Genesis 12:1
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Context12:1 Now the Lord said 1 to Abram, 2
“Go out 3 from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you. 4
Genesis 17:1
Context17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, 5 the Lord appeared to him and said, 6 “I am the sovereign God. 7 Walk 8 before me 9 and be blameless. 10
Genesis 18:1
Context18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham 11 by the oaks 12 of Mamre while 13 he was sitting at the entrance 14 to his tent during the hottest time of the day.
Genesis 26:2
Context26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 15 settle down in the land that I will point out to you. 16
Genesis 26:24
Context26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
Genesis 26:12
Context26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, 17 because the Lord blessed him. 18
Genesis 35:1
Context35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once 19 to Bethel 20 and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 21
Genesis 48:3
Context48:3 Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God 22 appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
1 sn The
2 tn The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ (lekh-lÿkha, “go out”) followed by three cohortatives (v. 2a) indicating purpose or consequence (“that I may” or “then I will”). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2b, literally “and be a blessing”) is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God’s ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18.
sn It would be hard to overestimate the value of this call and this divine plan for the theology of the Bible. Here begins God’s plan to bring redemption to the world. The promises to Abram will be turned into a covenant in Gen 15 and 22 (here it is a call with conditional promises) and will then lead through the Bible to the work of the Messiah.
3 tn The initial command is the direct imperative (לֶךְ, lekh) from the verb הָלַךְ (halakh). It is followed by the lamed preposition with a pronominal suffix (לְךָ, lÿkha) emphasizing the subject of the imperative: “you leave.”
4 sn To the land that I will show you. The call of Abram illustrates the leading of the
5 tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”
6 tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
7 tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew
8 tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”
9 tn Or “in my presence.”
10 tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the
11 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Or “terebinths.”
13 tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.
14 tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.
15 sn Do not go down to Egypt. The words echo Gen 12:10, which reports that “Abram went down to Egypt,” but state the opposite.
16 tn Heb “say to you.”
17 tn Heb “a hundredfold.”
18 tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.
19 tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.
20 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
21 sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).
22 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.