Tag: lech lecha

Abraham’s Journey part 2… lech lecha

genesis 12;1

Genesis 12:1 begins with God telling Abraham to  “Go for yourself, from your land, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” and then He gives him a promise as a result of doing that….And I will make you a great nation, and bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.  

And of course we know that this promise… the Blessing… is ours also according to Galatians 3:9 “So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.”

God didn’t just tell Abraham to leave his land, relatives and father’s house.  He said to him “Lech lecha”.  Lech Lecha is a unique phrase that God only spoke in the Old Testament to Abraham.  To everyone else (Moses, Jacob, etc) He said “Kum” which means arise and is always spoken to those who need to come up to a higher level to follow God.  Lech Lecha, on the other hand is an invitation.

Literally it means “you go” but it means so much more.   Most biblical scholars say that adding Lecha to lech serves to make the verb more intense.  God is telling Abram that this is not just a command to leave home, it is an invitation to journey to himself.  Literally, it means “come to yourself”… find the you I’ve called you to be!  Go to the Land that I will show you – where I will make you VISIBLE – where your “potential being” will be realized in various and unpredictable ways.

In order to embark on this journey he had to first do 3 things… leave his birthplace, his

  • leave his birthplace
  • his relatives
  • and his father’s house.

His birthplace implies boundaries and he had to cross those boundaries and leave them behind…. leave his past behind.  He had to cross the “Euphrates” just like Eber did… to become a Hebrew (one who crosses over) on his own not on his ancestor’s merits.

His family implies influence.  Abraham’s family worshiped idols. God wanted to be Abraham’s influence and wanted to make Abraham an influence to the world around him.  He wanted to become the God of Abraham and through Abraham bless all the families of the earth.  He couldn’t do that if Abraham’s family were his influence.

His father’s house implies control.  Our fathers are our teachers whether for good or for bad. We are under their sphere of control for many years. As a result, it is difficult to separate from the need to seek our father’s approval. This is not to suggest that we should ignore, disrespect or dishonor our fathers. The simple fact is we must grow up. We must learn to seek God’s approval in place of our fathers’ approval.  Our fathers are our teachers. They protect, correct and provide for our needs. They are responsible to God to direct us and to use their influence to guide us in the Word.

However, Abram’s father was an idol maker. He was an idol worshipper…. he was not teaching Abram to worship the one true God.  Terah wasn’t guiding Abram to a relationship with God but rather a life without God.

God is also calling us… inviting us to journey to find ourselves in His Word. He is saying to each of us “Lech Lecha”.   An invitation… an adventure to find who we are IN CHRIST and to fulfill the destinies He has for…as His sons… to be who He created us to be…. made in His image and likeness.

In order to do that we first need to leave behind any boundaries that keep us from God and from crossing over into the fullness of who He is… the abundance of His grace towards us.  And also leave behind those things or people that influence and control us away from God.  Even our own ideas and beliefs that keep us from being all that we are IN HIM.

The next blog we will talk about Abraham’s name change and the next part of his true identity transformation……..

~ Robin

Abraham’s lineage

Genesis 12:1 (Youngs Translation) And Jehovah saith unto Abram, “Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee.”

call of abraham

One of the key things about the Hebrew month of Kislev is identity change.  Abraham was one of those individuals in the Bible that had an identity change in Genesis 12.  But before we jump into his identity change, let’s do a

Abraham was one of those individuals in the Bible that had an identity change in Genesis 12.  But before we jump into his identity change, let’s do a history review of Abraham’s family line in Genesis 11.

  • Abraham was the son of Terah
  • Terah was the great, great, great grandson of Eber
  • Eber was the great, great grandson of Noah
  • Noah, of course, was the great grandson of Enoch
  • Enoch was the great, great, great, great grandson of Adam.

Wow!  What an impressive spiritual family lineage…. I can honestly say mine does not look like that.  I am the faith pioneer in my family line.

Eber (Abraham’s great, great, great grandfather) was a faith pioneer as well.  He was the 14th generation from Adam. A special distinction is made in Gen 10:21 where it says “Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber”…… Eber was actually about 4 generations from Shem… but before Shem’s sons are mentioned, the Word introduces us to Eber.  It sounds to me like Eber was destined to be a carrier of the Blessing just like Shem was… Genesis 9 refers to Shem by mentioning his relationship with God….calling God, “the God of Shem.”

Jewish historians say that during the time of the building of the Tower of Babel, Eber crossed over the Euphrates River… distancing himself and his family from Babylon and Nimrod…..from a sinful land and embarking on a walk of faith.  Eber means “to cross over”.  The name Hebrew comes from Eber…. to be a Hebrew means to have “crossed over”.  Euphrates means “abundant” or “storage houses of heaven”.In

Euphrates means “abundant” or “storage houses of heaven”. In fact, he named his son Peleg which means “divided”… he placed a divider (the Euphrates River) between them and him.  Genesis 10:25 confirms that the world was divided when he was born. Through the name of his son the godly man Eber gives us a glimpse into his heart and character to live a holy life, separated and consecrated from the sinful world of Babylon.

Unfortunately, the generations after Eber (until Abraham) turned to idol worship and didn’t serve God (Joshua 24:2).  We don’t know much about Peleg except that he died young (even Noah outlived him by 10 years)…. he was the first to die among the 10 generations after the flood.  Likewise, we don’t know much about Reu, Seureg or Nahor (except he died early also and Noah outlived him as well).  All we know is that it’s probable that these 4 generations turned from God and worshiped idols.

Terah we know a bit more about.  Josh 24:2 mentions him specifically as having worshiped other gods.  However, Gen 11:31 tells us that he set out from Ur to go to Canaan.  It doesn’t tell us why he set out to leave his home in Ur, all we know is he never made it to Canaan.  He reached Haran, a place that was similar in many ways to Ur. A city where there was also a temple to the Ninnar, not as big as in Ur, but still similar. The city was smaller, and not as wealthy or important as Ur, but to someone from Ur, it would have all been very familiar, and probably felt like home. The customs and culture were similar.  Seems as if he settled in the familiar… what was comfortable.

Abraham was 20 generations from Adam. Genesis 14:13 refers to Abraham as a Hebrew, linking him to Eber.  The God of Shem became the God of Eber, and then became the God of Abraham.  Which brings us back again to Genesis 12:1……. which we’ll pick up in the next blog entry.

Today no matter what your spiritual lineage looks like, determine to be a faith pioneer…. going farther than those before you.  Grabbing hold of the promises of God for your future generations… making your ceiling their floor.

~ Robin