The land of Canaan was not particularly suitable for Abram, at least not at the time of Genesis 12. There was a famine. We could imagine Abram thinking, “God wants me to settle here?” Egypt, however, being irrigated by the Nile River, was often a refuge in times of drought and famine. Each of the patriarchs will experience a famine in Canaan (Gen. 26:1; 41.57; 42:1; 43:1). The land was not flowing “with milk and honey” during the days of the patriarchs!
This is the first occasion of the designation “pharaoh” as the leader of the Egyptian nation. The connection between Israel and Egypt is seen in the use of “pharaoh” 279 times in the Bible. It comes from the Egyptian per-o, which means “the great house,” used as early as 2,500 B. C. Few pharaohs are mentioned by name in the Bible; the Bible is not about them. But that does make it challenging to date some events, such as the life of Joseph and the exodus.
Abram’s story was a half-truth as he later acknowledges that he and Sarai are half-siblings (20:12-13), but Abram’s purpose was to deceive, and therein lay the moral problem. Isaac will follow in the same footsteps with Rebekah (Gen. 26:7-11). While it is easy to criticize the lack of faith in Abram and Isaac, we should keep in mind the pagan environment from which Abram came and the lack of clear revelation from God relative to moral expectations.
In that culture, brothers had a strong say in who their sisters married (Gen. 24:55; 34:13-17). If that was the case, perhaps Abram was hoping to deny any suitors for Sarai, his “sister,” and find escape through that. We do not know. Sarai was at least 65 years old, about mid-life (23:1) and Pharaoh’s princes agree with the husband: she is beautiful! Sarah’s beauty becomes the subject of fascination for later non-biblical Jewish writers.
Pharaoh is angry with Abram, for good reason. It is remarkable for more than one reason that Pharaoh does not kill Abram. Yet, God was behind the scenes, working to save Abram’s life and impress on Pharaoh and his court that Abram’s God was looking over him.
We could imagine Pharaoh thinking that if these plagues happened when Pharaoh took Abram’s life, what would happen if he took Abram’s wife? This Pharaoh, in contrast with the pharaoh of the exodus, does fear God! Consider what God says later about Egypt: Deut. 23:7; Isa. 19:24-25. It is ironic that, in an effort to save his own life, Abram almost lost it! There is a price to pay for a lack of faith.
Abram becomes even more wealthy in the land of Egypt! Female donkeys were particularly indications of wealth (Job 1:3; 42:12), as were camels. For years, scholars thought the mention of “camels” was anachronistic, being used in the wrong time frame, which indicated Genesis was written later than the time of Moses. But evidence eventually surfaced to collaborate the Bible’s history, that wealthy men did own camels. They frequently were symbols of prestige rather than used as work animals, as early as the third millennia. They would be used in battle by 1,000 B. C.
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APPLICATION:
Contemporaries in the text – Again, we should hesitate to criticize Abram for his dishonesty since God was only gradually revealing Himself to mankind and God’s expectations were still rather generic. Abram will learn over time that he can trust God to fulfill His promises. The blessings Abram receives in Egypt have their own disadvantages. The livestock causes problems later between Abram and Lot’s herdsmen (Gen. 13:7) and one of those female servants will cause problems, inadvertently on her part, between Abram and Sarai (Gen. 16:1).
Contemporaries of Moses’ day – Just as Abram will become wealthy in Egypt, so Israel will become wealthy in Egypt (cf. Exo. 12:35). God is sovereign over hunger (Deut. 8:3). His people must trust God to provide. The word for “plagues” is used of the final plague on Egypt in Exodus 11:1. What God was about to do to Egypt in Moses’ day is what God had already done, to a mild degree, in Abram’s day. If that pharaoh had left a written record: “Don’t mess with the God of the Israelites,” he could have spared his future people some heartache!
Later Hebrew writers – Echoing the thoughts of Deut. 8:3, Proverbs 10:3 also states that God is Lord over the hungry. He will provide. The most famous famine to hit Palestine was in the days of Elijah, after three years of drought (1 Kings 17). Drought can only be interpreted as punishment from God if and when God sends a prophet to identify a drought as His punishment. Man would not know what sin has brought the drought, if God does not send a prophet. Otherwise, it is simply the weather.
NT writers – We marvel at Abram’s faith and often forget the examples of his lack of faith. Of course, the NT writers praise Abram for his faith and Sarai for hers (cf. Heb. 11:8-16) and do not dwell on his weaknesses. Perhaps we, too, should focus on our strengths and not dwell so much on our weaknesses.
Paul Holland
