Abraham
by Guercino (1657)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
The divine call came to Abraham while he was still in Haran (in the early patriarchal narratives. Abraham’s name appears as Abram. The new name of Abraham will be used throughout this article). The divine command was simple and yet demanding: “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Abraham’s response was striking: although he did not know his destination, he went without hesitation, without doubting God’s word.
When Abraham arrived in Canaan, he could not take immediate possession of the land because at that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land (Genesis 12:6). This statement implies that Abraham could not take possession of the land without a challenge. The only thing Abraham was able to do was to travel through the land which the Lord had promised to give to him.
After his arrival in Canaan, Abraham traveled through the land as far as Shechem and came to the site of the great tree of Moreh. In the history of Israel’s religious traditions, Shechem became an important religious site; it was the place where the Lord first appeared to Abraham after his arrival in the land of promise.
There, at Shechem, the Lord appeared to Abraham. This theophany was the first of many appearances of God to Abraham. Stephen mentioned that God had appeared to him while he was in Ur (Acts 7:2), but there is no mention of altars built by Abraham in Ur or Haran.
In Shechem, God renewed the promise he had made to Abraham: “I am going to give this land to your descendants.” Although the land was inhabited by the Canaanites, Abraham believed God’s promise even though he was an old man, seventy-five years old, and a man without a son.
In Shechem Abraham built an altar to the God who appeared to him in order to acknowledge, with a grateful heart, God’s kindness to him and his family and by this act, he reaffirmed his trust in the promise which God had made to him (Genesis 12:7).
From Shechem, Abraham traveled south and set up his tent in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. While at Bethel, Abraham built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and there Abraham “called upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 12:8).
The expression to call upon the name of the Lord is a term for the worship of God. The expression appears in Genesis 13:4 and 26:5 in connection with the building of altars.
However, Abraham did not stay in Bethel very long. He had not yet found a permanent place in which to settle in the new land. He was only a stranger and sojourner in the land, wandering from place to place, stopping here and there to find adequate pasture to feed his flock. Thus, Abraham continued his journey south, until he reached the Negev.
The act of building altars conveyed a significant religious message to the inhabitants of the land. When Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan, he was a sojourner there, living among the Canaanites and their religious practices, and yet he was able to establish the worship of God in the land. An important factor in Abraham’s pilgrimage was that wherever he pitched his tent he also built an altar to God.
Although Shechem was a Canaanite city and although the site of Moreh was a holy place for the inhabitants of the land, Abraham’s altar was an implied message that his God was different from the gods of the land. Abraham could not worship with the Canaanites because the worship of YHWH was incompatible with the cultic practices of the Canaanites. As Walter Brueggemann (Genesis [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982], p. 123) wrote: “Abraham is called always to be a minority report among those who live and manage society against the promise.”
In addition, the building of an altar in the land was, in fact, a form of taking possession of it. The worship of God in the new land expressed Abraham’s faith in the fulfilment of the divine promise. Abraham was already in the land of promise, and could leave the future implementation of the promise to God. Thus, Abraham was, by building those altars, taking possession of the land.
In the narrative of Abraham coming to Canaan, three places are mentioned: Shechem (Genesis 12:6), the region between Bethel and Ai (Genesis 12:8), and the area of the Negev (Genesis 12:9). These are three of the sites occupied by the Israelites in the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua and the army of Israel.
When Abraham arrived in Canaan, he went to Shechem and built an altar, thus claiming the land for his God. Then he went to Bethel, with Bethel in the west and Ai in the east and there he built an altar to God. From there he journeyed to the Negev and in Hebron he bought the field of Machpelah.
The places Abraham visited were the same places the armies of Israel conquered when they entered the land of Canaan. After the fall of Jericho, the first city the Israelites conquered was Ai, the location of which is expressed with the same words used in Genesis 12:8: “With Bethel on the west and Ai on the east” (see Joshua 7:2; 8:9, 8:12). After the conquest of Ai, the Israelites built an altar to the Lord on Mount Ebal, an area near Shechem (Joshua 8:30).
The building of altars by Abraham and his purchase of the field of Machpelah was an indirect way of claiming the land for God. Thus, in the theology of the patriarchal narratives, the conquest of the land of Canaan had already begun when Abraham built those altars and when he bought the land of Machpelah.
NOTE: For several other studies on Abraham, read my post Studies on Abraham.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
VISIT MY AMAZON AUTHOR’S PAGE
BUY MY BOOKS ON AMAZON (Click here).
NOTE: Did you like this post? Do you think other people would like to read this post? Be sure to share this post on Facebook and share a link on Twitter or Tumblr so that others may enjoy reading it too!
I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of this post by leaving a comment below. Be sure to like my page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, follow me on Tumblr, Facebook, and subscribe to my blog to receive each post by email.
If you are looking for other series of studies on the Old Testament, visit the Archive section and you will find many studies that deal with a variety of topics.
Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>Thank you for taking the time to write this blog. My name is Josh Walters, I am a youth pastor in Columbia, SC and am speaking tomorrow morning on the alters built by abram in Genesis 12 and 13, your entry was very helpful.
LikeLike
>Josh,Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope that your presentation on Abraham was a blessing to your people. Write me a note and let me know how the young people responded to your presentation.Claude mariottini
LikeLike
>Dr. Mariottini,I’m a baptist pastor in Pennsylvania and your commentary of sorts on Abram at Shechem is extremely helpful for the sermon I’m developing for Sunday. Thank you for your solid theological & exegetical expressions.
