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god that made Ur of the Chaldees famous too. Terah was not a Hebrew, he never
passed over. It will be remembered that Pharaoh was willing to let Israel go and worship
the Lord "in the land", but neither Terah nor Pharaoh had the "Hebrew" spirit. Before
the record is given of Abram's departure from Haran, there is recorded the great promise
made by the God of glory, introducing into the page of Scripture the purpose of election,
so far as nations are concerned. The Scriptures are very exact, and we are never likely to
believe them too implicitly: if we compare Gen. 12: 1 with Acts 7: 2-4 we shall find
that Stephen makes an omission of one term. He tells us that the God of glory called
Abraham from his country and kindred, but he does not say, "and from thy father's
house". Abraham's action, therefore, in allowing his father and relatives to accompany
him as far as Haran was quite within the command he had received. Upon the death of
his father the added words, "and from thy father's house", make up the full statement,
and "so Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him". Nature's ties were no longer
to hold him; a second separation must now be made. How kindly the Lord leads on!
Still further and deeper trials of faith await Abram, but he is not tried above that which he
is able to bear.
The Lord in Gen. 12: 1-3 makes the first of a series of eight covenants with
Abraham. In this first covenant we have a promise, every item of it, as we shall see,
being personal to Abraham:
"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will shew thee.
And I will make of thee a great nation,
And I will bless thee,
And make thy name great,
And thou shall be a blessing,
And I will bless them that bless thee,
And curse him that curseth thee,
And in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
This great covenant is divided into related groups of promise, as follows:
A | Get thee OUT, the Lord had said.
B | COUNTRY, KINDRED, and HOUSE. A land shown to Abraham.
C | a | The promise of the GREAT nation.
b | The promise to BLESS Abraham.
a | The promise of the GREAT name.
b | The promise that Abraham shall be a BLESSING.
(Conditional clause added).
B | ALL FAMILIES of the earth blessed in Abraham.
A | So Abram DEPARTED, as the Lord had spoken.
Here we have the germ of the whole of God's covenants with Abraham, viz., Israel
and the Nations. Like Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which stands on the threshold of the
times of the Gentiles, this covenant spans and embraces the whole period and scope of
the Abrahamic covenant, all other covenants and promises, including even Paul's witness