27 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 12 In this chapter an account is given of the call of Abram to depart from his own country, with a promise of a divine blessing, Genesis 12:1 of his obedience to it, Genesis 12:4 of his journey through the land of Canaan, and of the Lord's appearance to him in it, and his promise of it to his seed, and of Abram's building...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the Lord had said unto Abram,.... In Ur of the Chaldees, before he came and dwelt in Charran, as seems from Acts 7:2 and so Aben Ezra interprets it; but Jarchi and others think, that what follows was said to him in Haran, and so the words may be more literally rendered (u), "and the Lord said unto Abram"; after the death of Terah, who died in...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; here the Holy Ghost enters upon his story, and henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the sacred history. In this chapter we have, I. God's call of Abram to the land of Canaan, ver. 1-3. II. Abram's obedience to this call, ver. 4, 5. III. His...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Now the lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: It was God’s intention to keep his truth and his pure worship alive in the world by committing it to the charge of one man, and the nation that should spring from him. In the infinite sovereignty of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will make of thee a great nation,.... In a literal sense, as the people of the Jews were that descended from him, and in a spiritual sense believers in all ages and of all nations, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abram, who are his children, and are blessed with him: and I will bless thee; not only with temporal blessings, but...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. There, you see, was the missionary character of the seed of Abraham, if they had but recognized it. God...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will bless them that bless thee,.... Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Galatians 3:7. And curse...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him,.... Or, "when the Lord had spoken to him", as Cocceius renders the words; when he had called him a second time, even when in Haran, immediately after the death of his father Terah; as soon as ever the words were spoken to him before recorded, he immediately prepared and got all things ready for...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. He had already attained a fine old age, but he had another century of life before him, which he could not then foresee, or expect. If, at his age, he had said, “Lord, I am too old to travel, too old to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,.... The son of Haran his brother, not against their wills, but with their full consent: Sarai went readily with him, not only as being his wife, and so obliged by the law of marriage and tie of relation, but on the score of religion; and Lot as being a good man, and so willing to go with...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abram passed through the land,.... Entering the northern part of it, as appears by his going southward, Genesis 12:9 he went on unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh; the place afterwards called Shechem, from a prince of that name in the times of Jacob; and so it was called when Moses wrote, and therefore, by way of anticipation,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord appeared unto Abram,.... Perhaps in an human form, and so it was the Son of God; for whenever there was any visible appearance of a divine Person, under the former dispensation, it seems to be always of the essential Word, that was to be incarnate, and who spake with an articulate voice: and said, unto thy seed will I give this land;...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. Thus, you see, Abraham began his separated life with a blessing from the Lord his God. Further on in his history he received a still larger blessing when he returned from his victory over the kings....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,.... As it was afterwards called by Jacob, which before and at this time had the name of Luz, Genesis 28:19 now to the east of this place was a mountain, whither Abram removed his tent from Sichem, which was about twenty miles from it, as Sir Walter Raleigh (f) observes, some say...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abram journeyed,.... He did not stay long in the mountain between Bethel and Hai, but moved from thence, and kept on journeying in the land of Canaan: going on still toward the south; the southern part of the land of Canaan, which lay nearest Egypt, into which he is said to go next, the occasion of which follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there was a famine in the land,.... The land of Canaan, which was a very fruitful country, abounding with all kind of provisions usually; but now there was a scarcity of all; and which was both for the sins of the inhabitants of the land, and for the trial of Abram's faith, who was brought out of his own country, where was bread enough and to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,.... Just entering into it, having travelled from the mountain between Bethel and Hai, two hundred and forty miles (p); or when he "caused to come near" (q), either his camp, as Aben Ezra supplies it, or his tent, or his family, as others: that he said unto Sarai his wife, behold now,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee,.... Who were a lustful people, and whose eyes would soon be fastened upon, and be taken with the beauty of Sarai: that they shall say, this is his wife; this beautiful woman is such a man's wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive; so great a regard had they in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister,.... Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Genesis 20:12 yet it was done to conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to endanger his wife's chastity, as well as showed great timorousness in him, and distrust of the...