Genesis: Gift of Land

When the Lord appears to Abram, the Lord promises to give land to his descendants.[footnote:Gn. 12:7] Then, the Lord says He will give the land to Abram and his descendants, and finally, the Lord says, “...walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”[footnote:Gn. 13:17.] This land, the  Promised Land, is the first land explicitly given to man by God since he was kicked out of the Garden of
Eden. Noah is invited, like the first man, to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill all the earth.”[footnote:Gn. 1:28, 9:1.] But Abram is invited by God to go beyond his own country and land to the land that God will show him. God does not ask Abram to make a sacrifice, He asks Abram to trust Him and promises three blessings, three gifts: children, prosperity, and fame --- the three goods that a nomadic life would otherwise decrease.[footnote:Le Pentateuque avec Rachi I: La Genèse, p 69.] By giving Abram land, we can also see that this is a way by which God intends to give Himself. The Lord of Heaven becomes the Lord of the earth by the witness of Abraham within the promised land, and his teaching the creatures therein to proclaim His name.[footnote:
Le Pent. avec Rachi I, p. 145.] Man (Adam) cuts God off from the earth by his sin, but God begins His own pilgrimage to earth, progressively reconciling it to Himself. Abraham freely accepts the gift of God, God's promise of land and descendants, and opens the way --- by his faith --- to a new communion between God and man. Abram can be seen as an image of the Word, who is sent forth from the bosom of the Father to dwell in the land of promise --- in the heart and the womb of the Virgin Mary. God reveals that the way He intends to reestablish communion with man is to journey with man, on a path similar to the one man must take himself. The Promised Land, which is given by the Eternal to Abraham and his descendants, is something which must progressively be taken possession of by the chosen people. To truly possess a land one must live on it, one must cultivate it, one must be able to defend it, etc. --- and to truly possess the promised land, everything and everyone in it must be consecrated to the Lord. And this consecration --- setting apart --- to be a holy people is characterized by the Sabbath. The more the chosen people possess the land and  consecrate themselves to the Lord, the more deeply they receive the gift of God, and the more profoundly God is present in their midst.