Gen 12:1 ¶Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
Gen 12:2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
Gen 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Once more we find a promise made. Gen.12:3, If one was to look at back at the history of the USA, looking closely at the ups and downs, they would find that when we stood with Israel, we lived the good life. Just to give a little of what I mean. 1930's the USA had turned a blind eye to what was going on in Israel. The Brits, had control over Israel, and held the mandate that the Jewish people were to remain unarmed, yet they said nothing about the Arab's being armed. The USA feel into what is called the great depression.
In or around 1038 Hitler started killing Jews, the USA said no to any refugees coming into the USA. Well stopped the Jewish people from coming anyway. This as best I know also marked the lowest point of the depression. I may wrong on that. Knowing what ws going on, and that Hitler was killing so many Jewish people, the USA voted to stay out of the war. Until 1941, when we were forced into it by Japan. Oddly this also marked the end of the depression. Just as it marked the USA fighting in Europe.
What came from the end of the war? The US now formed an alliance with Israel, England on the other hand, stayed the cores, and remained some what indifferent where Israel was censured. England lost it's standing as a world currency, the USA found new found riches in picking up where England had fallen.
What does this prove? Only that if one keeps looking, or if you read the Book, Eye To Eye, that every time a nation turns it's back on Israel, they suffer. Look at how well we did under Regain, then how badly we did under Obummer. This all goes to show that this promise is still in effect to this day.
Gen 12:4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram
was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Gen 12:5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Once more find that Faith is not shown by asking who are you, what do mean, leave and do what, how do I know you will keep me safe, and so on. NO Avram showed his faith by hearing, then obeying. No questions just up and followed on faith. As we all know, this faith lead to,
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:6 just as Abraham
“believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
So what we should think about as we study the Word, is just how salvation was given by faith, when that faith was seen by the works of them that believed. We can see that it had nothing to with any sacrifice, or trying to follow the letter of the Law, It did however have everything to with hearing, that lead to faith, that was shown by obedience.
So does faith still come by hearing?
Jas 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Jas 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Jas 2:24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Also if one looks to Rev, we find,
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints; here
are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
As one should note, both faith and works are named in all the above. We should also take heed that In Rev. a book written in or around, 90 AD. Some place it around 65-70. Still others around 80-85. That the Keeping of HaShems law, make Satan a little more than upset. That is when it is also in line with Faith.
Now before anyone tries to turn this into a debate, I have already stated that I am not going to be drug into that. True you can still become disruptive, as some do with every thread of this kind. All to show what, that you hold no respect for others, and wish only to teach your own way of thinking? You have many threads to go vent on, so please, show the kind of love that Yeshua would show, and respect any study of his word, even if it doesn't line up with yours. Or you can steep up, and show that you love your own teaching so much, that to even look at any other, brings out the love of Satan in you.
Gen 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Abram built a lot of alters, some He offered sacrifices on, some he didn't. This not saying that we know everything he did, that would be like saying you know everything about me, when in fact you know only that I have a love for the Word, and a need to study it. Oh should also know that I make it clear I don't know everything. I am more than willing to say I may be wrong, or say I don't know I am hoping for some one with an understanding to help out. After all I have done all this more than once in this one thread.
Gen 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine
was severe in the land.
Gen 12:11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you
are a woman of beautiful countenance.
Gen 12:12 “Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This
is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Gen 12:13 “Please say you
are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
Rashi, argued that when a stranger comes to town, the proper thing to do would be to inquire if he needs food and drink, not whether his female companion is a married woman, and hence as Abimelech did the latter, it tipped off Abraham to the fact that
there is no fear of God in this place, and so he lied about his relationship with Sarah in order to avoid being killed. Consequently, it could be argued that the parallel behaviour results from this
lack of
fear of God by the antagonists in the other two similar situations.
Gen 12:15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
Gen 12:16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
Gen 12:17 But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
Gen 12:18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What
is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she
was your wife?
Gen 12:19 “Why did you say, ‘She
is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take
her and go your way.”
It is good to note the work of HaShem in this story. Pharaoh was spared the sin of taking Sarai, by HaShem's intervention. Something that we may all have seen i our own lives. Taking a different way home, or having a flat tire, may well have been HaShem looking out for us. To keep us from walking into temptation, or having an accident. If things had went the way they always do, we have no way of knowing what may have come from it. I do know that as an OTR driver, I had stopped to Fix a broken strap, Took me like 2 minutes to replace it, in that time, there was a really bad accident on the road. One that took me 2 minutes to get to, after I got rolling.
I do so look forward to seeing what others may think on this. If not, then hay I am going to just keep on keeping on.