Abraham, Our Father in the Faith

Genesis 12:1-3
Richard Spencer | Sunday, March 20, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Richard Spencer

My sermon this morning is going to focus on Genesis 12:1-3, where we begin our study of Abraham. The first eleven chapters of Genesis have focused on five critically important facts:

• That God created the heavens and the earth and that it was originally all very good;
• That Adam sinned and died, bringing sin and death to all of his natural descendants;
• That God graciously promised a redeemer;
• That man’s sin increased greatly and God destroyed all people except for eight, saving only Noah and his family;
• That God then renewed his covenant of grace with man through Noah.

The major themes in these chapters have been the sovereign, gracious and good actions of God in contrast with the total depravity of fallen humanity. And God’s gracious election of some of fallen humanity unto salvation, while justly judging all others.

The story of Abraham is a major turning point in the book of Genesis, so it will be worthwhile to set the stage by taking a brief look at some of the preceding material. In Genesis 11:10 we are told, “This is the account of Shem.” This is the fifth occurrence of the Hebrew word translated as “account” in the book of Genesis[1] and it always begins a new section. The first use was in Genesis 2:4 where we were told “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” The second occurrence was in Genesis 5:1 where we read, “This is the written account of Adam’s line.” The third use was in Genesis 6:9 where it says, “This is the account of Noah.” And the fourth use was in Genesis 10:1 where we read, “This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons”. And the rest of Chapter Ten then presents the Table of Nations, showing us that all of the peoples and nations on earth came from Noah. Remember that God had commanded Noah and his sons to “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” in Genesis 9:1.

But, as we heard from Dr. Wassermann, the people disobeyed God’s command. They settled in the plains of Shinar, and there they built a great tower, trying to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered all over the earth. But God was angry with their disobedience and arrogance and confused their language and scattered them.

Chronologically, the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 preceded the Table of Nations given in Chapter Ten, as you can see, for example, by Genesis 10:5 where we read about the sons of Japheth spreading out, “each with its own language.”. This statement makes it clear that God had already confused their language. Then, in Verse 20 we read the summary statement, “These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.” And an identical summary statement is made about the sons of Shem in Verse 31. So, the descendants of all three of Noah’s sons had their language confused and were scattered after God judged their arrogance.

Then, in Genesis 11:10 we start a more detailed account of Shem, who is the most important of Noah’s sons in terms of God’s plan of redemption, and whose name is the origin of our term Semite. Also, in Genesis 10:21 we are told that “Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.” And Eber is the source of our word Hebrew. These facts foreshadow the shift in emphasis in the book of Genesis from creation in general to the chosen people of God.

In the following verses in Chapter Eleven, we are then given a listing of the descendants of Shem, which leads us to Verse 25, where we first hear about Terah, the father of Abraham. Then, in Verse 27 we see the sixth occurrence of the now familiar expression. We read, “This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.” We won’t see this expression again until Chapter Twenty-Five. Now Terah himself is not that important of a figure, but his son Abraham is arguably the most important person in the Bible outside of Jesus Christ and, therefore, Genesis spends a great deal of time dealing with his life.

We are told in Genesis 11:26 that “After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.” But in spite of the fact Abram is listed first, he was almost certainly not the eldest son and it is likely he was actually the youngest. We are told in Genesis 11:32 that Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran, and in Genesis 12:4 we are told that Abram left Haran when he was seventy-five. Then, in Acts 7:4, Steven tells us that Abraham left Haran after his father’s death, which means that Abraham must have been born when his father was at least 130 years old. Therefore, Abraham was most likely listed first because of his prominence, rather than his being the first-born.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis cover a period of at least 2,000 years, although it could certainly have been much longer because of possible gaps both in the creation account and the genealogies. In contrast, the remaining Thirty-Nine Chapters only cover a period of about 700 years.

And not only is the time-scale very different in the coming chapters, the focus is also very different. The focus changes from creation and mankind in general to the chosen people of God, the descendants of Abraham. From here on out in the Bible, the other people in the world are only treated in so far as they have interactions with God’s people. The whole Bible teaches us about God’s electing love from beginning to end and it begins with his choosing Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom God renamed Israel.

Paul tells us in Romans 4:16 that Abraham is the father of all of God’s chosen people, whether they are of Jewish descent or not. And that is why this sermon is entitled, Abraham, Our Father in the Faith. And while modern scholars no longer believe that Abraham was a historical figure[2], the testimony of the Bible is clear and unambiguous. Abraham really lived and really is the spiritual father of all believers. His life has many important lessons from which we can and should learn.

