Passage: Gen..12:6-13:1
Abraham, when his name was only Abram was told to leave Haran when he was 75 years old (Gen... 12:5) So Abram packs up his stuff, picks up his family in the caravan and heads East Southeast. He proceeds down to Canaan, Where he worshipped God a time or two, and God himself showed himself to Abram. It’s roughly about this time, in verse 6 that we learn of the bad news that the Canaanites are living in the land. Why that information is there depends upon who you ask, but I personally believe that Moses was simply trying to help the nation of Israel put this piece of history into perspective, because he couldn’t give nice round dates like 1400 BC.
He makes a few key stops at some major landmarks of the day, this is the first recorded instance of a tour of the Holy Land. While he’s at the tree of Moreh near Shechem God appears to Abram again and promises him that his descendants will one day own the land. You know, I bet Abram was a bit concerned about the Canaanites, and God was hoping to calm his doubts and fears. Unfortunately Abram would later have a very hard time remembering and relying upon this promise.
Up to now, Abram has only seen the northern portion of Israel, and he decides to extend his tour. He packs his tent and moves only a bit south where he takes up residence between Bethel and Ai. There he sets up a worship center complete with an altar and here he calls upon the name of the Lord.
Continuing southward, perhaps in an attempt to get his money’s worth for the tour he heads off to the deep south of Canaan to what is called the Negev.
Now, the Negev is the rugged, hilly, desert territory south of Israel. So here’s Abram headed south to the bottom of Israel’s future territory; when he decides he want’s a chili dog. There’s not a single hot dog stand in sight, besides there’s no flour to make the buns anyhow because verse 10 reveals to us that a Famine arose in the land at that point, which many commentators blame upon the godlessness of the Canaanites that verse 6 goes out of the way to tell us were there.
Personally I do not doubt at all that a portion of the drought was the working of God’s judgment upon the Canaanites, but I’m more inclined to think something a bit different, since the focus in this chapter is upon Abram, and because it’s recorded so incredibly close to the giving of the Abrahamic Covenant that it was for his BENEFIT alone that God either sent or allowed this particular drought.
Remember God has a long history of using rather annoying things to get people moving. He used a goad of sorts on Paul, he used Snakes amid the Israelites, he used the angel of death among the Egyptians, and he used Famine more than once to get people out of Canaan and into Egypt.
John Wesley also assumed that this drought was to test Abram’s faith. He had been called by God into a new life. This is a test of faith, Peter writes about tests like these saying that God designs them in order to purify us. The question then for this chapter isn’t so much what was God doing with this drought, but would Abram trust God to provide his needs both present and future?
Immediately Abram goes down to Egypt to find food. Remember what I said about moving people? This is the same exact trip his great grandsons, the 11 sons of Jacob, would make in future time to get food in time of famine. Apparently Egypt had the only supermarket in the middle east at that time.
Abram now is only about 3 miles outside of Egypt on Highway 1, and as he hits his turn signal to move toward the off ramp, he looks at his wife and realizes that he has a problem...
She’s gorgeous!
Now, it should be at this point that your wives should be looking at you wishing you’d tell them they were beautiful, so men, repeat these words, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman..." Go ahead men, say it, "see now, I know that you are a beautiful woman"
Listen to me men, If Abram would have shut up right then and there, his life would have improved drastically at that point, but he was a typical patriarch and didn’t know when to shut up, because he continued to follow his complement with a terrible, terrible mistake.
Look at verse 11, "It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "see now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ’this is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you."
Now, listen a lot of people want to argue against the idea that Abram the great patriarch and father of all Israel would tell a whopper and they all want to point to Genesis 20:12 where we learn that indeed Sarai was his step sister, one commentator went so far as to call it anything but a lie, he called it a "prevarication," look that up in your thesaurus at home and guess what you get? You get a LIE, a big fat ugly lie.
Friends you can cover up a lie if you want to, and you might even fool a few people, but you’re not going to fool God! Let’s get back to the story. I think that Abram does get somewhat of a bum wrap here, part of the problem is that Sarai didn’t give him a fat lip, but that’s just my opinion.
So here’s 75 year old Abram coming into Egypt in his caravan and sitting beside him is the beautiful young 65 year old woman. And all the Egyptians on main street whistle at her! Don’t believe me, look at verse 14, "the Egyptians saw that the woman was VERY beautiful."
