God continued His training of humans to ‘rule’ with Him by selecting a man from the lineage of Shem. The man’s name was Abram (Abraham). He grew up in Ur of the Chaldeans, which many archaeologists believe was located in southern Iraq. Abram’s father moved much farther north to Haran, taking some of his family with him.

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. Genesis 11:31-32

We learn later in the Genesis account that some of Terah’s family remained in Haran, but God had other plans for Abram and Sarai –

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. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. Genesis 12:1-2

Out of all of the people living in the world at that time, God chose one man and his wife to carry forward the promised ‘Seed’ of the woman who would destroy the ‘seed’ of the serpent. In addition, they and their descendants would learn many valuable lessons about how to ‘subdue and rule.’

Choosing, Training, Testing

Reading through the life of Abram and Sarai is part of an amazing ‘manual’ of how God ‘chooses’ people, then ‘trains’ them through a process of ‘testing.’ That process hasn’t changed in thousands of years. It’s how God ‘trains to reign.’ God told Abram and Sarai that ‘kings shall come from you’ (Genesis 17:6, 16). God said the same thing to their grandson Jacob (Israel) many years later (Genesis 35:11). Developing a lineage of ‘ruling’ was always part of God’s plan. The ‘Seed’ of the woman (Jesus Christ) who would destroy the ‘seed’ of the serpent (the devil) is the ‘King of kings’ (Revelation 17:14). Jesus will rule forever with those who follow Him (e.g. Revelation 20:6; 22:5).

God chose Abram and Sarai to leave Haran and travel south to the land of Canaan. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. God promised to give ‘this land’ to Abram’s descendants. Abram built an altar to the Lord, then moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel. Abram built another altar to the Lord ‘with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east’ and called on the name of the Lord. Abram then continued his journey going South. (Genesis 12:4-9). That was just the beginning of Abram’s training.

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. 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. 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. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you. Genesis 12:10-13

We learn some important things about Abram through this ‘testing’ process. Famines in ancient times often moved family groups to other countries to find food. It’s interesting that this particular famine was ‘severe’ and occurred soon after God called Abram to leave Haran and travel to the land of Canaan. This was a ‘test’ and part of Abram’s training. We learn that Abram was afraid of what might happen to him in Egypt. He had good reason to fear based on how ‘foreigners’ were often treated. What Abram did not do was ‘rely’ on God’s power to fulfill His promise to Abram. Abram did well when he obeyed God’s call to leave Haran for the land of Canaan, but he did poorly when he was tested in Egypt. However, and this is important to note, God blessed Abram and his family even when Abram failed the test –

Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Genesis 13:1-4

I don’t believe God blessed Abram because he ‘failed’ a test, but because of God’s plan for Abram. Remember that God called Abram to leave his father’s house and go to ‘a land that I will show you.’ God’s plan for Abram was to ‘make of you a great nation’ (Genesis 12:1). God also promised Abram that He would make his name ‘great,’ would ‘bless him,’ and that all of the families of the earth ‘shall be blessed’ through him (Genesis 12:2-3).

That particular promise is known as an ‘unconditional’ covenant. God did not place any ‘conditions’ on Abram in order for God to keep His promise. Abram had a lot of things to learn about becoming the person through whom ‘all of the families of the earth shall be blessed,’ but God was going to protect Abram and Sarai because that was His plan.

The ‘Seed’ of the woman who would destroy the ‘seed’ of the serpent would come through the lineage of Abram and Sarai. Even though Abram lied to the Pharaoh of Egypt about Sarai, God ‘plagued Pharaoh and his house because of Sarai, Abram’s wife’ (Genesis 12:17). Even though Abram lied about his relationship with Sarai and Pharaoh took Sarai to his palace to have sexual relations with her, God would not allow it. The plagues stopped Pharaoh before he could touch her sexually. That’s a strong demonstration of God’s protecting His plan and promises. It would become another powerful lesson for Abram in his training to reign.

Next Time

Both Abram and Sarai have more lessons to learn on their way to being a blessing to the world. We’ll go more in-depth on that in the next part of our special series – Train to Reign.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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