Chapter 12

1 God calleth Abram, and blesseth him with a promise of Christ. 4 He departeth with Lot from Haran. 6 He journeyeth through Canaan, 7 which is promised him in a vision. 10 He is driven by a famine into Egypt. 11Fear maketh him feign his wife to be his sister. 14 Pharaoh, having taken her from him, by plagues is compelled to restore her.

1. Get thee out. Henceforward Abram is the hero of the Genesis narrative. This is the first recorded divine revelation to Abram, although it is known from Acts 7:2 that God had appeared to him at least once previously. The word of Jehovah begins with a command, continues with a promise, and ends with a blessing. These three significant aspects characterize every manifestation of God to man. The promises of God are fulfilled and His blessings received only as His commands are obeyed. Men are usually desirous of sharing God’s blessings and realizing His promises without cooperating with His requirements.

The Lord’s call required Abram to make a complete break with the past. He not only had to leave the land of the two rivers, Mesopotamia, in which Ur as well as Haran was situated, but also had to give up family ties and even his father’s house, never to return to those of his own blood and race. It was a severe test. Haran and Ur shared the same civilization and standards of living. All this would change immediately when he should leave the land of the two rivers and cross over to Syria and Palestine. Instead of fertile grazing lands he would find a heavily wooded and mountainous country. Instead of living among related and highly civilized peoples, he would be sojourning among tribes of a materially lower culture and an especially degraded religion.

It certainly must not have been easy for Abram to sever all ties with his beloved homeland, a land in which he had spent all of his life and which was hallowed by many tender associations. A youth may leave his native land with little regret, but to a man 75 years of age such a decision is not easy.

A land that I will shew thee. Genesis 11:31 indicates that Abram’s original destination had been Canaan. Obviously, God must have specified Canaan as the land toward which he should direct his steps. Upon this occasion (ch. 12:1) Canaan is not mentioned, but it is clear that Abram knew Canaan to be the place where God wanted him to go. He set out with Canaan in mind (v. 5). Paul’s statement in Heb. 11:8 that Abram “went out, not knowing whither he went” apparently refers to the fact that henceforth he would have no certain dwelling place, but was to be a pilgrim and a stranger (see Heb. 11:9; 4T 523). Henceforth God would guide him day by day, and he would never know long in advance what the future might bring.

2. Make of thee a great nation. Abram’s compensation for leaving family and homeland behind is announced. Abram no doubt wondered how this promise would meet its fulfillment, in view of the fact that he was childless, and not a young man. God could not mean that Abram’s servants, the shepherds an overseers of his flocks, would constitute the promised nation. How did Abram understand the word “great”? Did it imply numerical strength, or influence, or greatness in spiritual things? Only the eye of faith, fixed upon the promises of God, could penetrate the future and behold things that the natural eye could not see.

I will bless thee. This promise included both temporal and spiritual blessings, particularly the latter. Paul clearly includes justification by faith among the blessings that rested on Abram (Gal. 3:8).

Make thy name great. True greatness was to result from compliance with God’s commands and cooperation with His divine purpose. The builders of Babel had thought to make themselves “a name” by defying God, and yet not one of their names has survived. Abram, on the other hand, was simply to follow where God should lead, in order to win fame. The name Abram is common as a personal name even today, and untold millions of Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians have acclaimed him in times past, and still look back to him, as their spiritual ancestor.

3. I will bless. Such an assurance was the highest pledge of friendship and favor God could bestow upon Abram. God considered as done to Himself the insults and wrongs done to His friend and promised to make common cause with him, to share his friends and to treat his enemies as if they were His own. Abram was “the Friend of God” (James 2:23).

All families of the earth. The Hebrew word here translated “earth,” ФХadamah, means, essentially, “ground,” or “soil.” All nations and all ages are included. It was the “ground” that had been cursed after the Fall (Gen. 3:17), the same ground out of which man had originally been made. That curse had come because of the unfaithfulness of one man (Rom. 5:12), and now all families of the “ground” were to receive blessing through the obedience of one who was found faithful. As his spiritual offspring, Christians today share in the blessing imparted to Abram (Gal. 3:8, 29). The blessing vouchsafed to him would finally unite divided families on earth, and change the dread curse pronounced upon the ground because of sin into a blessing for all men. All further promises to the patriarchs and to Israel either clarified or amplified the promise of salvation offered the entire human race in the first promise made to Abram.

