Chapter 11—The Call of Abraham
After the dispersion from Babel idolatry again became well-nigh
universal, and the Lord finally left the hardened transgressors to follow
their evil ways, while He chose Abraham, of the line of Shem, and
made him the keeper of His law for future generations. Abraham had
grown up in the midst of superstition and heathenism. Even his father’s
household, by whom the knowledge of God had been preserved, were
yielding to the seductive influences surrounding them, and they “served
other gods” than Jehovah. But the true faith was not to become extinct.
God has ever preserved a remnant to serve Him. Adam, Seth, Enoch,
Methuselah, Noah, Shem, in unbroken line, had preserved from age
to age the precious revealings of His will. The son of Terah became
the inheritor of this holy trust. Idolatry invited him on every side, but
in vain. Faithful among the faithless, uncorrupted by the prevailing
apostasy, he steadfastly adhered to the worship of the one true God.
“The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon
Him in truth.”
Psalm 145:18
. He communicated His will to Abraham,
and gave him a distinct knowledge of the requirements of His law and
of the salvation that would be accomplished through Christ.
There was given to Abraham the promise, especially dear to the
people of that age, of a numerous posterity and of national greatness:
“I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” And to this was added
the assurance, precious above every other to the inheritor of faith,
that of his line the Redeemer of the world should come: “In thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Yet, as the first condition of
fulfillment, there was to be a test of faith; a sacrifice was demanded.
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The message of God came to Abraham, “Get thee out of thy coun-
try, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that
I will show thee.” In order that God might qualify him for his great
work as the keeper of the sacred oracles, Abraham must be separated
from the associations of his early life. The influence of kindred and
friends would interfere with the training which the Lord purposed to
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