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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and.from thy father’s house, unto a land I will show thee.

“In Ur of the Chaldee, before he came and dwelt in Chevron, as seems from Acts VII. 2; and the Lord said unto Abram; after the death of Terah, and indeed it is highly probable there were two appearances of God to Abram, and that the same words, or very nearly the same, were spoken to him each time, first in Ur of the Chaldees, and then in Haran: Get thee out of thy country; the land of Chaldees and the city of Ur, which was in it, or out of Mesopotamia, which when taken in a large sense were both Ur and Haran; this country was now become idolatrous. Though it was first inhabited and peopled by the posterity of Shem in the time of Arphaxad, yet these in process of time, degenerated from the true religion and fell into idolatry. The same, Maimonides call Zabaeans, in whose faith and religion they say Abram was brought up; they asserted that there was no other God, but the sun, moon and stars; and these Zabaeans, as he relates, from their books and annals, say of Abram themselves, that he was educated in Cuthia and descended from the common people; and assented that, besides the Sun there was another Creator; to whom they objected, and disputes arose among them on this subject; now Abram, being convinced of idolatry, is called out from those people, and to have no fellowship with them; literally, in the Hebrew text, go thee out of thy country; quit all society with such an idolatrous and superstitious people: and from thy kindred; as Nahor his brother, and his family, who are not mentioned, and seems to be left behind when Terah, Abram, Lot and Sarai, came out of Ur, of the Chaldees, though it looks as if afterwards Nahor did follow them to Haran, or PadanAram, where he continued, and therefore is called his city; Gen. XXIV. 10; XXV. 20; XXVIII. 2,5, 10; XXIX. 4, 5; so with great propriety Abram might be called the second time to leave his kindred as well his country; it is certain, Haran, or Padan-Aram, as well as Ur of the Chaldees, is called by himself his country and Nahor and his family and his kindred, Gen; XXIV. 4: and from thy father’s house; or family, which better agrees with the second call at Haran, than the first at Ur, for upon the first call Terah and his family came along with Abram. Terah dying at Haran his family went no further, but continued there with Nahor; only Abram and Lot, upon the second call, went from thence as the following history makes it appear; Abram left as he was bid, his father’s house and family, to go as follows: unto a land I will show you; meaning the land of Canaan, though not mentioned, and seems to be omitted for the trial of Abram’s faith; hence the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, XX. 8, observes that he obeyed, not knowing whither he went; and yet it is said, that he and Terah came out of Ur of the Chaldees; Gen. Xl. 31; and when he and Lot, when first from Haran, the same is said of them, v, 5; it is probable the case was this: there was no mention made at first, what land he was to go to, and when he prepared for the journey, he knew not where he was to go, but afterwards it was revealed to him, that Canaan was the land, and therefore set out in order to go thither; and still though he might know the place by name where he was to go, he might not know the way to it, nor what sort of country it was; therefore God promised to show him the way, and give him a view of it, how large it was, that he might see what sort of country it was, and how large it was that he would give his posterity. This call of Abram is an emblem of the call of men by the grace of God, out of the world, and from among the men of it, and to renounce the things of it, and not to be conformed unto it, and to leave their own people and father’s house and follow him whithersoever he directs them.” To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name, great; and thou shalt be a blessing.

“And I will make of thee a great nation; in a literal sense, as the people of the Jews were that descended from him, and in a spiritual sense, believers in all ages and of all nations, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abram, who are his children, and are blessed with him: and I will bless thee; not only with temporal blessings, but principal with spiritual ones, since Abram in person had no share of the land of Canaan; even with the adoption of children, and friendship with God; with justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, which blessedness came upon him when uncircumcised with a large measure of faith and every other grace; with sanctification of the Spirit, and with meekness for it: and make thy name great; as it was among the Jews his descendants, who boast of having Abram for their father; and among the several nations of the world; his name is famous in profane history; and is in high esteem with the Mahometans to this day; and especially his name is great and famous and his memory precious among all who have obtained like precious faith with him in every age and every nation: and thou shalt be a blessing; to all that knew him and conversed with him, they received spiritual light and knowledge by his instructions and all who read and heard of his faith and piety, should be encouraged by his example.” To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. Xl. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed.

“All men of all nations, and of all ages, that speak well of him, commend him for His faith and holiness, and tread in his steps; these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal. iii. 7,9. And curse him that curseth thee; here is a change of numbers, before the plural, here the singular, denoting, it may be, that many would bless him, and but few would curse him, and that every individual person that did curse him should be cursed; this regards future as well as present times, in every age and of every nation, and disapproves of, or rejects and reproaches Abram’s God, his faith, his religion and his people. And in the shall all the families of the earth be blessed: That is, in his seed, as in Gen. xxii. 18, and which is interpreted of Christ, Act. iii. 25; Gal. iii 8, 16; meaning not every individual of all the families and nations of the earth; but that as many as believed in Christ of all nations are blessed in Him; and whoever are blessed are blessed in him only, and that they are blessed for his sake with all scriptural blessings. Eph. 1: 3 - such as redemption, justification, remission of sins, sanctification, adoption and eternal life.”

Gen XII: 4 - So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Gen. XII. 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Gen. XII. 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there build me an altar unto the Lord; who appeared unto him.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram; perhaps in human form, so it was the Son of God; for whenever there was any visible appearance of a divine Person, under the former dispensation it seems to be always of the essential Word, that was to be incarnate; and who spake with an audible voice; and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; the whole of it, inhabited by Canaanites and others; and it was for this end chiefly that Abram was called out of Chaldea into Canaan, to be shown the land, and have the grant of it for his posterity: and there build he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him: byway of gratitude and thankfulness for his kind and gracious appearance, and for the gift of the land of Canaan of his offspring, for on this altar he no doubt sacrificed in a way of thanksgiving, and as Noah did when he came out of the ark.”

Gen. Xl. 8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Haron the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Gen. Xl. 9. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XI. 10. And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

“The land of Canaan, which was a very fruitful country, abounding with all kind of provisions usually, but now there was a scarcity of all; which was for the sins of the inhabitants and for the trial of Abram’s faith, who was brought out of his own country, where was bread enough and to spare, into one in which there was a famine; and this might be a temptation to Abram to return from whence he came, and to despise the country that was given him: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; not to dwell there, only till the famine was over, and rightly is he said to go down to Egypt, since that lay lower than the land of Canaan; and his going only to sojourn, with an intention to return again to Canaan, which shows the strength of his faith in the promise. For the famine was grievous in the land; in the land of Canaan, and perhaps no where else; God ordering It so in his wise providence, that there should be plenty of food In one land, when there was scarcity in another; that countries may be helpful to one another.”

Gen. XII. 11. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold, I now know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.

Gen. XII. 12. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will Save thee alive. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.

“Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Gen. xx. 12, yet; it was done to conceal truth, and deceive the Egyptians; and tended to endanger his wife’s chastity, as well as showed great timourousness in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of them, and upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall, and, and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for which he is most eminent as Abram was for his faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins.”

Gen. Xl. 115. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Gen. XII. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

“Perhaps with the same sort of plagues, he plagued Abimelech and his servants with on a like account, Gen. XX. 17, 18. The Jews say they were smitten with ulcers; not only Pharaoh was plagued but they of his house also, his courtiers and servants, who were accessary to the bringing of Sarai into his house; all this was, because of Sarai Abram’s wife; or upon the word of Sarai as it may be literally rendered.”

Gen. XII. 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou net tell me she was thy wife?

Gen. XII. 19. Why sadist thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. To be Continued