4. So Abram departed. Abram cheerfully followed the Lord’s call, without arguing and without mentioning conditions under which he would obey. He simply “departed.”

Lot went with him. Of all the relatives of Abram only Lot and his family were willing to continue on to the Promised Land. Peter refers to him as “just Lot,” and a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7, 8). His desire to obey God as his uncle did made him willing, for the time at least, to share the hardships of the journey and the uncertainties of an insecure future.

Seventy and five years old. The giving of Abram’s age indicates that his departure for Canaan marked the beginning of a new and important era. He was already advanced in years when called upon to adapt himself to life in a new country, to its climate, and to the strange customs of a foreign people.

5. All their substance. Abram’s and Lot’s wealth consisted chiefly in large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Abram was a prosperous man (ch. 13:2), but his prosperity in no way proved to be a hindrance to his religious life. Although it is true that wealth often makes it more difficult for its possessors to qualify for the kingdom of God, it is by no means a fatal handicap (see Matt. 19:23–26). When a person of means considers himself a steward of God, and uses the wealth entrusted to him to the honor of God and to the advancement of His kingdom, wealth is a blessing and not a curse.

Souls. Heb. nephesh. The RSV here uses the word “persons.” Included in this company were some converts to the true God (PP 127). These converts attached themselves to the household of Abram and became his retainers. Both Abram and Lot are mentioned as possessing herdsmen (Gen. 13:7). That Abram could later rescue Lot with the help of 318 armed and trained retainers (see ch. 14:14) clarifies still further the fact that these “souls” were the members of his household (see on ch. 14:14).

Into the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan includes not only Palestine but also Phoenicia and southern Syria (see on ch. 10:19). Egyptian and north Syrian inscriptions of the second millennium b.c. use the term Canaan in this sense. Inasmuch as Abram was to settle in the southern part of Canaan—Shechem, Hebron, Gerar—the journey took him about 450 mi. from Haran. Owing to the fact that topographical features leave but few alternate possibilities, his route of travel may be traced rather exactly. Leaving the region of Haran, the great caravan must have moved slowly southward along the Balikh River until it reached the Euphrates, which it followed upstream for some 60 mi. From this point 80 mi. of desert must be crossed in order to reach the north Syrian river Orontes. The great oasis of Aleppo lies halfway between the Euphrates and the Orontes, and was probably used by Abram on his journey to give rest and drink to the weary animals and men. Reaching the Orontes, he presumably followed it upstream to the south, leading the great caravan through the Syrian plain, called Beqa today, which lies between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountains. Passing the watershed whence the Orontes flows north and the Litani south, the latter was followed until the caravan reached Galilee with its rugged, hilly terrain.

Abram’s Journeys

6. Abram passed through the land. Palestine was heavily wooded at that time. Its roads are described in ancient Egyptian documents as being a nightmare to travelers. Progress of the caravan may have been very slow, in view of the great number of animals and people accompanying the patriarch. The journey was probably broken by frequent pauses for rest. Having crossed Galilee, the wanderers came to the plain of Esdraelon, in which there were already several powerful Canaanite cities, such as Megiddo and Taanach. Then they crossed the Carmel ridge and entered the hilly country that would later belong to Ephraim, and here made their first prolonged halt. This was probably done because the Lord told Abram (v. 7) that he had reached the end of his journey and was now in the land that had been promised him.

