Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 12:6-7 (New Living Translation)

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Abram, whom God later renamed Abraham, has left his homeland and is moving to the land that Jehovah God designated. This is Abram’s first stop in this valley near Shechem. This “Oak at Moreh” was some type of spiritual site for the locals.

God tells Abram something specific and significant, “I will give this land to your descendants.”

Note, although promised to Abram, it is specifically promised to his descendants. Abram himself would not possess all of it. That would come later, much later.

This was something that Abram would not see. Still, Abram believed. He was the definition of faith: believing in something that he could not and would not see.

Thousands of years later, Paul wrote to the Christians as Rome and told them that Abram was the father of the faithful. Abram was one of the first to act despite all the facts.