Genesis 12 is a turning point in the whole Bible. The LORD says to Abram, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.” Then God makes a sevenfold promise: a great nation, a blessing, a great name, being a blessing, blessing those who bless him, cursing those who curse him, and in him all the families of the earth being blessed. At Babel people tried to make a name for themselves; here God promises to “make your name great.”
“So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him.” He was seventy-five years old. When he arrived in Canaan, the LORD appeared to him and promised the land to his descendants, and Abram built an altar to the LORD. Wherever Abram went in Genesis he pitched a tent and built an altar — the tent shows that he was a pilgrim, and the altar shows that he was a worshiper.
But faith does not mean perfection. A famine comes, and Abram goes down to Egypt. Afraid for his life, he tells Sarai to say she is his sister. Pharaoh takes her into his house, and the LORD plagues Pharaoh's house until Sarai is returned. The man of faith acted in fear, yet God protected His promise. Abram goes back to the altar he had made at first, and there he calls on the name of the LORD.
In Genesis 13 Abram and Lot become so wealthy that the land cannot support them both. Abram, the elder, gives Lot the first choice: “Please let there be no strife between you and me.” Lot looks toward the well-watered plain of the Jordan and pitches his tent even as far as Sodom. After Lot leaves, God tells Abram to lift up his eyes and look in every direction: “for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” The one who let go received everything.
In Genesis 14 four kings carry Lot away captive. Abram arms three hundred and eighteen trained servants, pursues the kings, and brings Lot back. Then a mysterious king comes out to meet him: Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, brings out bread and wine and blesses Abram, and Abram gives him a tithe of all. When the king of Sodom offers Abram the goods, Abram refuses to take even a thread or a sandal strap, so that no one could say a king of Sodom had made him rich.