So the migration of Abram was a turning-point in universal history.

Obedience followed the command, immediate as the thunder on the
flash, and complete. 'So Abram went, as the Lord had spoken unto
him,'--blessed they of whose lives that may be the summing-up! Happy
the life which has God's command at the back of every deed, and no
command of His unobeyed! If our acts are closely parallel with God's
speech to us, they will prosper, and we shall be peaceful wherever
we may have to wander. Success followed obedience in Abram's case,
as in deepest truth it always does. That is a pregnant expression:
'They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of
Canaan they came.' A strange itinerary of a journey, which omits all
but the start and the finish! And yet are these not the most
important points in any journey or life,--whither it was directed
and where it arrived? How little will the weary tramps in the desert
be remembered when the goal has been reached! Dangers and privations
soon pass from memory, and we shall think little of sorrows, cares,
and pains, when we arrive at home. The life of faith is the only one
which is always sure of getting to the place to which it seeks to
journey. Others miss their aim, or drop dead on the road, like the
early emigrants out West; Christian lives get to the city.

Once in the land, Abram was still a stranger and pilgrim. He first
planted himself in its heart by Sichem, but outside the city, under
the terebinth tree of Moreh. The reason for his position is given in
the significant statement that 'the Canaanite was then in the land.'
So he had to live in the midst of an alien civilisation, and yet
keep apart from it. As Hebrews says, he was 'dwelling in
tabernacles,' because he 'looked for a city.' The hope of the
permanent future made him keep clear of the passing present; and we