FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis
12 (scroll down)
PART
2A: Gen 12-25: Abram's Story
1)
Opening
Ch.12:
The Call, going to Canaan and on to Egypt
2)
Problems with Lot
Ch.13:
Abram & Lot separate
Ch.14:
Lot gets taken in a local conflict & Abram rescues him
3)
The Lord's Revelation, the Couple's Failure
Ch.15:
The Lord's Covenant with Abram
Ch.16:
Hagar has Ishmael
4)
Interactions with God
Ch.17:
Reassurances & Circumcision
Ch.18:
Visitors, Reassurances & Intercession
5)
Failures of this family
Ch.19:
Lot & the destruction of Sodom
Ch.20:
Abraham & his failure with Abimelek
6)
Ongoing
Ch.21:
Isaac born
Ch.22:
Abraham tested through Isaac
Ch.23:
Death & burial of Sarah
Ch.24:
Abraham's servant finds Rebekah for Isaac
Ch.25:
Abraham's death
[Isaac
appears in his own right from chapter 25 on, but appears in these
earlier chapters in his early role as Abraham's son, born as a
miracle.]
FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis
12: Abram – to Canaan & Egypt
v.1-3
The Call of Abram
v.4-9
Abram Obeys and goes to Canaan
v.10-13
Abram continues to Egypt
v.14-16
Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's palace
v.17-20
The Lord Intervenes on Sarai's behalf
v.1-3
The Call of Abram
v.1
The
Lord
had
said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your
father's household to the land I will show you.
v.2
“I
will make you into a great nation,
and
I will bless you; I will make your name great,
and
you will be a blessing.
v.3
I
will bless those who bless you,
and
whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth
will
be blessed through you.”
[Notes:
1.The
Call & Destination: The
text [v.1] clarifies that Abram had received
God's call some time before. Although Canaan is mentioned as their
goal in 11:31 this text suggests the call was not specific where
they would end up. The journey to Canaan would, to avoid the massive
desert area to the south of the trade route that went west from
Ur via Harran and then down through Canaan to Egypt, as we've
just noted, take them first to Harran. As we suggested previously
Abram must have continued to sense that this wasn't their goal
and continued along the trade route and down through Canaan.
2.The
Outcome:
The promise, [v.2] which perhaps added motivation to the childless
Abram, was that God would make him into a great nation, i.e. he
would have children. This did happen but took a couple of generations
to occur.
3.The
World:
The second part of the promise [v.3] indicated that Abram would
become a special figure in world affairs bringing blessing on
those who blessed and treated him well, and a curse on any who
treated him badly and cursed him. In addition, in some unspecified
way, Abram would become a blessing to peoples throughout the earth.
That he became father to the three theocratic faiths of the world:
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, maybe indicates something of
that. In Judaism he was considered the father of the nation, in
Christianity the man of faith who revealed justification by faith
alone.]
v.4-9
Abram Obeys and goes to Canaan
v.4
So
Abram went, as the Lord
had
told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five
years old when he set out from Harran.
v.5
He
took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they
had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and
they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
v.6
Abram
travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree
of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
v.7
The
Lord
appeared
to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
So he built an altar there to the Lord
,
who had appeared to him.
v.8
From
there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his
tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built
an altar to the Lord
and
called on the name of the Lord
.
v.9
Then
Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
[Notes:
1.Disobedience?
Commentators
discuss whether Abram was disobedient to the call to Go
from your country, your people and your father's household
by taking his nephew, Lot, along with him,. which resulted in
problems at least twice later on.
2.Arrival:
Shechem [v.6] was about a third of the way down Canaan
and it is reasonable to assume he was just following the trade
route and might have expected to end up in Egypt. It is therefore
significant that it was here [v.7] that God ‘appeared' to him
and told him that this is the land his offspring will receive.
In response to this, he built an altar, indicating a desire to
acknowledge and worship God there. From there he travelled on
to Bethel, [v.8] further south, built another altar indicating
yet again his awareness of the Lord, but then he travelled further
on towards the south [v.9]. Perhaps he had not taken in that it
was this land and only this land that would belong to his descendants
for it is not long before he ends up in Egypt.]
v.10-13
Abram continues to Egypt
v.10
Now
there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to
live there for a while because the famine was severe.
v.11
As
he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know
what a beautiful woman you are.
v.12
When
the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.' Then
they will kill me but will let you live.
v.13
Say
you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake
and my life will be spared because of you.”
[Notes:
Abram
is nudged on to go to Egypt by the fact that there is a food shortage
in Canaan but clearly not in Egypt. Whereas Canaan was populated
by tribes with not very strong leaders (as we'll see later) Egypt
has a strong king and is a much more developed people. Abram fears
he will be mistreated because Sarai is so beautiful and so asks
her to pretend she is simply his sister.]
v.14-16
Sarai is taken to Pharaoh's palace
v.14
When
Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful
woman.
v.15
And
when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh,
and she was taken into his palace.
v.16
He
treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and
cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and
camels.
[Notes:
In
Egypt, comment is made about Sarah's beauty and word gets to the
king who takes her into his palace. Abram does well out of this
and becomes rich while staying there.]
v.17-20
The Lord Intervenes on Sarai's behalf
v.17
But
the Lord
inflicted
serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's
wife Sarai.
v.18
So
Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why
didn't you tell me she was your wife?
v.19
Why
did you say, ‘She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife?
Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
v.20
Then
Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him
on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
[Notes:
The
Lord is clearly unhappy about this and inflicts disease on the
royal palace. Pharaoh seeks for why this is and finds out that
Sarai is Abram's wife. He rebukes Abram and sends them off and
so he returns north to Canaan again.
Perhaps
we should not be too hard on Abram for he has only a very embryonic
faith and we are uncertain how God communicated with him. He is
very much feeling his way in this adventure and thus does not
appear very good by modern standards in the way he allows Sarai
to be treated in Egypt.]
Continue to Chapter 13