GENESIS 12: 4-20
Welcome back, students. It has been a long while since we last learned anything here. I hope it was not the last time you opened a Bible hahaha. This is Lesson 11 at Scope Bible School and, just to let you know, this session marks the beginning of Semester 2 on the God’s Kingdom History Timeline course (GKHT). We decided to make it a full course with the guidance of the Spirit.
Today we shall be taking a very long journey with our Father Abraham through Canaan, Egypt, and back in Genesis 12:4-20. So prepare your camels and donkeys.
Introduction and Timeline:
The narrative shift from Genesis chapter 11 to chapter 12 shows a significant transition from pre-history to an account focused more on history; we move away from what most historians regard as illusional. Not that they are right, they are not; but their basis of proving history using scientific methods is what brings the contention. Note very keenly that this story is supposed to be a continuous one without a chapter break; as a matter of fact, chapter and verse breaks were not in the original manuscripts of the Bible, so they should not be a basis for anything important as far as studying the Bible is concerned, their importance is secondary. There are two very important timelines we need to look at; one will break down and summaries the story of Genesis, and the other will do the same for the story of Abraham. Then there will be a few profile details to capture about our guy Abraham before we hit the road!
- Timeline of the patriarchs of Genesis 12 to end of the book.
Chapters 12-20 cover Abraham
Chapters 21-26 cover Isaac
Chapters 27-36 cover Jacob
Chapters 37-50 cover Joseph.
- Timeline of Abraham
Chapter 12: The call of Abraham
Chapter 13: The Separation of Lot
Chapter 14: The Battle of the 9 Kings, Melchizedek
Chapters 5-15: The Abrahamic covenant.
- Names of Abraham
- Father of the faithful (Hebrews 11:8)
- Friend of God (Hebrew יְדִיד־אֵל) ( James 2:23, 2 Chronicles 20, Isaiah 41).
Abraham is called a friend of God/beloved of God by spiritual design and not by mistake. Below is the evidence of this design, drawn from some Bible individuals who were called by a similar word.
Evidence of this Spiritual Design: Daniel and John
Daniel is referred to as the beloved prophet (Daniel 7:12), and John is called the beloved disciple. Chuck Missler says that the term beloved seems to be associated with “‘apocalyptic privilege”, where whoever was called beloved got the privilege to see apocalyptic visions (English terms at their best hahaha). Apocalyptic visions are visions about end times. John and Daniel wrote the most apocalyptic parts of the Bible (Revelation, Dan 2,7-12). But there is another group of people that are called God’s friends in John 15:15. These are the believers of Jesus Christ who gain this belovedness and hence apocalyptic privilege by the acceptance of the most beloved (Jesus Christ), the seed of Abraham, the friend of God, and by studying scripture these individuals see beyond what Abraham, Daniel, and John could see (We talked about this in lesson 9). In a way these individuals are extra-apocalyptic! Mel Gibson, director of Apocalypto must be smiling now hahaha.
- About Abraham’s Personal Life
Abraham’s life is a continual struggle between flesh and spirit, exemplified by conflicts such as Ishmael vs. Isaac and Sarah vs. Hagar (Galatians 4:21-31).
Analysis of Genesis 12: 4-20 Journeys (Commentary)
You will need this map to study this section.
Gen 12:4-20
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
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.
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.
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.
Skip Heitzig, calls the first portion of this story (verses 1-9) the Testimony of Abraham; and the second (verses 9-20) the Test of Abraham. Now, let’s look at these journeys, and some of what happened during their courses.
- To Canaan
Verse 5 “…and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”
Canaanites were descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, and their tribes included the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Sidon, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites. They are brothers to Egypt, Cush (Ethiopia), and Philistines are their nephews (sons to Egypt). Genesis 10:19 defines their territory (19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.).
Canaan was cursed by his grandfather Noah for Ham’s shameful action (Genesis 9: 18-24); and the curse placed him in a place inferior to that of Shem (Genesis 9:25-27) his uncle. Whatsoever reason Noah had for cursing, particularly Canaan when Ham had Cush, Egypt, Put, and maybe some daughters to choose from, we can’t tell. Canaan doesn’t even seem to be the firstborn!
