Abraham
The Transition from Genesis 1-11 to Abraham
Genesis 12 begins a new section in Genesis that records the life events of the Patriarchs. It transitions by tying the events of Genesis 1-11 to Abraham. God made humans for fellowship. With the exceptions of Enoch and Noah, most ignored this calling in their lives. Abraham will end up being called a ‘friend of God.’ There were ten generations listed from Adam to Noah. There are ten generations from Noah to Abraham.
The people led by one of Ham’s descendants, Nimrod, wanted to make their name great by building a great city and tower at Babel that went against God’s will. God calls Abram (later Abraham) out of that same area, and He will make his name great.
Because of Ham’s evil way of handling a naked and drunk Noah, Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan. The curse was that Canaan would serve the descendants of Shem. After the Tower of Babel, Canaan’s descendants settled in what will become the Promised Land. Abraham, a descendant of Shem, will be called to go to the land where Noah’s prophesy or curse will come true eventually. The end of chapter 11 records this pilgrimage. “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.”
(Genesis 11:31-32, NIV). The stage is set for God to raise a mighty people called to serve the one true God. Interestingly, the three major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) all claim Abraham as the founder of their faith.
Abraham’s Call
In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham to go to the Promised land. “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1, NIV). Abraham’s call involves the unknown because he had never been to the land. It also involved sacrifice because he had to leave his family.
The call also contained a promise. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2) God promises to make his name great. He also promises to bless him. This is significant because the primitive religions of that time all dealt with a curse. Worship and sacrifice to the gods of that era were to try to appease them so they would either not curse them or that they would remove a curse already on them. The God of Abraham is more interested in blessing than cursing.
Abraham is given a missional commission. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3). Through Abraham’s faith and descendants, “all peoples on earth will be blessed.” Abraham is to introduce this God who desires to bless all the people.
Abraham in Egypt
Because of a drought, Abraham goes down to Egypt. Sari (later Sarah) is a beautiful woman, and so Abraham asks Sarah to tell the Egyptians that she is his sister (she was a half-sister) and not her husband. Pharaoh was taken with her beauty, and he had her moved to the Palace, intending to take her as one of his wives. God intervened and “inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household” (Genesis 12:17, NIV). Pharaoh finds out the cause of his troubles, gives Sarah back to him, and kicks Abram out of Egypt.
This will not be the last time that trips to Egypt will happen in the Bible. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, and later, Jacob and the rest of his sons and families join Joseph in Egypt. Then after hundreds of years of slavery, God calls Moses to lead them out of slavery. Our Lord Jesus had to escape to Egypt for a time to escape Herod. I believe all these are related and symbolic.
Abraham and Lot Separate
Abraham and Lot come back to Canaan from Egypt with larger herds and flocks. They were so plentiful that Lot’s men and Abraham’s men began to argue over grazing land and water. Abraham decided it was best to separate. Abraham gave Lot his choice. Lot chose to go to the plains of Jordan. This was good ground for sheep. In modern-day Israel, I have observed that the Bedouins are still using this area for grazing sheep. Though there was plenty of open land for Lot to settle, he chose to pitch his tent next to Sodom, already a wicked city. Eventually, he moved into the city.
Abraham moved to Hebron and built an altar to the Lord. God appeared to him and renewed His promise to Abraham. “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Genesis 12:14-17, NIV). God continues to remind Abraham of His promise to make him a great nation.
I heard an interesting sermon by Frank Pollard about where Abraham decided to settle. He could have gone back to Ur, which would have been a very modern-day secular city. Remember archeologists found high-rise buildings in ancient Ur. Abraham could have moved to Sodom like Lot. This would be moving to sin city. Instead, Abraham lived out in the open countryside in a tent seeking a spiritual city built by God. The writer of Hebrews put it this way, “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10, NIV). It is good for us to stay out of secular city and sin city too. A life concerned with luxury and convenience does not lead to fellowship with God. A life lived ruled by the lusts of the flesh puts a barrier between God and us. Choose to live in a spiritual connection with God.
Rescuing Lot and Melchizedek’s Blessing
After Lot has moved to the city of Sodom, the cities of that area are captured by some kings from Mesopotamia that combine their armies and travel over to Sodom and Gomorrah to sack their cities and loot their possessions. Lot was captured as well. One of Lot’s servants escapes and informs Abram about it. Abram puts together an army from his clan, chases them down, defeats the Kings from Mesopotamia, and recovers the people and possessions. Abraham had many people living with and working for him to have put together such a powerful army so quickly.
On the way back from the battle Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of the God Most High, came out to bless Abram. According to Psalm 76:2, Salem is Zion. Zion is a synonym of Jerusalem. Melchizedek brings bread and wine and blesses Abram. Abram receives the blessing and gives Melchizedek a tithe. Abram is not the only one serving the true God. Melchizedek is a priest of His in what will later be Jerusalem (Genesis 14:18-20).
The King of Sodom also comes out to meet Abram. He offers Abram all the possessions, but he wants the people. Abram does not agree to his offer for two reasons. One, Abram doesn’t want anyone to think that the King of Sodom made him rich. God is blessing Abram, and he certainly doesn’t need the help of a king of a wicked city to make him wealthy. The other reason is that he doesn’t necessarily want Salem's king to take all the people back to his corrupt city. I believe Abram wants them to have a choice to where they live. (Genesis 14:21-24). God proclaimed that “all peoples of the earth will be blessed through Abram” (Genesis 12:3, NIV). God was already using Abram to bless people.