Genesis 12:1-10

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• God tells Abraham to go to Canaan, and promises him blessings and the land. Abraham obeys.

• Because of a famine, he resides for a while in Egypt.

Details and Comments

• This account began in the previous chapter with some information about Abraham's father (Terah) and two brothers.

What God Did:

• God makes a covenant of blessing with Abraham.

• God promises him the land of Canaan.

What Abraham (Abram) Did:

• Abraham goes to Canaan (and takes his nephew Lot).

• Abraham temporarily resides in Egypt, because of a famine.

God's Covenant with Abraham

• What Abraham (Abram) was to do: Obey God and go to Canaan.

• What God was going to do... It is comprised of three parts:

1) Abraham is to be blessed and to be a blessing to others.

2) Furthermore, others will be blessed or cursed (by God), depending on how they treat Abraham (& his offspring).

3) Finally, all the "families" (clans or tribes) of the earth will be blessed through him. (As history progresses, we discover that this last part is accomplished by Jesus Christ.)

Scripture

Genesis 12:1-10

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Gen 12:1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. Gen 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed." Gen 12:4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. ...	Abraham (Abram) had traveled as far as Haran with his father; now (his father being dead), he continues the journey to Canaan. God makes a covenant (promise/agreement) with Abraham. This covenant will extend to his offspring, though at that point in time, he had none. Abrahamic Covenant Abraham's Offspring Abraham obeys God (which implies he believed that what God said was true).
... Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. Gen 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. Gen 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land. Gen 12:7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to Yahweh, who appeared to him. Gen 12:8 He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh. Gen 12:9 Abram traveled, going on still toward the South.	Lot is Abraham's nephew. Lot's father had died. We don't know how much younger he was than Abraham; but we know that 24 years later (when Abraham was 99 years old), Lot is living in Sodom, with a wife and with two daughters who were old enough to be married. The Canaanite land (occupied by the offspring of Ham/Canaan) was to be given to Abraham (the offspring of Shem). God is the one who would give it to him. Land Given to Abraham
Gen 12:10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.	A temporary visit to Egypt. Famine - These were a common occurrence at that time. Other references to famines are found in the book of Genesis- including the famine that resulted in Israel spending over 400 years in Egypt. (See chapters 26 and 41.) Ecological Problems

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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.