Genesis 12:4-5

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:4

‘So Abram went as Yahweh had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran.’ Abram obeyed the voice of God. Lot, his nephew also went with him. It is very probable that through Abram’s witness Lot too had begun to worship Yahweh. It is possibly difficult to comprehend what a major step for Abram this move was. To the ancients membership of the tribe was a sacred duty and to leave it was to dismember the tribe. But Abram has the call of Yahweh and... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:5

‘And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls they had obtained in Haran, and they went out to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.’ The repetitive phrases at the end are in typical Ancient Near Eastern style. They confirm that what they purposed to do, they did, unlike Terah earlier. It is clear that Abram has built up a family sub-tribe since arriving in Haran. He was a man of substance... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-9

Genesis 12:1-1 Samuel : . The Call of Abraham, his Migration to Canaan, and Yahweh’ s Promise to Him.— From J, except Genesis 12:4 b, Genesis 12:5, which is clearly from P. Abraham is called to leave country, kindred, and home for an unnamed land. His faith is thus challenged at the outset ( Hebrews 11:8); at the call of God, without question or demur, he abandons the tangible certainties of the present for a vague destination, and the hazards of travel and settlement in a new land. But he... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-20

Genesis 12:1 to Genesis 25:18 . The Story of Abraham.— In this section the three main sources, J. E, P are present. Gunkel has given strong reasons for holding that J is here made up of two main sources, one connecting Abraham with Hebron, the other with Beersheba and the Negeb. The former associates Abraham with Lot. (For details, see ICC.) On the interpretation to be placed on the figures of Abraham and the patriarchs, see the Introduction. The interest, which has hitherto been diffused... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Genesis 12:4

Abram departed, first from Ur, and after his father’s death, from Haran. read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Genesis 12:5

The souls, i.e. the persons, as the word souls is oft used, as Genesis 14:21; Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:15; Leviticus 5:1; Numbers 23:10; Deuteronomy 24:7; Mark 3:4, &c. That they had gotten; Heb. made, i.e. either. 1. Begotten; for though Abram had yet no children, Lot had, and both their servants had children by their fellow servants born in their house, which might well be numbered among Abram's and Lot's persons, because they had an absolute dominion over them. Or, 2. Instructed, i.e.... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Genesis 12:4-9

CRITICAL NOTES.—Genesis 12:4. And Lot went with him] Kurtz understands that “God had not intended that Lot should join Abram on his journey. This (he says) is sufficiently manifest from his later history. But God allowed it, probably, from condescension to Abraham’s attachment to his family.” It would be more strictly proper to say that, as the narrative presents it, Lot joined the company of his own prompting, and not by Divine command, as in the case of Abram. It was, therefore, upon his own... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1-4

Genesis 12:1-4 I. At some time in our lives a call from God sends its trumpet tone through each of our souls, as it did when Abraham heard it, and he went forth with the future stretching broad and far before him. II. God's call to Abraham was: (1) a call to closer communion with Himself; (2) a call which led him to break with his past; (3) a call into loneliness. III. The reason why so many of us, who are good and honourable men, never become men of great use and example and higher thought and... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1-20

Genesis 12:0 , etc. I. Notice first the call of Abraham. (1) The call was addressed to him suddenly; (2) it required him to forsake his country and his kindred, while giving him no hope of return; (3) it sent him on a long and difficult journey, to a country lying more than three hundred miles away. Yet Abraham obeyed in willing submission to the command of God. II. Notice Abraham's conquest over the kings. This is the first battle recorded in the word of God. It was after his rescue of Lot... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:4-5

Genesis 12:4-5 (with Acts 16:10 ) I. Taken together, these texts may be paraphrased geographically, by saying that they contain a direction to the Law and the Gospel to move westwards, like the sun. The forefather of the Jews was ordered to quit his home for a land that looked westwards; the Apostle of the Gentiles was ordered to commence travelling westwards, turning his back on the east. One text limited the earlier dispensation to a single branch of the Semitic race; the other threw open... read more

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