![]() Abram, while still in his father’s household, discerned that the idols were false gods and that there was only one true God. Rabbinic literature tells a story not in the Bible itself: Abram’s father, Terah, was a maker of idols (compare to Joshua 24:2). Well, the rabbis said, it was because he was the first monotheist. Why Abram, of all people? According to the biblical text, he had done nothing noteworthy. ![]() The scandal of election - God’s choosing of a particular person or a particular nation - was not lost on the early Jewish interpreters of this story. Who is this particular Mesopotamian that God should call him specifically and make astounding promises to him? Judging just from this brief genealogy, there is no particular reason to single out Abram as anyone worthy of note. What we know about Abram is that his wife’s name was Sarai, that he moved from Ur (in latter-day Babylonia) to Haran (in latter-day Assyria) with his father, and that Sarai was barren (Genesis 11:27-32). Now, we have met Abram before, but only as one person in a genealogy at the end of Genesis 11, the genealogy of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. In a similar way, the view from 30,000 feet - the stories about cosmic creation and universal humankind in Genesis 1-11 - suddenly becomes in Genesis 12 a much more focused, close-up view of a single man: “Now the LORD said to Abram…” And from then on, the story of this man and his descendants fills the frame. ![]() Then we glimpse a small figure on one of those mountains, and we quickly begin to zoom in on the person until suddenly she fills the frame, arms uplifted, walking and singing. It’s as if we were at the opening scene of the classic movie, “The Sound of Music.” (Apologies to those who aren’t familiar with this sentimental cultural reference.) The movie opens with a wide-angle view of the majestic mountains of the Austrian Alps. Beginning with this chapter, the focus narrows instead of stories about cosmic beginnings, we read stories about one particular couple, Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah, and their family. Before this chapter, of course, we have all the familiar stories that make up what scholars call the “primeval history” - Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood. It is also a turning point in the book of Genesis. Genesis 12 is a key text for understanding not only the whole book of Genesis, but also the whole Old Testament. It is hard to overestimate the importance of this week’s story.
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