Abram’s Call

Why Israel?

Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your homeland, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make a great nation from you, I will bless you, and I will make you famous so you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you, but anyone who shows contempt for you I will curse. Through you, every family on earth will be blessed.” So Abram left just as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him.

Image by Thomas Engler from Freely Photos

After humanity’s rebellion at Babylon, Yahweh punished them by dividing them into multiple nations.¹ Each of these nations had its own territory, its own language, and even its own gods. Out of this chaos, Yahweh called Abram and commanded him to abandon his natural place among the nations in order to create a new nation, one that would restore proper worship and live under Yahweh’s blessing. In this way, the nation of Israel was born. But why would the God who created the entire universe choose to bless only one small nation?

God never intended his purpose for creating and blessing Israel to be a secret. He laid out his plan right from the start through the seven promises he made to Abram:²

1. Yahweh would make a great nation from Abram.
2. Yahweh would bless Abram.
3. Yahweh would make Abram famous.
4. Abram would bless others.
5. Yahweh would bless those who blessed Abram.
6. Yahweh would curse those who showed contempt for Abram.
7. Every family on earth would be blessed through Abram.

The central promise, that Abram would bless others, serves as the reason he had to leave his home and family.³ If Abram left, God would bless him so he would in turn be a blessing to others. Abram’s blessing would grow until it covered every family on earth. The Hebrew word for “family,” mishpehoth, is the same word used for “the families of Noah’s sons” in Genesis 10:32, linking Abram’s call with the Table of Nations.⁴

Israel’s special calling was not to exclusively receive Yahweh’s blessing but to be the means by which the blessing would come to every family on earth. God chose to bless Abram and his offspring so that through them he could bless everyone else. The Bible records multiple fulfillments of this promise.⁵ But the ultimate blessing on all humanity would come through the defeat of the snake and the reversal of the curse of death.⁶ Because of Abram’s obedience, the promised offspring of Eve would come from the offspring of Abram.

Leave

Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your homeland, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.”

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

The blessings God promised to Abram did not come without a price. They were conditioned on Abram leaving his homeland, his people, and his father’s household. By leaving his homeland, he forfeited any land he would have inherited from his father. By leaving his people, he forfeited his sense of identity to live as a foreigner in a foreign land. By leaving his father’s household, his closest relatives, he forfeited all sense of security to live as a landless wanderer.⁷

Abram’s obedience to his call contrasts with Adam and Eve’s disobedience. The first humans had everything they could ever need, but they still failed to trust Yahweh with their future and were forced to leave their home as a consequence.⁸ Abram, on the other hand, was called to voluntarily leave his home and everything that the world turns to for security to entrust his future to Yahweh alone. And without even knowing where he was going, he left.⁹

Once he had taken that step of faith, Yahweh was committed to fulfilling the promises. Where Adam and Eve failed the test and lost their blessing, Abram passed and won a blessing that would last forever.

Famous

“I will make you famous so that you will be a blessing to others.”

Edited from Image by Sung Jin Cho from Unsplash

One of the ways Yahweh promised to bless Abram was by making him famous. The Hebrew literally says, “I will make great your name,” meaning Abram’s name (later changed to Abraham) would be well known and respected.

The concept of making a name refers back to the nephilim, who were famous (literally “men of the name”) for all the wrong reasons.¹⁰ It also contrasts Abram with the builders of the tower, who wanted to make themselves famous (literally “make for ourselves a name”) by securing God’s blessing for all humanity.¹¹ Instead, it is Abram who would become famous by securing God’s blessing for all humanity. But he would do so by faith, not through coercion.

The extent to which this promise has been fulfilled four thousand years later defies logical explanation. According to Joshua Project, over half of the world’s current population claims to worship the God of Abraham.¹² Few today could claim to have never even heard of him. Had God not chosen to work through Abraham’s life, his name would have long since disappeared from history. Yet no emperor of the ancient world could claim the level of fame achieved by this obscure, childless nomad.

Contempt

“I will bless those who bless you, but anyone who shows contempt for you I will curse.”

Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay

Of the seven promises to Abram, six relate directly to blessing. But one stands out in stark contrast to that focus: the promise that Yahweh would curse (ʾarar) anyone who shows contempt for (qalal) Abram.

Both verbs are traditionally translated as “curse.” But while ʾarar does mean “to curse,” qalal literally means “to belittle.” It doesn’t necessitate trying to cause harm, as with a curse. Rather, it means looking down on someone with contempt or disdain. Those who treat Abram and his offspring as less important than they are will incur Yahweh’s wrath.

From the beginning, God intended Israel to be “a kingdom of priests” to stand in the gap that sin had created between God and humanity.¹³ As God had appointed Adam and his offspring as his representatives to the rest of creation, he now appointed Abram and his offspring as his representatives to the rest of humanity.¹⁴

To show contempt for God’s chosen representatives equates to showing contempt for God himself, which is why it results in a curse.¹⁵ To enjoy God’s blessing requires honoring Israel’s place in transmitting that blessing.

