NOTES for Gen 12:1-20
The story of Abraham begins simply: he heard God's voice and followed the unknown God. There are many ingenious commentaries, both Jewish and Christian, on Abraham's spiritual search that preceded this first encounter with God. Yet the Bible says nothing about such a search. Most likely there was none—Abraham simply managed to trust the unknown God. Why? We are unlikely to find an answer to that question today. The point, of course, lies neither in the voice itself nor even in the promises that God makes to Abraham.
Hearing the voice of a god or spirit was not at all rare in those days—many people heard voices, and quite often. Usually, however, they were the voices of known and familiar gods and spirits, and they said things that easily fitted the context of the life of the person to whom the voice was addressed. With Abraham it was different: the voice belonged to someone whom Abraham did not know, and it promised something that Abraham could not possibly have expected.
He was already over seventy—far from the age at which, according to the settled ideas of the time, one could undertake something serious and set out on a dangerous journey. And who is this unknown one calling him to follow? He promises much, but will he fulfil it? There was only one way to find out: go and see. Or not go and not find out. Abraham chooses the first, though he could have avoided the risk. Why he made the choice he did remains the secret of his heart. One thing is clear: this choice determined the destiny of the people of God and began their history.
People sometimes ask: could Abraham have refused and not followed the God unknown to him? What would have happened then? Of course he could: man is free, and God does not infringe upon his freedom. God would then have had to seek someone else, and there can be no doubt that He would have found such a person. But that would already have been a different story of a different people. Abraham said “yes” to God—and the history of the people of God became what we know from the Bible.