That's a good question and may account for some of the odd expressions you hear like "the man upstairs." Anyway, let's go back to this first conversation for a minute.
Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house.
Go to the land that I will show you.
I will cause you to become the father of a great nation.
I will bless you and make you famous.
I will make you a blessing to others.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
There are a couple of things to note. How many "I wills" do you see? I count five. This is God laying out His plan for Abram and He is speaking about what He with all the power in the universe is going to do. Abram is along for the ride, has a front row seat, but this is going to happen regardless of what Abram is capable of doing or not doing.
The path of wisdom is to be careful with the whole "I will" or even "I won't" phrases. Let me give you an example. The most powerful and cool looking created being ever for all time was Lucifer, the disgraced angel we often call the devil or Satan. Check out what he said and it proved to be his undoing.
I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.
I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.'
But instead, Satan will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.
<= = = The devil had the talk, but not the walk?
Yup! He was the most powerful created being in the universe, but not more powerful than God. The amazing thing is people like you and me that at the end of the day are average tend to do this "I will" thing.
There are still two more things I would like to show you.
Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house.
As I said, Abram was the son of an idol maker and grew up in a nasty city where every perversion existed even though they didn't have Craigslist yet. God is telling him to leave his past behind. My last observation is one of my favorite parts of this story and it is as true today as it was the day God said it.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
The news makes the whole Israel and Palestine situation very confusing. However, as we are going to see, the Jewish people, Israel, are the seed of Abraham and if you want to be blessed support Jerusalem, Jewish people and Israel and if you want to be cursed, curse Jerusalem, Jewish people and Israel. I realize I need to build my case so you can truly believe this, but just put it on the stack for later consideration. Let's get back to the story.
So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth--his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran--and finally arrived in Canaan.
<= = = My friend at school, Benjamin told me that Chanukah is a made up holiday so we would have something similar to Christmas.
Christmas is a made up holiday as well, if you read the Christian Bible carefully, Jesus was not born in December. However, while this holiday is not commanded by the Torah, it is a very important story. So when your father tells of the temple being desecrated by the sacrifice of pigs, listen well. The nation of Israel has much in common with the Nationalists and the Chasidim, who banded together to capture, restore and rededicate the temple. You can't walk the streets of Jerusalem seeing the Orthodox and all those young kids that are serving as soldiers without thinking of this holiday dedicated to assimilation of the Hebrew race and suppression of Judiasm.
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