The Bible for Big Fat SinnersChapter 7 - The Call of Abram (Abraham)

This is the fifth installment in a series; each one composing a separate chapter of the book, "The Bible: for Big Fat Sinners," by Daniel Lee Baker.   See previous posts:
 Introduction  *   Chapter 1 - In the Beginning  *   Chapter 2 - Adam and Eve   *    Chapter 3 - Cain and Abel  *  Chapter 4 - Noah  *  Chapter 5 - The Tower of Babel    *  Chapter 6 - The Genealogies

The Call of Abram

Every now and then, God finds a man that he likes.  Abel was perhaps the first example of this; although he didn’t like Abel enough to protect him from being murdered by his own brother.  Then there was Enoch.  God liked him so much that he took him away somewhere; probably to heaven but no one really knows for sure.  Then there was Noah; the first man that God ever called to perform a particular task.  Finally we come to Abram, God’s new favorite guy.
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God begins the relationship by telling Abram to move away from his current residence, a place called Haran (located in the place we now call southern Turkey), to a land called Canaan (located in the lands we now call Israel and Palestine).  Included in this command is a promise; a promise that will change the world forever.
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“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’” (Genesis 12:1-3)

Not that I would know, but I would assume that when God pops in on you and tells you to move, you move.  Abram certainly saw it that way and immediately packed up his family to go.  His nephew, Lot also decided to come along for the ride.
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Now that he is all packed up and ready for his journey, where is he supposed to go?  God could have said, “… and go to the land of Canaan,” but he doesn’t.  He says, “… and go to a land I will show you.”  This required faith on the part of Abram, who simply had to trust that God would lead him.  This is significant because Abraham is known for his great faith in God.  Sure enough, Abram winds up in the right place, the land of Canaan.  You remember Noah’s grandson, Canaan.  The guy Noah cursed?  Well at the time of Abram, that curse does not appear to have kicked in yet, because Canaan’s descendents have successfully settled a stretch of land around the Jordan river that will one day be referred to as the Promise Land; “a land flowing with milk and honey.”  (Exodus 3:8) It is to this land that God leads Abram.  And when he gets there, God promises to give all of that land to him – well, to his descendants, anyway. (Gen 12:7)  The fact that the Canaanites consider it their land isn’t even an issue.  God will honor Noah’s curse upon Canaan, and that will be that. 

However, none of this will happen until five hundred years later when the Children of Israel (Abram’s descendents) take the land by force under the command of Joshua.  Abram, himself, does not take possession of the land during his life time.  He dwells in the land, but he lives the life of a wanderer for the most part; never claiming the land, or confronting its inhabitants in any way.  Well, actually that is not entirely true.  We will see shortly that Abram is not a pacifist by any stretch of the imagination.  But when he imposes his will on others it is on behalf of people he cares about and he takes nothing for himself in the process.
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God repeats his promise to Abram again in chapter thirteen:  “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.  So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.’” (Gen 13:14-18)

So just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Abram is God’s number one guy.  HANDS DOWN!  Even Noah doesn’t hold a candle to him.  And the only thing Abram has had to do (so far) to win that honor is pack up and start traveling when God said, in effect, “pack up and start traveling.”  Seems like a pretty sweet deal doesn’t it?  Well, there is a catch or two along the way, but you don’t get to be the father of God’s chosen people without at least a few bumps in the road.  We’ll get to those bumps soon enough, but first it will be interesting to take a closer look at who this guy, Abram really is as a person.  We will do that in the next chapter.