Whatever the reason was, right here the curse seems to be taking a toll on the Canaanites who, as we are noticing from God’s promise (and the whispers Abraham is getting in his ears), are destined to lose their land to their Semite cousins represented here by Abraham and family. What is striking is that the Lord doesn’t snatch away this land all at once from them, nor does he instruct Abraham to wage war against them, He only seems to permit him to dwell among them, make friends and allies of them (Genesis 14), and spy the land (by moving through it). He seems to be using the indirect method of invasion (live with the enemy, study the enemy, outnumber the enemy, subdue the enemy). And yet sadly, these Semite folks (Israelites) collapse into Egyptian slavery hundreds of years later, God seems to be so laid back about giving them this land, and their hope for it seems to die (they lived with the enemy till Abraham died, they did not subdue the enemy). So was the curse working or are our dear Semite chaps day-dreaming? Sounds like the same question John the Baptist would ask Jesus. Well, it seems God wasn’t only interested in giving away the land, He was interested also in (1) punishing the Canaanites for their sin click here for a full commentary about this sin ) and (2) making the nation that would come out of Abraham (Israel) wealthy (Genesis 15: 13-14) enough to set up the institutions required to start and run the government (the Kingdom of Israel in 1 Samuel 10) that would come with the fulfillment of part A of the promise to Abraham. We know part A of the promise, right? He did this by exploiting the wealth accumulated over time by Canaanites’ brothers, Egypt (Exodus 12:35-36).
Ancient history intimates that because Canaan land was largely a desert, Canaanites got into the agricultural practice of digging trenches from the Mediterranean Sea to water their land so that after years of doing this Canaan became the land that ‘flows with milk and honey.’ By the time the Israelites conquered this land by Joshua (Book of Joshua), it was a land of good fruit (Numbers 13). If this legend is true, then that means that the 400 years Israelites spent in Egyptian slavery were indeed profitable for them because the Canaanites were turning Canaan land into…(fill in the missing gap). Imagine what a 400-year makeover of Canaan would look like! So indeed the curse worked. It worked all over the book of Joshua!
- In Shechem, a territory of Canaan.
Verse 6 “…And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem..”
Shechem was an ancient city in the central region of the land of Canaan, located between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. It is situated in what is now modern-day Nablus in the West Bank, approximately 63 kilometers (39 miles) north of Jerusalem and 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Sea of Galilee. The city’s strategic location made it an important cultural, commercial, and religious center in ancient times. These are some of the events that happen in this territory:
Jacob’s Well and Purchase of Land (Genesis 33:18-20): After Jacob reconciled with his brother Esau, he journeyed to Shechem and pitched his tent near the city. He bought a piece of land from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land included the plot where he dug a well, known as Jacob’s Well.
Dinah’s Violation and Retribution (Genesis 34): Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was violated by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled over the city. Following this incident, Shechem desired to marry Dinah. Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, deceitfully agreed to the marriage on the condition that the men of Shechem would be circumcised. While the men were recovering from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi attacked the city and killed all the males, including Shechem and his father. They also plundered the city.
Covenant at Shechem (Joshua 24): Joshua, before his death, gathered the Israelites at Shechem and delivered a farewell address. He recounted the history of God’s faithfulness to Israel, from the time of Abraham to their conquest of the Promised Land. Joshua then challenged the people to choose whom they would serve, either the Lord or the idols of their ancestors. The people pledged to serve the Lord, and Joshua erected a stone as a witness to their covenant.
Abimelech’s Reign (Judges 9): Abimelech, the son of Gideon, made himself king in Shechem after his father’s death. He convinced the people of Shechem to support him by appealing to their common ancestry. However, his reign was marked by violence and treachery. Eventually, Abimelech was killed in a battle at Thebez.
Verse 7
“And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said…”
It is at this point (Shechem in Canaan) from way back when God first spoke to him in Ur almost 15 years earlier (in a journey that involved settling in Haran almost 15 years, and as Nicolaus of Damascus is said to have reported, reigning in Syria: “Abram reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea…” ) that the Lord speaks again and lets Abraham know that he had finally reached where He wanted him. All through He has been silent. This journey is different from the journey of the Israelites whom God showed the way by sight and spoke to, through every twist and turn of their journey from Egypt. Task 1: Compare faith and works using this passage along Romans 4: 13-16 and 9.
“..and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him…”
It is important to take note of Abraham’s habit of building altars once he arrives in Canaan (at Shechem in verse 7; at the territory between Bethel and Ai in verse 8; and in the same place again in Genesis 13:4 (when He coupled it with ‘calling on the name of the Lord’) ). He is never reported to have built any altar in Ur, Haran, and Egypt. After the Egyptian journey when he gets back to Canaan, he resumes the habit. This shows that there was something spiritually unique about Canaan. The Lord, except when He called him while in Mesopotamia, is silent and invisible whenever Abram is physically out of Canaan.
Verse 9 is the end of Abraham’s Testimony, according to Skip Heitzig. Now let us see the Test.
