God has to intervene.
So many lessons here.
From death to life. From darkness to light. From hell to heaven.
No sinners’ prayer.
No commandments.
Only faith in a God who makes Promises and keeps them.
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
Genesis 12:10 (NIV)The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.
Genesis 41:53-54 (NIV)
Earlier, I mentioned Genesis 12 is an echo of Genesis 1.
But the great Famine at the end of Genesis, leading to the deliverance in Exodus is an echo of Genesis 12.
All of scripture echoes. Every last bit of it.
Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Genesis 12:9 (NIV)
There’s much being said in such a seemingly irrelevant verse.
1. “Set out and continued.” The rabbis say this describes the shepherd’s method of travel: going, stopping, going, stopping. A month here, a month there. This is a long journey for Abram.
2. The “Negev” means “south.” Towards what would be Judah. Jerusalem. This points to the place God intends to set up a Temple in the future.
There are no irrelevant verses. They all paint a picture we are meant to see.
Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time.
Genesis 12:6 (NASB)
The rabbis note that this mention of the Canaanites in Genesis 12 is meant to tell you about their incursion into the land, not their habitation of it.
How do we know this?
Because in two chapters, we’ll meet the King of Salem, or Jerusalem, priest of God Most High. This land is his.
And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
Genesis 14:18 (NASB)
If the Canaanites are now in the land that belongs to Melchizedek, we are being told that they are the invaders.
But this isn’t just a story about land. It’s our hearts. This describes the human condition.
Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:6-8 (NASB)
Genesis 12 introduces us to altars, and the when it’s brought up, it shows up in the chapter twice.
An alter is a pile of stones. Stones to remind you.
The writers have placed these altars here for us to remember this section of scripture. Perhaps we should pay attention.
But I suspect that much of religion is not the breath of life, but the stench of death.
Perhaps our breath stinks.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
God said “let there be Light,” and there was Light.
God said “enter the Promised Land,” and Abram and the people he brought entered the Promised Land with him.
This sounds like the Gospel. This is very good news, indeed.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NKJV)
The text says that Abram brought with him the “people he had acquired.” It is literally translated “the souls he made.”
The rabbis see this as “converts” in the Midrash. I suspect the Christian might see it that way, too.
But what I see is an echo of God creating.
Perhaps Abram was invited to be a part of the creation process – to breathe spiritual Life into otherwise dead people.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NKJV)
The translators note the word “people” in Genesis 12:5 is not actually “people. ” Rather it means “souls” or “living beings,” which is a strange way to describe people.
But stranger yet is that the word “acquired” here does not mean “acquired.” The word is עָשָׂה (asah). It means to MAKE.
As in, “and God made,” which points us back to Genesis 1.