v1-3: The call to Abram in Ur which preceded the journey to Haran (11:31-32). Terah came with Abram as far as Haran; Abram then moved on to Canaan. The call to Abram is hard, given the culture of the day; we are not surprised that his family accompany him, so he does not leave them immediately, and they remain for a period in Haran; perhaps there is family pressure, something which can be difficult to resist.

Acts 7:2-4 confirms that the call came while Abram was in Ur; Stephen suggests that Abram only moved from Haran when Terah died. (If Abram was born when Terah was 70 years old, then he was 135 before he moved from Haran. It is difficult to be precisely clear over dates here. But that is not the main issue.)

v1: God has spoken to Abram; a man picked out, chosen by grace. The call was to forsake country and kindred and family; a real sacrifice. Implicit is the call to break with idolatry, and to exercise total dependence upon God. At the time of the call, God did not show Abram where he was to go (Hebrews 11.8), for he has to dwell in tents for years (Hebrews 11.9). Faith obeys even when the outcome and the destiny are unknown.

v2: A great nation; a further promise, although Sarai is barren (Genesis 11.30). Abram believes God, even in the face of the impossible. He has no Bible, no prior knowledge of God, no testimony from others (it seems inconceivable that he could have known Noah, although Noah was still alive when Abram was born.)

Here are promises without condition; see Genesis 15:5; Romans 4:18-19. Abram would be blessed by God and become a blessing to many.

v3: Men will be tested by their attitude to Abram, the man of faith. And blessing will spread to all families of the earth, especially through Christ. The huge scope of this promise to "all peoples" is echoed in Rev 21.3, "they will be His peoples." The Bible guarantees that the promise made to Abrahm here will be fulfilled in eternity.

v4-5: Lot remains with Abram, and is associated with him for 25 years (see 21:5). He is constantly a burden to him; disagreeing over where to live (chapter 13), getting captured by the Gentile kings (chapter 14), and needing to be delivered from Sodom (chapter 18). It seems that the Lord intended that Abram should be separated from Lot. Isaac was not conceived until the final departure of Lot in 19:36-38. Lot has not been expressly called, he had decided to come with Abram, and he did not build altars, and did not share Abram's faith. He is half-hearted, wanting to be near the man of blessing, but not become the pioneer that Abram clearly is.

v6-9: Abram's altars; Shechem and Bethel; testimony of sacrifice, or thanksgiving, of communion. Abram is now in the land of Canaan, where God appears to him for the first time. Shechem was known as a centre for Canaanite worship. So, Abram's act to build an altar to Jehovah was a mark of his distinctiveness and courage.

The Canaanites live in the land; they are potential threats to Abram's life, and certainly do not share his love for the true God. Later these places become centres of government and even idolatry in the kingdom of Israel.

The promise of the land; God will give this very land to Abram's offspring. This means that he is now in the right place, the place where God had planned that he should come. Thus the wider promises of v1-3 begin to be fulfilled in detail.

v10: There is no command to go to Egypt; Abram goes because of the famine; would the Lord not provide for him?

Egypt is the place of -

• alternative security, food;
• alternative religion, false; and
• alternative power, magic;

It thus pictures the world. Abram, like Elimelech, goes "down" to Egypt, leaving the land of promise because of difficulties. For both there is a sense of backsliding, a foretaste of the slavery suffered later by the whole nation of Israel. We are commanded to cling to the Lord through all circumstances.

We note that Abram built no altar in Egypt. Here is a test, which Abram failed. But God proves His faithfulness, bringing him back into Canaan later.

v11-13: Abram's compromise leads to a lie. This seems to create more problems than he intended it to solve.

v14-16: Pharaoh takes Sarai into his own house; she has the ceremonial ablutions as preparation for marriage; compare Esther's experience. Pharaoh treats Abram well, and he grows in wealth.

v17: God protects Abram and Sarai, in spite of their mistake in going to Egypt. Abram also grows in wealth.

v18-20: Pharaoh's rebuke, a sign of his conscience. He recognised that the serious diseases that fell on his household were the result of him taking Sarai into his palace. Abram maintained a good testimony in Canaan, but not so good in Egypt.