Gen. 12:10-20

1. Locate the passage

This passage chronicling Abram’s lack of faith in God follows immediately after God’s promise to Abram and Abram’s faithful response.  It demonstrates the immaturity of Abram’s faith and a shocking disregard for his wife.

2. Genre

The passage is narrative and contains the initial selfish “favor” Abram asks of Sarai and the resulting conversations between Pharaoh and Abram.

3. Determine the structure of the passage

4. Exegete the passage

It’s odd how quickly Abram seems to leave the land God just promised to him.

This passage is the first of a series of flights by Israel to Egypt.  It foreshadows Jacob’s later flight to Egypt (Gen. 42:1-49:33), Israel’s flight to Egypt with Jeremiah as prisoner (2 Kings 25:23; Jer. 42-43), and Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15).  See also Num. 14:4; 1 Kings 11:17; 12:2; and 2 Kings 18:21.

There are several similarities between this pericope and the children of Israel in Egypt

• Abram enters Egypt because of famine
• Sarah, like Moses, is taken into Pharaoh’s house
• Conflict with Pharaoh
• Plagues on Egypt
• Despoiling of Egypt
• People of God “sent out” (Hb. “shalaq;” cf. Gen. 12:20 and Ex. 12:33)

12:10 – “There was a famine … and Abram went down to Egypt”

• There is a possible indication in the text that the narrator perceives Abram’s leaving as a lack of faith; as in Abram interpreted the famine as God not being able to take care of him in the “Negev” (12:9), so he went to Egypt for rescue.

12:20 – The “Negev”

• Gen. 20:1 – It is interesting that both episodes of Abram’s deceit regarding his wife originate from the “Negev.”

12:11-12 – They will see you and kill me, but let you live

• This is strange and selfish logic on Abram’s part
• Ironically, the Lord had just promised Abram that he would be blessed and become a great nation. Now, in the very next pericope, he fears for his life.
• He perhaps knew something about the people of Egypt, because what he feared would happen did happen. But, Abram trusted in his clever deceit rather than God and was willing to compromise his wife’s integrity to do it.
• The irony of this ruse is that while the deception would save Abram’s life, it would place at risk the Promise of God to Abram of offspring by endangering the person (Sarai) through whom that promise would be physically realized.

12:13 – “That it may be well with me”

• Selfishness is often the root of our sin
• The implication is that this is both a selfish decision and one out of fear.
  • Abraham is willing to trade the sexual favors of his wife so that it might “go well with” him.

12:13 – “Say that you are my sister”

• Sarai was, in fact, Abram’s half-sister. Abram, justified his repulsive actions and callous disregard for his wife with this flimsy half-truth (Cf. Gen. 20:12).

12:13 – This is the first of three such episodes in Scripture (two from Abram and one from his son Isaac).  The three passages (Gen. 12:10-20; 20:1-18; and 26:1-11) share a number of things in common:

• two of them begin with a famine,
• two of them describe the beauty of the spouse who is asked to lie,
• two of them involve men named, “Abimelech,”
• all three involve presenting a spouse as a sister out of fear,
• two of them involved judgment by God on the deceived party,
• two of them involve financial benefit on the part of the deceiver,
• all three of them involve rebuke by the one who was deceived,
• and two involve a proclamation by the person deceived to protect the woman who was used in the deceit.
• In addition to the disgrace done to Sarai, the poor witness given, the bad influence on his son, and the plague on the “innocent” Egyptians are other consequences of Abram’s sin.
• Some have tried to soften Abram’s sin by appealing to the pre-law culture or the fact that Scripture records no disapprobation of Abram’s conduct. But, the juxtaposition of this passage of test with the Patriarch’s previous expression of faith in God’s promise, Abram’s silence in the face of accusation, the emphasis by the narrator of Sarai as Abram’s “wife,” and the damaging influence on his son suggest Abram knew this action was wrong.

