Abram and Sarai in Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 12:10-20.

As you turn there, let me get your mind back to where we are in Genesis. Eric Reiber last week did an excellent job with giving you not just last week’s passage, but showing you how exactly it fit into the overall book of Genesis, but let me remind you again, of what exactly is going on in Genesis 12 by reminding you of where we’ve been so far in the book.

Genesis starts with the very beginning of all things—in fact, the first three words are easy to remember, “in the beginning.” And in the first two chapters of Genesis, we see the creation of the universe—from the celestial bodies that we see around us in space, to the earth and all that live on the earth.

Genesis 2 really hits hard the creation of man and it is clear that the creation of mankind was a special and unique creation—so much so, that the image of God is essentially stamped within man.

Of course, Genesis 3 then introduces the issue of sin—that mankind was tempted (and let me clarify, the temptation wasn’t eating a fruit, but rather rejecting the Word of God) and we see the curse of sin infiltrate not just mankind, but all of creation. All of creation is groaning under the weight of sin.

And yet, even as God explains the curse to the man, woman, and serpent, there is hope because through the seed of the woman will one day come Messiah who saves.

Even in the next few chapters as we watch mankind fall deeper and deeper into sin and degradation, it’s clear that God is going to keep this covenant of grace—there will be a Savior. And from Genesis 3 until now, in Genesis 12, we’re tracing the lineage of the seed of the woman. Last week, we witnessed the call of Abram, which included not a completely new covenant, but a reiteration of the same covenant with more detail.

The issue is, that even though God has extended the promise to Abram, Abram is still human; and thus, he still sins. And in his sin, he does something stupid, which we see in this morning’s passage. Despite receiving promises from God, Abram sins; however, the beauty of it is that despite Abram’s sin, God still works the situation out for his good. Keep this in mind, let’s read the passage together:

Genesis 12:10–20 ESV

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

As we study Genesis 12:10-20 together, we’re going to take it into two parts: (1) Abram’s Sin (10-16) and (2) God’s Providence (17-20). What we see in this passage is Abram still thinking and acting sinfully even though he had received such a great promise from the Lord. We see him doing essentially what we all do—due to fear, he chooses to disobey God even after receiving God’s promise in the previous verses. Really, what we see in Genesis 12:10-20 is what happens when you allow fear of man to dictate your life rather than fear of God.

Prayer for Illumination

Abram’s Sin (10-16)

So, let’s start with just a brief reminder of the covenant that Abram just received from God—in vv. 1-9.

Remember, God tells Abram to leave his home and that he will bless him and make his name great.

Part of what blesses Abram and makes his name great is the building up of the nation of Israel.

But ultimately, ultimately, though this speaks about the institution of the nation of Israel—the primary way that his family would bless all other nations is through the birth of Messiah.

Abram and his family is now an integral part of the covenant made by God to redeem His people.

As Abram receives this covenant from God, part of his role (meaning Abram) was to leave his home and his family, to go towards the Land of Canaan (though, if you read closely, you’ll notice that he doesn’t settle there yet).

And he does this despite the several unknown variables in the situation and as far as we can tell, he does this with little to no hesitation.

He simply obeys God and leaves his home and goes through the land of Canaan and settles on the other side of Canaan.

The issue is that shortly after arriving and settling, there was a great famine throughout the land. The Bible says that there was a famine in the land, and that this famine “was severe.”

For most of us, that might be a bit hard to imagine—for two reasons:

First, we live in a country that doesn’t experience famine to the same extent as this area of the world.

Second, because our nation is economically wealthy, there’s an ability to find food even if you can’t grow it in your back yard.

But, remember, in their context, if they couldn’t grow the food themselves because of a great famine—they didn’t have food.

And so, Abram and Sarai make the decision to travel from their new home to Egypt and to sojourn in Egypt.

That might sound confusing to you because for most of us, when we think of Egypt our minds automatically think of the dessert and of the pyramids, but that’s not an entirely accurate picture of Egypt.

And if you look at a map of Egypt (even modern Egypt), you’ll notice that there’s greenery particularly along the Nile river—and, if you look closely, that’s why there are so many cities built up along the Nile, for the fertile land that surrounds it.

Abram and Sarai decide to go to Egypt because Egypt has a more stable agricultural environment compared to the land of Canaan—Canaan is totally dependent on rainfall, whereas, Egypt has the Nile that feeds all its agricultural needs.

But, and here’s where the issue of the fear of man comes into play. Out of fear, Abram comes up with a convoluted plan to save his own skin. In vv. 11-13, we see this plan, “When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, ‘I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.’”

