Gen 12:10-20 - Abram Fails the Test Twice

When we first meet Abram in Genesis 12:1-9, we are painted a picture of a man who is either full of blind faith or is simply naive.  When an unknown God calls, he goes. But after finding himself in the promised land, he discovers the land he's been guaranteed is a famine land.  Now Abram's blind faith receives its first test.  Will he remain in the land, or will he bail?  He bails and he and his entourage make the several hundred miles journey south into Egypt, where Abram faces another test and then fails miserably again.

Self-Service 

I mentioned in the previous blog that the ages of Abram and Sarai seem to be exaggerated in the Biblical text.  Sarai seems to be a gorgeous gal - a real looker.  She's so beautiful that Abram is concerned that the Egyptians might kill him to get to Sarai.  This dilemma probably would not be faced by most couples subscribed to the AARP.  Do what you will with this, but I believe that Mr. and Mrs. Abe are probably more middle-aged, than old-aged at this point.

Regardless, Abram feels threatened.  So, what's his solution?  Sacrifice.  Not a sacrifice to YHWH.  No, our not-so-honest Abe is willing to sacrifice his own wife to save his own skin.  And it works - at least until it doesn't.  Sarai pretends to be Abe's sister (the later Genesis account hints that Sarai is a half-sibling of Abram, but clearly Abram has forced his wife to be dishonest regarding her relationship with him).

Pharaoh gets wind of this newly arrived hottie and decides to add her to his harem.  Abram loses his wife, but he gains livestock and servants.  Sarai loses her freedom and possibly her future, but her husband saves himself.  There's a lot of discussion about "patriarchy" in our modern world, but the ancient world really was patriarchal.

Abram is the villain in this story.  Sarai is the victim and Pharaoh is an innocent bystander who comes out smelling of roses.  

The Hero of the Story 

The hero of the story, is surprisingly, Pharaoh.  It was common in the ancient world for people like Pharaoh to amass a large harem of wives, just as they amassed a large retinue of many things.  This was certainly not an ideal way to organize families and relationships, but it was culturally normative for this period in human history.  Assuming that Sarai was simply the unmarried sister of a resident sojourner, Pharaoh brings Sarai into his household as one of his many wives and this would have usually been a benefit to both Sarai and her seeming brother, Abram.  Though of course, this does not fully take into account the feelings of Sarai.  And it must be said, that on the whole, the world is probably a better place when powerful men don't accumulate wives like trading cards.  However, much like arranged marriages in many modern cultures, it was simply the way things were done at that time, and so we shouldn't judge Pharaoh too harshly.  From his perspective, he has acted in good faith.  

But Abram clearly has not acted in good faith.  Who could have imagined that a man would so easily pawn off his own wife?  Pharaoh has no idea that this is what Abram has done.  He only realizes the situation when YHWH afflicts his household with immense plagues.  Again, let's stress - Pharaoh has done nothing wrong.  But, he perceives that the plagues afflicting his household are the work of God.  In this instance, he has a greater spiritual awareness than Abram.  

Once aware of this mistake, he immediately rectifies the situation. Though in a position of power and with the ability to kill Abram and continue on as nothing has occurred, Pharaoh instead restores Sarai to Abram and not-so-subtly invites Abram to depart Egypt.  But, rather than asking for restitution or demanding the return of his previous gifts from Abram, Pharaoh simply lets Abram and Sarai leave.  Pharaoh and his family have suffered for Abram's sin, and yet the self-serving Abram is allowed to simply move on as if nothing untoward has occurred.  And in fact, Abram leaves Egypt wealthier than when he arrived.  If there is a hero in this story, it is undoubtedly Pharaoh!

God's Faithfulness

Actually, the hero of this narrative and the hero of the entire big narrative of the Bible is God!  Despite Abram's failure to trust God, God remains faithful to the promises made to Abram.  He gets Pharaoh's attention through the plagues, ensuring that Sarai is returned and protected within the household of the cowardly Abram.  Though Abram does not deserve it, he is blessed in his Egyptian sojourn, returning to the land of Canaan wealthier than when he left.  

But let's not forget that Pharaoh too has been blessed by God.  He may not call on YHWH as his one and only sovereign, but if we believe that YHWH is the only God of creation, then it is by YHWH's grace that Pharaoh has amassed the wealth and the authority he commands.  Pharaoh is in a God-given position to bless Abram, not the other way around.

A Few Takeaways 

God is faithful.  Period.  Full-stop.  God is faithful.  God is faithful, even when Abram is not.  God is faithful even when we are unfaithful.  

And just as God calls a less than stellar Abram, so he calls us as we are, not as he would have us to be.  That doesn't mean that God desires to leave us in whatever state he finds us - quite the contrary.  God certainly desires us to become all that we can become through his power and grace.  But God is not daunted by our failures or our character flaws.  He can and does amazing things through our broken dispositions, choices, and situations.

A final thought worth reflecting on.  Are we able to accept that we are often the villains, not the heroes in our stories?  Abram is certainly at the center of this Biblical narrative, but he is the villain, not the hero.  We so often are as well.  Do we recognize this?  Something to ponder. - Shay 

The Call of Abraham

He is considered the father of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  He is one of the most famous individuals from all of antiquity.  And though his wife, Sarah, is not quite as famous as Father Abraham, she too is more or less a household name.  Beginning in the final verses of Genesis 11 through the opening verses of Genesis 25, the story of Abraham and Sarah forms the foundation of three major religions.  Over the next several months, I plan to explore and exploit the life and times of these seminal figures, and I invite you to join me for this exploration.  I will be writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, but I believe that Jews, Muslims, Atheists, and people of other faiths will enjoy this journey too.  So, let's buckle up and get ready for an adventure!

