←Genesis 12→BSB

These verses are structured around two commands to Abram: Leave and be a blessing (see study note on 12:2). Each directive is followed by three promises conditioned upon obedience.

• Through Abram’s faith and family, God began restoring the blessing. God called Abram from a pagan world to begin a new nation; his promises to Abram later became a covenant (ch 15).
• God’s call to Abram later helped convince the Israelites to leave Egypt and go to the land God promised to Abram. It also reminded the Babylonian exiles of their need to return to their own land (e.g., Isa 51).

Abram’s obedience to God’s call corresponded to God’s commands (see study note on 12:1–3). He journeyed to Canaan (12:4–6) and became a blessing (12:5–9).

• The oak of Moreh was apparently a Canaanite shrine; fertile groves of trees were sacred to the Canaanites (cp. Isa 1:29), and Moreh means “teacher.” Abram proclaimed (Luther: “preached”) the Lord’s name beside a pagan place of worship and instruction (Gen 12:8).
• Abram continued to be a blessing when he built an altar to worship God at Shechem and east of Bethel (12:8).

Abram had to keep moving camp because the Canaanites had the fertile land.

• Abram’s scheme was rooted in fear that jeopardized his family and God’s promises. Abram was not walking by faith when he went to Egypt. He stopped building altars and his deceptiveness took center stage. Deception would plague his family throughout Genesis (26:1–11; 27:1–29; 29:15–30; 30:34–36; 31:6–11; 37:18–35; 39:7–20).
• Abram’s plan was probably based on a social custom whereby a brother arranged the marriage of his sister (cp. 24:29–61). Abram may have thought that any potential suitor would have to deal with him, giving him time to leave with Sarai. He did not count on Pharaoh’s acting without negotiation (12:14–16).

• This episode shows that God would not allow Abram to jeopardize his promises. Just after Abram’s obedience to the call, a famine tested his weak faith. God delivered him and his family, even though Abram foolishly used deception rather than trusting in God to preserve him in Egypt.
• This story deliberately parallels Israel’s later bondage in Egypt. Because of a famine (Gen 12:10 // Gen 47:13), Abram/Israel went to Egypt (Gen 12:10 // Gen 47:27); there was an attempt to kill the males and save the females (Gen 12:12 // Exod 1:22); God plagued Egypt (Gen 12:17 // Exod 7:14–11:10); Abram/Israel plundered Egypt (Gen 12:16 // Exod 12:35–36); they were expelled (Hebrew shalakh, “send”; Gen 12:19–20 // Exod 12:31–33) and ascended to the Negev (Gen 13:1 // Num 13:17, 22). Israel was to believe that God would deliver them from bondage in Egypt through the plagues because their ancestor had already been rescued from bondage in Egypt.

Sarai was 65 years old, but she lived to be 127; she was like a modern childless woman of about 35. She and Abram came from a noble family (see study note on 11:29), so she was regal in her person and dress. Pharaoh was attracted by her physical appearance and her political assets.

• Abram was bound by the king’s gift to an unwanted agreement about Sarai that he could not prevent. His scheme had resulted in a terrible bind that endangered him, Sarai, and the promise.
• Abram appeared to prosper from his deception, but the new possessions also caused crises. Abram and Lot had to separate (ch 13), and Hagar, an Egyptian maiden, became the mother of the Ishmaelites, perennial enemies of Israel (ch 16).

God’s intervention rescued Sarai and preserved the marriage to fulfill the covenant promise. Sarai’s restoration to Abram came with a rebuke from Pharaoh on God’s behalf (12:18–19).