Abram’s plan is purely based on the fear of man—let’s talk about that concept because it might be a concept that you’re unfamiliar with.

Rather, you’re probably familiar with the idea of the fear of God, which is right and necessary—the Bible says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (KJV)

And really, we know that the idea here isn’t necessarily an afraid sort of fear—because, as Christians, we have no reason to fear the Lord in this way because Jesus has taken the punishment that would’ve necessitated this sort of fear of the Lord. Unbelievers ought to fear the Lord in this way.

As believers, the fear of the Lord is really more of a reverential awe that actually impacts the way we live—the fear of the Lord results in our respect for Him, obedience towards Him, submission to His Law and His discipline; really, it results in our worship of Him and His awesome glory.

We see this in passages like Hebrews 12:28-29, that we are to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)

We see this idea in passages like Deuteronomy 10:12, 20-21, “12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.” (ESV)

So, what is the fear of man? In some ways, it’s the opposite of the fear of God.

So, the fear of God is right understanding of the Lord that results in respect, obedience, submission, and worship.

The fear of man is the wrong understanding of both God and man.

Because the fear of man culminates in elevating mankind over God—thus, the fear of man is the result of idolatry.

It results in what we might call people-pleasing, or significant and unjust concern over how people might think of us.

Again, it’s the result of idolatrous ideology concerning mankind.

When speaking about the contrast between the fear of man and the fear of God, John Bunyan says, “Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, and self-willed, but also a fearless creature. ‘There is,’ saith the text, ‘no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom 3:18). No fear of God! There is fear of man, fear of losing his favour, his love, his good-will, his help, his friends; this is seen everywhere . . . But come now to God; why, none fear him; that is, by nature, none reverence him; they neither fear his frowns, nor seek his favour, nor inquire how they may escape his revenging hand that is lifted up against their sins and their souls because of sin . . . ‘They fear not me, saith the Lord’ (Mal 3:5).” (John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2006), 705.)

Did, you catch what the problem with the fear of man is? The fear of man is a fear of losing mankind’s favor, love from others, good-will from people instead of fearing the Lord.

And this is precisely what Abram is doing in Genesis 12. Out of the fear of man, he tells his wife to technically lie.

I say technically because technically, Sarai didn’t lie (Abram points that out in Genesis 20 when he does essentially the same thing with Abimelech.

Abram, acting out of fear towards mankind, concocts a plan to protect himself—even though he knows that God had a plan and a promise for him.

And due to Abram’s lie, vv. 14-16 tell us that when they entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw Sarai, noticed her beauty, and Pharaoh took her into his house.

In reality, what this tells us is that Abram’s fears about the men of Egypt was correct; however, even though he was correct, it doesn’t absolve him of the sin that he committed.

He still lied to deceive the men of Egypt.

He still acted in a way that put his wife into harm’s way.

Most importantly, his fear of man revealed that he was more concerned with the thoughts of man than he was with the thoughts of God.

God had already given him a promise and as part of that promise, God was going to bless him and make him into a great nation. God even told him that those who bless him would be blessed and those who dishonor him will be cursed.

If he had just logically thought about this promise—he would’ve realized that his fear, that they would kill him and take her, couldn’t happen because of the promise.

And yet, when confronted with the impending meeting of the men of Egypt, he chooses to ignore all that God had promised him and he choose sin rather than God.

He feared the men of Egypt more than he feared God.

Now, he might have thought that he got away with this sin, because in v. 16, we see that he received such an abundance of wealth from Pharaoh; Pharaoh gave him livestock and servants and an abundance of them at that. And it could’ve caused him to think that he had avoided the consequences of his sin and that he had gotten away with his scheme, but the reality is that he didn’t get away with anything. And we see that in the remaining four verses—that even though Pharaoh had gifted him extraordinary wealth and it appeared as if Abram had gotten away with it, God was still providentially working. Let’s re-read vv. 17-20.

God’s Providence (17-20)

Genesis 12:17–20 ESV

17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

God does something miraculous in v. 17.

In that he afflicts Pharaoh’s house with great plagues.

Plagues is a word that simply refers to serious disease and illness—we’re not really sure what these plagues are.

They could be similar to the plagues that we see in Exodus; however, I’d caution against making that assumption purely based on the fact that it is an assumption. Just because God utilizes certain plagues in the book of Exodus doesn’t mean that He would always resort to the same plagues.

All we know is that the plagues sent by God on Pharaoh’s house were significant enough the Pharaoh noticed and unlike the future Pharaoh in Exodus, this Pharaoh actually listen

And he does something about the situation—namely, he calls for Abram and he returns Sarai to him.