Now some of you snicker about that, but think about it, people used to live much longer and as Adam Clarke put it, "disease seems to have had but a very contracted influence, women and men would necessarily arrive more slowly at a state of perfection, and retain their vigor and complexion much longer, than in later times."
The Egyptians think she’s so pretty, they run and tell the king about this gorgeous woman who just came to town. He finds out that she’s Abram’s sister, so he gives Abram a condo in the hills and lots of cash just so he can take Sarai into his harem.
Now here’s where the funny stuff -if you want to call it that- ends and where the serious part picks up.
God’s not happy with this arrangement, so he sends great plagues against the house of Pharaoh.
Josephus the historian claims that "God put a stop to his unjust inclinations, by sending upon him a distemper, and a sedition against his government. And when he inquired of the priests how he might be freed from these calamities, they told him that this his miserable condition was derived from the wrath of God, upon account of his inclinations to abuse the stranger’s wife."
Whatever the case, Pharaoh finds out the truth and returns Sarai, apparently unharmed to Abram, and the whole group gets a military escort out of Egypt. Abram as it turns out got pretty wealthy off the deal. Unfortunately, he didn’t learn much, because in chapter 20 he pretty much repeats the same error.
NOW, I want to deal with the problem that his story brings to our attention, does anyone care to guess what it is?
Remember who we’re dealing with, Abram the father of Israel, chosen by God, given the covenant blessing! There are a multiplicity of problems that could be dealt with in this passage, but the chief one here is Abram’s lie. How is it that the man chosen by God to bless the whole earth could fall into what we hopefully see as an horrible sin?
What I want to get at tonight is the FOUNDATION OF THE FAILURE. To get that we’ve got to go back and reread the chapter. < Read Gen. 12 >
Now let’s look at THE OCCASION OF THE LIE, Abram was going to Egypt to get food, and determined that they who lived there couldn’t be trusted.
Isn’t it interesting that he sins because he believed they would sin? He believed that they were heathen enough to kill him so they could have his wife. But what about the promises that God had made to Abram?
Back in verses 1-3 God had made his great promise to Abram, the ABRAHAMIC COVENANT, God had promised him then and there that:
(1) He would be made a great nation.
(2) He would be blessed.
(3) that his name would be made great by God himself.
(4) That anyone who chose to bless him would be blessed
(5) and those that cursed him would be cursed.
(6) and all the people on the planet would be blessed through him.
Then in verse 7 God appears to him again and promises that he would:...
(7) Give his descendants the land?
Now, since Abram didn’t have any children yet, doesn’t it seem that his fear of losing his life is a bit foolish if not at least premature? How could Abram die if God hadn’t fulfilled his promise yet? Abram also failed to take into account that he would be protected by God himself and that if the Pharaoh of Egypt or anyone else would curse him or attack him, then God would necessarily have to curse and attack them.
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Abram’s first failure was not decision to lie, though that WAS a failure and a sin. Nor was his primary failure the decision to go to Egypt, his failure started when he failed to take God’s revealed word into account.
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In Mark chapter 12 The Sadducees come to Jesus to test him with what they thought was a trick question. Do you remember the story?
They come to Jesus and give him this sob story about a woman who married and her husband died without any children, so his brother married her in order to provide children for his brother, but he also died before any children, and the next brother and the next married her and died all of them without children, and then they ask this snide little question of Jesus, "who’s wife will she be in the resurrection?" Jesus’ response to them is a slap in the face.
Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures...?"
Friends, we fret and worry and fear over whether or not God will meet our physical needs, when he has promised us that if we seek him and his kingdom what we need will be supplied.
We get all upset and loaded with the cares of this world, even trying to be a part of the world and we forget that James says to us, "Friendship with the world is enmity with God..."
We wonder and worry about this thing or that and forget that Christ has commanded us not to worry, not because we needed another law but because he knew the provision would be there.
Could it be that the reason we have so little faith, is because when push comes to shove, we know so little of the scriptures?
Friends this is a very full text with very many lessons, but the chief among them at least for tonight is the lesson and the charge that you and I must Stay in the Word.
"Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth, meditate upon it both day and night so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it, then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:8
