Session 10

Move (Genesis 12:1-5a)

what God called Abram to do.

1 The Lord said to Abram:
Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
5a He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot,
all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran,
and they set out for the land of Canaan.

Explore:

look at verses 1-3.
identify God’s promises to Abram.

Key Concept

Abram’s Covenant

In the “Abrahamic covenant” God made seven promises to Abram:

1. He would lead Abram to a new land.
   This, of course, was Canaan, later referred to as the promised land.
2. He would make Abram a great nation.
   Several nations eventually came from him. (See Gen. 25.)
3. He would bless Abram.
   God bestowed favor upon Abram with material possessions and people that were a part of his clan.
4. He would make Abram’s name great.
   Even today, all three of the world’s major religions-Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-claim a relationship with him.
5. He would make Abram a blessing to others.
   Through Abram and his descendants, others would receive favor from God.
6. He would bless or curse others based of how they treated Abram.
   This promise indicates that God (“I will”) is the source of the blessings or curses.
7. He would bless all people on earth through Abram.
   This foreshadowed Jesus, the Messiah.

Ask:

• What role did Abram’s trust in God play in his response to the blessing? (p. 87)

Summarize:

Abram wasn’t perfect and was still growing in his faith.
Explain the conflict with Lot that led them to part company.