So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. – Genesis 12:4-9
The age of Abram is insightful solely to show the length of barrenness that will be addressed in future passages. Abram is no vibrant seed of life. He is one as though dead (Rom 4:19) to bring hope to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). In both a spiritual and quite physical sense, Abraham is a “Gentile”. This promise of life to Abram was not only to himself. But it included provision and blessing upon all those in his house namely Sarai and Lot (Deut 2:9, 19). It expanded the basic bloodline promises of Noah in this manner.
The place of Schechem finds itself mentioned many times in the Scriptures, most importantly is the return there under the guidance of Joshua (Josh 24). It was there that the people affirmed their covenant with God perhaps even in remembrance of this first alter constructed by the patriarch Abram. Likewise the places of Bethel and Ai are seen here as claimed by Abram for the worship of God that his offspring will offer.
