John Calvin Commentary Genesis 12:7

"And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him." — Genesis 12:7 (ASV)

And the Lord appeared to Abram. He now relates that Abram was not left entirely destitute, but that God stretched forth His hand to help him. We must, however, mark with what kind of assistance God helps him in his temptations. He offers him His bare word, and in such a way, indeed, that Abram might deem himself exposed to ridicule.

For God declares He will give the land to his seed: but where is the seed, or where the hope of seed, since he is childless and old, and his wife is barren? This was therefore an insipid consolation to the flesh. But faith has a different taste; the property of which is, to hold all the senses of the pious so bound by reverence to the word that a single promise of God is quite sufficient. Meanwhile, although God truly alleviates and mitigates the evils which His servants endure, He does it only so far as is expedient for them, without indulging the desire of the flesh. Let us from this learn that this single remedy ought to be sufficient for us in our sufferings: that God so speaks to us in His word as to cause our minds to perceive Him to be propitious, and let us not give free rein to the demanding desires of our flesh. God Himself will not fail on His part but will, by the manifestation of His favor, raise us when we are cast down.

And there he built an altar. This altar was a token of gratitude. As soon as God appeared to him, he raised an altar: for what purpose? That he might call upon the name of the Lord. We see, therefore, that he was intent upon giving thanks, and that an altar was built by him in memory of kindness received.

If anyone asks whether he could not worship God without an altar, I answer that the inward worship of the heart is not sufficient unless external profession before men is added. Religion has truly its appropriate seat in the heart; but from this root, public confession afterwards arises as its fruit.

For we are created to this end: that we may offer soul and body to God. The Canaanites had their religion; they also had altars for sacrifices. But Abram, so that he might not involve himself in their superstitions, erects a domestic altar on which he may offer sacrifice, as if he had resolved to place a royal throne for God within his house.

But because the worship of God is spiritual, and all ceremonies which have no right and lawful purpose are not only vain and worthless in themselves but also corrupt the true worship of God by their counterfeit and fallacious appearance, we must carefully observe what Moses says: that the altar was erected for the purpose of calling upon God.

The altar then is the external form of divine worship, but invocation is its substance and truth. This mark easily distinguishes pure worshippers from hypocrites, who are far too liberal in outward pomp but wish their religion to terminate in bare ceremonies. Thus, all their religion is vague, being directed to no certain end.

Their ultimate intention, indeed, is (as they confusedly speak) to worship God. But piety approaches nearer to God and therefore does not trifle with external figures but has respect to the truth and the substance of religion. On the whole, ceremonies are acceptable to God only insofar as they have reference to the spiritual worship of God.

To invoke the name of God, or to invoke in His name, admits of a twofold exposition: namely, either to pray to God or to celebrate His name with praises. But because prayer and thanksgiving are things conjoined, I willingly include both.

We have said before, in Genesis 4:1, that the whole worship of God was not improperly described by the figure synecdoche under this particular expression. This is because God esteems no duty of piety more highly, and accounts no sacrifice more acceptable, than the invocation of His name, as is declared in Psalm 50:23 and Psalm 51:19.

As often, therefore, as the word altar occurs, let the sacrifices also come into our mind, for from the beginning, God would have mankind informed that there could be no access to Himself without sacrifice. Therefore Abram, from the general doctrine of religion, opened for himself a celestial sanctuary by sacrifices, so that he might rightly worship God. But we know that God was never appeased by the blood of beasts. Therefore, it follows that the faith of Abram was directed to the blood of Christ.

It may seem, however, absurd that Abram built himself an altar at his own pleasure, even though he was neither a priest nor had any express command from God. I answer that Moses removes this scruple in the context, for Abram is not said to have made an altar simply to God, but to God who had appeared to him.

The altar therefore had its foundation in that revelation and ought not to be separated from that of which it formed but a part and an appendage. Superstition fabricates for itself such a God as it pleases and then invents for Him various kinds of worship; just as the Papists today most proudly boast that they worship God when they are only trifling with their foolish pageantry.

But the piety of Abram is commended because, having erected an altar, he worshipped God who had been manifested to him. And although Moses declares the design with which Abram built the altar when he relates that he there called upon God, he yet, at the same time, intimates that such a service was pleasing to God. This is because this language implies the approval of the Holy Spirit, who thereby pronounces that he had rightly called upon God. Others, indeed, confidently boasted that they worshipped God; but God, in praising Abram only, rejects all the rites of the heathen as a vile profanation of His name.