 |  |
tents made from skins. This is not to say that God does not, or cannot supply every need;
He can, of course. But sometimes what passes for faith is nothing more than credulity.
"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: . . . . . and I will
bless thee" (Gen. 12: 1, 2).
Having made this statement, the account continues (verse 4) "so Abram departed, as
the Lord had spoken unto him". Although the call had been "from thy father's house",
when, after 25 years delay at Haran, Abram went into the land of Canaan, it was "as the
Lord had spoken unto him".
"And Lot went with Him" (verse 4). The next verse states: "An Abram took Sarai his
wife, and Lot his brother's son". The inference seems to be that Lot wanted to go with
Abram, although he was not called, and Abram, in spite of the injunction "Get thee . . . . .
from thy kindred", acquiesced to the young man's request, and took him with him. We
know from the history of Abram that Lot was the cause of a good deal of trouble for him
later on. It is also significant that neither Acts 7:, nor Heb. 11: makes any mention of
Lot.
We are given the initial call to Abraham in Gen. 12: 1-3:
"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 shalt be a blessing: 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."
He was called, then: (1) to a land; (2) to a blessing; (3) to be a blessing; (4) to a
great name; (5) to be a blessing to those who blessed him; (6) to be a curse to him who
cursed him; (7) to be the means of blessing to all the families of the earth.
Abraham was called `to a land', yet already, in verse 7 there appears to be a hint to the
effect that Abraham, himself, would not inherit the land:
"And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land."
This is developed further in Heb. 11: 8-10:
"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By
faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
To a place he should after receive for an inheritance. The word translated `he should
after' signifies `he was about to'. It was his if he wanted it. But `by faith he sojourned in
the land of promise'. Sojourned is the word paroikeo: to dwell beside, or near, hence to
live as a stranger. The substantive of this word occurs in Luke 24: 18, "Art thou only