Torah portion: Genesis 12:1-17:27

Lech Lecha (‘Go!’)

This is a parashah like no other: an account of the beginnings of a people God formed for Himself out of all mankind.

Abram was 75 years old when he and his wife Sarai obeyed God’s call to leave his home and relations and go to a land God would show him. All they knew was that it was to be Canaan – they didn’t get to decide whether it would be a nice, comfortable place to live. Abram and Sarai simply had to obey and trust the Lord.

What is more, this was not a young couple going out to seek fame and fortune (so to speak), but an old couple who may well, until God’s call, have felt that life had passed them by and have been in the process of making themselves comfortable for the latter years. They had once before followed Abram’s father Terah on such a venture towards Canaan, only to settle at Haran instead.

We can only imagine the inner struggles they might have experienced, deciding whether or not to obey the call. But obey they did!

Adventures and Misadventures

This elderly couple arrived in the Promised Land only to find it possessed by others. In Genesis 12:7 God confirmed they had indeed found the right place, appearing to Abram and saying, “I will assign this land to your offspring”.

I don’t see in Abram and Sarai a couple who were super-pious. They explored the country but got frightened sufficiently by a famine to head to Egypt. There, out of fear for their lives, they played a dangerous game of deceit that ended in them being booted out. Later, their increasing wealth led to quarrels and division: nephew Lot and household separated and got enmeshed in a local battle requiring Abram’s intervention.

Offspring had been part of God’s promise but Abram was now 85 and still waiting. Abram and Sarai notoriously agreed their own plan to ‘make it happen’ and Ishmael was born. But when Abram was 99 years old God clarified his covenant promise that a son would nevertheless come through Sarai, changing their names to Abraham and Sarah as a sign.

Encouragement for Us

Thinking about this account I see the evidence of strength and vigour growing, not diminishing, as Abraham and Sarah worked out their path of trusting obedience through adventures and misadventures. Several hundred years later Isaiah may have had Abraham in mind when he wrote to encourage struggling Israel:

He gives strength to the weary, fresh vigour to the spent. Youths may grow faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but they who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles grow new plumes: they shall run and not grow weary, they shall march and not grow faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)

But you Israel my servant…seed of Abraham my friend…Be not frightened, for I am your God; I strengthen you and I help you, I uphold you with my victorious right hand. (41:8-10)

Whilst spoken to and still relevant for Israel today, I believe these words hold a tremendous encouragement for us grafted-in Gentile believers: to never give up following our Lord as he directs our paths – no matter our age, position or ability.

Author: John Quinlan

Quotations from the Jewish Study Bible.