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Today’s Parasha is entitled Lech Lecha meaning ‘Get Going’ or ‘Go Forth’ and covers Genesis 12:1-17:27. Within these chapters, God calls Abram to leave his country and his people, Abram obediently sets out, journeys to and through the land of Canaan, migrates for a time to Egypt, returns to Canaan, battles four kings, fathers a child, undergoes circumcision and receives a name change. Due to the vast amount of information and the number of significant events, I will be singling out a few areas I felt drawn to.
Abram was 75 years old when God called him to leave Ur of the Chaldeans. I don’t know about you, but if God had called me, as a childless man, to become a father, and that I would be the origin of a people too numerous to count, I would have thought He meant an adopted child. I would have thought, “Really? Me, an old man, advanced in years? Is this a joke?” God calling Abram proved to show many over the centuries that God will call who He will when He will. And, at times He uses some of the least likely people to accomplish His purposes.
Also, God calls us in His time, when we are ready to be called, not before and not after. Sometimes we, in our finite thinking, call out in desperation, saying, “Why am I not being used? Why is God not speaking to me?” God doesn’t use those who are ill- prepared or otherwise aren’t ready. He Himself equips us, and calls us when we have matured and are ready for the journey He has set before us.
When Abram set out on his journey, he left from Haran, in what is now southern Turkey, where his father Terah had settled the family near the end of his life. They had departed from Ur several years earlier, intending to go to Canaan, but never made it that far.
After arriving in Canaan, Abram journeyed throughout the land, setting up altars to the Lord. After spending some time there, he traveled from the Negev to Egypt, due to a drought in the region. Abram was once again dealing with something most of us think would be silly at his age; he fears for his life due to the beauty of his wife Sarai. The name Sarai means ‘princess’, and many scholars attribute Pharaoh’s desire to marry her to her status. Perhaps her manner of dress or the way she carried herself gave it away. Pharaoh marrying a daughter of royalty would increase his influence. Abram requested Sarai to keep her relationship hidden and to say she was his sister instead.
Sarai’s beauty was quickly noticed, as Abram foresaw would happen, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s palace. God inflicted various diseases on the household of Pharaoh. Realizing something was terribly wrong, Pharaoh summoned Abram and got the truth out of him. Then Pharaoh sent Abram and Lot and all their possessions on their way.
In chapter 13, Abram and Lot and their families arrive back in the land. But they quickly learn that their flocks are too large to remain together, and they must part ways for their flocks to survive. Abram gives Lot the first choice on where to settle. On account of its outward beauty, Lot chooses to settle near Sodom, and Abram remains near Hebron. Later, God instructs Abram to go and walk through the length and breadth of the land, promising that it will eventually belong to his descendants. God’s direction to do this was timely, as King Chedorlaomer and three of his vassal kings were on their way to re-assert his dominance in the region.
Choices have consequences; Abram, by remaining in Hebron, was well out of harm’s way and Lot, by choosing to dwell in Sodom, is right in the path Chedorlaomer’s army. Lot and his family are taken captive and the kings set up camp near Dan. Abram, along with 318 trained men born in his house, goes in pursuit and finds them there in the night near Dan. Abram divides the men and defeats the armies of Chedorlaomer, and chases the remaining forces north of Damascus.
After Abram returns home from defeating that confederation of kings, the king of Sodom and King Melchizedek come out to meet him in the Kings Valley or Shaveh. Melchizedek brings with him bread and wine, as he was also a priest of God Most High. Melchizedek praises the Lord and blesses Abram. Abram in turn gives him a tenth of all he had. The King of Sodom offers Abram all the financial spoils of war, but Abram wanted nothing to do with that wicked king, and had already vowed he would keep none of Sodom’s riches for himself.
The word of the Lord comes to Abram after this in a vision, reasserting his promise to protect him and multiply his offspring. After a short conversation, Abram wants reassurances from Adonai, and asks Him how he might be certain that he will gain possession of the land. The Lord replies by offering to make a covenant with him. After Abram had become tired and fallen asleep, Adonai came to him in a dream, informing him that his descendants would be enslaved 400 years and that He, the Lord, would punish those that enslaved us. Then after that, we would be set free and come to inherit the Land.
Now after the sun had set and it became dark, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces of the animal sacrifices; God made a covenant that this land would be our inheritance.
Sarai, meanwhile, having become tired of waiting on the Lord’s promise of a son, took matters into her own hands, telling Abram he should lay with her maidservant and that she would be given a son through her. Abram, for some reason, agreed to this plan. Sarai’s maidservant Hagar gave them a child and named him Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when he was born.
In chapter 18, Abram, now 99 years old, has a visit from the Lord; who reaffirms that he will have a son, and changes Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. God reveals the name of their future son – Yitzhak (“laughter”), and tells them it will be in about a year. Adonai instructs Abraham that in order to reaffirm this covenant, he and every male in his household are to be circumcised. God also requires that on the eighth day after birth every Israeli boy is to be circumcised as a sign of this everlasting covenant. So that very day Abram circumcised every male in his camp, including himself and Ishmael.
Let me share a closing thought. God often uses improbable people. He used Abram, a man advanced in years, to show the world who He is and how mighty He is. He waited until exactly the right moment to summon Abraham, to His service. He waited until he was molded and prepared for that call. God used Abram to show the king of Egypt His power to inflict disease and to heal. God used Abram to show the people of Canaan, that those who follow the one true God of Abraham can defeat powerful kings. He is a God who keeps His promises.
If you have ever felt you were insignificant and not being used by God, or if you thought He could never use you; just think back on the life of Abraham. He and Sarah waited many years for the birth of Isaac, and had to trust that God would fulfill the rest of His promise. We have to remember that God does things according to His time table, not ours. He promised Abraham an heir. In Abraham and Sarah’s impatience, they took matters into their own hands, not only causing unneeded drama in their relationship, but they also created an entire separate people group. Our choices really do have consequences.
2 Peter 3:8-9 says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” May all of us look back at the example of Abraham and see how important it is to be patient and trust the Lord.