12:15 – Sarai was “taken”

• “laqach”
• The word can be a general term for marriage and does not necessarily imply a sexual union. The silence of the text here, as opposed to 20:6 is intriguing.

12:15 – It is not clear in the text if Sarai was defiled by Pharaoh.^[1]See Ross, Creation and Blessing, 276.  Ross suggests that the severity of the plagues prevented Sarai from being defiled.  See also Tremper Longman, Genesis. The Story of God Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 262.  Longman states that “there is no clear statement that Pharaoh had not had sexual relations with Sarah.”  Finally, see Wenham, Genesis 1-15, 289.  Wenham suggests that it is more likely that the plagues suggest that adultery did take place. The plagues could have been judgment or grace.  It is possible that the plagues were for judgment on Pharaoh for committing adultery (although unknowingly).  It is also possible as in Gen. 20:6 that the plagues in 12:17 was God’s way of preventing Sarai was being defiled.  If so, what would have seemed like judgment, would have been God’s grace for Pharaoh in preventing him from sinning against God.

12:16 – Equally repugnant to Abram’s treatment of his wife was the fact that he financially gained from it.

• Unlike the later episode in Egypt when God allowed the children of Israel to “plunder” the Egyptians when they left captivity, here Abraham financially gains from his own repugnant actions birthed out of a lack of faith.
• Abram’s willingness to accept money for the sexual exploitation of his wife seems hypocritical here in light of his own words in 14:22-24. In the later passage, Abram wanted to avoid the appearance of gaining wealth from someone else; while here he seems all too willing to accept it.
  • The irony is that in 14:14-17, Abram had actually done something to deserve compensation.
• Compare Abram’s profiting from the sexual exploitation of his wife to David’s refusal to financially benefit 2 Sam. 24:24 from the consequences of his sin.

12:17 “plagued … with great plagues”

• The Hb for “plagued” is “nagah” and the Hb for “plague” is “negah” from the same root
  • “plagued with plagues”
  • The term often suggests a skin disease; i.e. leprosy
• The term “plagues” here foreshadows and is the same word used of the ten plagues God sent on Pharaoh and Egypt (Ex. 11:1).

12:18 – Pharaoh called Abram

• It is not specified in the text how Pharaoh found out that Sarai was the wife of Abram (cf. 20:3-6).
• Undoubtedly, knowing his sin, Abram makes no defense for his deception.

12:19 – English translations differ on the translation of the verb “take”

• KJV, NKJV – suggests “I might have taken her;” implying nothing sexual took place
• NASB, ESV, CSB, NIV – suggest “I took her;” leaving open the possibility of a sexual union having taken place
• Although the first verb in the sentence is in the perfect tense and this verb is in the imperfect tense, the vav consecutive on “laqach” leaves open both possibilities

12:20 – Pharaoh was a better “husband” for Sarai than Abram

• Pharaoh seems more concerned about protecting Sarai than Abram does

5. Let the structure of the text drive the sermon

• God does not tempt, but may allow tests of our profession of faith in Him
  • When God is not consulted
    • Abram did not consult God in the famine, for his direction, or in the conflict
      • Abram went to Egypt on his own initiative and left under orders from Pharaoh.
    • God only appears in this pericope in the judgment on Pharaoh
  • When my Actions are out of fear instead of faith
    • God may allow tests of our profession of faith in Him
      • Will you trust God through the famine?
      • Will you trust God to protect you and your family?
      • Will you trust God to fulfill His promise, even when circumstances make it look uncertain?
  • Abram’s obedience in his call (12:1-9) does not excuse his sin in the test
    • One moment of faith does not absolve you from future sin or protect you from temptation. David was a man after God’s own heart, but still often gave in to sin.
    • We must always be vigilant against sin
    • The danger of a half-truth
      • Rationalizing sin
      • Selfish motivation
  • Consequences of failing the tests of faith:
    • The consequences done to others (Sarai)
    • The damage to our witness (Pharaoh)
    • The harmful impact on our children (Isaac followed his father’s deceit)