Genesis Chapter 12
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring." He built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD's name.
9 Abram travelled, still going on towards the South.
10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he had come near to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.
12 It will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife.' They will kill me, but they will save you alive.
13 Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."
14 When Abram had come into Egypt, Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 The LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way."
20 Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had.
Footnotes
- Verse 7 (offspring)
- or, seed
Version: World English Bible
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Genesis Chapter 12 Guide
At this point begins the actual historic movement toward the coming of the Redeemer. One man was called to the realization of the true principle of life. The call was personal and purposeful. Abram was commanded to sever the ties of all past associations and to go forth, governed wholly by the will of God. The personal element is clearly marked in the words, "Get thee out ... I will show thee ... I will make of thee ... I will bless thee." It was none the less a purposeful call. The personal going was to result in the creation of a nation through which all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.
Abram's obedience was immediate. Arrived in the land, God appeared to him again and declared that that land was to be given to his seed. All the appearances of the hour were against the possibility of the fulfilment of that promise, for "the Canaanite was then in the land." Faith conquered in spite of appearances as Abram pitched his tent, a sign of possession, and built his altar, a symbol of allegiance.
Once more we confront human failure in Abram's deflection from the life of faith. In the presence of famine he attempted to secure his own safety by going into Egypt. As the result of this we have the startling picture of the chosen mother of the promised Seed in the harem of Pharaoh. God however guards the larger issue of His purpose against the mistakes of the instrument, and by plaguing Pharaoh's house brought about the deliverance of Abram.
It is ever a humbling thing when a man of faith who stands for the principle and purpose of God is rebuked by someone outside the covenant for lack of loyalty to truth. Yet this is exactly what happened in the case of Abram.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Genesis Chapter 12 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ. -- (1-3)
- Abram departs from Haran. -- (4, 5)
- He journeys through Canaan, and worships God in that land. -- (6-9)
- Abram is driven by a famine into Egypt, He feigns his wife to be his sister. -- (10-20)
Verses 1-3
God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ. From henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the history in the Bible. Abram was tried whether he loved God better than all, and whether he could willingly leave all to go with God. His kindred and his father's house were a constant temptation to him, he could not continue among them without danger of being infected by them. Those who leave their sins, and turn to God, will be unspeakable gainers by the change. The command God gave to Abram, is much the same with the gospel call, for natural affection must give way to Divine grace. Sin, and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken; particularly bad company. Here are many great and precious promises. All God's precepts are attended with promises to the obedient.
- I will make of thee a great nation. When God took Abram from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people.
- I will bless thee. Obedient believers shall be sure to inherit the blessing.
- I will make thy name great. The name of obedient believers shall certainly be made great.
- Thou shalt be a blessing. Good men are the blessings of their country.
- I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. God will take care that none are losers, by any service done for his people.
- In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world, the greatest that ever the world possessed. All the true blessedness the world is now, or ever shall be possessed of, is owing to Abram and his posterity. Through them we have a Bible, a Saviour, and a gospel. They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted.
Verses 4, 5
Abram believed that the blessing of the Almighty would make up for all he could lose or leave behind, supply all his wants, and answer and exceed all his desires; and he knew that nothing but misery would follow disobedience. Such believers, being justified by faith in Christ, have peace with God. They hold on their way to Canaan. They are not discouraged by the difficulties in their way, nor drawn aside by the delights they meet with. Those who set out for heaven must persevere to the end. What we undertake, in obedience to God's command, and in humble attendance on his providence, will certainly succeed, and end with comfort at last. Canaan was not, as other lands, a mere outward possession, but a type of heaven, and in this respect the patriarchs so earnestly prized it.
Verses 6-9
Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites, who were bad neighbours. He journeyed, going on still. Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled, and often to remove into various states. Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, Heb 11:8, 13, 14. But observe how much comfort Abram had in God. When he could have little satisfaction in converse with the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in communion with that God, who brought him thither, and did not leave him. Communion with God is kept up by the word and by prayer. God reveals himself and his favours to his people by degrees; before, he had promised to show Abram this land, now, to give it to him: as grace is growing, so is comfort. It should seem, Abram understood it also as a grant of a better land, of which this was a type; for he looked for a heavenly country, Heb 11:16. As soon as Abram was got to Canaan, though he was but a stranger and sojourner there, yet he set up, and kept up, the worship of God in his family. He not only minded the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice; but he made conscience of seeking his God, and calling on his name; that spiritual sacrifice with which God is well pleased. He preached concerning the name of the Lord; he taught his family and neighbours the knowledge of the true God, and his holy religion. The way of family worship is a good old way, no new thing, but the ancient usage of the saints. Abram was rich, and had a numerous family, was now unsettled, and in the midst of enemies; yet, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar: wherever we go, let us not fail to take our religion along with us.
Verses 10-20
There is no state on earth free from trials, nor any character free from blemishes. There was famine in Canaan, the glory of all lands, and unbelief, with the evils it ever brings, in Abram the father of the faithful. Perfect happiness and perfect purity dwell only in heaven. Abram, when he must for a time quit Canaan, goes to Egypt, that he might not seem to look back, and meaning to tarry there no longer than needful. There Abram dissembled his relation to Sarai, equivocated, and taught his wife and his attendants to do so too. He concealed a truth, so as in effect to deny it, and exposed thereby both his wife and the Egyptians to sin. The grace Abram was most noted for, was faith; yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the Divine providence, even after God had appeared to him twice. Alas, what will become of weak faith, when strong faith is thus shaken! If God did not deliver us, many a time, out of straits and distresses which we bring ourselves into, by our own sin and folly, we should be ruined. He deals not with us according to our deserts. Those are happy chastisements that hinder us in a sinful way, and bring us to our duty, particularly to the duty of restoring what we have wrongfully taken or kept. Pharaoh's reproof of Abram was very just: What is this that thou hast done? How unbecoming a wise and good man! If those who profess religion, do that which is unfair and deceptive, especially if they say that which borders upon a lie, they must expect to hear of it; and they have reason to thank those who will tell them of it. The sending away was kind. Pharaoh was so far from any design to kill Abram, as he feared, that he took particular care of him. We often perplex ourselves with fears which are altogether groundless. Many a time we fear where no fear is. Pharaoh charged his men not to hurt Abram in any thing. It is not enough for those in authority, that they do not hurt themselves; they must keep their servants and those about them from doing hurt.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.