Introduction: Abram had left Ur of the Chaldees and was now living in the land of Canaan. He had settled, at least for the time being, south of Bethel and Ai. The exact location is not given in the text. When a real problem came, Abram experienced his first significant test of faith. How would he respond to this problem or challenge?
Full disclosure: this message may and probably does bear a resemblance to a previous message, the first one in my “Go thy way” series, “Go thy way: When Abram went to Egypt” but I promise this message is not a carbon copy of that one. This message has a different focus even though the outcome is the same.
1 Abram’s test of faith: the famine that came to Canaan
Text, Genesis 12:10, KJV: 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
How often Abram had experienced famine during his days in Ur of the Chaldees is never stated. The city was located near the mouth of the Tigris/Euphrates Rivers and if the rivers flooded, like the Nile in Egypt, there was probably plenty of fertile soil for crops. Too, there might have been fish or other, similar, foods available by fishing from the river banks. None of that was available in the southern part of Canaan, where the land’s fertility was unknown in those days and the Jordan River was many miles away. The Mediterranean Sea was many miles to the west and if Abram was living near Hebron, as he was later (Gen 13:18), the body of water now known as the Dead Sea was still located on the other side of a mountain range, per Bible atlases.
Even so, the Jordan Valley was well-watered and Moses even said it was “as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar (Gen 13:10, KJV)”. If, however, Abram was aware of this, or if he knew anything about it, the text does not mention this. The thing to remember is that a famine in the land was something Abram might not have had to deal with before he came to Canaan. With family, livestock, and other people depending on him for just about everything, this must have been a crushing blow to him.
Something about famines: seldom are they sudden, as in plenty of crops and food one day and not much the next. The signs seem to be gradual: failure of crops, not enough or too much rain, enemy warriors disrupting the food supply, or other examples. How and when Abram realized there was a famine is as sobering as it was surprising. Again, it is doubtful he had ever had to endure anything like this before, so what was he going to do?
And even more, the problem was not just physical or agricultural. This was a test of faith on Abram’s part, even though he may not have understood what was going on. Something every believer has to remember is that nothing happens by chance, luck, happenstance, or anything like that. It is important to remember that every believer has an Enemy, the Devil or Satan, and he is furious that anyone leaves him to become a follower of Jesus. Abram’s spiritual condition is not certain at this point, but at the very least he was listening and following the God of Noah. He had even built some altars to the LORD before this point (Gen 11:7-9).
Now he was facing his first test of faith, even worse for him because his faith was still relatively new, and he was in a “can’t win” situation. He couldn’t stay where he was, as there wasn’t enough food for his household; but God had told him to leave his hometown (Ur) in apparently no uncertain terms—so that “I’m going back home” option wasn’t an option. Where could he go, and what could he do?
It turns out, there was another place he could go—but there was something he didn’t do first.
2 Abram’s lack of faith: the journey to Egypt
Text, Genesis 12:11-16, KJV: 11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. 14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
Abram was facing a decision but he made one very serious mistake. Nowhere do we read that he asked the LORD for guidance about what to do, now that a famine was affecting him and his household. This, by the way, was not the only famine to affect the ancient Middle East: Abram’s grandson Joseph would, many years later, supervise one of the greatest food storage and distribution programs as Egypt’s prime minister. God sent a famine in the time of David because Saul had put some Gibeonites to death (2 Samuel 21:1-10). During the days of the prophets, centuries after Joseph, there was a three-year famine in Elijah’s lifetime (1 Kings 17:1), and at least two others in the days of Elisha, the successor of Elijah (one caused by the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 6; and a seven-year famine, 2 Kings 8:1-6). Deliverance from these did come eventually but the effect on the people must have lasted for a long time.
Abram, of course, knew nothing of these future events, and if I am correct, this is the first famine mentioned in the Bible. As mentioned, he knew he couldn’t stay where he was, and he had been told to LEAVE his home town (Ur of the Chaldees) so that was not an option either. He decided to head to Egypt, but again, how he even knew of the place, and how he discovered there was food available for purchase there, is nowhere mentioned. Some commentators observed that Egypt was under the rule of foreigners, called the “Hyksos”, and some of them might well have been Semitic, even as Abram was. Maybe he thought his relatives would treat him better than the native Egyptians? Who knows?
