Chapter 1: The Call of Abram
Q1 - What do you envision when you think of Abram, Sarai, and Lot departing Haran for Canaan? What does Genesis 14:14 tell you about the size of their party? What does it also tell you about Abram’s wealth?
A1 - We know that Abram started out for Canaan with some amount of people and possessions, as Genesis 12:5 (NIV) tells us, “He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.”
By the time of Genesis 14:14 (NIV), Abram obviously had accumulated many people and much wealth, because when he heard that Lot had been taken, “…he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.”
If this many men had been born in his household, then they were born to parents who were also from Abram’s household, and these parents likely had more children besides these trained men. So from this verse we can surmise there were easily a thousand people and likely many more in his household. To support that many people would take a great amount of livestock and other resources. So Abram must have possessed great wealth, and obviously it wasn’t just Abram, Sarai, Lot, and a few servants who initially set out for Canaan.
Q2 - Sometimes a single day or a single decision can change the trajectory of a person’s whole life. How did Abram’s decision to trust God change his life and the lives of his family? How did his decision set in motion a way for God to bring eternal salvation to the world?
A2 - Abram’s decision to answer God’s call and follow Him changed his whole future, as well as the futures of Sarai, Lot, and all those who went with them. So far as we know from the scriptures, Abram never returned to his homeland and never again saw any of the family he had left behind. Abram, Sarai, and Lot had to adapt to a new say of living, going from an established city to living in tents in a more arid climate.
By answering God’s call, Abram became the anchor of the lineage that would eventually bring Jesus, our Savior, into the world. God can do such great things from small beginnings. All Abram had to do was to consent to the part God asked him to play.
Q3 - How do you think Abram’s decision affected Sarai’s life? What had she likely become accustomed to while living in Ur and Haran that she would no longer have access to?
A3 - The cities of Ur and Haran were both well established and lay along trade routes. No doubt Sarai had access to a wide variety of services, as well as goods and foods from much of the known world. She likely lived very comfortably in nice homes with servants to do her bidding. After moving to Canaan, she still had servants, but her home became a tent, and the food they ate came from the livestock they raised and what they could purchase from the surrounding area. She likely lived much closer to the earth than she had back in Mesopotamia.