Genesis 13:14-18

2007.Feb.11 21:02

Abram gets a cookie

Read Genesis 13:14-18 | Full Chapter

The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
(Genesis 13:14-17, NIV)

In Chapter 12, Jehovah promised to make Abram a great nation (Genesis 12:2), and at Shechem, he tells Abram, "I will give this land to your posterity" (Genesis 12:7, AMP) . There’s references to Canaan, but here is the first time I know of that Jehovah really defines for Abram what exactly the given land will be. Not that we as the readers really gain an understanding from this description, but assumedly Abram now has a clear idea. So a few points I’d like to consider:

1. This happens after the departure of Lot. This land is not to be inherited by Lot’s descendants, but by Abram’s, and God seems to be pretty specific about that.
2. God is giving the land to Abram. He does not tell Abram to conquer it, or to, well, do anything really. It’s a gift.
3. The land of Canaan is given to Abram’s descendants permanently. That’s a big thing to me, in that God is not placing conditions on this gift. He does place conditions later on the prosperity of the Israelites, and occasionally removes them from the land, but I don’t think God has ever revoked the Israelites possession of the land. He does, though, make it very clear that this is no excuse for mistreating foreigners (with the exceptions of those that God tells Israel to kill. But I am getting off topic here).
4. Jehovah promises Abram a lot of descendants. About which I have nothing interesting to say at the moment.

Then Jehovah tells Abram to walk through the land, in essence to physically (if symbolically for now) take possession of it. Abram could have rejected the gift. In this way, again in my interpretation, Abram takes possession of the promise. I’ll sort of tangent here and mention that if you have trouble believing God’s promises for you (and there are many throughout the Bible), finding a physical act that lets you show yourself taking possession of the promise can encourage you greatly. So, what does Abram do?

So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
(Genesis 13:18, NIV)

He starts walking! Yay! And he settles for now, at Hebron. There he builds an altar to Jehovah. So, Abram listens to God, receives the promise of God, and worships God. That’s cool. That’s a process I need to work on much more; Jehovah does his part.