Promises to Abraham

Yahweh came to Abram and made him four promises, contingent on Abram leaving his home and following Him (Gen. 12:1-3).

The Promises

• He would be given a land of his own.
• He would be given many children who would become a great nation.
• He would receive personal blessings and protection.
• The world would be blessed through him.

Notice the requirement of obeying Yahweh in order to receive the blessings. If Abram had refused to leave, then he would have never received the blessings of Yahweh.

These promises were immediately tested in three ways. First, Abram had to actually leave his family and homeland (Gen. 12). Though Abram may not have had many reasons to stay in his own land, he did have his father Terah, and Yahweh never told him where or how far away the new land was, only to go (see Terah to Isaac family chart). This was an incredible test of faith in this new God who had just spoken to him. Yes, Yahweh had revealed Himself to Abram in a way that no other god had, but could this new God actually offer Abram what He had promised? Yahweh not only speaks to Abram in Ur, but He then guided him into the land of Canaan. When he gets to Canaan, Abram ends up settling in two major locations. In Shechem and in Bethel he builds altars to Yahweh.

The second test was a famine in the land after Abram arrived, and without a command from Yahweh, Abram went to Egypt for safety (Gen. 13). There, he feared that pharaoh would take his wife, but Yahweh demonstrated that the pharaoh of Egypt was no match for Him and returned Abram to Canaan.

In the third test, the kings of Mesopotamia attacked the kings of southern Canaan and took Abram’s nephew Lot (Gen. 14). But Yahweh empowered Abram with his 318 men, and they took Lot back.

Yahweh demonstrated through these tests that He is a God who can speak to Abram, defeat kings, and is not limited to a certain region. The other gods had power only in their own particular lands. But Yahweh demonstrated that He is sovereign in all lands by acting in Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Egypt. This was a God who could and would deliver what He had promised. This was the God in whom Abram placed his faith.