God calls Abram
Genesis 12:1–5; Acts 7:4; Galatians 3:8, 16–17; Hebrews 11:8
After Terah died in Haran, God called Abram, age 75, to go to Canaan and promised that all nations would be blessed through him.
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1 (World English Bible)
God promised Abram a land, a great nation of descendants, a great name, and blessing for “all the families of the earth” through him. Abram had no children and was already 75, but he went.
Paul calls this promise the gospel announced in advance (Galatians 3:8) and says the promised offspring is ultimately Christ (3:16). Hebrews 11:8 holds Abram up as a model of faith: he left home without knowing where he was going.
Places
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- Antiquities 1.7.2 — Berosus on “a man righteous and great” among the Chaldeans in the tenth generation after the Flood; Nicolaus of Damascus on Abram
Dating notes
Ussher ties this year to Terah's death at 205 (Genesis 11:32; Acts 7:4). He counts the 430 years of Galatians 3:17 (and Exodus 12:40–41) from this promise, which places the Exodus in 1491 BC.