After Adam, one other person was said to have walked with God. Then he was no more. Apparently, God was so enthralled about having another human being to move with, that God somehow lifted this man, Enoch, right off the face of the Earth. Several more generations went by... both before and after Noah... and then, finally, God found a third someone that He could move.
When God found Abram, countless tribes of people were still wandering like nomads. Sometimes they would fight over land and stay on it awhile. In other places, some men had begun building cities, with great thick walls for securing that land. But - whether they moved on or stayed put - none of these people were looking to be moved by their God. And that is why God sought Abram.
Now, when God called to Abram, the first word He uttered was, "Go..." Abram went. And for the third time since Creation, God had a human to move with, on earth. Perhaps Abram did not walk as closely with God as Enoch had, but God did not want to lift Abram off the earth, either. God had particular plans for this one.
On occasion, Abram (Abraham) was a pretty good follower. In the next generation, Abraham's son Isaac had his moments also. But Isaac's kids are a mystery! Perhaps because of the fact that neither Abraham nor Isaac had been a perfect follower (or perhaps for some other, unknowable reason) God decided he wanted to work on this co-Moving enterprise with the more difficult of Isaac's two sons. At any rate, God chose Jacob, not Esau. But then God had to win over Jacob, which took quite some doing.
By contrast, what do we humans do in the third generation of our movements? Do we choose the more willful successor, or the more easy-going compliant one? One choice seemingly promises to maintain the stability of that which has gone before now. The other choice has more dynamic power to reinvent or destroy - if not both - what's been built to that point. So which do we pick? And yet, which did God pick? How very interesting. But now I clearly digress...
When God started trying to move Jacob, things got even more interesting.
To be continued...
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