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William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 12:1-20

Genesis 12:1 Abraham was the father of the faithful, and we have here the first recorded test to which his faith was put. The first and one of the greatest. I. The Substance of God's Call to Abraham. 1. He was called from rest to pilgrimage. From his country and kindred and father's house, to undertake lifelong journeying. He was at an age at which he would fain rest. His wanderings seemed to be begun at the wrong end of his life. But it was then God said, 'Get thee out'. It is as life... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1-5

32THE CALL OF ABRAHAMGenesis 11:27-32; Genesis 12:1-5WITH Abraham there opens a new chapter in the history of the race; a chapter of the profoundest significance. The consequences of Abraham’s movements and beliefs have been limitless and enduring. All succeeding time has been influenced by him. And yet there is in his life a remarkable simplicity, and an entire absence of such events as impress contemporaries. Among all the forgotten millions of his own time he stands alone a recognisable and... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Genesis 12:1-20

CHAPTER 12 The First Events in Abram’s Life 1. The call and the promise (Genesis 12:1-3 ) 2. Abram’s obedience (Genesis 12:4-6 ) 3. The second communication of Jehovah (Genesis 12:7-9 ) 4. Abram in Egypt and first denial of Sarai (Genesis 12:10-20 ) We come now to a new beginning, the Abrahamic covenant. It marks the beginning of that wonderful race, the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel. Abraham’s name is mentioned 74 times in the New Testament. How closely his history is... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Genesis 12:2

12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be {c} a blessing:(c) The world shall recover by your seed, which is Christ, the blessing which they lost in Adam. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-20

THE CALL OF ABRAM The Lord had before told Abram to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house, and go to a land He would show him. This call took place while he was still in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2-4). God declared that He would make of Abram a great nation, that he would be a blessing (v.2). More than this, God would bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. Further still, in Abram all the families of the earth would be blessed (v.3). This is above all a... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1-9

ABRAM ’S CALL AND HIS RESPONSE How does the King James Version indicate an earlier date for the call of Abram than that which chapter 12 narrates? How is this corroborated by Acts 7:2 ? Stephen, speaking of this call, indicates that God “was seen to Abraham,” as if some visible manifestation was vouchsafed to him at the beginning. In what form this may have been we do not know, but sufficiently clear to have shown the patriarch the distinction between gods of wood and stone and the only... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Genesis 12:1-20

The Same-varied Gen 12:1 God's claim upon the individual life is here asserted. God detaches men from early associations, from objects of special care and love, and makes them strangers in the earth. The family idea is sacred, but the Divine will is, so to speak, more sacred still; when the God of the families of the earth calls men from their kindred and their father's house, all tributary laws must be swallowed up by the great stream of the Divine Fatherhood. These calls, so shattering in... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Genesis 12:2

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: How eminently was this fulfilled in Abram's history. First, according to nature in the flesh, in the children of Ishmael. See Gen_16:10; Gen_17:20 . Secondly, according to promise. Here Abram. was greater still in the issue of Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs. Numbers 22:10 . And Thirdly, and above all, in his spiritual seed, in which all the followers of his faith and... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-3

1-3 God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ. From henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the history in the Bible. Abram was tried whether he loved God better than all, and whether he could willingly leave all to go with God. His kindred and his father's house were a constant temptation to him, he could not continue... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 12:1-3

God Calls Abraham v. 1. 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 show thee. Here the real story of Abram, or Abraham, begins, to which the author has led up in a very skilful manner. God gave him a command which imposed upon him a threefold renunciation, Abram was to leave his fatherland, both Haran and Ur of the Chaldees being included in Mesopotamia. He was to forsake the members of his tribe, the... read more

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