Genesis 12:1-50:26

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 12:1-3

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1

Now the Lord had said unto Abram ,.... In Ur of the Chaldees, before he came and dwelt in Charran, as seems from Acts 7:2 and so Aben Ezra interprets it; but Jarchi and others think, that what follows was said to him in Haran, and so the words may be more literally rendered F21 ויאמר "et dixit", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. , "and the Lord said unto Abram"; after the death of Terah, who died in Haran; and indeed it is highly probable there were two appearances of God to Abram, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1

Get thee out of thy country - There is great dissension between commentators concerning the call of Abram; some supposing he had two distinct calls, others that he had but one. At the conclusion of the preceding chapter, Genesis 11:31 , we find Terah and all his family leaving Ur of the Chaldees, in order to go to Canaan. This was, no doubt, in consequence of some Divine admonition. While resting at Haran, on their road to Canaan, Terah died, Genesis 11:32 ; and then God repeats his call... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1

Verse 1 1.Now the Lord had said unto Abram. That an absurd division of these chapters may not trouble the readers, let them connect this sentence with the last two verses of the previous chapter. Moses had before said, that Terah and Abram had departed from their country to dwell in the land of Canaan. He now explains that they had not been impelled by levity as rash and fickle men are wont to be; nor had been drawn to other regions by disgust with their own country, as morose persons... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 12:1

Now the Lord. Jehovah = the God of salvation, an indication that the narrative is now to specially concern itself with the chosen seed, and the Deity to discover himself as the God of redemption. The hypothesis that Genesis 12:1-4 were inserted in the fundamental document by the Jehovist editor is not required for a satisfactory explanation of the change of the Divine name at this particular stage of the narrative. Had said . Literally, said. In Ur of the Chaldees, according to Stephen... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 12:1

The voices of God at the opening of the world's eras. I. AT THE OPENING Or CREATION . "And God said, let there be Light." II. AT THE OPENING OF REDEMPTION . "And God said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman," &c.; III. AT THE OPENING OF THE OLD DISPENSATION . "And God said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country." IV. AT THE OPENING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA . "And God said, This is my beloved SON ?" V. AT THE OPENING OF ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 12:1-5

Designed to trace the outward development of God's kingdom on the earth, the narrative now concentrates its attention on one of the foregoing Terachites, whose remarkable career it sketches with considerable minuteness of detail, from the period of his emigration from Chaldea to his death at Hebron in the land of Canaan. Distinguished as a man of undoubted superiority both of character and mind, the head of at least two powerful and important races, and standing, as one might say, on the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 12:1-5

The preparations of grace. We may call this the genesis of the kingdom of God. I. It is FOUNDED in the word of the Divine covenant, the faith given by Divine grace to individuals, the separation unto newness of life. II. The one man Abram gathers round him a small SOCIETY , kindred with him by the flesh, but bound to him doubtless by spiritual bonds as well. Tiros God has sanctified the family life by making it as the nidus of the spiritual genesis. When the new kingdom began... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 12:1-9

- The Call of Abram6. שׁכם shekem Shekem, “the upper part of the back.” Here it is the name of a person, the owner of this place, where afterward is built the town called at first Shekem, then Flavia Neapolis, and now Nablous. אלון 'ēlôn “the oak;” related: “be lasting, strong.” מורה môreh In Onkelos “plain;” Moreh, “archer, early rain, teacher.” Here the name of a man who owned the oak that marked the spot. In the Septuagint it is rendered ὑψηγήν hupseegeen.8. בית־אל bēyt-'êl, Bethel,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 12:1

Genesis 12:1. We have here the call whereby Abram was removed from, the land of his nativity into the land of promise. This call was designed both to try his faith and obedience, and also to set him and his family apart for God, in order that the universal prevalence of idolatry might be prevented, and a remnant reserved for God, among whom his true worship might be maintained, his oracles preserved, and his ordinances established till the coming of the Messiah. God seems also, by sending him... read more

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