God’s command to Abram to ‘Go’ was combined with a series of specific promises. These promises are tied together by a recurring note of blessing (vs 2,3). ‘Blessing’ is shorthand for God’s favour and protection. These verses explain that when God has blessed Abram, his protection and favour would spill over to others – first in Abram’s immediate circle, but ultimately to everyone who will ever live on the planet! These are big promises for Abram to absorb, but he is convinced enough to pack up and go, as God had commanded (v 4).

It’s important to recall God’s promises. In fact, if we neglect to do this, our obeying of God and his commands may become little more than a harsh duty. It’s not long before the trials and difficulties we face in following God cause us to become disillusioned or even cynical. Perhaps Abram’s actions in building altars at Moreh (v 7) and near Bethel and Ai (v 8) are timely for you today. And notice too that having built these altars, Abram didn’t stop his journey. He kept going (v 9).

‘Hail Abraham’s God and ours! / One mighty hymn we raise, / all power and majesty be yours / and endless praise.’¹

Abram was called to leave ancient Mesopotamia, part of the area known as the ‘Fertile Crescent’ or the ‘cradle of civilisation’. It is difficult to locate the patriarchs precisely in history, but the first great wave of city-building had occurred in the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers long before the patriarchs migrated to Canaan. Abram’s movement may have been part of a wider shift of population although his journey is the result of a specific promise and command of God. There are parallels with the modern world, in which many people are on the move – including Christians who have heard the call of God to ‘go from your country’ (cf v 1). Here we have a biblical theology of migration. 

Two themes stand out. The first is hope, since the fulfilment of the promise lies in the future. Note the contrast between what we might describe as the ‘night of glory’ in the opening verses and the reality of the phrase, ‘At that time the Canaanites were in the land’ (v 6). This is what makes Abram such an example of faith, since, despite every setback, he retains the hope that the promise will be fulfilled. Such faith suggests a knowledge of God, pre-dating the call described here; Abram must have already been convinced of the goodness and faithfulness of the God whose voice he obeyed without question.

The second theme concerns pilgrimage, seen in the repetition of words like ‘set out’, ‘travelled’, ‘went on’. The landscape he traversed became dotted with memorials of the places where God had appeared to him and reaffirmed the promise (vs 7,8). For pilgrims, the most challenging part of the journey of faith is the space between the altars; the long days, months, or even years when there is no word from the Lord and faith is tested in its absence. 

Find Thomas Olivers’ hymn, ‘The God of Abraham praise’. Read it through slowly and prayerfully.

¹ Thomas Olivers, 1725–99, ‘The God of Abraham praise’