Genesis 12:4

_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._ So Abram departed - primitive and simple-hearted, at an age when he would not be apt to be imposed upon by an illusion of the fancy, but would calmly and deliberately weigh the step he was called to take. Abram, like Paul, was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; and his obedience is frequently mentioned in the New Testament as a striking instance of his faith (Hebrews 11:8). It is not to be supposed that at this stage he knew exactly the purposes for which he was separated, or could clearly distinguish the spiritual from the temporal branches of the Promise (cf. Hebrews 11:9-10). But in the consciousness of supernatural guidance, a

4._So Abram departed_. They who suppose that God was now speaking to Abram in Charran, lay hold of these words in support of their error. But the cavil is easily refuted; for after Moses has mentioned the cause of their departure, namely, that Abram had been constrained by the command of God to leave his native soil, he now returns to the thread of the history. Why Abram for a time should have remained in Charran, we do not know, except that God laid his hand upon him, to prevent him from immediately obtaining a sight of the land, which, although yet unknown, he had nevertheless preferred to his own country. He is now said to have departed from Charran, that he might complete the journey he had begun; which also the next verse confirms, where it is said, that he took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew with him. As under the conduct and auspices of his father Terah, they had departed from...

4,5 Abram believed that the blessing of the Almighty would make up for all he could lose or leave behind, supply all his wants, and answer and exceed all his desires; and he knew that nothing but misery would follow disobedience. Such believers, being justified by faith in Christ, have peace with God. They hold on their way to Canaan. They are not discouraged by the difficulties in their way, nor drawn aside by the delights they meet with. Those who set out for heaven must persevere to the end. What we undertake, in obedience to God's command, and in humble attendance on his providence, will certainly succeed, and end with comfort at last. Canaan was not, as other lands, a mere outward possession, but a type of heaven, and in this respect the patriarchs so earnestly prized it....

Verse Genesis 12:4. _AND ABRAM WAS SEVENTY AND FIVE YEARS OLD_] As Abram was now seventy-five years old, and his father Terah had just died, at the age of two hundred and five, consequently Terah must have been one hundred and thirty when Abram was born; and the seventieth year of his age mentioned Genesis 11:26, was the period at which _Haran_, not _Abram_, was born. See on the preceding chapter....

- The Call of Abram 6. שׁכם _shekem_ Shekem, “the upper part of the back.” Here it is the name of a person, the owner of this place, where afterward is built the town called at first Shekem, then Flavia Neapolis, and now Nablous. אלון _'ēlôn_ “the oak;” related: “be lasting, strong.” מורה _môreh_ In Onkelos “plain;” Moreh, “archer, early rain, teacher.” Here the name of a man who owned the oak that marked the spot. In the Septuagint it is rendered ὑψηγήν _hupseegeen_. 8. בית־אל _bēyt_-_'êl_, Bethel, “house of God.” ים _yam_ “sea, great river, west.”...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 12:1 Designed to trace the outward development of God's kingdom on the earth, the narrative now concentrates its attention on one of the foregoing Terachites, whose remarkable career it sketches with considerable minuteness of detail, from the period of his emigration from Chaldea to his death at Hebron in the land of Canaan. Distinguished as a man of undoubted superiority both of character and mind, the head of at least two powerful and important races, and standing, as one might say, on the threshold of the historical era, it is yet chiefly as his life and fortunes connect with the Divine purpose of salvation that they find a place in the inspired record. The progress of infidelity during the four centuries that had elapsed since the Flood, the almost universal corruption of even the Shemits portion of the human family, had conclusi

SO ABRAM DEPARTED, AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN UNTO HIM,.... Or, "when the Lord had spoken to him", as Cocceius renders the words; when he had called him a second time, even when in Haran, immediately after the death of his father Terah; as soon as ever the words were spoken to him before recorded, he immediately prepared and got all things ready for his journey, and departed from Haran, as he had done before from Ur of the Chaldees: AND LOT WENT WITH HIM; of his own accord, and he only, besides his wife Sarai and his servants, for Terah was dead, and Nahor and his family stayed behind. AND ABRAM WAS SEVENTY FIVE YEARS OLD WHEN HE DEPARTED OUT OF HARAN; by which it appears, as has been observed, that he was not Terah's eldest son, born when he was seventy years of age, Genesis 11:26 for then he must have been at this time, one hundred and thirty five years

We will read two or three passages in the Book of Genesis concerning God blessing his servant Abraham. Turn first to the twelfth chapter. Genesis 12:1. _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 that I will shew thee:_ It was God's intention to keep his truth and his pure worship alive in the world by committing it to the charge of one man, and the nation that should spring from him. In the infinite sovereignty of his grace, he chose Abraham, passing by all the rest of mankind, and elected him to be the depository of the heavenly light, that through him it might be preserved in the world until the days when it should be more widely scattered. It seemed essential to this end that Abraham should come right out from his fellow-countrymen, and be separate unto Jehovah, so the Lord said to hi

CHAPTER 12 THE FIRST EVENTS IN ABRAM'S LIFE _ 1. The call and the promise (Genesis 12:1)_ 2. Abram's obedience (Genesis 12:4) 3. The second communication of Jehovah (Genesis 12:7) 4. Abram in Egypt and first denial of Sarai (Genesis 12:10) We come now to a new beginning, the Abrahamic covenant. It marks the beginning of that wonderful race, the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel. Abraham's name is mentioned 74 times in the New Testament. How closely his history is interwoven into New Testament doctrine. This may be learned by consulting the following passages:...

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, HIS MIGRATION TO CANAAN, AND YAHWEH'S PROMISE TO HIM. From J, except Genesis 12:4_ b_, Genesis 12:5, which is clearly from P. Abraham is called to leave country, kindred, and home for an unnamed land. His faith is thus challenged at the outset (Hebrews 11:8); at the call of God, without question or demur, he abandons the tangible certainties of the present for a vague destination, and the hazards of travel and settlement in a new land. But he goes in confidence, staking his all on the faithfulness of God's promise, that He would make of him a mighty nation, the incarnation of blessedness, to such a degree that all nations would bless themselves by him, that is, use his name in the invocation of blessin