The Bible

 

Genesis 12:1-8 : To a land that I will show you

Study

1 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 shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 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.

4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

Commentary

 

Brother

  
Abel and Cain offer their sacrifice to God. Byzantine mosaic in the Cathedral of Monreale.

There are two ways "brother" is used in the Bible, ways that are still reflected in modern language. One denotes an actual blood relationship; the other is a more sweeping term of commonality, in such as in the phrase the "brotherhood of man." In general 'brother' in terms of the blood relationship refers to the unity that can exist between the desire to do good and the understanding of how to do good. This is true of Cain and Abel and several pairs of twins: Jacob and Esau, Judah's sons Zarah and Pharez, and Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh; in each case one represents the desire for good and the other the understanding of truth.