Feb. 6, 2010 – Genesis 12 – 13:7

We were just discussing this reading in Lifeteen.  Notice that God told Abram to leave his land.  Another translation makes it more clear that Abram was suppose to go alone.  It is a little more unclear in this translation, but you can see that God told him “I will make of you a great nation”, implying that he shouldn't take the group he has started with him.  But he takes Lot and Sarai and all the people and possessions he has accumulated. 

Haran to the area around where Abram settled was around 450 miles.  It is like picking up all your belongings, all those that you know, and walking from here in Bloomington down to Memphis, TN.  When he gets settled there or when he arrived, there was a famine so he had to leave and went to Egypt.  So, once you get to Memphis, you have to travel to Birmingham, AL.  That also gives you an idea of how small the Holy Land is. 

But Abram had to leave the land God promised him partially because he brought all those extra people with him.  Then he did not trust the Lord to protect him in Egypt, so he lied about Sarai and was kicked out of their. 

Finally he does settle in the land around Bethel, but it cannot sustain him because of the extra people he has brought along.