Sichem. This city is called Shechem elsewhere in the OT (Gen. 35:4; etc.). Situated at the eastern entrance to a narrow valley flanked by the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, it occupied a strategically important place. It is a deserted site today, called Balatah, close to Nablus. Excavations and documentary evidence prove that Shechem was a flourishing and fortified city early in the second millennium b.c., when Abram camped in its vicinity. One of the earliest Egyptian military expeditions into Palestine of which a clear record has been preserved was directed against this very city. The stele of an Egyptian warrior who served under King Sen-Usert III (1878-1840 b.c.) of the Twelfth Dynasty describes a campaign against Sekemem, the Egyptian name for Sichem or Shechem, and relates that the native Asiatics were defeated. At the time Abram entered the country of Canaan, Egypt exerted a great influence over its Canaanite neighbors. Though Egypt did not actually exercise political control over Canaan, the latter country was economically dependent upon Egypt, which had royal representatives in its principal cities. These commissioners guarded Egypt’s economic interests and played the role of advisers to the local Canaanite rulers. Such was the political situation Abram found in Canaan.

The plain of Moreh. The word “plain” is not an accurate rendering of the Heb. Хelon, literally, “a great tree.” RSV says “oak.” The word is presumably used here in a generic and collective sense, and may or may not refer to one particular tree. It has been suggested that a grove of oaks is meant. This view is supported by a later reference Moses makes to the same locality, using the plural form of Хelon, “trees” (KJV, “plains”), clearly indicating that Moreh possessed more than one such tree (Deut. 11:30). The grove itself has not been identified, but must have been in the immediate vicinity of Shechem, as this text and Deut. 11:29, 30 indicate.

Moreh means “teacher.” The ancient Jewish translators of the LXX rendered it by the Greek word hupselen, “lofty.” Commentators have attempted to explain the name Moreh as an indication that Abram understood he was to be “taught” there by God, or that the grove belonged to a teacher of fame.

The Canaanite. If Abram had expected to be led into an unpopulated land whose pastures he would not have to share with others, he was mistaken. For this reason, perhaps, the statement is added, “the Canaanite was then in the land.” Finding himself an alien amidst a strange people, Abram could not regard the land as his own and actually take possession of it (see Heb. 11:9, 13). This he could do only by faith.

7. The Lord appeared. This is the third divine revelation accorded Abram, the first one in Canaan. Its purpose was to comfort him and to inspire him anew with confidence and courage. After a long and arduous journey Abram arrived in the land promised as a home for him and his posterity, only to find it occupied by Canaanites. A message confirming the promises made at Ur and Haran would bring assurance that possession of the land would come in God’s own time and way.

Unto thy seed. The entire message consists of only five words in Hebrew, eight in the KJV. Although one of the shortest of divine revelations, it was nevertheless of great importance to Abram, now an alien in a strange country. Its brevity was in no way proportionate to its importance and value. It called for faith to believe that the Canaanites in their strongly fortified cities should be dispossessed and their country given to a childless old man. The apparent improbability of the realization of such a promise rendered it a strong test of the patriarch’s faith.

An altar. The soil hallowed by the presence of God, Abram dedicated as a place of worship to Him. The altar erected and sacrifices offered bore witness to the God of heaven, and silently protested against the idolatry round about. Abram thus publicly pledged allegiance to the true God. As the lord of a large household, he sensed also a responsibility toward his servants, to impress upon them a more perfect knowledge of the God he served (ch. 18:19). The sacrifice testified of Abram’s belief in the death of the Son of God as an atonement for sin.

8. Beth-el. In need of fresh pastureland, Abram moved from the vicinity of Shechem to the east of Bethel, 20 mi. farther to the south. Abram pitched his tent on one of the hilltops between the cities of Bethel and Ai. The city is here referred to by the name it bore in later times. It was still called Luz in Abram’s time (see ch. 28:19). This Canaanite city, now called Beitin, lies about 10 mi. north of Jerusalem. It played an important role in Jacob’s life (ch. 28:19; 35:1), and was one of the first cities of Canaan conquered by Joshua. During the period of the divided kingdom, one of the two idolatrous cult places of Israel was situated there (1 Kings 12:28, 29). Scholars have identified the present EtРTell with Ai, because of the similarity of names, Ai being the Hebrew name for “ruin,” whereas Tell is the Arabic name for a ruined site. This identification is, however, questionable.

