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		Always Being Ready     Lech L'cha   (Gen 12:1 - 17:27)

B'resheet/Genesis 12:4   And Avram went, just as the L-rd spoke to him, and Lot went with him. And Avram [was] seventy five years [old] when he left Ḥaran.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

After Teraḥ - the father of Avram and his brothers Nahor and Ḥaran - led his family to leave "Ur of the Chaldees" (B'resheet 11:31) to go the land of Canaan, they left along the established trade route around the fertile crescent. Along the way was the city of Ḥaran, the great crossroads city of northern Mesopotamia - so named because the Akkadian word ḥarrānu means 'road' or 'caravan' - where Teraḥ apparently abandoned the idea of going to Canaan and settled. Some years later - scholars suggest this may have been as many as sixty years - Avram hears The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem calling him to set out on the journey to Canaan. Avram is challenged to leave "your country, your kinsfolk and your father's house" (12:1) and - at least for a while - become a nomad, of no fixed abode, and travel "to the land that I will show you" (ibid.). As we know from reading further on in the story, apart from a few longer periods of temporary residence at one place or another, the whole of the rest of Avram's life will be be spent on the move: "By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents" (Hebrews 11:9, ESV).

Our text comes immediately after HaShem speaks to Avram and many of the commentators - ancient and modern - chime similar bells in their comments. David Who Is ...

The Radak: Rabbi David Kimḥi (1160-1235 CE), rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher and grammarian; born in Narbonne, France; best known for his commentaries on the Prophets, he also wrote a philosphical commentary on Bresheet that makes extensive use of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel; influenced by a strong supporter of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Kimchi, for example, reports simply, "he left without asking any questions." Nahum Sarna is more loquacious: "In silent, unwavering obedience to the divine will, 'as the L-rd had commanded him,' the patriarch picks himself up and goes forth, accepting his new destiny in perfect faith." Umberto Cassuto points out that "the repetition of the verb וַיֵּלֶךְ - the Qal 3ms prefix form of the root הלך with a vav-conversive, 'and he went' - used in the injunction - לֶךְ לְךָ, the Qal ms imperative form of the same root, 'Go for yourself!' - emphasises the swiftness and completeness of Avram's obedience. He carried out what he was enjoined to do forthwith, without any hesitation."¹ Leon Kass observes dryly that "G-d knew his customer: Avram, obeying the command goes immediately, without hesitation and without so much as a tiny question."²

Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch is aware of a subtlety in the text. The speech verb used is דִּבֶּר, the Pi'el 3ms affix form of the root דבר, "and he spoke". Why didn't the narrator use the more natural אָמַר, the Qal 3ms affix form of the root אמר, "and he said"? Hirsch explains that "it is probably not without reason that it uses דבר here and not אמר. אמר would refer to the whole promise so full of benevolence with which the order לך לך was accompanied; and which well may have been qualified to make Avraham's feelings ready to yield to this demand. But Avraham did not obey the promise but the order of G-d. He went because G-d had told him to." This doubtlessly leads Richard Elliott Friedman to write: "Traditionally the emphasis has been on faith as the mark of Avraham's character. But the narrative conveys far more that the mark of Avraham is obedience. The tests that Avraham undergoes are not necessarily tests of faith but certainly are tests of obedience. At this stage in relations between G-d and humans, G-d appears to single out a human who will do what he is told."

Obedience is a partner to faith, but is a very different thing. Faith leads to obedience, so that obedience follows faith as the writer to the Hebrews tells us: "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to G-d must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6, ESV). On the other hand, it is obedience that actualises faith, that puts it into practice and show that is is real. While the word 'faith' - in Hebrew אֶמוּנַה, more correctly faithfulness - appears only once in the What Is ...

The Amidah: also known as Shemoneh Esrei - the Eighteen Blessings (although there are actually nineteen stanzas), this is one of the central prayers in each of the prayer services; Amidah means "standing", so it is also known as the Standing Prayer (for which everyone in the synagogue stands) or simply "The Prayer"; it is shortened on Shabbat and the festivals to exclude stanzas of petition
Amidah, where it speaks of HaShem being the one who "keeps His faith with those who sleeps in the dust" (גְבוּרוֹת),³ the Jewish response to HaShem is prayer and obedience. I think that Bruce Waltke, who suggests that Abram's "'walk' is transformed from a migration to faith's pilgrimage, looking for the heavenly city,"⁴ tries too hard to spiritualise Avram's response, which is better expressed by James McKeown's pithy observation that "Adam is expelled from Eden because of his disobedience; Avraham must be obedient in order to receive the land of promise."⁵