As we consider the first three verses of Genesis Twelve this morning, I have four points to make: First, God calls us to leave; Second, God calls us to follow; Third, we are God’s new creation; And fourth, we receive God’s blessing and we bless others. In brief, you could say the four points are: leave, follow, new creation and blessing. Let’s begin with my first point: God calls us to leave.

I.       God calls us to leave

Genesis 12:1 tells us that God told Abram to leave his country. But before we can understand this verse, we need to look back at Verses 27 through 32 of Chapter Eleven. In those verses we are told that Abram had married Sarai and that she was barren. And then, most importantly, we are told in Verse 31 that “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.”

In addition, we need to look at what Stephen said in his speech to the Sanhedrin. In Acts 7:2-4 we read that he said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.”

With all of this background, we can now understand Genesis 12:1; it says, “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’” The NIV version begins with “The LORD had said to Abram”, but the ESV is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew, it says, “Now the LORD said to Abram”. James Boice thinks, and I agree, that God most likely gave Abram this call twice[3]. From Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, we learned that this call first came to Abram while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. And then, as we read in Genesis 11:31, Abram left Mesopotamia, or more precisely, Ur of the Chaldeans, with his father Terah, his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. But they didn’t go all the way to Canaan, they stopped in Haran. And then, in the last verse of Genesis Eleven we are told that Abram’s father, Terah, died in Haran.

We need to be careful to not read too much into this, but it does appear that Abram didn’t fully obey God the first time. He was told to leave his country, his people and his father’s household, but when he left his country, he had his father and nephew with him, so he didn’t leave his father’s household completely. It is possible, as Calvin thought, that Terah was willing to leave his idolatry behind and follow for good reasons[4], but even if that was the case, Abram still had Lot with him and he settled in Haran, which was not where God wanted him to stop. Therefore, I think it is most likely that Abram was at least hesitant in his obedience to God’s command the first time.

If that is so, then God’s repeating the command is an amazing example of his gracious dealings with his chosen people. Those whom God has chosen to save will, in fact, be saved. His word always accomplishes his purpose. God’s call is irresistible, which is why we say it is his effectual call. You can resist all you want and with all your strength, but God will win in the end. And praise God for his saving grace!

We must also take note of how difficult this command was for Abram. He lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, which was, most likely, near the south-eastern end of the fertile crescent in what is now southeastern Iraq, not too far from the Persian Gulf. It was a place with plenty of water and fertile soil and it was a culturally advanced commercial center at that time.[5] All in all, it was a nice place to live. And, most importantly, it was Abram’s home. But God called him to leave.

God also called him to leave his people and his father’s household. And in Joshua 24:2 we are told that “Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.” Therefore, we can see one reason God would want Abram to leave his family, they were idolators! We aren’t explicitly told that Abram himself worshiped idols, but that would seem likely.

And so, God gave Abram this very difficult command – to leave everything he had known behind in order to follow God. And this is precisely the same command that God gives to every one of his chosen children. As Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” And in Luke 14:26 he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” And then, in Luke 14:33 Jesus said, “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Let me tell you, salvation is free. We cannot earn it. But at the same time, salvation costs everything you have because if you have been born again, you are a new creation and this world is no longer your home. You are a stranger here. You have changed your allegiance from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. You are a citizen of heaven and are on your way there.

We are told in Hebrews 11:8-10 that “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Brothers and sisters, if we are truly God’s children, then we will do what Abraham did. We will obey God’s call to leave this world behind. We will live as strangers here and look forward to our heavenly home.

And note that God did not tell Abraham where he was going. He said “go to the land I will show you.” And this statement is not at odds with what we read in Genesis 11:31, where we were told that Abram and the others “set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.” This statement does not mean that God told Abram Canaan was the destination. This is what is called a prolepsis, which is a statement that uses a piece of information not yet known at the time of the event being written about.[6] The writer knew that Canaan was the final destination, but Abram did not. Abram was simply told to go to the land God would show to him. We are told explicitly in Hebrews 11:8 that “Abraham … did not know where he was going.”

And what a test of faith this was! Abraham had to leave everything he knew behind without even knowing where he was going. And that is, again, the same command God gives to everyone of his children. We are called to follow him, which leads to my second point, God calls us to follow.

II.      God calls us to follow

Remember when Jesus told his disciples that he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and that he would then come back and bring them to be with him? We read in John 14:4 that he then said to them, “You know the way to the place where I am going.” But Thomas responded, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” To which Jesus replied in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

That is the same idea. God told Abraham to go to the land God would show him. In the same way, we are on a journey. We don’t know where exactly we are going, nor do we know the exact route by which God will take us, but we know the way. It is to follow Jesus. In other words, to walk in obedience to his commands. That is difficult at times, because God’s ways are not the ways of the world and there will be painful conflict. But this is where the rubber really meets the road as a Christian. We must trust and obey, especially when we don’t understand or agree.

