So why would a man “live in tents” when God had promised him he’d become “a great nation,” his “name would be great,” and “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” Genesis 12:2-3?
And then on arrival at the place God had directed him to, God also told Abram to look around as far as his eyes could see, because “All the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” So, “Go walk the length and breadth of this land, because it’s all yours” (13:14-17).
But what was Abram’s response to “all this land being mine,” and his own name becoming great because of the mighty nation God would build through him? His response was to be “a stranger” in the land, “living in tents” like a nomad, along with his son’s and grandson’s families too, “who were heirs with him of the same promise,” Hebrews 11:9.
So why didn’t Abram get to work, build his own city-state like all the other city-states in Canaan, set himself up as its king like all the other kings in Canaan, strengthen his army to defend his city if attacked, and expand his influence until Canaan became the great nation and himself a great leader as God had promised?
Because instead, verse 10, “he was looking forward to the city founded, designed and built by God”. Which is understandable, because of where Abram had come from. He was born in Ur, a major Sumerian city-state so splendid that it even called itself “The City.” And in the true spirit of the Tower of Babel, built a few generations earlier – and only a few hundred miles away – Ur had also “made a name for itself” for its own babel-like ziggurats dedicated to various pagan gods, that were so impressive they’d even snared Abram’s own father into believing these gods were divine (Joshua 24:2). So Abram had firsthand knowledge of what cities built by the arrogance of men – who have no interest in the real God – were like.
In direct contrast to Ur, then, the first thing Abram did on pitching his tent in Canaan was to “build an altar to the Lord and call on the name of the Lord,” Genesis 12:8. The “altar” would be made up of a few rocks, not a gigantic ziggurat to a pagan god, as in Ur. And rather than seek to “make a name for himself,” Abram called on God’s name, openly stating his total trust in him.
Which was a good start to his new life in Canaan – because he was about to find out that “God works in mysterious ways”….(next blog)
