--- title: "Genesis 12 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read Genesis 12 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 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: 2 A" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12" --- [ Read](/kjv/genesis/12)[ Commentary](/study/genesis/12)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/genesis/12) Audio 1 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: 2 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: 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 ¶ And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite *was* then in the land.* 7 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. 8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, *having* Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.* 10 ¶ And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine *was* grievous in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou *art* a fair woman to look upon: 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This *is* his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13 Say, I pray thee, thou *art* my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. 14 ¶ And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she *was* very fair. 15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. 17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What *is* this *that* thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she *was* thy wife? 19 Why saidst thou, She *is* my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take *her*, and go thy way. 20 And Pharaoh commanded *his* men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. [Genesis 11](/study/genesis/11) [Genesis 13](/study/genesis/13) ## Commentary To verse 1 *THE PILGRIM FATHER* ** 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.’** ** [Genesis 12:1](/kjv/genesis/12/1)** ** Abraham was the father of the faithful, and we have here the first recorded test to which his faith was put. The first and one of the greatest. **I. The Substance of God’s call to Abraham.**—*(a) He was called from rest to pilgrimage*.—From his country and kindred and father’s house, to undertake lifelong journeying. He was at an age at which he would fain rest. His wanderings seemed to be begun at the wrong end of his life. But it was then God said, ‘Get thee out.’ It is as life advances that the idea of journeying, ‘getting out,’ comes home to men. The child rests in his home; but the outside world, with its responsibilities, self-direction and support, begins at last to open to him, and he must ‘get out.’ So with resting among old friends, etc. We must one day ‘get out.’ As years increase, all things seem in constant flow. Then at death. Above all, hear God’s voice telling you to set out on the Christian pilgrimage. *(b) He was called from the familiar to the untried*.—The child’s familiarity with his environment is never attained to in after years. ‘New faces, other minds’ meet men’s eyes and souls; and they know, however peaceful their lot may be, that they are not in the old, familiar home. But let us extend our idea of home. The lifelong invalid would feel from home in another room of the same home. Let God be our home, the great house in which we live and move about; then wherever He is, we shall feel at home. Most so when we leave the lower room altogether to be ‘at home with the Lord’ above. *(c) He was called from sight to faith*.—From the portion he had in his country and in his father’s house, to wait at all times on the unseen God, and go to the land which He would show him. Let us willingly make this exchange. God is better than country, and kindred, and father’s house. **II. The Characteristics of God’s Call to Abraham.**—*(a) It laid clearly before him all that he was to surrender*.—How full and attractive the picture is made to Abraham’s last sight of it; ‘thy country, kindred,’ etc. So, when from duty and loyalty to Christ, we make sacrifices, etc., the possessions will often seem peculiarly fascinating, just when we are to part with them. *(b) It was uncompromising*.—‘Get thee out,’ with no promise or prospect of ever returning. The gifts of God are never repeated in exactly the same form. The pleasures of sin must be left ungrudgingly and for ever. *(c) It was urgent*.—‘Get thee out.’ *Now*. ‘Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken to him.’ Let *us* give the same ready, instant obedience. **Illustration** ‘Only a few generations after the awful warning of the Flood, the earth had again become corrupt. But it was not corrupt in quite the same sense. Before the Flood it was *sensually* corrupt; after the Flood it became *religiously* corrupt; *violence* was the earlier sin, *idolatry* the later. So God’s dealings differed. Idolatry put in peril the primary truths of His revelation to men, upon which the moral well-being of the human race rested. God therefore took measures for *preserving these imperilled truths;* and His plan was, to select a man, whose characteristic quality was “religious faith,” and make him, and his race, *treasure-keepers* for humanity, until the “fulness of times” should come. God wanted some one to take care of the two truths of His unity, and His spirituality; and our lesson tells us how He called Abram to this work, and how well fitted he was to undertake it. *Abram kept these two great truths safe for us*.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12","name":"Genesis 12 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Genesis 12 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 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: 2 A","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis","name":"Genesis"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/genesis/12","name":"12"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```