And if you have been born again, you will trust and obey because you know that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe. You know that he is good and his promises and threats are all certain. You know that he is able to make things work even when we do not see any possible path to success. You know that he knows what is best and you are more concerned to honor and obey him than you are to achieve worldly success.

In following Jesus, we must live and work in this world, but we are not to be of this world. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, Paul wrote, “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” But, as Paul makes clear, we are not to leave this world. We are to be salt and light and tell this world about Jesus Christ, the only Savior.

But even though we are to remain in this world, we are not be of this world. In other words, we are not to live by the same standards or have the same goals as the people of the world. In 2 Corinthians 10:2 Paul wrote, “I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.” His message is clear – these people were wrong. Christians do not live by the standards of this world. Paul went on in Verse 3 to say, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.”

Paul refers to waging war for a good reason. Following Jesus is not the easy, comfortable way to go through life. It is not the way approved by the world and it will not, in general, lead to great worldly success. Rather, it will lead to conflict with the world. But we must remember what Jesus told his disciples in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

The world says to put number one first, and it means that you are number one! But for a Christian, God must be number one. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) Jesus said, “whoever humbles himself like [a] child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4) Jesus said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27) And in Matthew 5:3-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Can you imagine anything more contrary to the ways of the world than that? The world says blessed are the rich, the happy, the proud and the powerful. Jesus says blessed are the poor, those who mourn, the meek and the merciful.

In several places the Bible tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And because the way of following Jesus is so different from the ways of this world, we are called to be strangers and aliens here, just as Abraham was when he left his home. For example, the apostle Peter began his first epistle by writing, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world” (1 Peter 1:1). And he went on in 1 Peter 1:17 to say, “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.” And then in 1 Peter 2:11 he wrote, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” Our war is not just against the world, it is also against our old, sinful nature.

Abraham and the other great men and women of faith all walked through this world as strangers. In Hebrews 11:9 we are told that “By faith [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” And then in Verse 13 it goes on to say that “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”

Brothers and sisters, God’s call to us is clear. We are to leave our old way of life behind and live as strangers here on earth. We are to follow Jesus, which means to obey his Word. But there is also a great promise attached to this command. If we are in Christ, then Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:19-20, “you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” What a wonderful statement that is! We are strangers to the world, but the people of this world are foreigners and aliens to God’s kingdom, while we are fellow citizens of God’s kingdom. We are members of God’s family, his adopted children. Hallelujah! This world is not our home, but, praise God, heaven is! And we are told in Galatians 3:29, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” How wonderful is that? We are heirs according to the promise. Or, as Paul says in Romans 8:17, we are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ”.

I think that is a pretty good trade, don’t you? We were citizens of this world and heirs only of eternal damnation, but now we are citizens of heaven and co-heirs with Christ of eternal life in the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 19:29 Jesus promised his disciples that “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

And God does not expect us to follow him in our own strength. In fact, it is impossible to follow Jesus in your own strength. Those who try will all ultimately fail. That is why John wrote about those who leave the church in 1 John 2:19, saying, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

We must persevere in the faith to prove that we truly belong to Christ, and God promises that we will, in fact, finish the race. In John 10:28-29 Jesus, in speaking about his followers, said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Praise God! We are eternally secure as God’s children. And our persevering in the faith doesn’t depend on our strength, because God changes us to make this possible and then leads and empowers us by his Holy Spirit. And that leads to my third point, we are God’s new creation.

III.    We are God’s new creation

In the second verse of our passage this morning, Genesis 12:2, God said to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Notice that God says “I will make” – we cannot leave this world and follow Christ in our own strength. We must, as Christ told Nicodemus, be born again from above. And if we have been born again, then we are united to Jesus Christ through faith. And we are then baptized into his name, and as Paul wrote in Romans 6:4, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Praise God! Being united to Christ by faith gives us the power to live a new life!

God has given us a new heart – meaning a new worldview, a new understanding, a new set of affections and a new set of priorities. We are radically different. And God promised this in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God declared, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” That is how we become true children of Abraham by faith. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

What a glorious promise we are given. God told Abraham that he would make him into a great nation, and he did. He said he would bless him, and he did. He said he would make his name great, and he did.

But this is not referring to the world’s view of greatness, nor is it primarily referring to Abraham’s physical descendants. In Romans 9:6-8 Paul wrote that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” And if you are in Christ, you are a child of the promise, you are one of Abraham’s true offspring. You are a child of God.

And if you are a child of God, then you are a new creation. You have a new nature and you have the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you. You have the power to say “No” to sin and to walk in holiness. The radical change that has been made is real. This is called definitive sanctification and is entirely God’s work. It produces a radical change, but it does not bring about a complete change. We still have sin in us and we must work, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to put sin to death each and every day, which is the process of progressive sanctification, which is a process in which we are actively involved.