- To Egypt
Verse 10:
“And there was a famine in the land…”
In verse 9, Abraham and his family move to the Negev (הַנֶּגֶב pronounced ha-Negev in Hebrew, a dry region in southern Canaan), and here in verse 10, the Bible reports a famine. The question for us is: was the famine only in the Negev or in the whole land of Canaan? The understanding of this portion would be partly dependent on which translation one is reading: ESV, NIV, NASB, CSB, and KJV mention just land, but NLT says the land of Canaan. Land would either mean the land mentioned earlier in verse 9 (Negev) or Canaan as a whole. Josephus, like the NLT, also says: NOW, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition, he was disposed to go down to them…
bibleref.com commentates: The land of Negev is dry and hilly. It was prone to famine in seasons of drought especially before modern methods of farming came along. There simply was no food or water to support them in Negeb. Egypt on the other hand had the advantage of the flat lowlands along the Nile River.
Read more on Negev here
If the famine was only in Negeb why then did Abraham not move to other areas of Canaaan? And if it was a national calamity why did he when he was back from Egypt return to the territory between Bethel and Ai which is still in Canaan, and not go to Moab or Philistia or back to Haran? It doesn’t seem like the famine had stopped, his return was more by compulsion and expulsion (oh, what a rhyme!) from the Pharaoh than by the famine halting. One would argue that perhaps Abraham’s experience in Egypt might have taught him to be dependent on God (because non-dependence on Him makes us more and more conscious of our vulnerability, a feeling that compels us to devise our own tricks of survival) and not move out of the land of the promise (because indeed as we said before God seems to never have spoken to him when he was physically out of Canaan).
“…so Abram went down to Egypt…”
The term ‘went down’ sounds like Abraham was sloping, and this only means that Israel generally has higher elevations compared to Egypt. Here’s a topographic comparison:
The highest point in Israel is Mount Hermon, located in the northern part of the country along the border with Syria and Lebanon. It reaches an elevation of about 2,814 meters (9,232 feet) above sea level. Other significant mountain ranges in Israel include the Central Mountains, which run roughly north to south through the West Bank and Israel, and the Judean Mountains in the central part of the country.
Egypt, on the other hand, is predominantly low-lying, with much of its landmass consisting of desert terrain. The Nile River Valley and Delta are the most fertile and populated areas, but they are relatively flat compared to Israel’s mountainous regions. The highest point in Egypt is Mount Catherine, located in the Sinai Peninsula. It has an elevation of around 2,629 meters (8,625 feet) above sea level. While both Israel and Egypt have varied topography, Israel generally has higher elevations due to its mountainous terrain, whereas Egypt is characterized by lower-lying plains and desert landscapes. Read more about Israel-Egypt Geography here, and see a land terrain illustration here
Going down to Egypt would be the most natural thing to do here. Skip Heitzig gives the reason that Egypt having the R Nile was much like Abraham’s cradle land Mesopotamia where there were the rivers Euphrates and Tigris that watered the land; Egypt was more like the same here. On this account, Egypt was the best place to go. But Josephus says Abraham went to Egypt not only for food and supplies but also for spiritual reasons:
NOW, after this, when famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition, he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what they said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own notions proved the truest (from his encounter with Yahweh).
Though by Christian understanding, Egypt is often used idiomatically to mean the ‘world’, from which understanding some Christian commentators interpret Jeremiah 42:13-19 and Isaiah 31:1 (cursed are they that go down to Egypt for help) it is notable that in context prophet Jeremiah (who gave the prophecy during king Zedekiah’s reign) himself escaped to Egypt and on that account, his life was saved from the ruthless Babylonians in the 586 BC Jerusalem fall. Jesus too was taken to Egypt as a baby and that is how his life was saved from King Herod the Great’s slaughter spree.
But if the popular Christian understanding is to be taken, then we would have to examine the fate of those who went down to Egypt for safety, to the very end: Abraham, Jeremiah, and Jesus.
Abraham, as we are going to see, messed up (almost) the destiny of his son Isaac by begetting Ishmael through a slave girl Hagar who is believed (by connecting Genesis 12:16, Genesis 16:1, and Genesis 21:21, as well as considering the silence about Hagar before the trip to Egypt and her mention after the trip) to have been among the many good things that Pharaoh offered him (Genesis 12: 16). See Galatians 4:21-31. He also compromised the will of God in taking this journey whereby he moved away from the godly land and compromised the right standing as well as the proper alignment with the promise. As mentioned before, he never built any altar or made any significant prayers while in Ur, Haran but only in Canaan. When he moves to Egypt, he still doesn’t build any altar for God. He does that later when he gets back to Canaan. When Christians leave their proper Christian standing and engage in worldly affairs, they are corrupted by worldly standards and slowly they become more like the world and less like Christ. See 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Jeremiah’s fate in Egypt was a mix of rejection and death by stoning by fellow Jews (as some sources say), in which case we can conclude that he was a victim of the repercussions of his prophetic warning (sword, famine, pestilence, or disease (Jeremiah 42:16,17).
