Genesis 12 Abram built an alter and pitched a tent.

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Genesis 12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev​
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[c] Genesis 12:7 Or seed

Here's what Guzik says.

Abram never owned any of this land except his burial plot (Genesis 23:14-20). Yet Gods promise was enough evidence to assure Abram that he did indeed own the whole country.

Abram thought this was important to do. The altar was important to Abram because it was a place to meet with God, to offer sacrifice for sin, to show submission to God, and to worship God.

Even in the land God gave him, Abram never lived in a house - he lived in a tent. Tents are the home of those who are just passing through and do not put down permanent roots.

The easy english commentary offers us this.


The distance from Haran to Shechem, which is in Canaan, is about 600 kilometres (400 miles).

The country was called Canaan because the Canaanites lived there. The Canaanites were the descendants of Canaan, who was a grandson of Noah.

Many years later, Jacob gave the name ‘Bethel’ to this place. (See Genesis 28:19.) It probably did not have that name in Abram’s time. But the people who wrote Genesis used the name. It tells us where Abram went.​

The Negeb is the southern part of the country that is called Canaan. It is the part of Canaan that is nearest to Egypt​

Remember, Abram was 75 years old when he made this journey. Can you see a 75 year old packing up everything and moving [without a U-haul] 400 miles? He was 75 years old when he built the alter.

An alter is a pile of hand selected stones. The alter had to be big enough to build a fire on. It wasn't a little ring of stones at a campsite.

The Canaanites were polytheistic. They had a god for everything. Abram only had one God.

:coffee:
 

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
As I was reading on.... [see the next thread on Genesis 12]... I found out that even though Abram was 75.... he lived to be quite old so when he was building the alter he would have been middle aged.

Now when I was in my 30's and 40's I still would have had a hard time building a stone alter [or modern BBQ pit]. That's a lot of work....

Just wanted to keep the story straight as I learn more.

:coffee:
 

b23hqb

Well-Known Member
Old Abe had complete faith in God, and with God on his side, he could have built an alter to the moon if that was the goal. In that part of the world, rocks are the primary crop, so there was plenty of building material within reach.
 
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