(Verse 3) - And said unto him - How long this was said before he went is not recorded. Moses simply says that God HAD commanded him to go, (Gen. 12:1).

Thy kindred - Thy relatives, or family connections. It seems that “Terah” went with him as far as to Haran; but Abraham was apprised that he was to leave his family and to go almost alone.

Into the land  - The country was yet unknown. The place was to be shown him. This is presented in the New Testament as a strong instance of faith, (Heb. 11:8-9). It was an act of “simple confidence” in God. And to leave his country and home; to go into a land of strangers, not knowing whither he went, required strong confidence in God. It is a simple illustration of what man is always required to do at the command of God. Thus, the gospel requires him to commit all to God; to yield body and soul to his disposal; to be ready at his command to forsake father, and mother, and friends, and houses, and lands, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, (Luke 14:33; Matt. 19:27, 29). The trials which Abraham might have anticipated may be readily conceived. He was going, in a rude and barbarous age of the world, into a land of strangers. He was without arms or armies, and almost alone. He did not even know the nature or situation of the land, or the character of its inhabitants.

He had no title to it; no claim to urge; and he went depending on the simple promise of God that he would give it to him. He went, therefore, trusting simply to the promise of God. Thus, his conduct illustrated precisely what WE are to do in reference to all our coming life, and to the eternity before us: We are to trust simply to the promise of God, and DO what he requires. This is faith. In Abraham it was as simple and intelligible an operation of mind as ever occurs in any instance. Nor is faith in the Scriptures regarded as more mysterious than any other mental operation. If Abraham had SEEN all that was to result from his going into that land, it would have been a sufficient REASON to induce him to do as he did. But GOD saw it; and Abraham was required to act just AS IF he had seen it all, and all the reasons why he was called. Upon the strength of God's promises, Abraham was called to act. This was FAITH. It did not require him to act where there was “no reason” for his so acting, but where he did not SEE the reason. So in all cases of faith. If man could see all that God sees, he would PERCEIVE reasons for acting as God requires. But the reasons of things are often concealed, and man is required to act on the BELIEF that GOD sees reasons why he should so act. To act under the proper impression of that truth which God presents is faith; as simple and intelligible as any other act or operation of the mind. (See Mark 16:16).

(Verse 4) - Land of the Chaldeans - From Ur of the Chaldees, (Gen. 11:31).

When his father was dead - This passage has given rise to no small difficulty in the interpretation. The difficulty is this: From Gen. 11:26, it would seem that Abraham was born when Terah was 70 years of age. “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” From Gen. 12:4, it seems that Abraham was 75 years of age when he departed from Haran to Canaan. The age of Terah was therefore but 145 years. Yet in Gen. 11:32, it is said that Terah was 205 old when he died, thus leaving 60 years of Terah's life beyond the time when Abraham left Haran. Various modes have been proposed of explaining this difficulty:

(1) Errors in “numbers” are more likely to occur than any other. In the “Samaritan” copy of the Pentateuch, it is said that Terah died in Haran at the age of 105 years, which would suppose that his death occurred 40 years before Abraham left Haran. But the Hebrew, Latin, Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic read it as 205 years.

(2) It is not affirmed that Abraham was born just at the time when Terah was 70 years of age. All that the passage in Gen. 11:26 proves, according to the usual meaning of similar expressions, is, that Terah was 70 years old BEFORE he had any sons, and that the three were born subsequently to that. But which was born first or what intervals intervened between their birth does NOT appear. Assuredly, it does not mean that all were born precisely at the time when Terah was 70 years of age. Neither does it appear that Abraham was the oldest of the three. The sons of Noah are said to have been Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 5:32); yet Japheth, though mentioned last, was the oldest, (Gen. 10:21). As Abraham afterward became much the most distinguished, and as he was the father of the Jewish people, of whom Moses was writing, it was natural that he should be mentioned first if it cannot be PROVED that Abraham was the oldest, as assuredly it cannot be, then there is no improbability in supposing that his birth might have occurred many years after Terah was 70 years of age.

(3) The Jews unanimously affirm that Terah relapsed into idolatry before Abraham left Haran; and this they denominate “death,” or a moral death.  It is certain, therefore, that, from some cause, they were accustomed to speak of Terah as “dead” before Abraham left him. Stephen only used language which was customary among the Jews, and would employ it, doubtless, correctly, though we may not be able to see precisely how it can be reconciled with the account in Genesis.

(Verse 5) - And he gave him none inheritance - Abraham led a wandering life; and this passage means that he did not himself receive a permanent possession or residence in that land. The only land which he owned was the field which he “purchased” of the children of Heth for a burial place, (Gen. 23): As this was obtained by “purchase,” and not by the direct gift of God, and as it was not designed for a “residence,” it is said that God gave him no “inheritance.” It is mentioned as a strong instance of his faith that he should remain there without a permanent residence himself, with only the prospect that his children, at some distant period, would inherit it.

Not so much as to set his foot on - This is a proverbial expression, denoting in an emphatic manner that he had no land, (Deut. 2:5).

Would give it to him - (Gen. 13:15). Abraham did not himself possess all that land; and the promise is evidently equivalent to saying that it would be conferred on the family of Abraham, or the family of which he was the father, without affirming that “he” would himself personally possess it. It is true, however, that Abraham himself afterward dwelt many years in that land as his home, (Gen. 13, etc).

For a possession - To be held as his own property.

When as yet he had no child - When there was no human probability that he would have any posterity. (Compare Gen. 15:2-3; 18:11-12). This is mentioned as a strong instance of his faith; “who against hope believed in hope,” (Rom. 4:18).