Genesis 12:6-9
Categories: Bible Study LessonsTHE LAND PROMISE
The Lord promised to Abraham that his seed would have a land of their own. This information should have edified the children of Israel who first read it. They should have been comforted hearing that the God that delivered them from the land of their bondage had a place for them. Sadly, they were not edified (Num. 14:1-4) and this cost them dearly (Num. 14:29). There is some question today whether this promise has been fulfilled or not. The religious Jew and the premillennialist both reckon that this promise still applies today. The Jew to establish the claim for a homeland and the premillennialist to satisfy his dispensational claims (that the 1948 beginning of the modern state of Israel is significant in end-times prediction). However, note:
“And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass” (Josh. 21:43-45).
“And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” (Josh 23:14).
The land promise was fulfilled centuries before Christ, not in the 20th century.
A WORSHIPING MAN
There exists a false notion that worshiping is not a manly thing to do, that it’s for women and children and those in dire need. Abraham was a strong man, a leader of a sizable family with flocks and herds. In fact the best examples of men in the Bible are men who worshiped God. From Abel to Job to Abraham to Moses to David to Josiah (see also Heb. 11). The notion is a false one.
Abraham worshiped God in a way that seems consistent with all the Patriarchs before the Law of Moses. The head of the household (the Patriarch) served as a priest and made sacrifices to atone for the sins of the family (Job 1:5). The sacrifices were made of animals of the herd on altars made of uncut stone.