Genesis:12

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Verse 1-3 - God made choice of Abram , and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters , that he might reserve a people for himself , among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ . From henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the history in the Bible . Abram was tried whether he loved God better than all , and whether he could willingly leave all to go with God . His kindred and his father 's house were a constant temptation to him , he could not continue among them without danger of being infected by them . Those who leave their sins , and turn to God , will be unspeakable gainers by the change . The command God gave to Abram , is much the same with the gospel call , for natural affection must give way to Divine grace . Sin , and all the occasions of it , must be forsaken ; particularly bad company . Here are many great and precious promises . All God 's precepts are attended with promises to the obedient . 1 . I will make of thee a great nation . When God took Abram from his own people , he promised to make him the head of another people . 2 . I will bless thee . Obedient believers shall be sure to inherit the blessing . 3 . I will make thy name great . The name of obedient believers shall certainly be made great . 4 . Thou shalt be a blessing . Good men are the blessings of their country . 5 . I will bless them that bless thee , and curse him that curseth thee . God will take care that none are losers , by any service done for his people . 6 . In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed . Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world , the greatest that ever the world possessed . All the true blessedness the world is now , or ever shall be possessed of , is owing to Abram and his posterity . Through them we have a Bible , a Saviour , and a gospel . They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted . mhcc @Genesis:12:4 ,5 @ Verse 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 6-9 - Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites , who were bad neighbours . He journeyed , going on still . Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled , and often to remove into various states . Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world , Hebrews strkjv @11:8 ,13 ,14 . But observe how much comfort Abram had in God . When he could have little satisfaction in converse with the Canaanites whom he found there , he had abundance of pleasure in communion with that God , who brought him thither , and did not leave him . Communion with God is kept up by the word and by prayer . God reveals himself and his favours to his people by degrees ; before , he had promised to show Abram this land , now , to give it to him : as grace is growing , so is comfort . It should seem , Abram understood it also as a grant of a better land , of which this was a type ; for he looked for a heavenly country , Hebrews strkjv @11:16 . As soon as Abram was got to Canaan , though he was but a stranger and sojourner there , yet he set up , and kept up , the worship of God in his family . He not only minded the ceremonial part of religion , the offering of sacrifice ; but he made conscience of seeking his God , and calling on his name ; that spiritual sacrifice with which God is well pleased . He preached concerning the name of the Lord ; he taught his family and neighbours the knowledge of the true God , and his holy religion . The way of family worship is a good old way , no new thing , but the ancient usage of the saints . Abram was rich , and had a numerous family , was now unsettled , and in the midst of enemies ; yet , wherever he pitched his tent , he built an altar : wherever we go , let us not fail to take our religion along with us . * Verse 10-20 - There is no state on earth free from trials , nor any character free from blemishes . There was famine in Canaan , the glory of all lands , and unbelief , with the evils it ever brings , in Abram the father of the faithful . Perfect happiness and perfect purity dwell only in heaven . Abram , when he must for a time quit Canaan , goes to Egypt , that he might not seem to look back , and meaning to tarry there no longer than needful . There Abram dissembled his relation to Sarai , equivocated , and taught his wife and his attendants to do so too . He concealed a truth , so as in effect to deny it , and exposed thereby both his wife and the Egyptians to sin . The grace Abram was most noted for , was faith ; yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the Divine providence , even after God had appeared to him twice . Alas , what will become of weak faith , when strong faith is thus shaken ! If God did not deliver us , many a time , out of straits and distresses which we bring ourselves into , by our own sin and folly , we should be ruined . He deals not with us according to our deserts . Those are happy chastisements that hinder us in a sinful way , and bring us to our duty , particularly to the duty of restoring what we have wrongfully taken or kept . Pharaoh 's reproof of Abram was very just : What is this that thou hast done ? How unbecoming a wise and good man ! If those who profess religion , do that which is unfair and deceptive , especially if they say that which borders upon a lie , they must expect to hear of it ; and they have reason to thank those who will tell them of it . The sending away was kind . Pharaoh was so far from any design to kill Abram , as he feared , that he took particular care of him . We often perplex ourselves with fears which are altogether groundless . Many a time we fear where no fear is . Pharaoh charged his men not to hurt Abram in any thing . It is not enough for those in authority , that they do not hurt themselves ; they must keep their servants and those about them from doing hurt . **** Matthew Henry 's Commentary ****

---