{"id":4676,"date":"2020-01-23T17:43:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T23:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4676"},"modified":"2023-07-28T07:35:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T13:35:30","slug":"genesis-1210-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4676","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 12:10-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

10\u00a0<\/sup>Now there was\u00a0a famine in the land, and Abram\u00a0went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine\u00a0was severe in the land.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, \u201cIndeed I know that you\u00a0are a woman of beautiful countenance.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, \u2018This\u00a0is his wife\u2019; and they\u00a0will kill me, but they will let you live.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>Please say you\u00a0are\u00a0my\u00a0sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

14\u00a0<\/sup>So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she\u00a0was very beautiful.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5\u00a0<\/sup>The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh\u2019s house.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup>He\u00a0treated Abram well for her sake. He\u00a0had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

17\u00a0<\/sup>But the\u00a0Lord<\/span> plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram\u2019s wife.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

18\u00a0<\/sup>And Pharaoh called Abram and said,\u00a0\u201cWhat\u00a0is\u00a0this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she\u00a0was your wife?<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

19\u00a0<\/sup>Why did you say, \u2018She\u00a0is\u00a0my sister\u2019? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take\u00a0her and go your way.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

20\u00a0<\/sup>So Pharaoh commanded\u00a0his\u00a0men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

At this time, a particularly severe trial of Abram’s faith took place. A grievous famine developed in the land, and it looked as though the land could no longer sustain him and his family and flocks. God’s promise had not changed, however, and Abram needed to learn to trust God not only when his needs were being supplied freely but also when it appeared that suffering and privation were imminent. But Abram was not equal to this test, and he soon yielded to the temptation to take matters into his own hand. \u2014 Morris, page 297.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

If Abram openly acknowledged Sarai to be his wife, he reasoned, he would probably be killed and she would be taken by the Egyptians into who-knows-what circumstances of moral degradation. If he said she was one of his servants, his own life might be spared; but she herself would probably be taken and defiled in perhaps even greater ways. The best solution would be to call her his sister. Actually, he reasoned, this was really true, because she was<\/em> his half-sister (Genesis 20:12<\/span><\/a>). … If Sarai were recognized as his sister, both she and Abram would be treated with respect and his life would not be endangered. It is true that this might mean she would be approached by the Egyptians for sexual purposes, but that would be true also if Abram were killed for her sake; so this seemed the best of a bad bargain.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sarai no doubt saw it in this light also, and so she went along with the half-truth. … Actually, it turned out better than they had hoped. Instead of becoming involved with the ordinary Egyptians, Sarai came to the attention of Pharaoh himself. She was seen by Pharaoh’s princes, and they “commended” her to Pharaoh as a prime candidate to become one of his wives!<\/span><\/h3>\n

The word used here is the Hebrew hallal<\/em>, meaning “to praise.” This is the first occurrence of this word in the Bible, and, in accordance with the principle of first mention, as it applies to important Biblical words, it seems to have a special significance here. Nearly always, it is used in reference to praising God, but here first of all it is used in reference to praising a godly woman…. The first use of hallal<\/em> in this connection, therefore, seems to be reminding us that unsaved men will only come to praise God if they have first been constrained to praise those who manifest God to them. Pharaoh’s princes could see something unique in Sarai, not only her physical beauty, but also an “adorning” with a meek and quiet spirit, an inner beauty (1 Peter 3:3-6<\/span><\/a>). Rather than taking her for themselves, they were constrained to “praise” her to Pharaoh himself. Rather than defiling her, however, he began to consider her for marriage. Furthermore, rather than Abram’s being murdered for Sarai’s sake, as he had feared, he was lavished with presents from Pharaoh, with flocks and herds and servants in abundance. \u2014 Morris, pages 298-299.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

But what would happen when Pharaoh actually decided to take Sarai as his wife? Would both Abram and Sarai still continue the deception to that point? Having involved themselves so deeply, what else could they do? It had been God’s intention to bring the promised Seed into the world through them, and this development would certainly prevent that from happening. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

Whether God actually spoke to Pharaoh, or whether he found it out by talking to Lot or to one of Abram’s servants, the king of Egypt soon came to realize that Sarai was already married. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

Pharaoh now feared to harm either Sarai or Abram; but he did sharply rebuke Abram, and no doubt Sarai also. He lost all respect and affection for them, and of course was not attracted to their God, even though he had to recognize that God was with them and that he could not harm them. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Lord surely could have supplied their needs in Canaan, even in time of famine. But once in Egypt, they should have been careful to maintain a good testimony at all costs. God could have protected them there, too, without such a degrading compromise. After all, He did protect them and provide for them, even in spite of their compromise. \u2014 Morris, pages 300-301<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

When faced with a famine in the land to which God had brought him, rather than trusting God would bless and provide for him in the midst of famine (as he does for Isaac during famine: see Genesis 26:1-3<\/span><\/a>), or seeking guidance through sacrifice and prayer (as does Jacob during the famine in his day; see Genesis 46:1-4<\/span><\/a>), he is portrayed as taking matters into his own hands and adopting a course of “situational ethics” which is naught but a chain of ever-deepening sin borne of a faith that is all but nonexistent. First he demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s provision, prompting him to leave Canaan and go to Egypt. Then he demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s protection, prompting him to lie\u2014and ask Sarai to lie as well\u2014about their marital relationship. Rather than loving his wife as himself (see Ephesians 5:33<\/span><\/a>; Leviticus 19:18)\u2014considering her welfare and guarding her honor\u2014Abram is exclusively concerned with his own welfare\u2014”that it might go well with me.” Indeed, Abram’s self-interest and weak faith at this point are such that he remains silent not only when Sarai is taken to the palace, but also when she is taken as Pharaoh’s wife\u2014and in so doing, Abram is the cause of the additional sin of adultery<\/em> on the part of Sarai and Pharaoh. Though some translations attempt to soften the situation by paraphrasing Pharaoh’s words in verse 19 in a way that suggests he had not yet married her, the Hebrew text itself is quite clear, with Pharaoh employing the typical verbal idiom for marriage\u2014i.e., “to take so-and-so to oneself as a wife” in a form signifying completed (past) action. \u2014 Wechsler, page 178.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The purpose of this episode\u2014which is unquestionably among the lowest points in Abram’s career\u2014is not to single out Abram as more<\/em> depraved than anyone else, for in the end he is merely symptomatic of the human condition and the virus of depravity endemic to us all. Rather, by presenting this episode immediately after God’s declaration of the Abrahamic Promise (Covenant), Scripture is reinforcing our appreciation of the unconditionality<\/em> of that promise by making clear that it was not only bestowed in the absence of merit<\/em> (the point of Genesis 11:27-32<\/span><\/a>), but that it is maintained even in the presence of demerit<\/em>\u2014and if so with respect to Abram, then so too with respect to us today who benefit from that preeminent provision of blessing in Abraham’s Seed. \u2014 Wechsler, page 179.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Morris and another commentary say that this event was an attempt by Satan to destroy God’s plan to bring His promised seed through Abraham and Sarah\u2014that if Sarah had borne Pharaoh’s child, she couldn’t have borne Isaac who continued the line to the Messiah. But Genesis 11:30<\/span><\/a> states that Sarah was barren, so she couldn’t have borne a child to Pharaoh. She could only have Isaac after God intervened. So, if Wechsler is right that Pharaoh and Sarah did commit adultery, it wouldn’t ruin God’s plan. It would just be another example of God using sinners.<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10\u00a0Now there was\u00a0a famine in the land, and Abram\u00a0went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine\u00a0was severe in the land. 11\u00a0And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4676"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8200,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4676\/revisions\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}