6.1.1 Gen. 12, 1 – 9: The Blessing of Abraham

The order to leave is not justified and is therefore all the more difficult to  obey. Leaving the homeland meant for the man of that time “an almost  incomprehensible imposition” (vRad. However, Abraham was a semi nomad). In any case: a story of faith (as later also especially Gen. 18 and  22!) As such Abraham becomes the father of faith in Judaism and also in  the NT (Rom. 4,1). 

The command to go out can be considered as a typos for the exodus  from Egypt and then further as a typos for the following of Jesus (for  example Lk. 9 and Mt. 10). The following travel diary is certainly not only to bring geographical  knowledge, but to show quite clearly: The Lord only needs to command, and the exemplary Abraham goes wherever he  is supposed to go. 

The blessing of Abraham: “I will bless you … and you shall be a  blessing” (12:2) is probably the most important sentence of the entire  history of the fathers and already contains in nuce everything that will be  reported afterwards. Its continuation “in you all generations on earth shall  be blessed” (12:3) points already far ahead into the New Covenant.