LikeLike
>Dear Pastor,Thank you for your comment and thank you for visiting my blog. The purpose of my blog is to help pastors and students of the Bible with articles that are informative and inspirational.I have been a pastor now for more than forty years and I recognize the need of material that can inform and inspire. This is one of the many reasons I have a blog.God bless you. I pray that your people will be blessed by your sermon.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
Dr. im pastor from Africa is it possible to reach with teaching materials?
LikeLike
Peter,
What kind of teaching material do you need? It is very expensive to mail books to Africa.
Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>Dr. Marriotini – thanks for your good work here and for sharing it. I was hunting around for more information about Abraham’s altars, and your blog popped up – excellent! I pastor an American Baptist Church near Portland Oregon. I also served in Fresno California and graduated from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (MDIV ’89)- as did you! Anyway, thanks! – Curtis
LikeLike
>Curtis,Thank you for visiting my blog. I am happy to know that my post on Abraham’s altar was helpful to you.I enjoyed my time at Golden Gate Seminary. I pastored many years in California before I came to Chicago. My brother-in-law lives in Eugene and I visit Oregon every other year.I hope you will visit my blog again.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>Dr. MariottiniI am a student of the bible. I am writing a paper on the relevance of the seperation of Abram and Lot to the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives today. I discovered your blog in my search to qualify Abrams alters in my work. With your permission I would like to reference this blog in my paper to confirm my stance. Thank you for edification. Peace be unto you. Doreatha Conwell-Waitman
LikeLike
>Doreatha,Thank you for your comment. Feel free to reference my blog in your paper. I write posts that help pastors and seminary students and I am glad that my post on Abraham’s altars was helpful to you.God bless you in your studies.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>Thanks for your comments. I am a Baptist pastor in a multiethnic church near Paris, France. I am preparing a message on "The place of alters in Abraham's life". I'll be preaching in French. Steve
LikeLike
>Steve,Thank you for visiting my blog and also for your comment.I am glad to know that my post was of help to you. May the Lord bless you as you preach about Abraham.Also, thank you for your ministry in France. May God bless and prosper the work you do for the Lord.I hope my blog will be of help to you in the future. I generally write to help pastors and seminary students.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>thank you Claude, for the information that the 3 places of the altar are the same as the 3 places in Josua, I will check this out tonight. And then explain it to my friendsLeopold Kleedorfer
LikeLike
>Dear Anonymous,I am glad to know that you enjoyed reading my post on Abraham's altars. I just hope your friend will enjoy the post as much as you did.Thank you for visiting my blog.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
>Dr. Mariottini,I am a lay student of the Bible and enjoyed reading your article and it gave me a lot more information about altars. I have a question for you if you don't mind answering it. I know that during and after the time of Moses, altars were used primarily for the purposes of sacrifice; however, in reading about the altars of Abraham and later Jacob, it does not appear that the altars were always used for that purpose, but were used as a place of worship, and as a reminder of what God has done as well as, as you have pointed out, for the purpose of claiming the land for God. In a discussion with some friends, I was told that they are not altars if they are not used for sacrifice, but that a monument built for the purpose of remembrance is an Ebenezer. I know the scriptural basis for the Ebenezer found in 1 Samuel. My question is, in the references to Abraham's altars, were they always used for sacrifice?Thank you for your help!Laura
LikeLike
>Laura,Thank you for visiting my blog and for your comment. Your friend is wrong in interpreting the meaning of altars. In the case of Ebenezer in 1 Samuel 7:12, the Bible says that “Samuel took a stone” and called its name “Ebenezer.” Samuel did not build an altar. Stones were used to celebrate events (see Joshua 4:9 and 4:20).Altars were not always used for sacrifices. They were also used for worship and for meeting God, as Abraham did. Jacob also built an altar to worship God (see Genesis 35:1 and 35:7). After the people entered the Promised Land, most altars used for sacrifices were located in temples or shrines.I hope you will visit my blog again.Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
Pingback: Abraham and the Promises of God | Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament
I ENJOYED THAT STUDY OF ABRAHAMS ALTARS…THIS IS RARE INFORMATION AND I AM THANKFUL TO YOU FOR BRINGING CLARITY TO WHY ABRAHAM BUILT THESE ALTARS…THANK YOU
LikeLike
Jeanette,
Thank you for your comments. I am glad to know that you enjoyed reading my post on Abraham’s altar. I hope you will subscribe to my blog so that you can receive all future posts by mail.
Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
Very insightful. Thanks
LikeLike
Ann,
Thank you for you comment. I am happy to know that you enjoyed my post on Abraham’s altar.
Claude Mariottini
LikeLike
I have a question about the altars. As I was reading, I noticed 3 – Shechem, Bethel and Hebron. I researched the names of each. Shechem meant shoulder or strength, Bethel was House of God or Holy Place and Hebron was fellowship. Could these three altars and their representative meanings be pointing to the Trinity or am I reading too much into it? Thanks for your help in understanding the Altars.
LikeLike
Diane,
You are reading to much into it. When we look at these three places, we discover they were Canaanite places of worship before the people of Israel conquered the land. When we apply Christian theology (the doctrine of the Trinity) into the Old Testament, our tendency is always to read more than what the text is try to communicate to us.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
LikeLike