Drash
Genesis 12:4-5

Blaine Robison, M.A.

Delivered 9 November 2024

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THE COMPANY OF ABRAHAM

"4 So Abram went, just as ADONAI had spoken to him. Also Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 5 Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the people that they acquired in Haran, and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan." (Genesis 12:4-5 TLV)

See my article The Story of Abraham and my commentary on Acts 7:2-4.

The parashah for today covers Chapters 12 through 17 of Genesis. It's a story about a journey of faith from Ur in southern Babylonia to Haran in northern Assyria to Canaan. The "God of Glory" appeared to Abraham when he was 70 years old and told him to leave his home in Ur and seek out a new land [Acts 7:2-3; cf. Gen 15:7]. Perhaps not coincidentally his father Terah decided that the entire family would also take the journey [Gen 11:31].

I can relate to that decision. When I graduated from high school in New Mexico I planned to attend a Christian college in southern California to prepare for ministry. My parents decided that the whole family would move to California and their support was valuable in achieving my goal. Thus, Terah played a role in helping Abraham fulfill God's call on his life.

The journey from Ur following the regular trade route along the Euphrates River through Mesopotamia, a trek of some 600 miles on foot, had been long, wearisome, and dangerous. The fruitful plains around Haran must have been a welcome sight. Based on the table of nations in Genesis 10 Haran was probably founded by descendants of Ham's grandson Nimrod. Unfortunately the city had become a center for worship of the moon-god, appropriately called "Sin."

Arrival in Haran may have been intended as a brief interlude but it turned into five years. In the first two verses of Chapter 12 God renewed his call to Abraham to leave for Canaan and gave him an incredible promise that through him all people groups on the earth would be blessed. Abraham had a hard decision to make. His father had become seduced by the idolatrous worship of the city [Josh 24:2] and fulfilling God's call meant leaving his father behind.

While living in Haran Abraham had increased greatly in wealth in terms of silver and gold and livestock and herdsmen [Gen 13:2]. So when he left Haran he not only took his wife and nephew but also many men that shepherded his flocks. Verse 5 of today's text uses the word for "soul" to describe the men and their families that Abraham brought with him went he left for Canaan. The plural word "souls" signifies that these men were not involuntary slaves, but voluntary employees. He paid for their service.

Thus, Abraham brought a diverse company out of Haran. These men had to make the same decision of trust to leave the security of Haran behind. Their act of faith to go with Abraham hinted at God's covenantal plan to make his grandson Jacob a commonwealth of nations. It's no accident that these herdsmen and their sons would later be circumcised in Chapter Seventeen along with Abraham's son Ishmael [Gen 17:23], making them full participants in God's covenant of blessing and marking them as "sons of Abraham."

In Scripture the word "son" is not strictly about biology, but also having the characteristics of. Thus the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob anticipated the New Covenant in which all who accept and follow the Seed of Abraham, Yeshua, and manifest the same trusting faithfulness as Abraham are considered "sons and daughters of Abraham" [Gal 3:7-9, 14].

Relevant to this subject is that Yeshua publicly recognized one woman as a daughter of Abraham, because she trusted Yeshua for healing of her body and deliverance from demonic oppression [Luke 13:16]; and he called one man, Zaccheus, a "son of Abraham" because he trusted in Yeshua for salvation or spiritual healing of his soul [Luke 19:9]. The covenantal blessings of physical and spiritual healing are available today to all who trust in Yeshua.

Barukh Hashem.

Copyright © 2024 by Blaine Robison. All rights reserved.