1-2 The Call of Abram
1-2-1 Terah and Abram
Reading through the record of the call of Abram, a number of questions present themselves. The answer to these provides powerful practical exhortation.
1. Terah, his son Abram and the rest of the family left Ur to travel to Canaan. How was Abram fulfilling the command that he was given in Ur (Gen.12:1; Acts 7:2) to " get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house" ? Surely they went with him?
2. Why did Abram stop for a while in Haran, instead of going straight from Ur to Canaan? Why did not Abram immediately fulfil the command to leave his kindred and " father's house" ?
3. Why is it recorded that " Terah took Abram (not the other way round)...and they went forth with (their wives) from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan" (Gen.11:31)? Were the promises made to Terah too?
Close study of the narrative is necessary to piece together the likely scenario. First, we must define the difference between leaving " thy kindred" and leaving " thy father's house" . The word " house" is often used in Scripture, and particularly in Genesis, to describe a household including servants, and can also refer to ones descendants. The Hebrew for " Kindred" comes from a stem meaning 'to be born', leading Strong to define it as referring to those born in one's own fatherland. Acts 7:3 says that when Abram was in Ur, he was told " Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred" - pointedly omitting mention of " thy father's house" . Gen.12:1 records that the Lord had told Abram to leave his country, kindred and his father's house, but goes on to say that " So Abram departed" from Haran " as the Lord had spoken unto him" (Gen.12:4). The implication is that the command which he was given in Ur, was repeated to him in Haran, with the additional information that he must now also leave " thy father's house" . Again we ask, Why?
There can be no doubt that Abram was a man of great faith. Yet as with those who would fain follow his example, that faith was developed by God through the providentially arranged circumstances of his life. The fact has to be faced that Abram was called to leave his country and kindred (his fellow countrymen), but when he left Ur his countrymen came with him. And additionally, " Terah took Abram...to go into the land of Canaan" (Gen.11:31). Abram did not respond immediately and completely to God's command. The call of Abram is an essay in partial response. Yet we know he had faith. Terah was an idolater (Josh.24:2); the command to leave was given to Abram, not Terah. Because God was going to promise Abram a massive new family stemming from him, he therefore had to come out from his own natural family. He was going to be promised many descendants- therefore he had to separate himself from his " father's house" or posterity. He was to be promised a land for eternal inheritance- therefore he had to leave his own native land. And in this life, Abram's seed must separate themselves from their present, worldly inheritance if they are to receive the promised blessings. It was therefore imperative that to receive the promises, Abram must separate from his natural family and land inheritance. There seems little doubt, in the light of this, that it was God's intention for Abram to leave Ur and his natural family, just taking his wife and their children with them. Yet Abram did not do this. And yet he had faith!
The suggested explanation is that Abram was in the spiritual dilemma faced by so many of God's servants. He had faith, but not quite enough to motivate him to the fullness of action which he so dearly wished to achieve (cp. Rom. 7:18,19). " I believe; help thou mine unbelief" . " Lord increase (add to) our faith" (which the disciples already had). God recognized Abram's faith, and for some reason Terah took Abram and the whole family, announcing that they were to emigrate to Canaan. For some unrevealed reason, the workings of providence made Terah take this decision. Because 'Canaan' would have been relatively unheard of (Abram " went out, not knowing whither he went" , Heb. 11:8) and uncivilized compared to Ur, it is possible to speculate that Abram had told Terah about the promise he had received. Terah then may have decided that such a promise ought to involve him as Abram's father, and decided to go with Abram. Terah must have had a very high level of motivation to leave cosmopolitan Ur for uncivilized Canaan. " Terah took Abram" certainly implies that some unrecorded circumstances took the decision out of Abram's hands; he had to leave his own country, because his father had ordered a mass emigration of the family. How hard it must have been for Abram to make sense of all this! He had been told to leave his family and country, and travel to a land God would show him. At that point in time, he was unaware that that country would be Canaan. How God would lead him was unexplained.
But he believed God, and " when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed" (Heb. 11:8). Therefore when his father announced that they were emigrating to Canaan, Abram would have realized that this was the call from God to get up and leave. Unlike the rest of Terah's unrecorded family, who would have mocked such a crazy plan, Abram willingly submitted. But how was he to leave his kindred and father's house? For they were coming with him! Indeed, Terah " took Abram" . Thus Abram had faith in God's promise, yet may have balked at the command to leave his country and family. Providentially arranged circumstances then resulted in his aging father taking him, implying some degree of compulsion, and leading him out of his native country. Whilst not fully understanding how he could leave his father's household whilst they looked set to be accompanying him on this journey to a strange land, he went ahead in faith. It is emphasized that God " brought out" (s.w. to lead, pluck or pull out) Abram from Ur (Neh.9:7; Gen.15:6,7). The calling came through Abram's hearing of the word of promise, and providentially arranged circumstances encouraging his faithful response to it.
