CHILDREN’S STORY:
Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, was a descendant of Noah’s son Shem.
Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor and Haran. Before Haran died, he had several children, including a son named Lot.
Abram and Nahor each took a wife. Abram married Sarai, who could not have children, and Nahor married Milcah.
One day, Terah decided to move to the land of Canaan, taking with him Abram, Sarai and Lot. But when they reached the city of Haran, they wound up settling there instead.
Abram was 75 years old and living in Haran when God first spoke to him.
“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you,” God told him. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”
Abram did as God said. He took Sarai, Lot and everything they had accumulated in Haran and set out for Canaan.
When they reached Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the city of Shechem.
God appeared to Abram.
“To your descendants I will give this land,” he said.
Then Abram built an altar at Shechem, because that is where God had appeared to him.
Abram left Shechem and moved on to the hill country east of Bethel. He pitched his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.
He also built an altar there and invoked God by name.
Afterward, Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb. When a severe famine came upon the land, Abram and his family traveled to Egypt to escape it.
While they were in Egypt, Abram became afraid that he would be killed if people found out the beautiful Sarai was his wife.
“Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that I may fare well on your account and my life may be spared for your sake,” he told her.
While in Egypt, Abram did indeed fare well on Sarai’s account and acquired many animals and servants.
READ MORE ABOUT IT:
Genesis 11 & 12
Q&A
- What did God promise Abram?
- What did Abram build?
TRIVIA: When Abram and Lot parted ways, where did Lot choose to go? (Hint: Genesis 13:11)
Answer: The Jordan Plain.
BIBLE ACCENT:
After telling Abram to migrate to the land of Canaan, God made a covenant with him.
In Genesis 15, we read that God came to Abram in a vision.
“Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great,” God said.
“Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram replied. “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.”
“No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir,” God said. “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so will your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in God, who saw this as an act of righteousness.
After God told Abram some things that would happen to his descendants, he made a covenant with Abram.
“To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites,” God said.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE SAINTS:
St. Henry
St. Henry was born in 973 and succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria in 975.
He was elected king of Germany in 1002, and the pope crowned him holy Roman emperor in 1014.
Henry’s chief concerns as king were to consolidate the power of the German monarchy and to reform and reorganize the church. He also founded the see of Bamberg, which became an educational and cultural center.
He was revered for his piety and regarded at the ideal Christian leader of the Middle Ages.
Henry died in 1024, and we honor him on July 13.
PUZZLE:
Using the hints provided, fill in the blanks in the sentences about Abram and his family.
- Abram traveled to _______ and settled there near the oak of Mamre. (Genesis 13:18)
- _______, the king of Salem, blessed Abram. (Genesis 14:18-19)
- Abram had a son named _______. (Genesis 16:16)
- God changed Abram’s name to _______ and Sarai’s to _______. (Genesis 17:5, 15)
Answers: 1. Hebron; 2. Melchizedek; 3. Ishmael; 4. Abraham, Sarah