Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/117

Rh of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, ch. 20. 12. She was ten years younger than Abram.

III. His departure out of Ur of the Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family, in obedience to the call of God, of which we shall read more, ch. 12. 1, &c. This chapter leaves them in Haran, or Charran, a place about the midway between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt till Terah's head was laid, probably because the old man was unable, through the infirmities of age, to proceed in his journey. Many reach to Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come thither.

CHAP. XII. The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account of in the foregoing chapter ; here, the Holy Ghost enters upon his story; 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, v. 1..3. II. Abram's obedience to this call, v. 4, 5. III. His welcome to the land of Canaan, v. 6, 7. IV. His journey to Egypt, with an account of what happened to him there. Abram's flight and fault, v. 10..13. Sarai's danger, and deliverance, v. 14..20.

OW 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 show thee. 2. 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: 3. 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. We have here the call by which Abram was removed out of the land of his nativity into the land of promise; which was designed both to try his faith and obedience, and also to separate him, and set him apart, for God and for special services and favours which were further designed. The circumstances of this call we may be somewhat helped to the knowledge of, from Stephen's speech, Acts 7. 2, where we are told, 1. That the God of glory appeared to him, to give him this call; appeared in such displays of his glory, as left Abram no room to doubt the divine authority of this call. God spake to him afterward in divers manners; but this first time, when the correspondence was to be settled, he appeared to him as the God of glory, and spake to him. 2. That this call was given him in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran; therefore we rightly read it, The Lord had said unto Abram, namely, in Ur of the Chaldees; and, in obedience to this call, as Stephen further relates the story, v. 4, he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran, or Haran, about five years, and from thence, when his father was dead, by a fresh command, pursuant to the former, God removed him into the land of Canaan. Some think that Haran was in Chaldea, and so was still a part of Abram's country; or that he, having staid there five years, began to call it his country, and to take root there, till God let him know that this was not the place he was intended for. Note, If God loves us, and has mercy in store for us, he will not suffer us to take up our rest any where short of Canaan, but will graciously repeat his calls, till the good work begun, be performed, and our souls repose in God only.

In the call itself, we have a precept and a promise.

I. A trying precept, v. 1, Get thee out of thy country. Now,

1. By this precept he was tried whether he loved God better than he loved his native soil and dearest friends, and whether he could willingly leave all, to go along with God. His country was become idolatrous, his kindred and his father's house were a constant temptation to him, and he could not continue with them without danger of being infected by them; therefore, Get thee out, לך לך Vade tibi—Get thee gone, with all speed, escape for thy life, look not behind thee, ch. 19. 7. Note, Those that are in a sinful state are concerned to make all haste possible out of it. Get out for thyself, (so some read it,) that is, for thine own good. Note, Those who leave their sins and turn to God, will themselves be unspeakable gainers by the change, Prov. 9. 12. This command which God gave to Abram, is much the same with the gospel-call by which all the spiritual seed of faithful Abram are brought into covenant with God. For, (1.) Natural affection must give way to divine grace: our country is dear to us, our kindred dearer, and our father's house dearest of all; and yet they must all be hated, Luke 14. 26, that is, we must love them less than Christ, hate them in comparison with him, and, whenever any of these come in competition with him, they must be postponed, and the preference given to the will and honour of the Lord Jesus. (2.) Sin and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken, and, particularly, bad company; we must abandon all the idols of iniquity which have been set up in our hearts, and get out of the way of temptation, plucking out even a right eye that leads us to sin, Matth. 5. 29, willingly parting with that which is dearest to us, when we cannot keep it without hazard of our integrity. Those that resolve to keep the commandments of God, must quit the society of evil doers, Ps. 119. 115. Acts 2. 40. (3.) The world, and all our enjoyments in it, must be looked upon with a holy indifference and contempt; we must no longer look upon it as our country, or home, but as our inn, and must, accordingly, sit loose to it, and live above it, get out of it in affection.

2. By this precept he was tried, whether he could trust God further than he saw him; for he must leave his own country, to go to a land that God would show him; he does not say, "It is a land that I will give thee," but merely, "a land that I will show thee." Nor does he tell him what land it was, or what kind of land; but he must follow God with an implicit faith, and take God's word for it, though he had no particular securities given him, that he should be no loser by leaving his country, to follow God. Note, Those that will 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, Rom. 8. 18, for it doth not yet appear, what we shall be, 1 John, 3. 2, 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 his direction, and with his eye ever toward him.

II. Here is an encouraging promise, nay, it is a complication of promises, many, and exceeding great and precious. Note, All God's precepts are attended with promises to be obedient; when he makes himself known to us as a Commander, he makes himself known also as a Rewarder; if we obey the command, God will not fail to perform the promise. Here are six promises.

1. I will make of thee a great nation; when God took him from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another; he cut him off from being the branch of a wild olive, to make him the root of a good olive. This promise was, (1.) A great relief to Abram's burthen; for he had now no child. Note, God knows how to suit his favours to the