer of the Word, and it must be made understandingly from the force of conviction with determination to win heaven at any cost, not hastily or in a haphazard way but thoughtfully.

When duty goes against personal wishes and inclination, people are to have faith in God and follow His clear leading with perfect confidence that He is leading, without reasoning about or questioning His purposes. Abraham left country and friends without asking whether the land would be fertile and pleasant or whether he would have ease, and his endurance through poverty, hunger in famine, and other trials in a severe test teaches that obedience must not depend on convenience, personal preference, or expected outcomes, even when it brings hardship or requires giving up advantageous positions. God may lead away from favorable circumstances and relatives because familiar surroundings can hinder the development of needed character that honors Him, while a new setting can help develop it. That same faith that moved out without seeing the future opened before it is required when conviction of duty threatens livelihood and family support, as in keeping the Sabbath, trusting God to open the way and provide after obedience.

There is often wisdom in families separating so one called by God can see more clearly and exert a more healthful influence apart from familiar association, since it may not be for best spiritual interest to remain where idolatrous, pleasure-loving influences endanger spiritual perception, the sense of the sacredness of truth, and the knowledge of the true God, and where no blessing influence can be exerted over relatives. Simple, contented obedience as a rich sojourner who takes possessions to use as God requires pleases God and shows one to whom capabilities for service can be entrusted, tested by whether God's voice will be heard and obeyed. The call is election to become members of the Lord's family, requiring coming out from the world in speech and in action, with every truly converted soul maintaining a separate holy character under discipline to Christ while learning and teaching the most solemn message ever given, representing Christ in example despite full sight of the dangers.

The command to sojourn alone in a strange land shows God assigns to each person an individuality and a distinct work, calling Abraham into new territory to be a light-bearer to the heathen and to introduce a new order of things by listening to Christ, deciding to obey God's law, and taking accountability to instruct children and household to keep the way of the Lord and do justice and judgment. That separation was providence opening a new method to preserve from generation to generation the knowledge of the true God and of His laws and commandments, apart from idolatrous kinsfolk and friends where home religion could not be cultivated. Believers are therefore not to live to please themselves but to care for every sinner, serving beyond their own interests by going forward in the Lord's name to take up work in the home field or in regions beyond, depending on God for grace and strength so a small beginning will enlarge under His plan.

Abraham's leaving home to go where he was directed without knowing his destination, obeying without questioning to carry light to the heathen, teaches Christ's servants to go where God calls and directs, trusting Him for guidance and success. At the command of a God he scarcely knew he left for an unknown land and pressed on in the narrow way while cultivating capabilities and wisely employing powers, grasping God's will with sanctified intellect and living faith because God disposed his heart to obey. His obedience proves that merely following conscience is not enough, for a person must have a conscience void of offense toward God and man, and conscience is a safe guide only when God has control of the whole being.