It all starts with a command. A voice. God says to Abram (that's Abraham's name before it was changed, much like his wife was originally Sarai, not Sarah), "Lekh Lekha" – "Go forth." Go forth from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1).
Think about that for a moment. No map, no GPS, just a promise. A promise that God will make of Abram a great nation, that He will bless him and make his name great, and that through him, all the families of the earth will find blessing. Pretty big stuff.
And here's the thing: the text doesn't give us a backstory. We don't know how Abram "discovered" God, or how God "discovered" Abram, as Tree of Souls (Schwartz) points out. We just meet him, a grown man, already seemingly primed for this leap of faith.
So, Abram, at the age of seventy-five, pulls up his roots. He gathers his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their possessions, and the souls they've "acquired" – meaning those who have joined their household – and they set off for the land of Canaan. (Genesis 12:4-5).
It's a massive uprooting. Imagine leaving everything you know, everything that's familiar, based solely on the word of… well, of something you believe in deeply.
What's so striking is Abram's immediate obedience. There's no haggling, no questioning, no "let me think about it." He just goes. This unwavering faith, this complete trust in the Divine, becomes a defining characteristic of Abraham throughout his life.
As the narrative unfolds, we'll see this faith tested, pushed to its absolute limits – most famously, of course, with the binding of Isaac. But this initial act of leaving Haran, this Lekh Lekha, sets the stage for everything that follows. It's the foundation upon which Abraham's covenant with God is built.
This initial act of faith is consistent with all of Abraham's actions. More than any other individual, Abraham exhibits perfect faith in God, even when God asks him to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What voices are calling to us, urging us to leave our own comfortable "Harans" and journey towards the unknown? What kind of faith would it take to answer that call? And what blessings might await us if we did?