4, 5. “Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” In chapter xi, 31, 32, we read that his father, Terah, who served other gods (Joshua xxiv, 2), accompanied him so far as Haran. Abram tarried there until his father died, and then, taking with him Lot, his brother’s son, they came into Canaan. Did Terah hinder Abram? Might he have gone on into Canaan if he had been willing? These are not as important questions as such personal ones as the following: Am I by a lack of faith or by an unwillingness to be separate from this present evil world, hindering any dear one whose heart is longing for a closer walk with God? Am I a Terah, saying that Haran is far enough? 6, 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.” We do not read of any appearance of the Lord to Abram at Haran, for the first verse of our lesson refers to the Lord’s appearance and message in Mesopotamia (Acts vii, 2, 3), but now, Abram having obeyed fully, the Lord appears to him a second time and confirms His promise. Until we obey fully up to the light we have we cannot expect further light or revelation. This is Abram’s first altar in the land. By sacrifice he worships God in His appointed way. At this place Jacob afterward bought a piece of ground. There Joshua gathered Israel for his farewell address. There he buried the body of Joseph, and there Jesus talked with the woman at the well (Gen. xxxiii. Joshua xxiv. John iv). The land was already occupied by the Canaanites, and Abram must be content with his tent and altar and to be a pilgrim and a stranger until God’s time should come to give him the land. 8. “There he builded an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.” This is his second altar in the land, and it is between Bethel and Hai. The margin says the Ai of Joshua vii. 2. Bethel suggests Gen. xxviii. 19, and the story of God’s gracious loving kindness to Jacob. But the principal truth and practical lesson are associated with the altar and the sacrifice. Happy is the man who, whatever be his home or dwelling place or surroundings if it be a hut or a palace, in some heathen wilderness or in some great city, never fails to have his altar unto the Lord! Redemption by the blood of Christ and constant communion with Him—these are the two greatest things that any mortal can have, and they are possible to all who have ever heard of Christ and of His redemption. He is calling all who have heard His voice to separate themselves from this present world and live wholly for Him.