Parashat Lech Lecha: The Kingdom Call

A Journey into Divine Sovereignty

The opening words of our parashah ring out with revolutionary force: “Lech lecha—Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). This divine summons to Avraham marks not merely a geographical relocation, but the inauguration of something entirely new in human history—the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth through a covenant people.

The Kingdom Vision in Lech Lecha

1. The Call and the Kingdom

When the Holy ONE calls Avraham, He doesn’t simply promise personal blessing. The language is explicitly kingdom-oriented: “I will make of you a great nation (goy gadol)… and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

Rashi, drawing on Midrash Tanchuma, notes that Avraham’s journey was למען ייטב לך—“so that it may be well with you”—but not only for personal benefit. Rather, Avraham becomes the conduit through which G-D’s sovereign rule would extend to all nations. This is the essence of the Kingdom of G-D: Divine sovereignty manifesting through a people who carry HIS name to the nations.

The Ramban (Nachmanides) perceives something profound here. He writes that “מעשה אבות סימן לבנים”—“the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.” Avraham’s journey prefigures Israel’s entire mission: to leave the nations’ ways, to journey toward G-D’s promise, and to become a kingdom of priests mediating divine blessing to all peoples.

2. Covenant as Kingdom Constitution

The Brit bein HaBetarim (Covenant Between the Parts) in Genesis 15 establishes the constitutional framework of G-D’s Kingdom. This is no ordinary treaty—it’s a royal grant where the Sovereign King unilaterally commits Himself to His servant. The smoking furnace and flaming torch passing between the pieces (Genesis 15:17) represent G-D Himself taking the covenant oath.

The Sforno (a renowned commentary on the Torah and other biblical books, authored by Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, an Italian rabbi, philosopher, and physician who lived from approximately 1475 to 1550) beautifully explains that this covenant demonstrates G-D’s malchut (Kingship): HE alone determines the terms, HE alone guarantees the outcome. Avraham merely receives and trusts. This is the paradigm of Kingdom citizenship—radical trust in the King’s promises.

3. Brit Milah: The Sign of Kingdom Citizens

Genesis 17 introduces brit milah (circumcision) as the ot habrit—the sign of the covenant. But notice the Kingdom language: “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Genesis 17:7).

The Kli Yakar notes that circumcision on the eighth day corresponds to the world to come (olam haba), which is beyond the seven days of this temporal world. Kingdom citizenship isn’t merely about this present age—it points toward the eternal Kingdom that transcends time itself.

Moreover, the command to “walk before Me and be blameless (tamim)” (Genesis 17:1) is a Kingdom ethic. The Netziv explains that tamim means complete, integrated—one whose inner life matches their outer life. This is the righteousness required of Kingdom citizens.

The Gospel (Besorah-Good News) Dimension

1. Faith and Righteousness

Genesis 15:6 provides one of Torah’s most stunning declarations: “And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness (tzedakah).”

The Ibn Ezra emphasizes that this faith wasn’t passive intellectual assent—it was active trust that moved Avraham to obedience. This is the besorah (good news) embedded in Lech Lecha: entrance into G-D’s Kingdom comes through emunah (faithfulness/faith), not through human merit.

The Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel Wisser-1809–1879) goes further: this righteousness credited to Avraham becomes the inheritance of all who follow in his footsteps of faith. The Kingdom is accessible not through ethnic privilege alone, but through the faith-response that Avraham modeled.

2. Blessing to All Nations

The promise that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3) reveals the universal scope of G-D’s Kingdom. The Radak explains that the nations will say, “May we be blessed like Avraham!” But Sforno adds a deeper dimension: through Avraham’s seed, actual blessing and knowledge of G-D will come to all peoples. This echoes the Pauline script in his letter to the Philippians (2:10,11) “that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on the earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This is gospel—good news for the nations. G-D’s Kingdom isn’t exclusivist tribalism, but inclusive sovereignty that welcomes all who respond in faith like Avraham. The Kingdom call that began with one man in Ur always intended to embrace all nations as realized through the descendants of Avraham. That through Israel (to include the modern day state) the nations of the world will know the rule and reign of the Jewish Messiah.

3. The Name and the Kingdom

G-D changes Avram to Avraham—“father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5). The Maharal (Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel c. 1525–1609) notes that this name change reflects a change in essence and mission. Avraham now carries within his very identity the Kingdom purpose: to father not just a biological nation, but a multitude who will know the One True King.

Similarly, Sarai becomes Sarah—both meaning “princess,” but Sarah in an expanded, royal sense. They are Kingdom nobility, royal progenitors of a priestly nation.

Practical Kingdom Living

 1. The Call to Leave

“Lech lecha” means “go to yourself” or “go for yourself.” The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that we must continuously leave behind our old patterns, our limited understanding, our comfortable idolatries. Kingdom citizenship requires ongoing teshuvah—returning G-d’s sovereign will through HIS rule and reign.

2. Walking Before God

The command to “walk before Me” (hithalech lefanai) in Genesis 17:1 calls for conscious awareness of the Divine Presence. The Ramban explains this as living in constant recognition that we stand before the King. This is Kingdom consciousness—every moment lived in acknowledgment of G-D’s rule.

3. Becoming a Blessing

Avraham’s call includes “and be a blessing” (veheyeh berachah). The Sefat Emet teaches that we actualize this by embodying G-D’s chesed (loving-kindness) to others. Kingdom citizens don’t merely receive blessing—they become conduits of blessing, ambassadors of the King’s goodness.

The Gospel of the Kingdom in Parashat Lech Lecha

Parashat Lech Lecha presents the foundational gospel of G-D’s Kingdom: The Sovereign King calls a people to Himself through faith, establishes an everlasting covenant with them, marks them as His own, and commissions them to extend HIS blessing to all nations. This is besorah tovah—good news indeed. This is the besorah tovah that Yeshua preached and commands us to proclaim today.

Avraham’s journey from Ur to Canaan is every believer’s journey from the kingdom of this world to the Kingdom of Heaven. His faith counted as righteousness is the pattern for all who would enter G-D’s Kingdom. His covenant becomes the constitution for all Kingdom citizens.

As we read Lech Lecha, we hear the same call: Leave behind the old loyalties, trust the King’s promises, bear the sign of the covenant, walk in righteousness, and become a blessing to the world.

May we, like Avraham, respond: “Hineni—Here I am,” ready to follow the King into His Kingdom purposes. As Yeshua haMeshiac taught us to pray: “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Baruch HaShem—Blessed be the Name!