McKeown underlines his conclusion by noting that "this is emphasised by the high profile given to G-d's personal involvement in the fulfillment of the promises. Six times in 12:1-3 [the narrator] uses verbs in the first person singular, 'I will' ... This approach from G-d requires a response in obedience from Avraham for the continuance of the relationship."⁶ Cassuto comments on Avram's age: "Avram was seventy five - The undertaking of the journey, without prior knowledge of when and where it would end, would have been a severe test even for a young man, how much more so for an old man of seventy-five."⁷ Gordon Wenham allies this to the words of Yeshua - "Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37, ESV) - to propose that "without spelling it out explicitly, this remark shows Avram putting the call of G-d above loyalty to his family."⁸

Setting our text as the first in the block B'resheet 12:4-9, Terence Fretheim tells us that "these verses report Avram's silent, but actively positive, response to G-d's call and reviews his travels to and through the land he has been shown, during which he is accompanied by G-d, builds altars and worships G-d."⁹ Obedience leads to relationship and fellowship. In this we can see a fundamental difference between Avram and his nephew Lot that will will play out over the coming chapters: Avram got up and went because the L-rd commanded him, whereas Lot went only on account of Avram. Avram heard the voice and challenge of the Spirit and was prepared to lead on that basis; Lot followed Avram but had no relationship if his own with HaShem.

Going back to where we started, we need to compare Avram with his father Teraḥ. While Teraḥ was prepared to leave Ur, he settled in Ḥaran, another city that worshipped the moon god; like Ur, it was considered a sacred city of the moon. There is therefore a real sense in which Teraḥ never left, he only migrated. Even the land of Canaan was strongly connected to worship of the moon god; the city of Jericho was named after the moon god and referred to as "they city of the moon." The Jewish tradition suggests that Teraḥ was a manufacturer of idols and maintained that occupation in his new location. Teraḥ's journey - even with the land of Canaan originally in his sights - may have been nothing more than economic migration, moving away from the shrinking population of Ur. He settled in Ḥaran because it suited his trade and inclination, dying there some years after Avram left to continue the journey to Canaan and beyond. Avraham, on the other hand, was ready. He was ready to hear the voice of HaShem and he was ready to obey HaShem, putting that obedience above family, status and position. Avram was - as the following narratives show - always ready to move on.

During the festival of Ḥanukkah one year, Yeshua had gone up to Jerusalem and was walking in Solomon's Portico. As people gathered round Him, asking whether He would tell them that He was Messiah, He made an important statement about being ready: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). Can you see the steps He is talking about? The first step is ours: hearing Yeshua's voice; that may be hearing the Spirit talking to you, it may happen when you are reading Scripture, or it may be something that you hear by someone else speaking or talking to you or even in the media. What matters is that you recognise Yeshua's voice and know that He is speaking to you, just as HaShem spoke to Avram. The second step is done by Him: He knows - that is, He is in relationship with - us. The third step is back to us again: that we follow Him; that we engage with what He is doing, pack up our tent and set out on the journey behind Him. We go where He leads - and He promises that "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (v. 28, ESV). We go nowhere unless we are ready: to hear His voice and to follow Him.

The prophet Ezekiel voices HaShem telling the people that He is the Shepherd who rescues His sheep: "As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Ezekiel 34:12, ESV). In one of the parables, Yeshua uses the picture of a shepherd doing exactly that - "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost'" (Luke 15:5-6, ESV) - and later identifies Himself as the Shepherd: "I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me" (John 10:14). We hear the Shepherd calling - "Adam, where are you?" (B'resheet 3:9) - and we have to be ready: ready to be known and ready to go on the journey. Are you ready to go today when the Master calls?

1. - Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part Two - From Noah to Abraham, (Jerusalem, Magnes Press, 1984), page 316.

2. - Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 2003), pages 256.

3. - Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Authorised Daily Prayer Book, (London, HarperCollins, 2007), pages 76-77.

4. - Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), page 206.

5. - James McKeown, Genesis, Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), page 252.

6. - McKeown, page 256.

7. - Cassuto, page 316.

8. - Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary I, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1987), page 278.

9. - Terence Fretheim, "Genesis" in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Vol I, edited by Leander E. Keck, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), page 101.

Further Study: Luke 14: 25-33; James 2:20-26

Application: Have you heard the voice of the Master calling you to set out on a journey with Him? Know that even if the terrain is uncertain, the locale is unknown and the challenges seem insurmountable, He will be leading you every step of the way and the destination is absolutely certain: the celestial city and His words of approval, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Don't delay a moment longer; get your boots on and let's hit the trail!

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© Jonathan Allen, 2025

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