How exactly Pharaoh figured out that the issue at hand was Sarai, we’re not too particularly sure—it could be that God miraculous told him (whether through a dream or vision), it could be that Sarai finally admitted to it.

Or it could be that due to the superstitious nature of the Egyptian people—they deduced that prior to Sarai’s arrival, they didn’t have severe plagues and after her arrival, they had plagues—and thus, her presence brought about plagues.

However, at some point, Pharaoh pieces all this together and confronts Abram in vv. 18-19.

“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife?”

I think Pharaoh’s response here is justified. All of this could have been prevented if Abram had simply told the truth. None of this would’ve happened if Sarai had just spoken up earlier.

Pharaoh is justifiably angry at what had happened; and yet, he returns Sarai, and sends Abram and Sarai away with all that he had already given to Abram.

This is actually a bit surprising—in this time period and in this culture, Pharaoh didn’t have to return Sarai to Abram, he was the king and in their culture, the king could do whatever he wanted, including taking someone else’s wife.

And yet, the king acts justly and returns Sarai to Abram and he doesn’t ask Abram for any sort of recompense for what happened—he simply lets Abram go, which is really an act of mercy.

There is a bit of irony here, that Abram, who had received a promise from God acted so unjustly; whereas, Pharaoh, who doesn’t know God who didn’t receive a promise from the Lord, acted so justly.

The irony is that Pharaoh actually has a genuine fear of the Lord; whereas, Abram, who has a covenant with the Lord, fears man more than he fears God.

Think about how significant of a fact this is—Pharaoh doesn’t know Yahweh. The Egyptians worship a pantheon of gods. In fact, their pantheon of gods is the basis for the plagues in Exodus—as in, God used their false gods as examples of His own power.

Pharaoh doesn’t worship Yahweh, he doesn’t follow God, and yet, when the realization comes upon him that the plagues that they were experiencing were the punishments of all that had happened, he didn’t hesitate but to make things right.

That doesn’t that Pharaoh believed in Yahweh or suddenly chose to follow him—what it does mean is that he was genuinely afraid that if he didn’t make things right that Abram’s God would continue to do harm towards the household of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh feared God.

Abram knows Yahweh, he walks with God, he has an everlasting covenant with God; and yet, when it came down to it—Abram feared the men of Egypt more than he feared God.

And in his fear of man, he was willing to commit sin; in his fear of man, he was willing to give up his own wife. In his fear of man, he was willing to forget the covenant that he had with God and really forget that God had a plan for him and he chose to make up his own plan.

Abram claimed to worship Yahweh, he claimed to follow God, he even left his home and the rest of his family behind to follow the Lord; and yet, when the potential for harm to be done to him appeared, he succumbed under the fear of man and didn’t trust God to take care of him.

Because ultimately, what the fear of man is is it is a lack of trust in the Lord.

The beauty, however, is that even though Abram messed up, even though he sinned due to his fear, God still providentially worked all these things out for the good of Abram and Sarai.

In this text, we see material blessings as well as the return of Sarai to Abram—note again that when Pharaoh sends them away, he sends them away with all their belongings.

This could’ve gone a lot worse—Pharaoh could’ve imprisoned them, he could’ve kept Sarai for himself, he could’ve had Abram executed for lying to him.

He could’ve sent them both away with nothing; and yet, he doesn’t.

Even if they didn’t see it at the time—this was something truly done by God. Pharaoh could’ve literally done anything to them, but providentially God worked in such a way that Sarai gets to go home with her husband and they get to retain the wealth that they had received.

As we continue in Genesis and throughout the rest of the Bible, we see the fulfillment of the promises that God made Abram—to make his name great, to turn his offspring into a great nation, to bless all the other nations through his offspring.

Which, honestly, this shouldn’t surprise us—if we’ve learned only one thing throughout Genesis thus far, it’s this—God is always faithful and He keeps His promises.

Thus, even though Abram sinned, God is still going to keep His promise to him—because the promise isn’t based on Abram, it’s based on God—God said that He would do this; and thus, He will do this.

It actually ought to give us hope because as I’ve said before, if it were all up to us, we would certainly mess things up; and yet, God is still good, He is still faithful.

Which brings us this morning to our application; and our application is really based on this concept of the fear of man versus the fear of God. Ultimately, though Abram lied, which was a sin; the lying was driven by his fear of man, which is also sin. And the reality is, that we all struggle with this to some extent and in our fear of man, we tend to make God small and we make man big in our mind and in our heart.

