“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1
Abraham the Globe Trekker
Abraham undertakes an incredible journey to follow God–one without a map. Even though it is only a few paragraphs long, there are thousands of miles covered in the span of a few years. Let’s unpack these paragraphs using Scripture to locate the sites where Abraham traveled.
First, take a minute to read Genesis 11:31 through to chapter 13.
I’ve listed the likely stops along the way:
- Ur, Iraq – Genesis 11:31
- Harran, Turkey – Genesis 12:4
- Damascus, Syria – not explicitly mentioned, but on the way; see also Genesis 15:2 and oldest cities
- Shechem (modern-day Nablus) – Genesis 12:6
- Bethel (modern-day Beitin) – Genesis 12:8
- Negev Desert (approx. Beer Sheva?) – Genesis 12:9
- Egypt (approx. Cairo?) – Genesis 12:10
- Hebron, Israel – Genesis 13:18
- (we’ll stop here, but there are many more sites–keep reading!)
Watch the trip on Google Earth:
Try this out in Google Earth yourself!
- Download the file of Abraham’s Journey (kmz file)
- Open it using your Google Earth application
- Be sure to save it by going to File > Save My Places
Traveling the route today using Google Maps:
While Abraham didn’t travel this route all in one trip, it is helpful to see it all in one street map. This journey spanned approximately 2,000 miles on foot. Abraham was most likely traveling in a camel caravan; knowing that camels can travel around 25 miles per day (so, not a fast racing camel!) we can estimate that the trip would have taken nearly 90 days. Adding in multiple rest stops along the way and it would have taken longer.
Read more:
