Genesis 12: 1-3

These verses are from The New American Bible: "The Lord said to Abram: 'Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you . . .'" My response: God selected Abram or Abraham to be the Father of the Hebrew people, and the ancestor of Jesus. Note that the Lord talk to Abram directly. It is rare today that the Lord talks directly, conversationally, to a favorite human being, so that tells us that we are not very removed from godly ways, or the Lord will walk among us openly, and the receptive among us would enjoy direct interaction with God. Note too that God blesses those that bless Abram and curses those that curse Abram. The enemies to the children of light do not prosper in the long run. Abram will obey God and leave his ancestral home. Let me quote these same verses from the Holy Bible: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." My response: What makes a religious leader like Abram desirable in the eyes of God? My guess is that he was devout, obedient, a loving divine servant that readily humbled himself before God. All peoples that bless and honor Abram will be blessed by God. Abram was special, so much so, that he would be the Founding Father of three great religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.