Regardless of whom he thought was ruling Egypt, Abram knew one basically universal truth. No matter what status a man had, if he was married, a ruler could easily change his wife’s status from wife to widow. This seemed to be especially true if the wife was beautiful—as Sarai definitely was at the time! Allowing that Abram was 75 when he left Haran, and that Sarai was 10 years younger, that made her 65 but she was still, in Abram’s words, “a fair woman”. This meant she was beautiful!
And because she was so beautiful, Abram failed his first test of faith again by asking Sarai to tell a lie, actually a half-truth, that she was his sister and not his wife. Abram “justified” this by explaining to Sarai, “If they find out we’re married, they’ll kill me and take you; but if you say you’re my sister, they’ll leave us alone (paraphrased)”. Was he more concerned for her, or for himself? We may never know.
All of this “preparation” took place before they arrived in Egypt. Once they got there, the Egyptians did indeed notice Sarai was “very fair”—very beautiful—and someone besides Abram noticed her, too. The princes saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
Abram lost Sarai, anyway. She was ‘taken into Pharaoh’s house” but the text does not specify what exactly that means. Perhaps it’s best that we don’t know what did happen, or could have happened to her.
But something did happen—only not to Sarai directly.
3 Abram’s struggle with faith: the enforced departure from Egypt
Text, Genesis 12:17-20, KJV: 17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. 20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
Up to this point in Abram’s life, there was no mention of any of his sins. This episode covers at least two or three of these: first, the sin of not seeking God’s guidance; second, the self-willed journey to Egypt itself; and third, telling Sarai to lie or tell a half-truth, at best, to protect himself. Clearly the LORD was not pleased with any of this but Abram was not punished in any way, except to be basically thrown out of Egypt.
And that is another point to ponder. Surely he would have known, or at least he would have realized, that Egypt—thoroughly pagan at this time, with the vast number of gods, goddesses, and other objects of worship—was not the place for a recent convert out of that very system! True, the names and titles may have been different but in Egypt, as in Ur, there would have been the “god” of the sun, the “god” or “goddess” of the moon, and so forth. Again, Abram had only recently been taken away from all of that, so why did he intend to “sojourn” in another land given to idolatry? Had he planned to move there, more or less permanently? Egypt was not part of the land of Canaan—Abram had no claim to any of Egypt’s land!
But now, Abram was guilty of these sins, and possibly more; even worse, he had apparently lost Sarai to Pharaoh’s “house”. To be sure, Pharaoh had given Abram many gifts or presents and had “entreated” Abram “well for (Sarai’s) sake (verse 16)”. One can only wonder just what kind of conversations Abram and Pharaoh had, with Sarai as the main subject. Eventually, though, something did happen, and Sarai had to have been glad it didn’t happen to her!
What happened? Pharaoh and his house suffered “great plagues” from the LORD! Moses does not tell us what these plagues were, or even how Pharaoh discovered they had come from the LORD, but somehow he did. And he wasn’t happy about it.
Pharaoh was definitely upset with Abram’s lie about Sarai being his sister, not his wife! He even said as much, telling Abram “I might have taken her to (be my) wife”! He had eyes on this very beautiful woman and may not have wanted to give her back to Abram. But now the plagues had come (whatever they were, and however serious they were), and somehow Pharaoh knew he had to give Sarai back to Abram—reluctantly, or else.
So, Pharaoh gave Sarai back to Abram and told him, “Here is your wife (and I wonder how emphatically he said this!), take her and GO (paraphrased)!” And to make sure Abram left Egypt, Pharaoh “commanded his men” so that they sent away Abram, his wife, and all that he had. Pharaoh probably couldn’t get Abram and his household out of that land as fast as possible. And, to his credit, there is no record Abram ever went back to Egypt. He made his way back to the land of Canaan, and back to God’s blessings.
Conclusion: Abram faced a test of his faith—severe, admittedly—when famine came to the land of Canaan. Abram failed that test by taking his entire household to Egypt, where he almost lost Sarai to Pharaoh’s household. Besides, if Sarai had never been restored to Abram, there wouldn’t have been an Isaac some years after this. Even so, God was in control, arranging and allowing things to happen so that Sarai would be restored to Abram, and Abram would never “sojourn” in the land of Egypt—not part of the Promised Land! Once he was “kicked out” of Egypt, Abram made his way back to the place where he belonged.
And there he began to experience the better things the LORD had in store for him. The lesson for us is that even if we fail in a test of faith, the LORD will forgive and restore His children, even as He did Abram. It is always better when we seek the Lord and His guidance before we act, but even then, He gives grace, just like He did for Abram.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
