A tremendous amount happened in Abraham's life, in terms of God's plan for history and race relations.

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        a.  God discriminates among men:  He sets apart one man from all the rest.
        b.  God establishes a line of racial superiority.  He creates a new "sub-species" of humanity by a miracle, and distinguishes it from every other nation and tribe.
        c.  This people is favored because of God's choice, not because of any intrinsic holiness or purity.
        d.  He grants to this family a special destiny:  descendants, land, impact on all nations around the world.
        e.  Unstated but implicit is that He gives Himself uniquely to this people.  They are God's special project in history.
        f.  Nothing is automatic or rapid.  Much waiting, suffering and believing are required on the part of His favored family.
        g.  The other side of the coin is that God chooses against most people in Abraham's life -- his brothers in Haran, Lot, Sodom, Ishmael, the Canaanites and Egyptians.
        h.  God establishes a foundation for His work in history.  Everything else He does flows from this point and is consistent with it.  The covenants made with Abraham have lasting validity, even if their meaning and fulfillment are not always definite.
        i.  all races and nations have a stake in this sacred history: Scripture promises that all nations shall be blessed through Abraham.