MAMRE

THE PLACE OF SEEING 

PART ONE

“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it;for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD”
GENESIS 13:14-18

Abram “came and dwelt” in the plain of Mamre* (vision).  Men of faith are men of vision and purpose.  Life is no longer a string of unrelated events and meaningless experiences.  Faith gives birth to vision and vision becomes the defining purpose of a man’s life.  Mamre is located within Hebron*, the place of fellowship and intimacy.  It is from here that we see God, we see His purpose for our lives and within the scope of this ministration we are drawn out of this world into His.  It is in seeing this heavenly land that we are freed from this world.  It is in hearing His voice calling us to “arise and walk” that we are constrained to leave the bondage of this world and the paltry offerings of a religion that has Ichabod written upon it.  While the Lots of faith choose to settle down in Sodom and Gomorrah Abram dwells in the land of vision and fellowship with God.  No man is truly lonely if God is His friend.   With all of the activity of the religious world racing on with no real impact or purpose there are those who find sitting at the feet of Him who is “the way the truth and the life” a ministration beyond compare.  Abram dwelt here, pitched his tent, built an Altar and lived to see the birth of his Isaac.  This land is not earned; it is given to those who make it their home.  But it is incumbent upon us to “arise and walk” within its borders to know and feel the length and the breadth of it.   We make it ours by moving our tent into the very center and dwelling there.  For it is here where we meet with Him, commune and learn of Him.

Abram’s journey in God (as is ours) is one of being and walking in the WAY.  It is a life of obedience and submission to God Himself.  How beautiful and comforting are the words spoken here unto Abram…

“Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art…”
GENESIS 13:14

The place where Abram now stood was confirmed by God as His Will.  Though barren and a prisoner of HOPE we see God’s word of the divine approval “look from the place where thou art”!  Vision has to do with location.  Where we are determines what we see.  Mamre is a portion of our inheritance of the land of Hebron; it is a life of vision that arises from intimacy with the Most High.  It is here that the promise of God of the long awaited Son is confirmed and made definite, the barren womb is given hope and Sodom is judged.  The birthing of the ONE must necessitate the judging of the other.  As a friend with God, Abram is now brought into the place of knowing God’s moving in the earth and the necessity of his priestly portion in it.

“And the LORD appeared unto him
in the plains of Mamre”
GENESIS 18:1

*NOTE: Mamre
ראה

The root-verb ראה (ra’a) primarily means to see or look at or notice (Genesis 6:2, Isaiah 6:5), and, much as in English, came to also mean to understand (Jeremiah 5:12). This verb’s derivatives are:

• The adjective ראה (ra’eh), meaning seeing (Job 10:15 only).
• The masculine noun ראה (ro’eh), meaning seer (1 Samuel 9:9, Isaiah 30:10).
• The identical masculine noun ראה (ro’eh), meaning prophetic vision (Isaiah 28:7 only).
• The feminine noun ראית (re’ut) or ראות (re’ut), meaning look (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
• The masculine noun ראי (re’i), meaning mirror (Job 37:18 only).
• The masculine noun ראי (ro’i), meaning sight or appearance (Genesis 16:13, Job 7:8).
• The feminine noun מראה (mar’a), meaning vision as means of revelation (Genesis 46:2, Numbers 12:6).
• The identical feminine noun מראה (mar’a), meaning mirror (Exodus 38:8 only).
• The masculine noun מראה (mar’eh), meaning sight or appearance (Exodus 3:3, Isaiah 11:3, Ezekiel 8:4).

*NOTE: Hebron
חבר
“Hebron” = The Binding Friendship Place

The conventional interpretation of “Hebron” correctly identifies its main, and most obvious, meaning.
“Hebron” = heth-bet-resh-vav-nun = XBRWN = XBR + WN = “Binding Friendship”
[XBR = “association”, etc.] “place” [-WN]

The root-verb חבר (habar) means to join

Brian Troxel