He builded an alter. Abram erected an altar, wherever he pitched his tent (see Gen. 12:7; 13:18), and conducted public worship for the members of his household and for pagans living nearby. Although the service was presumably simple, consisting essentially in prayer, the offering of a sacrificial animal, and doubtless an evangelistic appeal, the great number of retainers whom Abram had led to a knowledge of Jehovah must have made these occasions impressive (see ch. 14:14; 18:19). Many keep their faith secret, afraid to confess it, but not Abram. Wherever he went he confessed the One whom he trusted and obeyed. His altars dotting the Palestinian countryside became memorials to the one true God. The Canaanites, whose iniquity was not yet full (ch. 15:16), were thus made aquainted with the Creator of the universe, and by Abram’s precept and example were called upon to discard their idols and worship Him. The world’s first foreign missionary, Abram journeyed tirelessly through Palestine and preached God wherever he pitched his tent. Isaac and Jacob were also called of God to spend their lives in this land. Although these men were not always shining examples of truth, the Canaanites could not but see the difference between their own way of life and that of the Hebrews. When the time of their judgment should come they could not deny that God had provided them every opportunity to learn of Him.

9. Toward the south. Bethel was not to be Abram’s permanent home. He proceeded toward the “south,” Negeb, which retains this name to the present day. The Negeb was and still is a semiarid country lying to the south and southwest of the mountains, which in later times belonged to Judah. Since ancient times Beersheba, situated at the crossroads of several caravan routes, has been its chief city. Abram perhaps felt that the mountainous parts of Canaan, which were already occupied by the Canaanites, could not provide sufficient pasture for his own great flocks and those of Lot. With its sparse population and wide and open grazing land, the Negeb seemed to him more suitable.

10. There was a famine. Abram had scarcely passed through the Promised Land when a severe famine compelled him to leave it. Canaan, though naturally fertile, was subject to visitations of drought, especially in those years when the November and December rains, on which the country depended, either failed or were scanty (Gen. 26:1; 41:56; 1 Kings 17:1; Haggai 1:10, 11). The occurrence of this famine just at the time of Abram’s entering the land was an additional trial of his faith. It was to teach him lessons of submission, faith, and patience. He was to realize that even in the Promised Land food and blessings come from the Lord alone.

Abram went down into Egypt. Being in the south of Canaan, Abram found it natural to turn to Egypt, the country of plenty, to find sustenance. Although Egypt itself occasionally suffered from famine, because of failure of the Nile to overflow, it was known to surrounding countries as a haven of refuge in times of need. Ancient Egyptian records repeatedly mention the fact that Asiatics entered the country to feed their starving flocks. At times these visitors would remain in the country and become a menace to the natives. Amenemhet I (1991-1962 b.c.), first king of the Twelfth Dynasty, walled off his eastern frontier with the avowed purpose “not to allow the Asiatics to go down into Egypt, that they may beg for water after [their] customary manner so as to give their cattle to drink.” A later document, the report of a frontier official of the time of the Hebrew judges, mentions that Bedouins of Edom had been allowed to enter Egypt to keep themselves and their cattle alive.

The most famous record of a visit of Asiatics to Egypt at the time of Abram is a tomb painting for a nobleman under King Sen-Usert II (1897-1879 b.c.). It depicts the arrival of 37 Semitic Bedouins who had come to trade cosmetics with the Egyptians, and shows their features, colorful garments, weapons, and musical instruments. This unusual document is an important contribution to our understanding of Abram’s time. No modern artist preparing pictures of the patriarchal age can afford to neglect this contemporary painting of Abram’s time. This documentary evidence about Asiatics entering Egypt for trading purposes or to acquire food in times of want makes it easy to visualize Abram going down to the valley of the Nile to keep his herds and flocks alive (see p. 160).

12. This is his wife. Abram was to discover in Egypt that human cunning is worthless and that deliverance from fear and perplexity comes only from the Lord (Ps. 105:14, 15). Approaching Egypt Abram feared for his life on account of the beauty of Sarai, his wife. Since she was his half sister, he felt justified in asking her to pass herself off as his sister (see Gen. 20:12). The conduct of the Canaanites, as seen later in the case of the men of Sodom (ch. 19:4–11), is evidence that he had reason for his anxiety. His experience in Egypt shows even more clearly that, from a human point of view, his fears were well founded. But the precaution he took did not spring from faith. How could he expect to retain her as his wife when she herself had denied her marital status? How could he think to protect her more effectively as his sister than as his wife? His clever plan brought upon him the very thing he feared and hoped to avoid, even though as her alleged brother he was treated well by Pharaoh and given cattle and slaves as a token of royal pleasure and friendship (see on ch. 20:13–16). It is often thus with our supposedly “clever” schemes.

