The world greatly changed when the global flood destroyed all life from the face of the earth as a punishment for man’s continual disobedience (Genesis 6-7). Only Noah’s family survived the flood and they were entrusted with repopulating the earth (9:1). As mankind began to grow in numbers, some began lifting themselves up in pride by seeking to make a name for themselves through building a powerful city as well as a tower which reached into the heavens (11:1-9). Man’s pride caused God to confuse their languages forcing them to spread out across the earth and group themselves according to common language (11:8-9). Moses provided the details of these newly formed tribes which had been scattered, along with a genealogy of each of Noah’s sons – Ham, Shem, and Japheth (Genesis 10).
In Genesis 11:10-26 Moses begins to specifically trace the genealogy of Shem , who was blessed by God (9:26-27), all the way to Abram (later Abraham) which would have provided the Israelites with the knowledge of their heritage. Beginning in Genesis 11:27 Moses details the family of Terah, “This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans” (11:27-28). According the Joshua 24:2, Abram’s father was an idolater living in the land of Ur. As the story of Abram develops, it is interesting to realize that he was raised in a pagan family and worshiped other gods. Abram eventually married a woman named Sarah, but she was not able to have children (11:29-30); furthermore, Abram and Sarah left their native land with Terah and traveled to Haran (11:31). While they were settled in Haran, Abram’s father died (11:32). It is apparent that during his time in Ur, Abram had received God’s command to move from Ur to the land of Canaan (12:1). Abram made the 600 mile journey to Haran where he settled and then God repeated His command for Abram and his family to relocate to Canaan (Acts 7:2).
Along with the command to move his family, God made an unconditional and everlasting covenant with Abram declaring, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:2-3). This is what is known as the Abrahamic Covenant where God promised three things to Abram: a great nation/land (12:2a; 15:7), a great blessing (12:2b), and a great name (12:2c). Through Abram’s nation and name, he would become a blessing to “all families of the earth” (12:3). Paul revealed the true meaning behind this blessing, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those whoare of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Galatians 3:8-9). Hidden within this blessing to Abram, God promised that Jesus Christ would come through his line and bring hope to the world (Genesis 3:15).
Dear God, thank You for bringing hope to the world through fulfilling Your promises to Abram.
