John Calvin Commentary Genesis 12:1

"Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father`s house, unto the land that I will show thee:" — Genesis 12:1 (ASV)

Now the Lord had said unto Abram. So that an absurd division of these chapters does not trouble the readers, they should connect this sentence with the last two verses of the previous chapter. Moses had previously said that Terah and Abram had departed from their country to dwell in the land of Canaan.

He now explains that they had not been impelled by levity, as rash and fickle men are inclined to be; nor had been drawn to other regions by disgust with their own country, as morose persons frequently are; nor were fugitives on account of crime; nor were led away by any foolish hope, or by any allurements, as many are hurried here and there by their own desires. Instead, Abram had been divinely commanded to go forth and had not moved a foot except as he was guided by the word of God.

Those who explain the passage to mean that God spoke to Abram after the death of his father are easily refuted by the very words of Moses. For if Abram was already without a country and was sojourning as a stranger elsewhere, the command of God would have been superfluous: Depart from thy land, from thy country, and from thy father’s house. The authority of Stephen is also added, who certainly deserves to be considered a suitable interpreter of this passage. He plainly testifies that God appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran. He then recites this oracle which we are now explaining, and finally concludes that, for this reason, Abraham migrated from Chaldea.

Nor should we overlook what God afterwards repeats (Genesis 15:7): I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees; For from this we infer that the Divine Hand was not stretched out to him for the first time after he had dwelt in Charran, but while he still remained at home in Chaldea. Indeed, this command of God’s, about which doubts are foolishly entertained, ought to be considered by us sufficient to disprove the contrary error.

For God could not have spoken thus, except to a man who had been, until that time, settled in his nest, having his affairs undisturbed, and living quietly and tranquilly among his relatives, without any change in his mode of life. Otherwise, the answer would have been readily given: “I have left my country; I am far removed from my kindred.” In short, Moses records this oracle so that we may know that this long journey was undertaken by Abram, and his father Terah, at the command of God.

From this it also appears that Terah was not so far deluded by superstitions as to be destitute of the fear of God. It was difficult for the old man, already broken and in failing health, to tear himself away from his own country. Some true religion, therefore, although smothered, still remained in his mind.

Therefore, when he knew that the place from which his son was commanded to depart was accursed, he did not wish to perish there; instead, he joined himself as an associate with him whom the Lord was about to deliver. What a witness, I demand, will he prove to be on the last day, to condemn our indolence!

The excuse he might have alleged was easy and plausible: namely, that he would remain quietly at home because he had received no command. But he, though blind in the darkness of unbelief, yet opened his eyes to the beam of light that shot across his path, while we remain unmoved when the divine vocation directly shines upon us.

Moreover, this calling of Abram is a signal instance of the gratuitous mercy of God. Had Abram anticipated God by any merit of works? Had Abram come to Him, or won His favor? No, we must always recall to mind (what I have previously cited from the passage in Joshua) that he was plunged in the filth of idolatry; and now God freely stretches out His hand to bring back the wanderer.

He deigns to open His sacred mouth, so that He may show to one deceived by Satan’s wiles the way of salvation. And it is wonderful that a man, miserable and lost, should be given preference over so many holy worshippers of God; that the covenant of life should be placed in his possession; that the Church should be revived in him, and he himself constituted the father of all the faithful.

But this is done by design, so that the manifestation of the grace of God might become more conspicuous in his person. For he is an example of the vocation of us all; for in him we perceive that, by the mere mercy of God, those things which are not are raised from nothing, so that they may begin to be something.

Get thee out of thy country. This accumulation of words may seem superfluous. To this it may also be added that Moses, who is so concise in other places, here expresses a plain and simple matter in three different ways. But the reality is quite different. For since exile is in itself sorrowful, and the sweetness of their native soil binds nearly all people to itself, God strenuously persists in His command to leave the country, in order to thoroughly penetrate Abram's mind.

If He had said in a single phrase, “Leave your country,” this indeed would have considerably pained his mind; but Abram is still more deeply affected when he hears that he must renounce his kindred and his father’s house. Yet we should not suppose that God takes a cruel pleasure in the trouble of His servants; rather, He thus tests all their affections, so that He may not leave any lurking-places undiscovered in their hearts.

We see many people who are zealous for a short time, but afterwards become frozen. Why is this, except because they build without a foundation? Therefore, God determined to thoroughly rouse all Abram's senses, so that he might not undertake anything rashly or inconsiderately, lest, repenting soon afterwards, he should veer with the wind and return.

Unto a land that I will show thee. This is another test to prove Abram's faith. For why does God not immediately point out the land, except for the purpose of keeping His servant in suspense, so that He may better test the truth of his attachment to the word of God?

It is as if He would say, “I command you to go forth with closed eyes, and forbid you to inquire where I am about to lead you, until, having renounced your country, you shall have given yourself wholly to Me.” And this is the true test of our obedience: when we are not wise in our own eyes but commit ourselves entirely to the Lord.

Whenever, therefore, He requires anything of us, we must not be so anxious about success as to allow fear and anxiety to hinder our course. For it is better, with closed eyes, to follow God as our guide, than, by relying on our own prudence, to wander through those circuitous paths which it devises for us.

If anyone objects that this statement is at variance with the former sentence, in which Moses declared that Terah and Abram departed from their own country so that they might come into the land of Canaan, the solution is easy if we admit a prolepsis (that is, an anticipation of something still future) in the expression of Moses. This is similar to what occurs later in this very chapter with the use of the name Bethel, and as frequently occurs in the Scriptures.

They did not know where they were going. But because they had resolved to go wherever God might call them, Moses, speaking in his own person, mentions the land which, though previously unknown to them both, was afterwards revealed to Abram alone. It is therefore true that they departed with the intention of coming to the land of Canaan because, having received the promise concerning a land that was to be shown them, they allowed themselves to be governed by God until He should actually bestow what He had promised.

Nevertheless, it may be that God, having tested Abram's devotion, soon afterwards removed all doubt from his mind. For we do not know at what precise moment God would make known to him what it was His will to conceal only for a time. It is enough that Abram declared himself to be truly obedient to God when, having cast all his care on God’s providence and having unloaded, as it were, into His bosom whatever might have hindered him, he did not hesitate to leave his own country, uncertain where, finally, he might plant his foot. For by this method, the wisdom of the flesh was brought under control, and all his affections were subdued at the same time.

Yet it may be asked why God sent His servant into the land of Canaan rather than into the East, where he could have lived with some other of the holy fathers. Some (so that the change may not seem to have been for the worse) maintain that he was led there for the purpose of dwelling with his ancestor Shem, whom they imagine to have been Melchizedek.

But if this were the counsel of God, it is strange that Abram went in a different direction. Indeed, we do not read that he met with Melchizedek until he was returning from the battle in the plain of Sodom. But, in its proper place, we shall see how frivolous is the notion that Melchizedek was Shem.

As for the subject at hand, we infer from the result that eventually followed that God’s design was very different from what these men suppose. The nations of Canaan, on account of their deplorable wickedness, were devoted to destruction. God required His servant to sojourn among them for a time, so that, by faith, he might perceive himself to be the heir of that land, the actual possession of which was reserved for his posterity for a long time after his own death.

Therefore, he was commanded to cross over into that country for this sole reason: that it was to be evacuated by its inhabitants, to be given to his seed for a possession. And it was of great importance that Abram, Isaac, and Jacob should be strangers in that land, and should by faith embrace the dominion over it which had been divinely promised them, so that their posterity might, with greater courage, gird themselves to take possession of it.