Abram’s Household

Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Harran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, all the possessions they had acquired, and the people who joined their household in Harran. They set out for the land of Canaan.

Image by Kilian Karger from Unsplash

When Abram traveled to Canaan, he left his brother Nahor and the rest of his father’s household behind in Harran. However, he took his own household with him, including his wife, Sarai, and his adopted heir, Lot.¹⁶ But it seems Abram was already fairly wealthy and influential as he had a sizable number of other people who followed him. Since Abram and Sarai had no children, there is some debate over who these people were.

The most common belief is that they were slaves that Abram bought in Harran.¹⁷ But the Hebrew word nephesh refers to people in general, not necessarily slaves. Others suggest that they were religious converts who wanted to follow Yahweh.¹⁸ But this overspiritualizes a passage that focuses on Abram’s obedience, not his preaching skills.

Scripture doesn’t explain how these people joined Abram’s household. They probably followed him for a variety of reasons, but those reasons aren’t important. Whoever they were, they associated themselves with him and with his calling by going with him to Canaan. Abram’s blessing was affecting others before he even knew where he was going.

The Promised Land

When they arrived there, Abram traveled through the land until he reached the oak of Moreh, Shechem’s sacred site. At that time the Canaanites inhabited the land, but Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So there Abram built an altar to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

Image by Digital Globe / FreeBibleimages.org, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

From Harran, God led Abram south until he reached the town of Shechem in the hills of central Canaan. By this time, Abram was well inside Canaanite territory and encamped at a sacred site where Canaanite deities were worshiped. Here Yahweh revealed that Canaan was his destination. This was the land where his offspring would become a great nation.

The information that the Canaanites lived there at that time serves as more than an inconsequential side note. It presents a major hurdle to the fulfillment of God’s promise: the land he would give to Abram’s offspring was already inhabited. This fact did not affect Abram’s ability to live there peacefully because they did not view him as a threat. But as Moses and the exodus generation prepared to return and claim the promised land, the presence of the Canaanites would prove to be the litmus test for their faith.

Abram responded to the promise by building an altar to Yahweh near the sacred site at the oak of Moreh. The polytheistic Canaanites probably considered this just another altar to yet another deity among many. But in light of the promise, the altar represented Abram’s first claim on the land.¹⁹ The land of the Canaanites would one day belong to the offspring of Abram, and their sacred sites would belong to Yahweh.

South

Then [Abram] continued on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and camped with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He also built an altar to Yahweh there and called on Yahweh’s name. Then Abram continued gradually traveling south.

Image by Nicole Wilcox from Unsplash

From Shechem, Abram continued south through the hill country until he reached the area between Bethel and Ai, where he once again set up camp and built an altar. At Shechem, Yahweh had called out to Abram, promising to give the land of Canaan to his offspring. But at Bethel and Ai, it’s Abram who called out to Yahweh, invoking his name and, by extension, his promise. In this way, Abram continued to claim Canaan as the place where his offspring would worship Yahweh.

Abram gradually traveled south toward the Negev, the desert that marks the southern border of the land promised to him. Scripture doesn’t say how long this journey took, but “gradually” implies that he stopped and camped for a while at several more places. By the time famine drove Abram out of Canaan to Egypt, he had traversed the entire promised land from north to south.

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Genesis 12:10–13:1 →

See Scattered.
Neeley, Translator’s Notes, Gen. 12:2–3; Hamilton, Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, 371–373.
Hamilton, Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, 373.
See The Table of Nations.
Genesis 30:27–30; 39:1–6; 41:14–57; 1 Kings 17:8–24; 2 Kings 5:1–14; Daniel 2:1–49; Jonah 3:1–10; Matthew 8:5–13; 15:21–28; Acts 10:1–48.
See The Curse of Death; The Snake’s Punishment.
Walton, “Genesis,” 70; Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 12:1.
See The Debate; Sin; Exile.
Hebrews 11:8–12.
Genesis 6:4; see The Nephilim.
Genesis 11:4; see The Tower; Hamilton, Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, 372; Schnittjer, Torah Story, 116; Walton, “Genesis,” 69.
Joshua Project, “Lists: All Religions,” accessed October 26, 2020, https://joshuaproject.net/global/religions. The Abrahamic religions include all forms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Exodus 19:6.
See Humanity’s Purpose.
See The Value of Human Life.
Although Lot was Abram’s nephew, he became a member of Abram’s household when he was adopted after the death of his father, Haran. Therefore, his presence among those who accompanied Abram to Canaan was perfectly appropriate and not a violation of Yahweh’s command. See Terah’s Family.
Neeley, Translator’s Notes, Gen. 12:5d; Forster, Exegetical Helps on Genesis, 12:5; Reyburn and Fry, Handbook on Genesis, 277; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 278.
Ross, “Genesis,” 97.
Kidner, Genesis, 126; Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 12:6–9; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 281.