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 F21, "and the Lord said unto Abram";
after the death of Terah, who died in Haran; and indeed it is
highly probable there were two appearances of God to Abram, and
that the same words, or very near the same, were spoken to him at
two several times, first in Ur of the Chaldees, and then in
Haran:
get thee out of thy country;
the land of Chaldea, and the city of Ur, which was in it, or out
of Mesopotamia, in which, when taken in a large sense, were both
Ur and Haran; and this country was now become idolatrous, for
though it was first inhabited and peopled by the posterity of
Shem in the time of Arphaxad, yet these, in process of time,
degenerated from the true religion, and fell into idolatry. The
same Maimonides F23 calls Zabaeans, in whose faith and
religion, he says, Abram was brought up, and who asserted there
was no other God but the sun, moon, and stars; and these
Zabaeans, as he relates from their books and annals, say of Abram
themselves, that he was educated in Cuthia, and dissented from
the common people; and asserted, that besides the sun, there was
another Creator; to whom they objected, and so disputes arose
among them on this subject: now Abram being convinced of
idolatry, is called out from those people, and to have no
fellowship with them; it is literally in the Hebrew text
F24, "go to thee out of thy country";
for thy profit and good, as Jarchi interprets it; as it must be
to quit all society with such an idolatrous and superstitious
people:
and from thy kindred;
as Nahor his brother, and his family, who are not mentioned, and
seem to be left behind when Terah, Abram, Lot, and Sarai, came
out of Ur of the Chaldees; though it looks as if afterwards Nahor
did follow them to Haran or Padanaram, which are the same, and
where he continued, and therefore is called his city; see (
Genesis
24:10 ) ( Genesis
25:20 ) ( Genesis 28:2
Genesis
28:5 Genesis
28:10 ) ( Genesis 29:4
Genesis
29:5 ) so with great propriety Abram might be called a second
time to leave his kindred as well as his country; and certain it
is, Haran, or Padanaram, as well as Ur of the Chaldees, is called
by himself his country, and Nahor and his family his kindred, (
Genesis
24:4 )
and from thy father's house;
or household, his family, which better agrees with the second
call at Haran, than with the first at Ur; for, upon the first
call, Terah and his family came along with Abram, and therefore
this phrase is omitted by Stephen, who speaks of that call, (
Acts 7:3 ) but
Terah dying at Haran, his house or family went no further, but
continued there with Nahor; only Abram and Lot, upon this second
call, went from thence, as the following history makes it appear;
and so Abram left, as he was bid, his father's house and family
to go, as it follows:
unto a land that I will show thee;
meaning the land of Canaan, though not mentioned, and seems to be
omitted for the trial of Abram's faith; hence the author of the
epistle to the Hebrews, ( Hebrews 11:8
) observes, that "he obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he
went"; and yet it is said, that, when he and Terah came out of Ur
of the Chaldees, "they went forth to go into the land of Canaan",
( Genesis
11:31 ) and, when he and Lot went first from Haran, the same
is said of them, ( Genesis 12:5
) it is probable the case was this; there was no mention made at
first what land he was to go to, and when he prepared for his
journey he knew not where he was to go, but afterwards it was
revealed to him that Canaan was the land, and therefore set out
in order to go thither; and still, though he might know the place
by name where he was to go, he might neither know the way to it,
nor what sort of country it was for quality or quantity; and
therefore God promises to show him the way, and direct his course
right unto it, and give him a view of it, that he might see what
sort of a country, and how large it was, that he would give to
his posterity. This call of Abram is an emblem of the call of men
by the grace of God out of the world, and from among the men of
it, and to renounce the things of it, and not be conformed unto
it, and to forget their own people and their father's house, and
to cleave to the Lord, and follow him whithersoever he directs
them.