As we noted in the introduction to this series, God’s promises to Abraham consistently focused on the two items which form the basis of the “gospel preached beforehand unto Abraham” – the land and an offspring, or seed. The latter, which we plan to consider in the next article, receives mention in each of the six declarations made by God to Abraham as recorded in Genesis. The land, subject of this article, is referred to in four of the six.
Listing these four passages in order of their revelation to Abraham provides the basis for our exposition:
Gen. 12:1 Go to the land I will show you.
Gen. 12:7 I will give this land to your seed.
Gen. 13:14,15 Look in all directions—You and your seed will inherit this land forever.
Gen. 17:8 I will give you and your seed all the land of your sojourning’s, that is, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession.
City dweller to wanderer
The first declaration was geographically vague. The promise at that point was not for “the land,” but blessings in “a land.” God told him neither where he was going, nor how long the journey would be. Probably the only certainty Abraham had was that he would never return to Ur.
Abraham wasn’t a bedouin, accustomed to migrating from one oasis to another; rather, he was a resident of the great city of Ur when God told him to leave. He was a metropolitan who became a sojourner. This is a very different picture from imagining Abraham as a tent-dweller who just picked up his stakes and moved when God spoke to him. God called him from his settled life in a culturally and economically important large city. He likely had a brick house with arched doorways, a kitchen, a courtyard, and all the modern amenities which archaeologists have found in ancient Ur. It was quite a city, the gem of the fertile crescent.
The Chaldeans developed architecture, mathematics and artisanship and were skilled in business and manufacturing. To Abraham, God’s call meant leaving home and city conveniences forever for an unknown location. However, he had higher values, as we read in Hebrews 11:10: “He looked forward to a city whose builder and maker is God,” thus contrasting the future kingdom of God with earthly Ur.
The test of the unknown
We also should note Abraham would not know the time factor of his journey. People can bear a great hardship if they know when it will end, but even a small trial can become grievous when we think it is indefinite. When Abraham left Ur, “not knowing where he was to go” (Heb. 11:8), he set out on a journey that would seem to him even harder and longer than it really was – many years and 1,800 miles! Each day would renew such questions as, “Is this the place?” “When will I be there?” and “How will I know?” Yet Abraham journeyed on, content that God would make all things clear at the right time and place.
The second promise
At last, years after he left Ur, God spoke to Abraham when he was at Shechem. This is the land, your journey is over. But was it? When God finally gave the promise that specified the land, He didn’t promise it to Abraham, but to Abraham’s seed. Imagine both the relief and the consternation Abraham would have upon hearing, “To thy seed I will give this land.”
Here, at last, was The Land! The new “owner,” however, was not Abraham; it was someone called his “seed.”
What could this mean to a childless 75 year old? How would he have construed this strange promise from the God he intimately trusted? No doubt he would conclude that his own inheritance would come through the agency of someone designated his “seed.”
In fullness of worship, indicating no disappointment at the situation, Abram built an altar (Gen. 12:7), and continued as God directed. When he arrived at the saddle between Bethel (house of God) and Ai (heap of ruins) he built another altar (Gen.12:8), and called on the name of the Lord. In “calling on the name of the LORD” at this symbolic spot, Abraham reaffirmed his decision to continue as a sojourner.
The eternal promise
The third promise concerning the land came after a significant incident involving Abraham and Lot. After the two men returned from Egypt with much chattel (Gen. 13:2-5), they became involved in a dispute concerning pasturage. The land could not support the abundant herds of both, and strife arose between their herdsmen over the lack of pasture and watering-holes (v. 6). Abraham, making a remarkable move to resolve the conflict, offered Lot the choice of where to move his flocks.
In human or cultural terms, Abraham made a senseless gesture; as Lot’s elder, he could have told Lot where to take his flocks. Besides, given the lay of the land described in Genesis, Lot certainly would choose the well-watered Jordan valley to their east for his pasturage.
What would motivate Abraham to give the younger Lot first choice, knowing that Lot would obviously get the better deal? The answer lies in Abraham’s faith in God’s promise, as it had been so far revealed.