Let me remind you of what John Bunyan said about this issue before we jump into application:

“Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, and self-willed, but also a fearless creature. ‘There is,’ saith the text, ‘no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom 3:18). No fear of God! There is fear of man, fear of losing his favour, his love, his good-will, his help, his friends; this is seen everywhere . . . But come now to God; why, none fear him; that is, by nature, none reverence him; they neither fear his frowns, nor seek his favour, nor inquire how they may escape his revenging hand that is lifted up against their sins and their souls because of sin . . . ‘They fear not me, saith the Lord’ (Mal 3:5).” (John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2006), 705.)

Application

Fear of man in this context—where you’re willing to sin, where you choose to disobey God, or you intentionally act differently despite knowing what God’s Word says and what He has promised, is absolutely sinful.

What this looks like today is actually similar to how Abram responded in Genesis 12.

So, he is fearful of the Egyptian men, so he immediately forgets about what God has promised, he disobeys God by giving up his wife to Pharaoh, and he sins through lying.

Now, I’m hoping that none of us experiences this exact situation in life, but we do this in other ways, don’t we?

Because we’re worried about losing a friendship, we’ll allow our friends to talk us into doing things that are sinful—we’ll drink to excess, we’ll lie, or we’ll do something that isn’t quite right because our friends want us to.

Because we’re concerned about what our unbelieving family thinks about us, we intentionally change our behavior despite knowing God’s promises for us.

Because we want people to like us, we people please instead of obeying what God has told us to do—in particular, when it comes to issues like the Great Commission.

Essentially, what fear of man is is idolatry.

You allow your friends to talk yourself into doing sinful things because you’ve idolized that friendship or that relationship.

You change your behavior around your unbelieving family because you’ve idolized what you think family ought to look like.

You disobey what God has told you to do in an effort to get people to like you because you idolize being liked—or even, you’re idolizing the emotions that come with being liked.

You’ve elevated the creation—meaning mankind above the Creator.

And it is absolutely sinful and it will only ever lead you further and further into sin.

You might hear all that and you might think, “ok, I get it, but how do I fix it?” How do I stop fearing man and start fearing God the way that I’m intended to fear God and the only solution is for you to reorient the way that you think about other people and ultimately about God.

You need to think like God thinks concerning these issues—meaning, you need to have a high view of God and a balanced view of mankind.

That high view of God is what causes you and compels you to worship Him, to revere Him, to draw near to Him, and to honor Him. That high view of God is what convinces you that He is worth following.

The high view of God is essentially the recognition of what Paul says to the Athenians in Acts 17:24-28, “The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each on of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said.” (NASB)

The high view of God is essentially the recognition that we owe our everything to God because of who He is.

John Betz, “When . . . we say that Christ is the [Word] of creation we mean that he is the world’s original and ultimate meaning, and therefore the one in whom we find our own meaning.” (John R. Betz, Christ, the Logos of Creation: An Essay in Analogical Metaphysics (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2023), 6-7.)

The balanced view of mankind is what prevents you from elevating mankind too high and it is what stops you from thinking too lowly of other people—you can easily fall into the sin of either thinking too much of mankind, which is what the fear of man is and thinking too lowly of mankind, which is partly what James warns against when he speaks of the sin of partiality.

When we think too highly about those around us, we risk idolizing them and placing them in a position above God.

When we think too lowly about others, we risk treating others sinfully—unlovingly, unkindly, because we elevate ourselves too highly above them.

In reality, we need to view people the same way that God views them—as people made in the image of God. People who deserve love, respect, compassion, and care. Ultimately, as people who need Jesus. We need to love what Jesus loves and hate what Jesus hates.

This high view of God and balanced view of mankind does not come easily and the reason for that is simple—in our flesh, in our sin, we always struggle to see things how God sees them.

That includes how He sees Himself; and it includes how He sees the people around us.

But through the process of sanctification, as we continue to seek the Lord, the Spirit works within us to right our view of the world around us, to renew our minds and to help us think like He thinks.

So, the question is as you live your life—are you fearing man more than you’re fearing God? Or do you have a right understanding of both God and man?

We too easily fall into the trap of fearing man rather than fearing God—and it is absolutely sinful; and it only ever leads to more sin.

You need to be sure, as you live your life, that your mind and your heart views those around you correctly and sees God correctly.

When you find yourself fearing man more than God, the only right response is to simply repent and to cry out to God for help.

When you find yourself thinking less of God than you ought to, the only right response is to repent and to cry out to God for help.

And the beauty of this all, is that when you slip up and you find yourself seeing man bigger than God is, that God is still working in your and through you—He will work all of it out for your good.

What we learn in Genesis 12:10-20 is that it is far too easy for us to fear man; and it is far too easy for us to not trust God. When you find yourself thinking this way—repent, cry out to Jesus, and trust God through it all.

Pastoral Prayer