1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
1. The Lord tells Abram to move out of Haran.
2. Abram is called to the land of Canaan with Lot and his family.
3. A famine in the land forces Abram to take refuge in the land of Egypt.
4. Abram misleads the Egyptians about his wife, and God judges the Egyptians.
Verses 1–3. In the previous chapter, we learned that Abram resided in the land of Haran, located about 350 miles northeast of Jerusalem. When we catch up with Abram in Genesis chapter 12, the old man is still childless at 75 years of age.
Nearly 425 years after the flood, God made contact with this man Abram. In similar form to His previous revelations to Adam and Noah, God again provided him with both instructions and promises or sanctions. “You do this, and I will do this,” is the pattern of these covenants. So here He instructed Abram to move south to the land of Canaan, promising that He would turn his family into a great nation. He also promised a blessing to those who would bless Abram’s family and a curse to those who would oppose him. It was a promise that Yahweh God would act upon right away through Abram’s interaction with the Egyptians later in the chapter. He also promised to bless all the nations of the earth through Abram and his seed. Such promises are relevant and precious to those of us who benefit from these blessings, including those of us who are reading this right now! Indeed, we are the ones who have been blessed through this man Abram, and specifically through his Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, there are Japanese, Sudanese, Brazilians, Samoans, Chinese, Swedes, and saints all around the world who are clearly blessed because of Abram and his Seed.
But why should God choose this man Abram out of all the millions of other families on the earth? This question is answered in Deuteronomy 7:7–8 where the Lord explains that He chose Abram because… He chose to do so. He loved Israel, because He loved Israel. As it turns out, the Bible offers no other basis for God’s call on Abram and the generational blessings that followed.
Verses 4–9. We discover right away that Abram was a man of faith because He obeyed God’s command and made the move to Canaan. Then, he built an altar and called upon the name of Yahweh. This is exactly the same language used to describe Seth’s faith in Genesis 5. When a man calls on God, it is an expression of his utter dependence upon God. As he calls on God, he must believe first that God exists, and that He will reward him with His salvation, and that He will answer these heart-felt prayers. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 and Romans 10:13, Paul describes God’s people as those who “call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Throughout thousands and thousands of years of world history, in both Old and New Testaments, men and women of faith make up the same “exclusive” club of those who “call upon God.” When Abram called upon Yahweh, he spoke to Him on familiar terms as a friend would call upon a friend. In the New Testament, we call upon Christ, the Son of God, as our Friend, our Deliverer, and our Refuge in the day of trouble. God is not a friend to everybody. It is only those who approach Him by faith and through sacrifice (as Abram does here), who can properly call Him “a true friend.” Of course, our Sacrifice is found in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord appeared to Abram a second time and promised the land of Canaan to his family. All of these promises are important to us as well. Before Jesus Christ came, there were very few people who had access to the revealed Word of God, or what we call “The Bible,” outside of Canaan. But now, the kingdom of Jesus Christ extends well beyond the borders of Canaan. His people and their influence have spread over every single land mass, and every single institution of man, everywhere around the world. Remember that Jesus is the Seed of Abram, and these promises are fulfilled in Him. Whereas the inheritance of the land was once a tiny sliver on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, now these promises extend to the entire world (Matt. 5:5; Eph. 6:2–3). According to Jesus, the meek shall inherit more than Canaan. “The meek shall inherit the earth!”
Through Jesus Christ, Abraham’s family of faith now spreads over Canaan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia, North America, Greenland, and Antarctica. Obviously, this kingdom is not realized instantly. It takes time for the mustard seed to turn into a tree that expands into every nook and cranny of this world’s geographical and institutional territories. At the very least we can say that Abraham and his Seed have blessed millions and millions of people the world over, especially since AD33.
Verses 10–20. During a time of famine and drought in Canaan, Abram took his family down into Egypt for survival. Abram was sensitive to the potential dangers facing his family in Egypt, realizing that where there is no true faith in the living God, there will be a great deal of danger to godly families. This is as true in the big cities today as it was in the ancient Egyptian power center. Abram took several measures to protect his family from these potential dangers, and told the Egyptians that Sarai was his sister—which was partially true. She was his half-sister. But still, he failed to mention the fact that she was also his wife. The text does not further clarify his actions, nor does it provide any statement that would commend or condemn him in this. We must be very careful not to go beyond what the Bible gives us in this ethical scenario. God is the one who defines our ethics and He has the right to draw the lines where He sees fit. What we do know is that Scripture commends Sarai’s humble submission to her husband in these untoward circumstances. According to the Apostle Peter, she obeyed her husband without fear in what we would refer to as “the gray area” in ethical decision making. In so doing, this faithful wife set an example for all godly wives (1 Pet. 3:6). In the end, God showed His preferential treatment for His man Abram while in Egypt, and protected his family. This certainly provides a beautiful picture of God’s mercy on this man in very challenging circumstances, where his faith may not have been the strongest.
1. This passage is relevant to every person, Jew or Gentile, who reads the Bible in the 21st century. We are blessed in Abram, because we are part of Abram’s family. Of course, many of us are not part of the blood line of Abram, but we are still adopted into the family of Abram. This is the point Paul makes to the Gentiles in Galatians 3:29—“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Those who belong to Christ are indeed Abram’s children and partake in the promises given to Abram (including the promise of the land). Anyone who has faith in Jesus is a child of Abram and part of Abram’s family (Gal. 3:7–9). If we share the faith of Abram, we will receive the promises, the inheritance, and the blessings of Abram. Indeed, we are all part of a great nation called “the kingdom of God.” We build this kingdom according to the principles contained in the Word of God.
The kingdom of God was just a fledgling work during the time of Abram, especially in comparison with the great Empires of Egypt and Babylon, but God’s kingdom has grown slowly but surely over the last two thousand years. Jesus has already inherited territory through our family, in that our home, our property, our businesses, and our ministries are all part of His inheritance. To the extent that we apply biblical principles to every area of our lives, (including our real estate and the businesses that God has given us), we have turned that part of the world into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
2. We too must be a family of faith, which means that we should both obey God’s Word and call upon Him in worship. That is why we participate in family worship, in prayer, and in worship with the saints on the Lord’s Day. After 5,000 years, we are still following in the footsteps of Seth and Abram, who called upon the name of Yahweh.
3. Sarai provided a good example of a wife who obeyed her husband in faith, even under difficult and dangerous circumstances. Of course, there are clear instances in which a wife should obey God rather than her husband, yet when it comes to the gray areas, she should submit to her husband and trust in God to protect her and her family.
1. What are the themes of chapters 1 through 12?
2. Where did Abram move to, after living in the city of Haran?
3. How does God bless all the nations of the earth through Abram? Who are those that receive the promise and the blessings of Abram today?
4. God promised the land of Canaan to Abram and his children. How does this promise apply today? Do Abram’s children still inherit the land?
5. Why did Abram have to go down to the land of Egypt?
6. What does Peter commend Sarai for in 1 Peter 3:6?
7. What did Abram tell the Egyptians while he and Sarai were in Egypt? What did God do for Abram in the land of Egypt?
1. How has our family been blessed because of Abram and his Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ? How have we inherited the earth for Christ and His Kingdom? What resources are we using for the sake of Christ in our family?
2. How has God protected our family despite our weaknesses, lack of wisdom, and sin? Provide one or two examples of God’s provision and protection.