Thus far, God had promised the land only to Abraham’s seed – not to Abraham, however, would soon learn Lot was not the seed of promise; he was not even a shadow. The text of Genesis 13 alludes to the difference in perspective between the two men: Abraham, who saw that which was invisible, and Lot, who saw only that which was physical. Note the phrases: “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw” (v.10); “Lot chose for himself’ (v.11); “Lot dwelt among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” (v.12). Lot’s descent into Sodom resulted from his natural, selfish viewpoint. Abraham, meanwhile, knowingly gave up the best pasture land in deference to his understanding of God’s promise. His thinking was on a spiritual level rather than a natural one.
Land now promised to Abraham
It was precisely then, “after Lot separated from him,” that the Lord rewarded Abraham’s faith with the amplified promise recorded in Genesis 13:14-17.
“The Lord said to Abraham, after Lot parted from him, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, eastward and westward, for all the land which you see I will give to you and your seed forever”
In this promise, the Lord God added two clarifications to the original promise: the promise of the land to Abraham personally, and the word “forever.” Now we have, for the first time, Abraham personally named as inheritor, and it would be forever. Every acre that Lot chose would eventually be Abraham’s! (It was probably about this time Abraham began thinking that the seed would be someone other than Lot.)
The text also underscores the eternal aspect, as opposed to Lot’s temporary possession, in v. 10: “This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.” Lot’s choice was not “forever” – it wouldn’t even last a few years! Abraham’s faith gained him not only all of Lot’s selfish parcel, but all the land he could see in every direction of the compass. Abraham, content to live by faith in God’s promise, became more blessed than Lot who thought he had chosen the better land. Abraham, personally, now, for the first time, had a clear testament from the Lord God that he would live eternally on that land.
New Testament verification
The apostle Paul, in II Corinthians 4:17-18, perhaps best describes the lesson enacted by Lot and Abraham. “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory because we look not to the things that are seen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Lot saw with the eye of the flesh; his portion was transient. Abraham’s faith allowed him to see the unseen, and so reap the eternal promise. It would be his forever; it would never end. What Abraham would not know is when he would inherit.
Abraham surely understood that his own inheritance would be through the agency of his offspring, since God promised the land to Abraham after first promising it to his seed. Inasmuch as inheritance from son to father reverses normal human inheritance of father to son, Abraham must also have reasoned this inheritance was “not of this world.” God had something beyond human affairs in His plan.
The fourth declaration
The fourth, and last, of the promises concerning the land comes in Genesis 17, when God appeared to Abram as God Almighty (El Shaddai).
At that time, He changed the patriarch’s name from Abram to Abraham, established the covenant of circumcision, and clarified the seed as being one of Abraham and Sarah’s very own offspring. Amid these further revelations of God’s plan to Abraham came also reinforcement of the promise concerning the land. The name “Land of Canaan” is introduced, and the eternal inheritance to both Abraham and his seed is reiterated.
This time the promise said “to you, and your seed after you.” Abraham’s own inheritance becomes prominent; it would be his land, but not until the seed inherited it first on his behalf! As his belief in the Messiah developed (to be covered in the next article, Lord willing), so also did his belief in his inheritance. Abraham’s faith won an inheritance for his seed, and the seed would cause the inheritance for Abraham! This remarkable theological perspective all came from the sublimity of God’s promises of the land and the seed.
Abraham trusted God enough to act when details remained unspecified and to defer when God’s plan (as he understood it) required. He trusted God enough to endure hardship that he might gain an eternal inheritance. God rewarded him, not with immediate fulfillment of the promises, but with immediate reinforcement of his faith. The Lord reaffirmed His promises and gave further revelation to Abraham at the right time, and He let faithful Abraham live in that land – as a sojourner – all of his life.
Summary
The following conclusions seem fair inferences from the Genesis texts and the divine commentary in Hebrews.
Abraham believed:
- He would inherit a specific land in Canaan.
- His own inheritance would come by the agency of someone entitled “his seed.”
- This seed would inherit the land first.
- The inheritance would be forever.
- The inheritance involved an order of affairs beyond natural means and operations.
- Whatever gain he might have had in Ur was not to be compared to God’s promises.
- His life as a sojourner showed his faith to himself and to God.
- He could trust God even when His promises lacked specificity.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One