History

For the past several hundred years, there has been debate on whether or not the Genesis narratives of Abraham are what we would call history, or whether they belong to some other literary genre.  As this is still an ongoing debate among Biblical, historical, and literary scholars, I can only give my opinion, which along with $6 can get you a coffee at Starbucks.  From my perspective, I see these stories as a kind of "family history" with a theological bend.  I believe that Abraham and Sarah were both real people, but I doubt that their experiences were exactly what we read in Genesis 12-25.  I believe that the basic facts of the narrative occurred, but those events were passed down orally through many generations and in their current written form, have been altered to make theological points to the audiences they were originally composed for.  This does not make these stories untrue, but rather the truth of these stories has been shaped in order to have the greatest possible impact on their original audience.  

Context 

Though there's legitimate debate on how we understand the historicity of the Abraham narratives, there is no real debate regarding the primeval narratives of Genesis 1-11.  Genesis 1-11 is neither history nor science, but are mythopoeic texts packed full of rich theology.  They tell us that God (YHWH) created the universe, but they don't tell us how.  Genesis 1-11 tells us why God crafted his creation (for relationship), but these writings don't give us a timeline of when this occurred.  The basic message of Genesis 1-11 is that God created all that is, with humanity being the crown of his creation.  His intention was to dwell with humankind within his creation, but humanity rebelled against God and severed the relationship that God intended, damaging not only ourselves, but also the creation.  Yet, God did not give up on his creatures or his creation and began a rescue mission to free humanity and the entire world from its bondage to sin and decay (see Romans 8).  From Genesis 12 on, the rest of the Bible details that rescue mission, climaxing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  I have written about this in a series of blogs found earlier on this site, beginning in May of 2023.  See also my series on Genesis 1-11 beginning in January of 2025.  But for today and the following months, we will focus on Abraham and Sarah, as God's rescue mission is launched through their lives.

The Call 

"Go!".  That's the call that Abram (he will later be re-named, Abraham) receives from YHWH.  Go from what to where?  At the beginning of Genesis 12, Abram and his family are living in the city of Haran, in what is today the border areas between southeastern Turkey and Syria.  God doesn't initially tell Abram exactly where he will take him, but "the call" requires Abram and Sarah to leave their family and all that they've known before.  As far as the text is concerned, Abram doesn't ask any questions, he simply goes.   The only relative to join them is Abram's nephew, Lot (along with a larger entourage of other servants).  

But God does provide Abram with a few promises as he embarks on this life-altering journey.  God tells him that though his wife, Sarai (she too will later be re-named) is barren, they will eventually be the patriarch and matriarch of a great nation.  YHWH will bless Abram and make his name great, so that Abram will also be a blessing to others.  Those who bless this man, will be blessed, while those who curse him, will be cursed.  In fact, through Abram and his offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

We are told that Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran.  Let's be honest, this raises a lot of questions.  In line with other ancient Near Eastern texts, the Bible ascribes fantastic ages to the early heroes of the Biblical stories.  These old ages should not be pressed as literal, but should rather be seen as symbolic.  As the Biblical narrative progresses, the ages of people begin to come in line with actual ages of people in history.  We know that due to high infant mortality rates 4,000 years ago (the time that Abraham would have lived), the average human lifespan was only 20-35 years.  That doesn't mean that people did not sometimes live into old age.  Certainly, people would have occasionally reached the age of 75, or even older, but they would not have been capable of doing what Abraham, and some of the other Biblical heroes of old were said to have done at that ripe old age.  Genesis claims that Abraham died at 175.  Obviously, this is a large rounded number and not literal.  As we work our way through these texts, please take the ages ascribed to the characters with a large chunk of salt!

At any rate, Abram makes his way from Syria, down into what is today, modern Israel.  Once in the land of Canaan, God appears to Abram and declares that this piece of dirt will one day belong to his descendants.  He builds an altar to YHWH (though he would not have known this God as YHWH as the later Israelites would) and then swiftly moves onto a location in the hill country between Bethel and Ai where he again builds an altar to God and calls on the name of this God who had so suddenly yanked him out of all that he knew and understood.  He invoked a name he neither knew, nor understood, because somehow, someway, he believed that this God would do something special for himself and his future family.  Abram trusts at this stage, though there's not much reason for him to put his faith in this God. 

The Ramifications of the Call 

Abram was minding his own business when he received God's call.  That's often the way it is for us as well.  We move along through the day-to-day minutia of life and then all of a sudden, we are confronted with a choice or an opportunity we were not expecting.  Will we stay or will we go?  How might we answer the various calls that God might place on our lives?

Of course, we don't have the benefit of hindsight when we face these choices.  Neither did Abram.  He didn't even know this God by name (see Exodus 6:3), though through time, he got to know him by God's actions.  The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that we walk by faith, and not by sight - Abram exemplified this.  

It goes without saying that when called, God's people are always taken out of their comfort zones, stretched, and called upon to do the seemingly impossible.  But God doesn't just send us on our way, he journeys with us and equips us with what we need to remain faithful and fruitful.  

The ramifications for Abram and Sarah were immense.  The call on their lives were not only life changing, but they changed the entire course of history and beyond.  And there's more to this story to come. - Shay