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Overview
In this study, pastor John Mac Arthur will guide you through an in-depth look at the historical period beginning with Abraham's call from God, continuing through his relocation in the land of Canaan, and concluding with the story of his grandsons Jacob and Esau.
This study includes close-up examinations of Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Covenant and Obedience" and "Wrestling with God."
—ABOUT THE SERIES—
The Mac Arthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John Mac Arthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates:
- Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text.
- Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context.
- Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life.
- Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780718034566 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperChristian Resources |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2015 |
| Series: | MacArthur Bible Studies |
| Pages: | 128 |
| Sales rank: | 359,280 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Genesis 12-33
The Father of Israel
By John MacArthur
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2008 John MacArthurAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7180-3456-6
CHAPTER 1
God Calls Abram
Genesis 12:1–20
Drawing Near
The story of Abram begins with him leaving his old home and traveling to a new place that God would show him. What are some times in your life when you had to make a big move? How did it affect you and your family?
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The Context
We will open our studies by meeting a man named Abram. At this point, we know very little about him. What we do know is that he is seventy-five years old, lives with his father in a place called Haran, and has a nephew named Lot. However, in the coming studies, we will discover that this man is destined to become the father of the Jewish people and an important link in the family line of Jesus Himself.
The Bible introduces Abram (whose name will be changed to Abraham) by telling us that the Lord had already spoken to him in the past. God had told him to leave his father's house and travel "to a land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1). Evidently, Abram did not know where he would be heading or what he would find when he got there. It is little wonder, in human terms, that he was hesitant to leave his family and homeland; indeed, it is a wonder that he had the faith to obey at all. Yet this is the major characteristic of the man we know as Abraham: he was a man of faith.
In Abram's day, many different people groups to some extent had already settled the area we know as the Middle East. As of yet, however, there was no group of people known as the Israelites or Jews. Abram himself would be the first to be called a Hebrew (meaning "one who descended from Eber"). There was also no central authority or domineering nation ruling over the region. There were, however, many fortified cities scattered around the area from Haran in the north down at least to the southerly tip of the Dead Sea, which is probably where Sodom and Gomorrah were located. The people known as the Philistines, who would one day play a major role in David's life, had already begun to settle in the area we know today as the Gaza Strip.
Traveling in this region was not like taking a road trip across the United States, where one drives on highways, eats at McDonald's, and stays at comfortable hotels. It could be a dangerous business, and one was at risk from bandits and natural hazards. People therefore traveled in groups — merchants used large caravans to carry merchandise from place to place — and such processions usually included armed guards to protect against attack. In the southern regions, water and food were not readily available, so a traveling party needed to know where they were going, how they would get there, and what supplies they would need along the way. Yet God called Abram to start walking without his extended family, without a destination, and without any guarantee except His own promise.
[Note: Refer to the map in the Introduction for information throughout this study.]
Keys to the Text
Read Genesis 12:1–20, noting the key words and phrases indicated below.
God's Call: One day the Lord speaks to Abram, probably in a vision or dream, and commands him to leave his home and family.
12:1. The Lord had said: As previously noted, God had called Abram on a previous occasion and told him to leave his father's house and head south. Apparently, Abram had obeyed God partway by moving from Ur (the location of which is uncertain) to Haran — along with his father's entire household. It is worth noting that we know nothing about Abram until he began to obey. If he had continued to ignore God's call, we would probably never have heard of him — and he would not have become the father of God's chosen nation. It is characteristic of his life, however, that he obeyed God's call, as we see him beginning to do here.
Abram: God would not change his name to "Abraham" until after he was circumcised. The Lord did not outline His entire plan right from the beginning. Instead, He told Abram what the final outcome would be — that he would become a great nation — and then told him what the next step would require. God would reveal His plan for the next step only after Abram obeyed the immediate one.
Get out of your country: Abram's first step would be to leave Haran, where he may have lived for a long time, and head south. Again, God did not tell him where the destination was. The command was simply, "Get out!"
To a land that I will show you: This would have seemed like a big request to Abram. With the exception of his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, Abram was to leave his family and friends behind and head to a land where he knew nobody. Along the way, he would encounter different cultures and various dangers — without knowing his final destination. We will discover, however, that this is precisely what God wanted him to experience, because Abram was destined to become a picture of God's people. Abram wandered about without making this world his home because he had his heart set on an eternal kingdom that God Himself was building (see Hebrews 11).
2. I will make you a great nation: Here we find the first time that God promised to make Abram into a great nation. He was destined to be the father of the Israelites, and through him would come Messiah, Jesus the Christ, whose death and resurrection would one day provide salvation for the entire human race. However, Abram was already seventy-five years old when God made this promise — and he had no children! This element of God's promise would prove the most difficult for Abram, and ultimately it would be the greatest test that Abram would face — especially when God called him to sacrifice his only son. But right from the beginning, Abram obeyed God and believed in His promises — even though they seemed ridiculously impossible.
3. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed: As we will see in future studies, God's prophecies of blessing would actually begin to come true within Abram's lifetime. However, the greater fulfillment would come when God Himself entered the world through Abram's descendants in the person of Jesus Christ.
Abram's Obedience: Abram obeys God's call, after some apparent delay, and leaves his home in Haran.
4. So Abram departed: As we have seen, it seems to have taken Abram a while to obey God's call to leave Haran, but he eventually did. God demonstrated His patience and grace toward Abram frequently, and Abram demonstrated his own desire to please God by obeying His commands. Nevertheless, Abram was still a human being, and there were times when he fell far short of perfection.
Lot went with him: Lot was Abram's nephew, and he would cause real problems for Abram in the future. In fact, his presence with Abram would have an impact on the people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abram was seventy-five years old: It is true that people lived much longer in Abram's day than in modern times, yet seventy-five was still old! It was no small thing to ask a man in his mid-seventies to pack up and move away from his homeland where he had lived most of his life. Imagine how difficult it must have been for Abram to set forth on an exciting adventure at such an advanced age.
5. Sarai his wife: In the future, God would change her name to Sarah.
The people whom they had acquired in Haran: This probably refers to household servants rather than slaves. We will discover that Abram and Lot were wealthy and their households quite large. As we study the life of Abram, it will be important to understand that his entourage included a great many people and large herds of livestock.
Arriving in Canaan: Abram arrives in Canaan around 2090 bc. Various groups of people (known as the Canaanites) already occupy the land.
So they came to the land of Canaan: The "land of Canaan" indicates that the descendants of Canaan (Ham's son) had settled a large portion of the land that God was planning to give to Abram's descendants (see the map in this study for the route that Abram took to Canaan). Moses wrote the book of Genesis when the people of Israel — the descendants of Abram — were preparing to enter the Promised Land. The region was filled with people the Israelites would have to fight to take possession of the land, and many of these people were descended from Ham (see Genesis 9:20–25).
6. Shechem: Shechem is about halfway through the land of Canaan in the area known as the Fertile Crescent.
The Canaanites were then in the land: Put yourself in Abram's place. God has called you to travel to an undefined location, with the understanding that He is going to give you many descendants and make your family into a great nation. But when you arrive, you find that the land is already populated — by people who are likely to be hostile to you! Most people would have balked at this point and wondered whether they had made a mistake. However, Abram stepped out in faith, and God faithfully honored him for it.
God Encourages Abram's Faith: Abram had obeyed God's command to leave Haran. Now the Lord comes to him to encourage his faith — and to tell him something new.
7. Then the Lord appeared to Abram: At this point, God bolstered Abram's faith by reiterating His promise — and by adding some new information to it. In the future, the Lord would appear often to Abram to reiterate His promise and reveal new details — but only after Abram obeyed what he had been told to do. Here, Abram had finally obeyed God's command to travel to Canaan, so God encouraged his faith.
To your descendants I will give this land: This is a new piece of information. Prior to this, God had only told Abram that he would become a great nation, but here God told Abram that his descendants would inherit the entire land of Canaan. God was encouraging Abram to trust Him at His word, despite appearances and circumstances. Even though the land was already settled and populated, God insisted that He would one day give the entire land to Abram's descendants. Circumstances made that promise seem impossible, yet Abram continued to place his faith in God's word.
He built an altar to the Lord: This act demonstrates that Abram chose to believe God even when His promise seemed impossible. Everywhere Abram traveled, he built altars to the Lord and proclaimed His name to the people around him.
8. He moved from there: Abram's life would be characterized by his constant moving from one place to another. He was to never settle permanently in any one location, and he would spend the remainder of his days living in tents rather than in a permanent house. (It is likely that he and his family lived in houses, rather than tents, when they were in Haran.)
Called on the Name of the Lord: The Hebrew word translated "called" means "to cry out" or "to proclaim." Abram worshiped God in a public manner, proclaiming His character to the people around him. Remember that there were many people traveling with Abram as part of his household, and there were many traveling in Lot's household as well. In proclaiming God publicly, Abram was already beginning to fulfill his role as a blessing to the nations.
Famine: Abram has been wandering about in the land of Canaan, living in a tent and pasturing his flocks. Then along comes trouble ...
10. There was a famine in the land: Famine and the land of Egypt figured prominently in the history of Israel, right up to the time of their exodus from Egypt. God uses the circumstances of our lives — both the good and the bad, the blessings and the trials — to lead us in His will. This particular famine would lead Abram to a time of testing in Egypt, just as it would someday lead to a time of blessing in Egypt for Abram's descendants (see Genesis 47:27).
