Abram:
Terah went out with his grandson, Haran’s son Lot (Haran died before his father), Abram his son and daughter-in-law Sarai (whom we find out later is also his daughter by another woman. Abram married his half-sister.)
After Terah had died, God told Abram to get out of his country away from his family. He took his wife and his nephew Lot with him.
God said, ‘Get our of your country,
From your father’s house,
To a land which I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing,
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV
How much do we fully understand those words above. Abraham had to get away from the influence of an idolatrous people in order to be able to be a blessing to all the nations.
The Jewish nation was meant to be a blessing to all nations. As God said, he will bless those who bless Abraham (Israel -Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and then Jacob, who was given the name Israel) and He will curse those who curse him. Doesn’t mean we have to agree with Israel; but history has shown this fact to be true over and over again. In Esther we read about Haman who tried to annihilate the Jewish people, instead he was the one hanged.
We also hear God used other countries to punish Israel, because of their rebellion against Him, in order to bring about repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14), but the countries he used, because they believed they won the victory in their own strength and didn’t acknowledge God, but acknowledged other gods instead, received their come-uppance.
In the last century- Hitler, another who tried to annihilate the Jews, ended up almost destroying the very country he was trying to preserve – Germany; he certainly ended up destroying himself.
Abram settled in Shechem where the Canaanites lived. This is the very land God promised to give him. So it was here that Abraham built an altar with Bethel in the west and Ai in the east. His first altar.