Abram’s response to God’s promises was obedience and worship (Genesis 12:4-9)

We are not told of Abram saying anything to God in response to God’s promises and command. He just did it. Such a big move at 75! Genesis outlines who came with him; it included his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. He also took all of his possessions with him. Abram was a wealthy man, and back then wealth was likely mainly seen in animals, in flocks and herds. He was not required to leave his wealth behind. He also took people he had acquired in Haran (v5). This could include household servants, for we know he had some of these. Or it could also include others who had become convinced of the one true God for themselves.

Abram headed south into Canaan. Don’t imagine that he was wandering through an empty land. No, it was most certainly inhabited. The Canaanites lived there, we’re told in v6. This land was farmed with large cities in it. When places like Bethel and Ai were mentioned, you should think of established cities, not just empty places on a map. We know from the table of nations in chapter 10 that the Canaanites, the descendants of Ham, continued as their forefather started. They worshipped other gods and had little time for the one true God. We get a hint of this in the place where Abram stopped in v6, which was called “the oak of Moreh”. Moreh literally means Teacher. This was very likely a tree that people went to in order to tell the future or to worship. Many traditional religions worshipped at great trees; Abram was coming to a land marked by such misguided religion.

Abram built an altar at Shechem, near the oak of Moreh. Shechem was the geographical centre of the land, in between Mt Ebal and Mt Gerazim. It would become a significant place for a number of reasons later. It was where Moses made the people promise to follow God. It was also where Joshua told the people to choose God. Here, it is where Abram had God appear to him, the place where Abram built his first altar in the land. Genesis doesn’t go into the detail of the use of the altars, but they are intended for sacrifice. Like with Noah, Abram marked the place of God’s grace to him with a response of thanks. He later built another altar in v8 and “called upon the name of the LORD”. This could mean worshipped, or it could mean preached. Martin Luther thought that Abram used these altar locations to preach to the people around them, and this might be true.

Notice that Abram moved around and did not settle down anywhere in the land. In fact, he pitches a tent in v8 rather than building a city. In contrast, he builds altars, solid structures, while he himself lives in a tent. As Derek Kidner helpfully points out, this reveals Abram’s heart. The only structures left behind after he left were altars, not anything that pointed to his own wealth or comfort.

The second altar that was built in v8 was in between two Canaanite cities. Unlike Lot later on, didn’t settle down in these cities, even though they would provide more security than living in tents. Like the writer to the Hebrews wrote much later in chapter 11:10, he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He was passing through, dreaming of one day being with God in a permanent place.