GENESIS CHAPTER TWELVE OVERVIEW
Overall what is happening in this chapter is that Abram is called out to start a journey to the Promised Land.
Thomas Coke (1801) – Genesis 12
God commands Abram to depart from his country; promising him that a great nation shall spring from him, and that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in him. He is driven, by a famine, into Egypt; where Sarai is taken from him, but quickly restored.
Matthew Henry (1714) – Genesis 12
The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; here the Holy Ghost enters upon his story, and henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the sacred history. In this chapter we have:
I. God's call of Abram to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3).
II. Abram's obedience to this call (Genesis 12:4-5).
III. His welcome to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:6-9).
IV. His journey to Egypt, with an account of what happened to him there. Abram's flight and fault (Genesis 12:10-13). Sarai's danger and deliverance (Genesis 12:14-20).
Tom Holladay (2020) – Drive Time Devotions
Five Clear Qualities of God’s Call to Abram
1. Person to Person – (God to Abram)
2. Clear Direction – (Leave)
3. Powerful Command – (God’s Command)
4. Awesome Promise – (“I will make you…”)
5. Instant Change – (Abram Obeyed)
Matthew Henry (1714)
Here are six promises:
1. I will make of thee a great nation
2. I will bless thee
3. I will make thy name great
4. Thou shalt be a blessing
5. I will bless those that bless thee and curse those that curse thee
6. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed
KEY VERSE
Genesis 12:1 “Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;”
KEY EVENT
The call of Abram.
KEY CROSS-REFERENCE
Acts 7:2-8 “And he (Steven) said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.' Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM. But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. 'AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,' said God, 'AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.' And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.”
KEY QUOTE
“Those that deal with God must deal upon trust; we must quit the things that are seen for things that are not seen and submit to the sufferings of this present time in hopes of a glory that is yet to be revealed; for it doth not yet appear what we shall be; any more than it did to Abram, when God called him to a land he would show him, so teaching him to live in a continual dependence upon the direction, and with his eye ever towards him.” Matthew Henry