14. She was very fair. How could Sarai at the age of 65 have been as attractive as this incident suggests? It should be remembered that in Abram’s time the life span was twice what it is now, and Sarai, who died at the age of 127 (ch. 23:1), was therefore in middle age. The Pharaohs are known to have fancied the fairer complexion of foreign women, and to have secured Libyan, Hittite, Mesopotamian, and Palestinian girls for the royal harem.

15. Pharaoh’s house. The word “Pharaoh,” and Egyptian term literally meaning “great house,” was not originally a royal title but a term denoting the palace. During the Eighteenth Dynasty, under whose kings Moses wrote the book of Genesis, it became a term of respect designating the king. Similarly, the Sultan was called the Sublime Porte. Also, the President of the United States is sometimes referred to impersonally and indirectly as “the White House.” In later times the proper name of the king was added to his title, the earliest example of this use in the Bible occurring in the 10th century b.c. (see 2 Kings 23:29, “Pharaoh-nechoh”).

16. He had sheep. Of the domestic animals here mentioned, only the camel was still uncommon at this time. It was not entirely unknown, however, as a number of figurines of laden camels found in tombs of the third and second millenniums b.c. prove. The horse had not yet been introduced into Egypt, and is not mentioned. Archeology points to the Asiatic Hyksos, who ruled in Egypt more than a century, as introducing the horse and chariot. Moses’ mention of horses in Joseph’s time and not in Abram’s time is evidence of his accurate knowledge of Egypt.

17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Though Abram had failed God, God intervened on his behalf. What the nature of these plagues was cannot be determined, but they were obviously of such a nature as to protect Sarai from dishonor and to convince Pharaoh that he should restore her to Abram. Sarai herself may have revealed her actual marital status, or God may have spoken directly to Pharaoh as He did later to Abimelech (see ch. 20:3).

This experience should have taught Abram to trust in God rather than in his own clever devices. It seems strange, however, to find him a little later making the same mistake, and even more strange to find his son Isaac trying the same artifice (see chs. 20:2; 26:7). That God should rescue his servants from circumstances of their own contriving is evidence of His mercy and love. Those who profess faith in Him may at times act unworthily of their calling, yet God often teaches their opponents to respect them. The Lord remains faithful toward His children even in their hours of unfaithfulness (see 2 Tim. 2:13). But, to act deliberately, in the anticipation that God will save us from untoward results, is presumption. To a temptation such as this Christ replied, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt. 4:7).

18. Pharaoh called Abram. Pharaoh’s words of reproof imply that he would not have taken Sarai had he known her to be another man’s wife. His intentions were above reproach; his arrangements for making her his wife were entirely legitimate. Sarai had been taken to court in preparation for the wedding, but had not yet joined the king. And Abram, on his part, had accepted the customary dowry and other gifts in token of the king’s favor.

19. Take her, and go. Recognizing that the plagues had come upon him because of God’s displeasure, the monarch did not dare to deal harshly with Abram, but sought, rather, to mitigate the anger of God by providing him a safe-conduct from the country. The graciousness of Pharaoh and the mercy of God had humbled him, and in silence he acknowledged his guilt. What dishonor comes to the cause of God when His representatives, as the result of ill-advised and disgraceful courses of action, bring upon themselves well-earned reproof from men of the world!

Ellen G. White comments

1-20PP 125-131

1 COL 36; FE 286, 505; GW 112; PP 126; 4T 523

1, 2 PP 368

2 COL 286; MB 69; MH 405; PK 15, 703; PP 129

2, 3 DA 27; PK 368; PP 125

3 PK 683

4-6PP 127

6, 7 PP 128

7, 8 ML 33, 35; 5T 320

10 PP 129

11-17PP 130

13 PP 147

18, 19 PP 130