So, if you are a new creation, listen to the apostle Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 4:17. He wrote, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” And then he went on in Verses 22-24 to say, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” So, I ask, are you a new creation? If you aren’t sure, cry out to God and ask for mercy. Confess your sins. He will not turn you away.

God works in each one of us just as he worked in our father Abraham. We will see in the coming weeks the trials that Abraham went through. And we will all go through trials as well. So learn from Abraham! Whenever he trusted in his own ideas and strength he fell and caused himself and others pain. But whenever he trusted and obeyed God he was blessed and as a result, the world is blessed through him. And that leads me to my fourth point, we receive God’s blessing and we bless others.

IV.    We receive God’s blessing and we bless others

God blessed Abraham greatly, both in this life and forever. He became very wealthy and powerful, but most of all he experienced God’s presence with him and therefore had great confidence that God would, indeed, keep all of his promises. He learned through suffering how to depend on God even when he couldn’t see how things would turn out. The most dramatic example of this, of course, is when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise. We know that Abraham obeyed immediately and set out to do what God had demanded. We are told in Hebrews 11:19 how Abraham found the strength to obey this difficult command, we are told that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead”, and so we was ready and willing to sacrifice his son. But God stopped him and provided a ram in place of Isaac.

We also must learn to obey God no matter what. We must use our sanctified, Holy-Spirit-guided reason. There are times in life when it seems like obeying God cannot possibly work. Especially when you are called to obey delegated authorities who are themselves sinful human beings. But what is impossible with man is possible with God. Therefore, read God’s Word, pray, get counsel, and then obey all legitimate commands from all legitimate authorities no matter what. You will be blessed as a result just as Abraham was blessed.

And notice what it says in the last verse of our passage; in Genesis 12:3 God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

When we leave this world behind and faithfully follow God, we receive his blessing, but we also then become a source of blessing to others. First and foremost, of course, we have the gospel of eternal life. We have what the world most needs. And if we live faithfully for God, that will include telling others about their sin and their need for a Savior and the fact that Jesus Christ is that Savior. And our obedient lives can be used by God as powerful witnesses to the gospel.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” Do you spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ wherever you go? To do so is to be blessed and to be a source of blessing.

But there is also a responsibility that comes with this blessing. If we do not live faithfully for God, we bring the gospel into disrepute and become a witness for the lies of Satan. Abraham himself did this on a few occasions and we should take warning from these as we examine his life in the coming weeks. These examples are given to us so that we can learn from Abraham’s mistakes. Our sins not only bring grief to us, they affect other people as well as Rev. Broderick pointed out in his sermon on sin and its consequences. Our sin affects our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, others in the church, our co-workers, neighbors and so on. So, let us be extremely careful to live in a way that pleases God, brings his blessing to us, and enables us to be a source of blessing for others.

And so, in closing, Abraham is our father in the faith. His calling shows us clearly what God demands from all of his children. We are to leave this world behind and follow Christ. Have you done that? Or are you still clinging to the things of this world?

Listen to Christ. In Matthew 6:19-21 he commanded us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We must ask ourselves, “What is it that I truly value most? Where is my heart? Is it here on this earth, which is destined for destruction? Or is it with my Lord in heaven, which will be for eternal glory?” You can answer these questions by looking at your life. What do you think about? What do you long for? Where do you spend most of your time and effort? Jesus went on to say, in Matthew 6:24 that “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” And that isn’t just true of money, it is true of anything in this world. You cannot serve God and something or someone else.

So, look at the life of Abraham and make the same choice he made. He picked up and left Haran and followed God, not knowing where he was going. He stumbled many times along the way, but he always got up, repented, sought the Lord, and moved on. And he has been with God for 4,000 years, and he has an eternity left to look forward to. Be like Abraham! Trust God and obey God. Leave your old sinful ways and follow Christ to eternal glory. Live as a new creation, putting off the old and putting on the new. If you do that, then God’s promises are all yours. You will be blessed and you will be a blessing to others.

[1] The word is also used differently and translated as “lines of descent” in 10:32.

[2] Dever, William G., What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and when Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2001

[3] James Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary, Zondervan, 1985, Vol. 2, pg 15

[4] See John Calvin, Commentaries on The First Book of Moses called Genesis, Volume First, in Baker Books, Calvin’s Commentaries, 23 Volume Set, Vol. 1, pg. 342

[5] Carl G. Rasmussen, Atlas of the Bible, Zondervan, 2010, pg. 90

[6] John Calvin, Genesis, pg. 344