“Go About in the Land”

“Go about in the land through its length and through its breadth.”​—Genesis 13:17.

1. What interesting direction did God give to Abraham?

DO YOU enjoy traveling the countryside, maybe taking a weekend automobile trip? Others prefer to travel by bicycle to get exercise and to have a more leisurely view. Still others choose hiking as a way to get familiar with and savor an area. Such excursions are usually of limited duration. But imagine how Abraham must have felt after God told him: “Get up, go about in the land through its length and through its breadth, because to you I am going to give it”!​—Genesis 13:17.

2. After leaving Egypt, where did Abraham go?

² Consider the context of those words. With his wife and others, Abraham had sojourned in Egypt. Genesis chapter 13 tells us that they left Egypt and moved their flocks to “the Negeb.” Next Abraham “made his way from encampment to encampment out of the Negeb and to Bethel.” When a problem arose between his herders and those of his nephew Lot and it became apparent that the two would have to find separate pasture grounds, Abraham generously gave Lot first choice. Lot chose the “District of the Jordan,” a lush valley “like the garden of Jehovah,” and in time resided in Sodom. God said to Abraham: “Raise your eyes, please, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward.” Likely from an elevated location by Bethel, Abraham could see other parts of the land. Yet, more was to come. God invited him to “go about in the land” and get familiar with its nature and regions.

3. Why might it be challenging to visualize Abraham’s travels?

³ To whatever extent Abraham did that before reaching Hebron, he certainly was more familiar with the Promised Land than most of us. Think of the places mentioned in this account​—Negeb, Bethel, the District of the Jordan, Sodom, and Hebron. Do you struggle to form a mental image of where such areas were? For many this is a challenge because few of Jehovah’s people have visited the places they read about in the Bible, traveling the length and breadth of the land. Still, we have reason to be keenly interested in knowing about Bible locations.

[Map/Picture on page 15]

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CANAAN

Megiddo

GILEAD

Dothan

Shechem

Bethel (Luz)

Ai

Jerusalem (Salem)

Bethlehem (Ephrath)

Mamre

Hebron (Machpelah)

Gerar

Beer-sheba

Sodom?

NEGEB

Rehoboth?

[Mountains]

Moriah

[Bodies of water]

Salt Sea

[Rivers]

Jordan

[Picture]

Abraham traversed the land