Jesus went to Egypt to escape Herod and came back physically unharmed (in the same way He would later go to the grave and come back), but there is more than meets the eye about His journey. In order for Jesus Christ to remove the curse of Genesis 3 by sacrificial death, He had to fulfill two facets of the Old Testament: Prophecy and Law. One of the elements of the Prophecy is Jeremiah 42:13-19 and Isaiah 31:1 (cursed are they that go down to Egypt for help); and one of the elements of the Law is Deuteronomy 21:22 & 23 (cursed is he that hangs on a tree, as Paul commentates in Galatians 3:13). Thus Jesus had to take the cursed journey to Egypt in order to be rightly depicted as qualifying to be called cursed (for our sakes). This was one way of putting Himself in our position. In order for Him to wash away the particular curse of Genesis 3 Jesus had to fulfill many unique and particular oracles (written about Him in the Old Testament that only the Messiah could fulfill) which qualified him so perfectly that Heaven should consider Him as ‘perfectly cursed’ (for our sakes though He knew no sin) and that by Him being killed the curse would be ‘killed’ within Him; thus heaven transferred the curse from us to Him, and transferred ‘righteousness’ and a ‘blessing’ from Him to us so that we would be ‘perfectly blessed’. See Isaiah 53:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24.
Note: If Jesus had, even for the good cause for which His death and resurrection are popular (i.e salvation of man), died without fulfilling all the oracles, prophecies, and proclamations of the Old Testament about the Messiah His death would be as good as that of a usual hero or martyr like the many Jewish heroes and martyrs (e.g the Zealots) that died before and after Jesus for the salvation of the Jews from Roman rule. The journey to Egypt is one of those Old Testament oracles that had to be fulfilled.
- The Big Fat Lie!
Verses 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
“…please say that you are my sister…”
There are evidently two reasons why Abraham comes up with this lie:
(1) He is nervous because Sarah is so beautiful despite being 65 years old at this point. When you read across the book of Genesis you come up with a picture in mind that Sarai must have been really attractive; a couple of times the Bible mentions that directly, but the real emotion would come from examining (1) the Egyptian palace officials’ (princes) opinion and decision that her beauty was too much to fit any man less than the king, even themselves as highly placed officials (verse 15) (Skip Heitzig says that the Egyptians were of the view that Semitic women were beautiful and that their own Egyptian women faded early) and (2) the quality and quantity of gifts that the pharaoh gave to her ‘brother’ as dowry (verse 16). Josephus defines her beauty as ‘Great Beauty’.
(2) Josephus intimates that the Egyptians were sexually mad (…and (Abraham) was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women…); and though this opinion is not particularly supported by the Bible the way it explains the sexual madness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), we can from the understanding of the people of Egypt in the general Bible narrative know that Egyptians were corrupt (just like any person in the world at this point), both sexually and otherwise (from the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife which showed the sexual perversion of Egyptian women at the expense of their husbands (Genesis 39); Israelite enslavement and harsh treatment, and Pharaoh’s orders to kill Hebrew babies (Exodus 1:8-22, Exodus 5:6-210); idolatry and pagan practices (Ezekiel 20:6-8, Jeremiah 44:15-19).
This lie was Abraham’s survival strategy, he does it 2 times (Verse 13, Genesis 20:2) and his son, Isaac inherits it too (Genesis 26:7).
The second time (Genesis 20:2), he even explains to Abimelech the details of Sarai’s sisterhood to him. From his explanation the puzzle of Genesis 11:31, where she is just mentioned as sister-in-law to Terah, and not his daughter seems to be solved (as many reputable commentators opine). Observe that (1) in ancient cultures, including the biblical context, women’s relationships and familial connections were often emphasized through marriage rather than by relationships with their parents. Referring to Sarah as Terah’s daughter-in-law in Genesis 11:31 may have been a way to highlight her relationship with the family through marriage, which was more significant in those societies than the relationship with her father Terah. (2) The Bible narrative often emphasizes genealogy and familial relationships. Referring to Sarai as Terah’s daughter-in-law clarifies her connection to Terah within the broader family tree, especially considering that Terah had multiple children and grandchildren in the extended family setting; thus Sarai was more visible as Abraham’s wife than as Terah’s daughter (3) It t is also possible that Abraham was not telling the whole truth about Sarai, his focus being on protecting himself rather than providing a detailed genealogy; he had lied before (in Genesis 12), and he could lie again. The details of a lie can not be truer than the lie itself. The Talmud and Josephus seem to support this notion, implying that Sarai was actually the daughter of Haran (Now Abram had two brethren, Nahor and Haran: of these Haran left a son, Lot; as also Sarai and Milcha his daughter…).
