Abram Left Haran, or “No Man Left Behind”
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
8/16 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 7-8; Romans 6; Jeremiah 44; Psalms 20-21
Genesis 12:4
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
SAVES
Here, the picture starts coming together a bit more clearly. Given Abram’s age at this point, we recognize why he went with Terah to Haran instead of going straight into Canaan, as we had meditated upon in the devotional thought from Genesis 11:31-32. Abram was not the eldest of Terah’s sons, possibly being the youngest, since Abram was 75 years old when Terah died (Gen 11:32), and Terah was 70 when he begat sons (Gen 11:26). Abram was an obedient younger son as a type of Christ, being the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 11:11). Jesus said,
“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9:35
This is why Abram was named first among the sons of Terah in Genesis 11:26. Jesus, who is, was, and evermore shall be eternal God as the second Person of the Trinity because He is the greatest in God’s kingdom, humbled Himself to be the least in heaven’s kingdom, as well as the last of all and servant of all in the kingdom of God.
Commentators agree that Lot went willingly, and I don’t disagree. Despite his foibles, failures, and ofttimes lack of faith, Lot was a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7). Yet I believe the most important and most wonderful reason Lot went with Abram and Sarai is because it paints for us a picture of Abram as a type and foreshadow of Christ! And surely Lot’s righteousness is imputed to him by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, being the propitiation for sin (Rom 3:25). But Abram “took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son” (Gen 12:5) because, as a type of Christ, Abram was not going to leave Lot in Haran with Nahor and his family. What Abram did for Lot was a prophetic foreshadow of the Messiah’s work, reflective of what the Lord Jesus said about Zacchaeus,
“Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9
And again, through Lot, Abram in this verse is seen as a type of Christ, just as the Lord Jesus spoke wonderfully to the thief on the cross,
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Luke 23:43
Moreover, we rejoice in the sovereignty of God for His gospel wisdom through Christ, which we will consider again tomorrow from the next two verses.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!