Genesis 12:4 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Abram leaving his country, first Ur and then Haran, in obedience to God’s call: “So Abram departed.” He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He did what he was told, without first consulting human wisdom or personal concerns (Galatians 1:15-16). His obedience was quick and without arguing. He went out not knowing where he was going, but he knew whom he was following and whose direction he was under (Hebrews 11:8). In this way, God called him to come and follow close beside Him (Isaiah 41:2).

We also see Abram’s age when he moved. He was seventy-five years old, an age when most people would expect to settle down and rest. But if God wanted him to start over in old age, Abram was willing to submit. This is an example of an older person coming to faith and obeying God.

We also see the company and belongings he took with him. He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, not by force, but by persuasion. Sarai would certainly go with him, because God had joined them together, and nothing should separate them. If Abram was leaving everything to follow God, Sarai was leaving everything to follow Abram, though neither of them knew where they were going. It was a kindness to Abram to have such a companion on the journey, a helper suited to him. It is a great comfort when husband and wife agree to go together in the way to heaven.

Lot, his nephew and likely the son of Abram’s dead brother, was also moved by Abram’s good example. He may even have been under Abram’s care after his father died, and he was willing to go with him. Those who go toward Canaan, the promised land, do not have to go alone. Few find the narrow gate, but thanks be to God, some do. It is wise to go with those who have God with them, wherever they go (Zechariah 8:23).

They also took all their possessions with them, all their property and movable goods that they had gathered. In this, they were giving up everything to God’s direction and holding nothing back. They were also taking what they needed for God’s service and for their family’s care in the land where they were going. To throw away their possessions just because God had promised to bless them would have been testing God, not trusting Him. They also left nothing behind that might tempt them to go back, not even a hoof, as the saying goes.

They took with them the souls they had gained, meaning both their servants and those they had persuaded to worship the true God and go with them to Canaan. Their servants were part of their property, but Scripture calls them souls to remind masters that poor servants have souls too, precious souls that must be cared for and given what they need. The others were people they had won over to God’s worship, people they had gathered under the care of God’s presence. Those who follow and serve God themselves should do all they can to bring others to do the same. These souls are said to have been gained. We should count it true gain if we can win souls to Christ.

At last they reached the end of their journey. They had gone out to go into the land of Canaan before, in Genesis 11:31, but then they stopped partway. Now they kept going, and by God’s kind hand on them, they came into the land of Canaan. There, through a new revelation, they were told that this was the land God had promised to show them. They were not turned back by the troubles they met, and they were not distracted by the pleasures they found along the way. They kept moving forward.

Those who set out for heaven must keep going to the end, always reaching toward what lies ahead. Anything we begin in obedience to God’s command, while humbly following His providence, will surely succeed and end in comfort at last.