*Genesis 12:1-9; 17:1-8
God calls Abram to leave his homeland and become a great nation, renewing his covenant with the promise of land and descendants and instituting circumcision as a sign.
- God’s Call to Abraham:
- God commands Abram (later named Abraham) to leave his country, his family, and his father’s household.
- Promise of blessing: God assures Abram that he will be made into a great nation, blessed, and his name will be renowned.
- Journey to Canaan: Abram obeys God’s command, taking his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all their possessions, and travels to the land of Canaan.
- Arrival in Canaan: Abram reaches Shechem and receives a promise from God that this land will be given to his offspring.
Genesis 17:1-8:
- Renewal of the Covenant:
- Appearance of God: God appears to Abram when he is ninety-nine years old, reaffirming his covenant with him.
- Almighty God: God introduces himself as the Almighty (El Shaddai), emphasizing his power and authority.
- Covenant terms: God promises to make Abram exceedingly fruitful, to make nations of him, and to establish an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.
- Name change: God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude,” signifying the multitude of nations that will come from him.
- Covenant sign: God institutes the rite of circumcision as a visible sign of the covenant between him and Abraham’s descendants, to be observed by every male child on the eighth day after birth.
- Promise of the land: God reiterates his promise to give the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession to Abraham and his descendants.
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: 12:2 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: 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
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.
12:5 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.
12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 17:4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
17:6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.