Pearl of Great Price - Abraham 2 - February 11, 2022

 2/11/2022 – Abraham 2

This chapter starts with the fact that there is a famine in Haran, the land where Abraham was raised. People died due to the famine, but Abraham’s father still lived. (v1) The Lord said to Abraham: “Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” (v3) and Abraham’s reaction was: ”Therefore I left the land of Ur, of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan”. He took Lot, his nephew, Sarai, is wife. His father also followed after him, but the famine abated and his father tarried in Haran and dwelt there, as there were many flocks in Haran; and my father turned again to his idolatry.” (v5)

Abraham and Lot’s action was to pray, and that prayer brought an appearance of the Lord  (Jehovah) who said: “arise, and take Lot with thee; for I have purposed to take thee away out of Haran and to make of thee a minister to bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, when they hearken to my voice.” (v 6)

Then, in v 7 Jehovah explains to Abraham and Lot just who He is, and He tells of his amazing capabilities over the earth, and then he assures them that “I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.”  And He follows that with the promise: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands, they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations. (v 9) 

The Lord continues saying that because of Abraham, there will be many that receive the Gospel. The Lord promises many “blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.” I love that description of the Gospel.

After this visit from Jehovah, Abraham describes his response: “I said in my heart: They servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee; . … I will do well to hearken unto thy voice, therefore let thy servant rise up and depart in peace.” (v13)

He and Lot took “all our substance that we had gathered and the souls that we had won in Haran, and came forth in the way to the land of Canaan…Therefore, eternity was our covering and our rock and our salvation, as we journeyed from Haran.” (v ‘s 15-16) And the first thing Abraham did in their travels: “Now I, Abraham, built an altar in the land of Jerson, and made an offering unto the Lord, and prayed that the famine might be turned away from my father’s house, that they might not perish.”(v 17) Abraham takes time frequently in his travels to build altars, and to give thanks to the Lord. 

Abraham was full of love and concern for his family in spite of their religious disagreements.

The famine is continuing in all the land, and Abraham decided to go through Egypt, and that takes us through the story of the Lord’s protection of both Sarai and Abraham during their stay in Egypt that is told in Genesis. To me, the moral of this story is that the Lord knows the beginning from the end…whether we are speaking of the earth, or of our own lives. Our best way of living is as Abraham did, taking significant time out of our daily journeys to worship Him, and show our gratitude toward Him, and ask for His guidance, and then strive and work to hear His words.