Discover the dramatic call of Abram as he leaves his homeland, trusts God’s promises, faces trials, and learns to rely on God’s timing.
POLO: Abram lived with his family in Ur of the Chaldeans.
PRISCILLA: Where’s that? I haven’t heard that on the National News!
MAURICE: I know! It is located in southern Iraq, near Kuwait.
POLO: Yes, Maurice, that’s right. But then Abram’s father, Terah, wanted to move somewhere else.
PRISCILLA: That’s a pain, because there were no removal lorries!
MAURICE: True! They walked with camels and donkeys loaded with their belongings for about 640 miles.
PRISCILLA: So where did they end up?
POLO: A place called Haran, which is in southeastern Turkey.
MAURICE: When Abram was seventy-five years old, God spoke to him!
PRISCILLA: Really?
GOD: Go from this land with your wife and all your servants to a land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, you’ll be blessed, and your name will be great. Through you, everyone in the world shall be blessed.
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. That sounds unlikely, but I will go with it!
POLO: So, Abram set off with his wife, their servants and his nephew Lot.
PRISCILA: Yeah, they had to carry a lot. A lot of stuff.
MAURICE: You misunderstood me. ‘Lot’ was his name.
PRISCILLA: Oh, right, Lot. Okay!
POLO: Yes, they did have to carry a lot of stuff, and they walked for nearly five hundred miles! They arrived at Shechem.
MAURICE: That’s in Israel, but then it was called the land of Canaan.
POLO: There were tribal groups living there, known as the Canaanites. While Abram was sitting under an oak tree, God said:
GOD: To your children, I will give this land.
POLO: Abram worshipped God there, but he did wonder:
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. The Lord God said he would give this land to my children, but I haven’t got any children!
POLO: Later, the land had no rain for a long time, and the food crops died.
MAURICE: So, Abram and everyone with him went to Egypt, where there was plenty of food.
POLO: But he had heard that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, liked the ladies too much, and Abram thought:
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. Pharaoh is going to see my beautiful wife, Sarai, and my life may be put in danger. I will say she is my sister, and not my wife. Hmm. Well, she is my half-sister after all!
MAURICE: Unfortunately, this did not work out very well for Abram, because Pharaoh found out!
PHARAOH: What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Get out of here now!
PRISCILLA: Whoops! Perhaps Abram forgot to trust God in Egypt! So they all went back to the land of Canaan?
POLO: Yes, Priscilla, but the next thing Abram did really showed a huge amount of trust in God:
MAURICE: Abram and his nephew, Lot, had large numbers of cows, sheep and goats. In fact, they were almost fighting over the watering holes where the animals could drink! So Abram said to Lot:
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. Lot, let’s not fight over these watering holes. The whole land is laid out before us. You are younger than me, but you can choose the land you want.
PRISCILLA: What! Abram was an old man; he should have chosen the best and easiest land!
POLO: Unfortunately, Abram’s nephew Lot was greedy, and he looked at the land and said:
RAVI/LOT: Wow, that side looks so lush and green, and well-watered. I choose the Jordan Valley!
MAURICE: Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and God said to him:
GOD: Lift your eyes and turn round. All the land you see I will give to you and to your children forever. You will have so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that they will be like the dust of the earth – uncountable! Walk through all the land because I will give it to you.
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. God keeps talking about children, but I still don’t have any! I don’t know how God can do this, but I will trust him.
POLO: There Abram worshipped God.
MAURICE: Later, Abram heard that a local tribe had captured his nephew, Lot, and his family. Abram quickly gathered all his male servants and marched off to rescue them.
POLO: Abram waited until it was dark. Then he made a surprise attack from two sides, defeated them and rescued Lot.
PRISCILLA: Well done, Abram, woo-hoo!
MAURICE: Abram knew that it was by God’s help that he won that battle, and God said to Abram:
GOD: Do not be afraid, Abram, I am the one who protects you; your reward shall be very great.
GABE/ABRAM: Hmm. O Lord God, I haven’t got a child, so everything I own will go to my chief servant Eliezer.
GOD: No, not Eliezer. Your very own son shall inherit from you. Step outside and look at the stars. Can you count them? So shall your children and your children’s children be!
POLO: Abram believed the Lord God, and because he did so, God saw Abram as being right with God.
MAURICE: God gave Abram a dream where God said:
GOD: Certainly, your children’s children will be immigrants in a land that is not theirs, for four hundred years, and they will become slaves there. But I, the Lord God, will bring judgment on that nation, and they shall escape with many great gifts.
POLO: On that day, the Lord made a contract, a covenant, with Abram, and he said:
GOD: I give all of this land to you and your family.
Next: Abram tries to fulfil God’s promises himself
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