The "Carrot" and Obedience

Now the LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. (Genesis 12:1-9 NASB)

Abram is commanded to finish his father's trip.  It doesn't say that God commanded Terah, Abram's father, I've just always assumed that.  But God is clearly commanding Abram.  And it's a huge command; leave your country, your relatives, your father's house and go to a land I'll tell you about later.  And yet there are obvious elements following this command that function as "carrots" to push along obedience.

The second carrot I notice, but the first obvious one is that Abram will become a great nation.  His wife is barren so this is a really strange, but very attractive promise to Abram.  It includes the hope his Sarai will be healed of her barrenness.  That's a pretty good carrot to leave the family most likely making her life harder than she makes it herself.

The third carrot I notice (yet the second obvious one), is the blessing of God.  It's as if the rest of passage just expands on that theme or thought.  Or at least it would be if the rest of the explanation of benefits didn't include a command.  The "fifth carrot" really isn't an obvious carrot; but I'll get to that.  This carrot, the blessing of God, means that Abram has the favor of God.  The obedience will bring the reward of God's favor; huge lesson there.

The fourth carrot I notice is the exaltation of Abram's name.  Abram is one of three sons, the oldest, and one with the fewest children (precisely zero).  Even if he is famous around Haran, he would be known for his lack of children along with anything else positive.  That is not a comfortable stigma.  It smacks of one stricken by the gods, as well as a dim-witted one.   Under his circumstances he should "pick up" another wife with whom to have children; a practice not unheard of so far in Scripture (Genesis 4:19).  This would be a "reversal of fortune" that would publicly vindicate Abram's devotion to his God and his wife.

The fifth carrot is not necessarily obvious.  The translations of this "blessing" are almost universally "And you will be a blessing".  In order to translate it this way, the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures is used where the verb to be is in the future tense.  The Greek text here is probably the older text, and has a lot of support in the Dead Sea Scrolls (much to everyone's surprise).  But in the Hebrew text the verb to be is an imperative, a command; i.e. "be a blessing".  In other words, in the Hebrew text Abram is compelled to pass on the blessing he has received.

The sixth carrot I notice is protection, which is worded in a very interesting manner.  Although it is almost universally translated as, "And the one who curses you I will curse" it may be more accurate to translate it as, "And the one dishonoring you I will curse."  The word used for what others might do to Abram is the antonym of "honor" not "bless".  It may be semantics, but the Hebrew for honor is a word that means "to make heavy" and the word for "curse" here means "to make light".  It fits better as "dishonor" than curse.  Although the words may be similar in meaning, the difference is in severity.  Even if someone gets a bit upset or just messes with Abram, God will curse him.  Now that's honor!

The last carrot is a widespread blessing of every family through Abram.  That is huge.  Something will come about through Abram that affect every family ever.  I know this to be Jesus, but Abram would have no idea.  In fact, many of Abram's kids had, and still have, no idea (well, okay, they have ideas, but those ideas are not Jesus).

So what is the first carrot?  The first carrot is hidden in the direction Abram is to go.  His destination is "...a land I will show you."  What is implied in this statement is that his personal guide is the One having made the land, and all that is in it.  His guide is God Himself.  That is a carrot of intimate relationship and camaraderie with the Creator of the universe.  They will be hanging out together, and the directions to travel will come directly from God.  I focused so much on the "not knowing" that I missed the implied intimate "revelation".

But there may be more carrots.  These are the ones I found.  I know my Master doesn't always provide carrots, but He did here with Abram.  Perhaps the greatest carrot for me is the one I've already received.  I live in the blessing of Abram to all families.  Already having Jesus, His Spirit, and communion with the Father, I live within the greatest carrot of all time.  Is it time to up my level of obedience?  No, it's LONG over due!