Lesson 15: The Adventures of Abraham (Part 1): Abraham Goes to Egypt
Genesis 12:10-20
Preparing for Lesson 15
We learned in our last lesson that Abraham was not a perfect man. When he was in his homeland of Ur, God told him to leave his family and go to a land He would show him, but contrary to those instructions he took his entire family with him. He stopped in Haran, apparently for several years, where his father died, and when God again told him to go to Canaan and leave his family behind, Abraham took his nephew along.
It is so easy to be critical of someone else’s actions when we have not walked in their shoes. As we read the biblical account and see that Abraham was not fully obedient to God’s instructions, we play Monday morning quarterback and analyze the things he could have done differently. But the question is: would we have done any better?
Let’s look at what Abraham did right.
God called for Abraham to leave his home in a major city and urban center located near the Persian Gulf, for an unknown place in the desert. Abraham obeyed.
Abraham traded his home in the city, where he woke up in the same place every day, for a tent. He lived life as a nomad, moving from place to place, all the while surrounded by sheep. This is what God wanted him to do, and Abraham obeyed.
The only religion Abraham had ever known was that of idol worshipper just like his father. But a new God named Yahweh showed up to communicate directly with him, something his idols could not do. God told him to leave his idols behind, and Abraham obeyed.
So even though Abraham wasn’t perfect, he ultimately did obey God. And those areas in which he faltered did not create circumstances that were insurmountable for God. You see, God knew Abraham’s heart and He knew his faith would continue to grow over time. That’s the first lesson we can learn from Abraham. Even though we may fail from time to time, God does not give up on us.
Now, having said that, we come to Abraham’s adventure in Egypt. We all know what happened there, and it wasn’t Abraham’s finest hour. But again, God had His eyes on Abraham and Sarah and caused things to work out for their ultimate good. So let’s take a look at our lesson for today. First, please read the story in Genesis 12:10-20.
LESSON 15: The Adventures of Abraham (Part 1): Abraham Goes to Egypt.
Egypt is often used as a picture and a type of the world. Our pastor once gave a sermon in which he said, “In the Bible, nothing good happens in Egypt.” In fact, Abraham, and especially Sarah, discovered that to be true.
We do not know how long Abraham had lived in the land of Canaan before the famine occurred, although most commentators agree it was not too long after Abraham first entered the land. Famines were quite common in those days and there are dozens of references to them in the Old Testament.
Most people who read the account of Abraham’s time in Egypt as described in Genesis 12:10-20 are critical of the poor choices Abraham made during that period of his life. If he consulted God about whether he should go to Egypt or remain in Canaan during the famine, the Bible does not say so.
In his book Abraham and All the Families of the Earth, Gerald Janzen asks the question, “When does faith act according to common sense and when does it act according to uncommon sense?” God had promised this land to him. As the head of this nomadic tribe, Abraham was responsible for all of the people and all of the animals that were traveling with him. His common sense told him to leave Canaan and go to Egypt where the food was. His uncommon sense, that is, his fledgling faith in the one true God, was still in the process of being developed. Could he afford to risk the lives of his people and his herds to place his trust in a God that might not even show up for him?
As Christians, we know that our faith is developed and perfected over time. In the beginning, we tend to test our faith on small things, and when we see that God is faithful in those things, we place our trust in Him more and more until eventually we willingly place our very lives in His hands. Abraham’s faith had apparently not yet developed to that level.
So the Bible tells us that Abraham “went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.” To sojourn is to stay somewhere temporarily. If Abraham had simply given up on God and His promises, he most likely would have just returned to Ur.
But having made the decision to seek safety from the famine in Egypt, Abraham realized there was another threat to his safety in the Egyptian society, and that threat was due to his wife’s extraordinary beauty.
Abraham was well aware that powerful rulers had a habit of collecting wives. King Solomon himself is said to have had 700 wives! He also knew that as an alien in Egypt, he would have been virtually powerless to save himself and Sarah should Pharaoh choose to take her for himself.
We all know the story of how Abraham instructed Sarah to say to the Egyptians that she was his sister, not his wife. In fact, Genesis 20:12 confirms that Terah was the father of both Abraham and Sarah, but they were born to different mothers. Even though their story was a half-truth, it was intended to deceive the Egyptians. And, as twenty-first century women, we are most offended that Abraham would willingly put Sarah’s safety at risk in order to save himself.
Janzen gives this story a new spin based on the sentence structure in the original Hebrew. He says, “Abraham’s address to Sarah is punctuated by the Hebrew particle na. This particle indicates that the address it punctuates is a logical consequence, either of an immediately preceding statement or of the general situation in which it is uttered. The speaker (Abraham) regards his command or request not as arbitrary but as logically called for given the situation. The speaker appeals to the hearer to recognize the rightness in context of what is being asked or ordered.” (pages 24-25)
In other words, Abraham and Sarah discuss how dire their situation is. If they go into Egypt as husband and wife, there is a very real risk that he will be killed and Sarah will be whisked away to Pharaoh’s harem. Not only that, but all of their people, property and herds would be taken by the Egyptians as well. But by saying Sarah is his sister, his life would surely be spared and if Sarah is taken by the Egyptians, then he would at least be in a position to attempt her rescue.
In the end, we know that Abraham and Sarah played the “brother/sister” card, but we do not know whether Sarah was a co-conspirator with Abraham, or whether she was forced into that position. We do know that by going into Pharaoh’s harem, Sarah saved Abraham’s life and provided for his seven-fold enrichment. (Genesis 12:16 describes seven sorts of possessions given by Pharaoh.)
But even if Abraham could not ensure the safety of Sarah, God could and did. In verse 12:17, we are told that for Sarah’s sake, God struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues. Janzen says of this verse, “If God is moved to act for Sarah’s sake as well as for Abraham’s, this is the first signal that Sarah is integral to the divine agenda with Abraham.”
After being expelled from Egypt, Abraham and his household head back to Canaan for further adventures. In our next lesson, we will read about Abraham’s adventures with Lot.
Think About It, Talk About It
Rather than packing up and traveling down to Egypt to wait out the famine, what might Abraham have done differently? Do Abraham’s actions show a lack of trust and faith in God?
What might have been some of the pros and cons Abraham considered when making his decision to remain in Canaan or travel to Egypt? Did any good come out of his decision to go to Egypt?
God ultimately stepped in to help Sarah out of a bad and dangerous situation. What does this tell us about Sarah’s importance in God’s plan for Abraham?
Sources
Hoffman, Jason: The Book of Jasher and the Early Books of the Bible,(Fifth Estate, 2013)
Hughes, R. Kent: Preaching the Word – Genesis, Crossway Books, 2004)
Janzen, J. Gerald: Abraham and All the Families of the Earth (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993)
MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Bible Commentary, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005)
McGee, J. Vernon: Through the Bible, Volume 1 (Thomas Nelson Publishing)
Willmington, Harold: What You Need to Know About the Life of Abraham, (Willmington School of the Bible at Scholars Crossing – https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/will_know)