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Genesis 12f

Abram in Egypt

 Hi Everyone,

Ready for the New Year?  I’m sure that God has many great things for us to do.  In the meantime, let’s look at some more of Abram’s adventures, shall we?  And God’s care of him and his household.

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Genesis 12:

14  And it came to pass, that, when Abram [and Sarai] was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair [she was blonde, and therefore very desirable compared to their women]. 15 The princes [leading men] 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 [was given] 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 [and this told him what the problem was.  See a similar situation in Genesis 20:18].  

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What is this that you have done to me?  Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?  19 Why said you, ‘She is my sister?’  So I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold your wife, take her, and go your way.”

20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

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It is in the heat of the furnace that the dross is separated from the true gold of the Christian character.  Malachi 3:3.  Jesus anxiously watches the tests which we bring upon ourselves.  (Consider Peter and his denial of Christ.  Matthew 26:33-35.)  He knows what is needed to purify the precious metal, that it may reflect the radiance of His love.  It is by using the close, testing trials that the Son of God disciplines us.  (See Hebrews 12:5-11.)  In His providence He allows us to get ourselves into positions that test our character and reveal defects and weaknesses that have been hidden from our own knowledge.  He gives us opportunity to correct these defects and to fit ourselves for His service.  He shows us our own weakness, and teaches us to lean upon Him; for He is our only help and safeguard.  Thus His object is attained.  We are educated, trained, and disciplined, prepared to fulfill the grand purpose for which our powers were given us.  When God calls us to action, we are ready, and heavenly angels can unite with us in the work to be accomplished on the earth.

During his stay in Egypt, Abram gave evidence that he was not free from human weakness and imperfection, but this was before he became “the friend of [to] God” as all obedient Christians are.

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John 15:

14  [Jesus says] You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. 15 From here on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known to you.

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In concealing the fact that Sarai was his wife, Abram showed a distrust of the divine care, a lack of that lofty faith and courage so often and nobly shown later in his life.  Like all of us, he was progressing “from faith to faith” which means that he was learning more and more about his Saviour.  Romans 1:17.

Sarai was fair to look upon, and he didn’t doubt that the dusky Egyptians would covet the beautiful stranger, and that in order to secure her, they would not hesitate to kill him. He reasoned that he was not guilty of lying in representing Sarah as his sister, for she was the daughter of his father, though not of his mother.  As he explained another time (yes, he made the same decision twice!), “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”  Genesis 20:12.

But this concealment of the real relationship between them was intended to deceive, and any deviation from strict integrity causes God's protection to waver. Not because He withdraws, but because by being disobedient we have separated from Him and have assumed our own responsibility.

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Isaiah 59:

1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2  but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will [can] not hear [or interfere in our decisions].

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Through Abram's lack of faith, Sarai was placed in great peril.

The king of Egypt, being informed of her beauty, caused her to be taken to his palace, intending to make her one of his wives. But the LORD, in His great mercy to all concerned, protected Sarai by permitting “plagues” to fall upon the royal household [their monthly cycles ceased].  Up till then Pharaoh’s moral behaviour had allowed the Son of God to protect even the heathen monarch and his court to a great degree, but now that option was no longer available.  The Son of God did not normally cause plagues, His power was in the protecting times before and after Satan’s working, but now He had no choice.  This was, however, only a temporary inconvenience and not in any way harmful.

It was by this means that the monarch learned the truth in the matter, for at heart he was good man, although not a follower of the Son of God.  Through the promptings of the Spirit he recognised what so many Christians fail to see, that God protects wherever He is not actively prohibited.  He knew the truth of the everlasting words, “The curse causeless shall not come” and so he looked for the cause, following the clue the LORD had given him. Proverbs 26:2.

We should all keep the following words close to our hearts.

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Jeremiah  29:

11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end [entrance into His kingdom].

12 Then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with ALL your heart.

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Rightly indignant at the deception practised upon him, Pharaoh growled at Abram, but restored to him his wife and allowed him to keep the gifts, which again shows us a glimpse of his character.

Abram had been greatly liked by the king, and even now Pharaoh wouldn’t permit any harm to be done him or his company, but ordered a guard to conduct them in safety out of his country.  It was at this time that laws were made prohibiting the Egyptians from mingling with foreign shepherds in any such familiarity as eating or drinking with them. See Genesis 43:32.  (What far-reaching effects Abraham’s choice had!)

Pharaoh's dismissal of Abram was kind and generous; but he made him leave Egypt for another reason, for he dared not permit him to remain. He had been about to do him a serious injury in ignorance, and he realised that Abram’s God had intervened and saved the him from committing a great sin.  See Leviticus 5:17-19.  Pharaoh saw in this stranger a man whom the God of heaven honoured, and he feared to have in his kingdom one who was so evidently under divine favour. 