Fear: Abram begins to fear what will happen to him in Egypt, and he talks himself into fearing the worst. This lack of trust will end up having long-term consequences for him, his family, and the world as a whole.
11. You are a woman of beautiful countenance: Sarai was sixty-five when Abram (aged seventy-five) left Haran. It is unclear how much time had passed, but she was at least in her late sixties.
12. It will happen: Here we see Abram struggling with a lack of faith in God's promises. He had convinced himself in fear that bad things were going to happen — though they never did. Fear leads God's people into doubt, not faith. The Lord Himself commands us frequently in the Bible to "be of good courage" and "fear not."
They will kill me: Abram was made of the same flesh that we are, which is encouraging news. Here he lapsed from his great faith in God's promises. If he had clung to them, he would have realized that the Egyptians couldn't kill him, because he was destined to become a great nation — even though he didn't have any children yet. His own logic could have reassured him that he had to live at least long enough to have offspring, but fear blinded both his logic and faith.
13. Say you are my sister: This was partially true, for Sarai was actually Abram's half sister; they shared the same father but different mothers. Nevertheless, a half-truth is still a lie, and it got Abram and his wife into trouble — more than once! What is worse, Abram was encouraging his wife — and probably the rest of his household — to sin.
15. The woman was taken to Pharaoh's house: This statement is loaded with significance because it implies that Abram did nothing to prevent it. Abram had effectively allowed another man to take his wife, with the intention of making her part of his harem. Fear had driven Abram so far from being a man of faith that he had sold out his own wife.
He treated Abram well for her sake: Now we discover that Abram was even making a profit from the situation, like a pimp with his prostitute. This is a low point in Abram's walk with God.
Male and female servants: Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts, including "male and female servants." It is quite possible that Hagar was one of these female servants. She would bring further trouble to Abram in the future.
God Intervenes: Abram's lack of faith actually endangers God's plans for the coming Messiah. But God will not permit man's actions to interfere with His plans.
17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai: The significance of Abram's action is much deeper than lying about his wife. God intended to bring His Redeemer through Abram's seed, and He would later make it clear that He meant to bring about His chosen people (and His Chosen One) through the offspring of Abram and Sarai. Yet here was Abram offering his wife to another man, with the very real possibility that Sarai would have that man's child. For this reason — and because Sarai was the one in real peril from a human perspective — God intervened to protect her from becoming one of Pharaoh's wives.
18. What is this you have done to me: Abram's lack of faith also placed Pharaoh and his entire household in jeopardy. It is a principle of sin that one man's sin will often endanger many others. What's worse, Pharaoh had not done anything to threaten Abram; indeed, he had been generous in giving him gifts. The whole problem arose because Abram was afraid and failed to place his trust in God's protection. Alas, this entire sad episode would be repeated when Abraham met Abimelech, another king (see Genesis 20).
THE JOURNEYS OF ABRAM
Unleashing the Text
1) If you had been in Abram's place, how would you have responded to God's command to leave your home and family?
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2) What were the costs to Abram to obey God's call?
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3) When have you been called to make a radical change in your own life for God? What were the costs? The results?
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4) Why did Abram lie to Pharaoh? How do you think it made Sarai feel? How might you have responded if you were in Pharaoh's place?
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Exploring the Meaning
God calls His people to walk in faith. God revealed a small portion of His plan to Abram, and then He asked Abram to respond by walking away from all that he knew as home and family. In fact, He asked Abram to walk into a strange land without even knowing exactly where he was going or what he would find when he got there.
This is what it means to walk in faith: to step into the unknown, even into threatening circumstances, with only God's word to depend on. Abram arrived in Canaan to find himself surrounded with unfriendly people, and then God told him that he would inherit the entire land for his descendants. Circumstances made this seem impossible, yet Abram believed God and took Him at His word. He was seventy-five years old and had no children, yet he believed that God was going to give him many descendants.
Walking in faith requires that we accept God's Word at face value, even when it seems impossible that His promises can come true. In this, Abram and Sarai provide us with a great role model.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Genesis 12-33 by John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008 John MacArthur. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction, v,1. God Calls Abram Genesis 12:1–20, 1,
2. Dealing with Lot Genesis 13:1–14:17, 15,
3. The Promise to Abram Genesis 15:1–21, 27,
4. Hagar and Ishmael Genesis 16:1–16, 41,
5. Covenant and Obedience Genesis 17:1–18:15, 53,
6. The Faith of Abraham Genesis 18:16–33, 67,
7. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19:1–38, 81,
8. The Birth of Isaac Genesis 21:1–21, 95,
9. Abraham's Faith Confirmed Genesis 22:1–19, 109,
10. Jacob and Esau Genesis 25:19–34; 27:1–40, 121,
11. Wrestling with God Genesis 28:10–22; 32:1–33:17, 137,
12. Reviewing Key Principles, 149,
