Genesis 12.11-20-The Lord Delivers Abram and Sarai
Wednesday November 16, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 12:11-20-The Lord Delivers Abram and Sarai
Lesson # 62
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 12:10.
Last evening, we studied Genesis 12:10 where against the will of the Lord, Abram leaves the land of promise, Canaan, because of a severe famine and goes down to Egypt to solve the problem.
This evening we will study Genesis 12:11-16, which records Abram giving his wife Sarai as compensation in an agreement with the Egyptians to let him sojourn in the land.
Also, we will study Genesis 12:17-20, the Lord intervenes and overrules Abram’s bad decision and brings a great plague upon Pharaoh’s house, which Pharaoh recognizes is divine intervention and causes him to return Sarai to Abram and then sends them out of the country.
Genesis 12:10, “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.”
The word “sojourned” is the Hebrew verb gur (rWG), which refers to a specific legal status of a person who lives as a resident and is in a dependent legal status and is not a native, but is dwelling upon the land.
In societies, which possess a clan structure, this person is without legal protection since he has no blood ties.
Such a person, like Abraham, would have been dependent upon a native to recognize and protect him.
This is the case in Egypt.
The Mari documents (1800 B.C.) indicate that the relationship between “sitting” farmers and nomadic herders (such as Abraham) was that contracts were drawn up concerning grazing and watering rights.
This relationship is known as “dimorphism” as these two distinct yet interrelated cultures exist side by side.
Abraham is entering into a land, where he no legal rights and protection, which will affect his decision-making and will cause him to enter into a contract that will compromise his wife and integrity and witness before the unbeliever.
Genesis 12:11, “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.’”
Genesis 12:12, “and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.”
Genesis 12:13, “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.”
Egyptian custom would not allow a foreign prince and his entourage to live in Egypt without making a treaty or contract.
The custom also was for the foreign prince to give an acceptable daughter or a sister into the Pharaoh’s harem to seal the treaty and guarantee the prince’s good behavior while in Egypt.
Therefore, Abram is telling Sarai to say to the Egyptians that she is his sister, which is a half truth since she was his half-sister, having the same father Terah but different mothers according to Genesis 20:12.
If no treaty were made, crossing the border into Egypt would be considered an invasion, an act of war.
Abram was reasoning that if he didn’t make a treaty they would attack and kill him and take Sarai into Pharaoh’s harem as a trophy of war, as was the custom.
If Abram made the treaty she would go into Pharaoh’s harem, but at least he reasoned that he would stay alive and be able to take care of those under his protection.
He also expected that Sarai would be treated well because of her great beauty.
Of course, he should have turned around and went back to Canaan rather than put himself and his wife in such a compromising position.
Instead of staying in the land of Canaan and trusting in the Lord to provide in the midst of famine, Abram goes to Egypt and puts himself and his wife in a more dangerous position.
It would have been far better for Abram to entrust his life and the lives of his family to the Lord in Canaan, even in the midst of a severe famine, than to entrust it to Pharaoh, an unbeliever.
The irony is that Abram is making a contract with an unbeliever, Pharaoh rather than placing his faith in the contract that the Lord made with him.
Principle: Better to trust the Lord with your life than with men.
Psalm 118:8, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”
Psalm 118:9, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”
Principle: Better to go through adversity according to the will of God rather than going through adversity out of the will of God.
The Lord, who is in control of history and thus Abram’s circumstances, has worked out the circumstances so that Abram has a choice to make, either to obey Him and stay in Canaan, which the Lord had promised him or disobey and give his wife Sarai to the Egyptians.
Abram doesn’t go to the Lord in prayer because he is living in fear of the famine and when you live in fear you are out of fellowship and when you are out of fellowship you cannot pray.
The Holy Spirit at this point has already convicted him that he is operating in unbelief by leaving the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised him.
You must first confess the sin and then pray.
Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
1 John 1:9, “If any of us does at any time confess our sins, then, He (God the Father) is faithful and just with the result that He forgives us our sins and purifies us from each and every wrongdoing.”
Therefore, motivated by fear from unbelief, Abram attempts to deal with his fears with his own human power and intellect.
Abram has failed as Sarai’s husband but Sarai has not failed as his wife since she is being obedient to Abram.
The Lord is going to protect and honor Sarai for obeying her husband even though her husband is failing in his authority has her husband.
Principle for Christian women who are married, the Lord will protect you even if your husband fails in his authority as your husband.
Sarai’s submissiveness to her husband is an excellent example for Christian women to follow when conducting themselves in their marriages, especially in adversity.