Should Abram remain in Egypt, his increasing wealth and honour (as well as his wife) would be likely to excite the envy or covetousness of some of the Egyptians, and some injury might be done him or his, for which the monarch would be held responsible, and which might again bring judgments upon the royal house.  He took no chances of this occurring.

This warning that had been given to Pharaoh proved a protection to Abram in his later dealings with other heathen peoples, for the matter could not be kept secret, and it was widely believed that the God whom Abram worshipped would protect His servant, and that any injury done him would be avenged.  This was true, but not in the way they saw it.  Even now it is still a dangerous thing to wrong one of the children of the King of heaven, for such sinful actions carry a heavy penalty with them.

The psalmist refers to this chapter in Abram's experience when he says, in speaking of the chosen people, that God “reproved kings for their sakes; saying, ‘Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm’.” Psalm 105:14-15. 

There is an interesting similarity between Abraham's experience in Egypt and that of his descendants, centuries later.  Both went down into Egypt on account of a famine, and both sojourned there.  (Genesis chapter 42.) Through the manifestation of divine judgments in their behalf, the fear of them fell upon the Egyptians; and, enriched by the gifts of the heathen, they went out with great substance.

Lateral thought:

Jesus was the light of His people – the Light of the world – before He came to earth in the form of humanity.  His sacrifice began in the Garden of Eden, where He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  Revelation 13:8.  The first gleam of light that pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world, came from Christ.  Genesis 3:14-15.  And from Him has come every ray of heaven's brightness that has fallen upon the inhabitants of the earth.  In the plan of redemption Christ is the Alpha and the Omega – the First as well as the Last.  Revelation 22:13.

Since the Saviour shed His blood for the remission of sins, and ascended to heaven “to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24), light has been streaming from the cross of Calvary and from the holy places of the sanctuary above.  But the clearer light granted us should not cause us to despise that which in earlier times was received through the types pointing to the coming Saviour. 

The gospel of Christ sheds light upon the Jewish economy and gives significance to the ceremonial law.  As new truths are revealed, and that which has been known from the beginning is brought into clearer light, the character and purposes of God are made manifest in His dealings with His chosen people.  Every additional ray of light that we receive gives us a clearer understanding of the plan of redemption, which is the working out of the divine will in the salvation of man.  We see new beauty and force in the inspired word, and we study its pages with a deeper and more absorbing interest.

The opinion is held by many that God placed a separating wall between His “chosen” people the Hebrews and the outside world; that His care and love, withdrawn to a great extent from the rest of mankind, were centred upon Israel.  But God did not design that His people should build up a wall of partition between themselves and their fellow men.  The heart of Infinite Love was reaching out toward all the inhabitants of the earth.  Though they had rejected Him, He was constantly seeking to reveal Himself to them and make them partakers of His love and grace.  His blessing was granted to the representative people, that they might bless others. 

God called Abraham, and prospered and honoured him; and the patriarch's faithfulness was a light to the people in all the countries of his sojourn.  Abraham did not shut himself away from the people around him.  He maintained friendly relations with the kings of the surrounding nations, by some of whom he was treated with great respect; and his integrity and unselfishness, his valour and benevolence, were representing the character of God.  In Mesopotamia, in Canaan, in Egypt, and even to the inhabitants of Sodom, the God of heaven was revealed through His representative.

See you next week, 

Ron

Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library.  No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.

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Genesis 43:

32 And they set on [the table] for him [Joseph] by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.  Back

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Leviticus 5:

17 And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist [knows] it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity [for it is the sin that brings the punishment].

18 And [when he finds out about it] he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock [a serious and expensive sacrifice], with your estimation [a fine], for a trespass offering, to the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.

19 It is a trespass offering: he has certainly trespassed against the LORD [and hampered Him in His effort to protect him].  Back

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Genesis 20:

17 So Abraham prayed to God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.  Back

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Matthew 26:

33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Though all men shall be offended because of You, yet will I never be offended.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Verily I say to you, That this night, before the cock crow [before dawn], you shall deny Me three times.” 35 Peter [not knowing his own heart] said to Him, “Though I should die with You, yet will I not deny You.”  Likewise also said all the disciples. Back

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Hebrews 12:

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to children, “My son, despise not you the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him” (see Job 5:17.) 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.

7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? 8 But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?  10 For they verily for a few days [till we grew up] chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby.

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After Adam’s sin:

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Genesis 3:

14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity [a desire for righteousness] between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; it [He] shall bruise your head [by completely vanquishing you], and you shall bruise His heel [and slow Him down].  Back

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