Commands and Promises
Many years after the time of Noah, and after God confused the languages at Babel, there was a man named Abram. He was 75 years old. His wife, Sarai, was also old. And they had no children. One day, God appeared to Abram and said, “Abram, you must leave your country. You must leave your family. And you must leave your father and go to a place that I will show to you. And I will make you a great nation. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And I will bless all the nations of the world through you.”
Canaan and Egypt
So Abram took his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, and he traveled for a long time until he reached Canaan. God told him this was the land of promise for him and his descendants. At that time a famine came on the land, so Abram took his family to Egypt. There Abram feared the Egyptians and lied to the king saying that Sarai was his sister so that the king took her to be one of his wives. But God still protected him and delivered Sarai and even blessed Abram with great wealth from the Egyptians.
Conflict with Lot
When Abram and his family returned to Canaan from Egypt, they had many animals. Both Abram and Lot were very rich and the land was not strong enough to support all their flocks. Arguments broke out among their herdsmen. Abram said to Lot, “Let us not quarrel. Look over the land. If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right.” Lot looked at the whole land and saw that the valley was very beautiful. It was full of tall grass good for animals and water. So he moved his herds to the valley and left Abram on the rocky hills. He camped near Sodom, a city whose men were very wicked and sinned against the Lord.
Believing God
After some time, God appeared to Abram in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid. I am your shield, and your reward shall be great.” But Abram said, “What can you give me when I still have no son to be my heir?” And God told Abram, “You will have a son from your own body.” And God took Abram out and showed him the sky. He said, “If you can count the stars, then you will be able to count your descendants.” And Abram believed God, and God counted it to him as righteousness. And God directed Abram to offer a special sacrifice in which God appeared to him during a deep sleep as a flame of fire and assured him by oath of His covenant. God also told Abram how his descendants would someday be enslaved for 400 years in a foreign land, but that God would then rescue them. Later God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and his wife’s name to Sarah.