Moreover, Abraham’s lie can be seen as a depiction of his emotions surrounding the promise of verses 2-3. It might have been a test by God, which Abraham sadly failed, about whether he understood his wife’s role in the fulfillment of the promise. His interpretation of the promise seems to have been: ‘…I will make you…’ (singular) and not ‘…I will make you and Sarai…’ So even with Sara out of the picture (married to someone else), Abraham was sure the promise would come to pass; so in the dilemma of choosing between death and losing his marriage, Abraham chose to flash his marriage into the toilet. Probably he saw his role in the fulfillment of the promise as more important than Sara’s, and her barrenness doesn’t make it any better, it only makes him think nothing good can come out of her womb to satisfy the requirement of the promise. Note the way he uses ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ and how he seems to exclude Sarai’s role in Genesis 15:2, Genesis 17: 16-21, and his non-hesitation (and maybe a silent smile) when Sarai proposes he sleeps with Hagar to get a child in Genesis 16:2. Verse 17 (of Genesis 12) however should have come as a shock to him, and got him reconsidering his opinion about Sara’s role: he must have finally and fully changed his earlier opinion by the events in Genesis 17: 19 and Genesis 18.
Chuck Missler says that even if Abraham was not lying, he was still lying, in the sense that his defense was accurate and yet untrue. Sara was more of Abraham’s wife than she was his sister.
Note: Abraham’s journey has its fair share of lapses but most importantly he was walking by the promise of God.
“…and Pharoah gave him sheep, oxen, and donkeys and …servants, camels.”
God is blessing Abraham even though it is through his lies.
- God saves Sarai and the promise
Verse 17
“But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues…”
If Sara didn’t survive this relationship with the Pharoah (oh! did I use the wrong word? She was going to become queen or the king’s concubine, what could be better than that?) God’s promise (of verses 2-3) would be compromised, and His intervention is the only thing that can save her marriage and put His promise back on course. This is what God is doing here: protecting the seed (that we talked about in lesson 10) from satan’s attempts at contamination. Satan at many stages of the salvation plan when he suspects God is up to something tries to lay a trap to subdue God’s plan. Here he manipulatively tries to use a combination of two things: the high sexual urges of the pharaoh and the men of Egypt as well as Sara’s outstanding beauty, which is a godly feature (as in Esther 2:7 and Esther 2:15-17), as arsenal against God’s salvation plan. See Genesis 34:1-4/Genesis 34:25-31, Genesis 39:6/Genesis 39:7-12, Judges 13:5/Judges 16:4-21, 1 Samuel 16:12/2 Samuel 11:1-5, 2 Samuel 14:25/2 Samuel 15-18, 2 Samuel 13:1-22.
In the context of Genesis 12:17, God’s intervention to protect Sarah from being taken into Pharaoh’s household ensures the preservation of the lineage through which the promised seed (Jesus Christ) would eventually come.
The plagues on Pharaoh have what Chuck Missler calls Anticipatory Parallels to the ones in Exodus 7-12, as many other parallels that we shall see.
- The Blessing in the lie
Verse 20
“And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.”
What happens to Abraham here later happens to his descendants the Israelites in the same land (Egypt) as discussed in (1) above.
But it is important to note that the I shall bless you blessing has started manifesting. He is several camels, donkeys, and servants richer!
- Anticipatory Parallels
Anticipatory parallels refer to patterns or events in the Bible that prefigure or anticipate similar events later on. It is as though God is not merely offering Abraham a promise to be fulfilled; rather, Abraham is acting out in advance some things that are to happen to Israel later on. Here are some of them. Compare them and see.
-Famine in the land (Genesis 12:10, 47:13)
-Migration to Egypt (Genesis 12:10,47:27)
-Attempt to kill the males but save the females (Genesis 12:12, Exodus 1:22)
-The plagues in Egypt (Genesis 1217, Exodus 7-12
-The spoiling of Egypt (Genesis 12:16, Exodus 12:35, 36)
-Deliverance (Genesis 19, Exodus 15)
-The ascent to the Negev (Genesis 13:1, Numbers 13,17,22)
God bless you and see you next time.