12:1–3 There was no mention of the Lord in Genesis 11:27–32, even though his fingerprints were all over the events that transpired. Now, though, the Lord speaks directly to Abram, just as he had earlier spoken to Adam and Eve (chs. 2–3), Cain (4:6–15), and Noah (6:13–9:17). His words are a command that would be especially challenging in an ancient context: Abram is to leave his country, his wider relations (“kindred”; Hb. moledet), and his nearer relations—his “father’s house” (12:1), including his father, Terah, who will live in Haran for another sixty years (11:32). Nothing is specified about this land to which he is headed, except that the Lord will show it to him (12:1). Abram has already left the land of his kindred, Ur of the Chaldeans (11:28–31), with the goal of traveling to Canaan but has stopped at Haran, which could still be considered “home turf” for Abram since it remains the home of his immediate family (cf. 24:4). Many would make the journey regularly from Haran to Ur and back again. Now, though, the Lord is calling Abram to complete the journey into the unknown that he began earlier.

In light of this command the Lord promises to make Abram into a great nation (12:2), which implies numerous descendants—a remarkable promise to a seventy-five-year-old man with a barren wife. In contrast to God’s original command to creation to be fruitful and multiply (1:22), which simply required the creatures to fulfill the potential with which the Lord had endowed them through his blessing, this promise will require a special work of God to complete. It therefore is an enormous step of faith on the part of Abram (and Sarai) to believe this incredible word (cf. Isa. 51:2). The promises of a land and of a nation are integrally related: without descendants, Abram’s ownership of territory would be fleeting, while a nation without a land would be homeless and subject to oppression, as Israel will experience in Egypt prior to the exodus.

The Lord also promises to bless Abram (Gen. 12:2), a promise that would normally include material prosperity as well as numerous offspring. This will be the first aspect of the blessing to be realized, as God multiplies Abram’s possessions when he returns from Egypt at the end of this chapter. The provision of an heir will take considerably longer. The Lord will see that Abram’s “name,” or reputation, is made great, a concern of the builders of Babel (11:4) and of the Nephilim in 6:4. In fact, the Lord will change Abram’s name to Abraham (“father of nations”) and make him the spiritual ancestor of those from all nations who have faith in God (17:5; cf. Rom. 4:16–17).

Abram will also be a blessing to others (Gen. 12:2). That is, when others want to bless someone, they will invoke Abram as a model of what blessing looks like: “May the Lord make you like Abram” (cf. 48:20; Ruth 4:11). This general promise is unpacked in what follows. As Abram is the chosen representative of the deity, people’s attitude to Abram will define the Lord’s response to them. Those who bless Abram, treating him with respect and favor, will receive blessing from the Lord, while those who dishonor him will be placed under divine curse (Gen. 12:3), resulting in their dishonor or even death. Abram and Sarai will thus be under the Lord’s direct and personal protection. It is ironic that this protection is most evident in the episodes in which Abram doubts God’s ability to take care of him (vv. 10–20; 20:1–18).

In Hebrew “Those who bless you” is plural, while “Him who dishonors you” is singular, perhaps suggesting that many more will belong to the former category than the latter one.215 This sense is reinforced by the concluding clause “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”216 The goal of Abram’s calling is to bring salvation to the peoples of the earth, not merely judgment—though those who despise Abram and his offspring will surely find themselves under God’s wrath. This calling for Israel to be a light to the Gentiles recurs throughout the OT, especially in the prophet Isaiah, where it becomes the mission of God’s servant (cf. Isa. 49:6). This enigmatic servant at first seems to be Israel as a nation (e.g., Isa. 41:8–9), but it is clear that even after the return from exile Israel is in no fit state to fulfill this calling. Its mission will devolve to the true seed of Abraham, the true Israel and true servant of the Lord, Jesus, who through his suffering, death, and resurrection will bring salvation not only to ethnic Israel but to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8; 3:25–26). In this way people from all tribes and nations will indeed find blessing for themselves in Abraham and his offspring (Rev. 7:9–10).

12:4–9 In the beginning of all things God spoke and his word was immediately fulfilled (Genesis 1). So too here in this momentous new beginning for humanity God says “Go!” and Abram goes, even though he does not yet know where he is going. This is the archetypal response of faith that will (in large measure) characterize Abram’s life. His nephew, Lot, also goes with him. As we shall see, while he travels with Abram, sharing his faith, Lot is also blessed, just as Genesis 12:2 anticipated. Once he leaves Abram and strikes out on his own, however, Lot’s story takes on a different and more negative trajectory.

The text also reiterates Abram’s age, seventy-five years, which by itself does not preclude his having offspring (his own father, Terah, had been seventy when Abram was born; Gen. 11:26) but certainly highlights the fragility of that hope. The next twenty-five years will be spent waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. More serious still, Abram takes with him his wife, Sarai, whom we have already been told is barren (12:5; cf. 11:30). Nothing short of the Lord’s help could solve their need and fulfill God’s promise. Lot is no substitute for a child of Abram and Sarai’s own, as we shall see.

The promise of a land for his offspring is also challenged by the revelation that Abram is headed for Canaan (12:5). This is not an empty territory, waiting to be inhabited, but the historical home of the Canaanites and Amorites, among others (cf. v. 6; 15:16). This raises the question that will not be resolved until later in the Pentateuch concerning how this land will become Israel’s, though, since the inhabitants have already been declared to be under God’s curse, the outcome of the conflict is not in question (9:25).

Abram does not leave Haran empty handed, however. He begins his journey with the possessions and people he acquired while in Haran (12:5). These “people” may be what we call “servants” or “slaves,” though ancient working patterns and relationships could be quite different from modern slavery. One of these “people” acquired by Abram is undoubtedly Eliezer, described in 15:2 as “heir of my house,” who stands to inherit Abraham’s estate if he dies childless. Others undoubtedly have much more menial roles but are still regarded as part of the larger household over whom Abram has authority and for whom he also bears responsibility.

Once he arrives in the land of Canaan Abram traverses it from north to south, stopping at three significant locations: Shechem, Bethel/Ai, and the Negeb (12:6–9). Jacob will also visit each of these places when he returns to the land after his sojourn in Paddan-aram (cf. 33:18; 35:6, 27), and they are each the site of important events during the conquest under Joshua. In the first two of these places, at the oak of Moreh217 at Shechem and in the area between Bethel and Ai, Abram builds altars and offers sacrifices to the Lord, symbolically claiming ownership of this land for his God and renewing his own commitment to serve him (12:7–8). It is significant that, though God had called Abram to go to the land of Canaan while he was still living in Ur, the Lord does not appear to him until he has arrived within the boundaries of the Promised Land, at Shechem (vv. 6–7). It is in response to this revelation that Abram builds his first altar and calls on the name of the Lord, fulfilling the customary pattern of worship in the Bible: God speaks and humans respond, a pattern that the builders of Babel willfully rejected in seeking to enter heaven without reference to heaven’s God (cf. 11:1–9).