1 Peter 3:1, “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.”
1 Peter 3:2, “as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.”
1 Peter 3:3, “Your adornment must not be merely external -- braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses.”
1 Peter 3:4, “but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”
1 Peter 3:5, “For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands.”
1 Peter 3:6, “just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”
1 Peter 3:7, “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
Genesis 12:14, “It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.”
Genesis 12:15, “Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.”
Sarai was so beautiful that the Egyptian recommended her to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh pronounced PHAY row, was the title of the kings of Egypt until 323 B.C. and in the Egyptian language the word Pharaoh means "great house."
This word was originally used to describe the palace of the king but around 1500 B.C. this term was applied to the Egyptian kings and meant something like "his honor, his majesty."
Genesis 12:16, “Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.”
Genesis 12:14-16 records that everything went according to Abram’s plan.
The Egyptians took Sarai and she became a part of Pharaoh’s harem and he was treated well because of her.
Abram’s failure in Egypt is a perfect example of a believer being blessed by the devil when he is out of the will of God since Pharaoh prospers Abram materially because of Sarai’s great beauty.
For instance, camels were a prime measure of wealth and status as well as having many slaves.
Now, you might say, how could Abraham commit this terrible sin?
The answer is simple, Abraham, like all men whether believer or unbeliever possesses a sin nature.
Every one in the human race possesses an old sin nature as a result of the imputation of Adam’s original sin in the garden at the moment of physical birth, which makes them physically alive but spiritually dead and yet qualified for grace.
Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
The fact that we all have a sin nature means that at any time we can enter into sin, thus Abram simply makes a bad decision, which is motivated by his sin nature trend to fear, worry and anxiety.
The Lord is not happy with this situation since the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was to come through the line of Abram and Sarai and Sarai is an innocent victim of Abram’s stupidity and will defend her honor.
Therefore, the Lord will intervene and exercise His omnipotence to overrule Abram’s bad decision and force Pharaoh to remove Abram from Egypt so that he goes back to the land of promise in Canaan.
Genesis 12:17, “But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.”
“Lord” is the proper noun Yahweh (hw *hy+), which is the personal name of God emphasizing the “immanency” and “sovereignty” of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the affairs of men.
Genesis 12:18, “Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, ‘What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?’”
Immediately, without anyone telling him, Pharaoh, an unbeliever recognizes that God has intervened by the supernatural character of the suffering inflicted upon his house.
Pharaoh is a very discerning human being and he would have to be in order to be an effective ruler, and recognizes that since Sarai has been taken into his harem, his house has suffered greatly.
Genesis 12:19, “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.”
The unbeliever Pharaoh demonstrates more moral awareness than the believer Abram by rebuking Abram using his wife as compensation in the agreement, which permitted him to sojourn in the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh discerns that Sarai must not have been Abram’s sister but his wife since his house has suffered greatly since she was admitted into his harem.
Genesis 12:20, “Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.”
In Genesis 12:10-20, we see the function of God’s directive, permissive and overruling will.
Directive will of God: God directly states what He desires of us.
Permissive will of God: God permits us to have our own way.
Overruling will of God: God overrules our decisions-not letting them have their intended results-in order to protect us and the rest of mankind from our own negative volition and to preserve and perpetuate His own marvelous plan.
In Genesis 12:7 the Lord’s “directive” will is stated where the Lord promises to give to Abram the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”
In Genesis 12:10-16, we see the Lord’s “permissive” will in action where He “permits” Abram to leave the land of Canaan and give up his wife Sarai as compensation in an agreement with the Egyptians to let him sojourn in Egypt.
In Genesis 12:17-20, we see the “overruling” God in action, where the Lord intervened and does not permit Pharaoh to have sexual intercourse with Sarai, which would have resulted in adultery and would have been worthy of death, thus God protected Pharaoh from unwittingly committing adultery with Sarai.
Also, notice that even though Abram failed, he was still blessed by the Lord since he took everything with him that the Egyptians gave him because of his wife Sarai and this is indicated by the phrase “and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.”
Genesis 12:16 records that because Sarai was so beautiful the Egyptians gave him “sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.”
Therefore, Abram learns firsthand of the Lord’s grace where the Lord treats Abram better than he deserves.
The Lord was faithful to His covenant with Abram even though Abram was unfaithful to Him.
Remember, the Lord’s covenant with Abram recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 was “unconditional” meaning that the fulfillment of the covenant was dependent upon the faithfulness of the Lord rather than Abram being faithful.
2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Abram has learned first hand of the Lord’s protection and concern for him and his family, and that He is faithful to His covenant with Abram (Ps. 105:8-15).