Genesis 12
1Now the Lord said to Abram “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.
The Hebrew word for God is יְהוָה֙ (Jehovah), meaning the promise-keeping covenant-keeping God. יְהוָה֙ (Jehovah) is unlike man. When He makes a promise, He keeps it. In this chapter, יְהוָה֙ (Jehovah) will make a promise to Abraham. This promise is called the Abrahamic Covenant.
Abraham was told to do one thing for God and he would receive six things from God. He was told to leave his country, which was Ur. He was told to leave his relatives, who were Sumerians living in Ur. He was told to leave his father’s household, who were worshipers of the moon god. He was told to go to a land, but the land was not named at this time.
2Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and I will make your name great so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
If Abram followed this one command of leaving Ur, then he would receive six things from God. FIrst, he would become a great nation. From his loins would come the nation of Israel. God would bless Abram. He would bless him spiritually, physically and materially.
Second, his name would be made great. He was the founding father of the three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The builders of Babel wanted a great name for themselves, but God gave the great name to the individual Abram.
Third, Abram will become a blessing to others. Those who bless Abram will be blessed by God.
3I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”
Fourth, those who bless Abram will be blessed. Fifth, those who curse Abram will be cursed. Later on, this blessing and cursing principle will extend to Israel (Numbers 24:9).
Sixth, the seed of Abram will produce the Messiah. The Messiah will bring salvation to the Jews and Gentiles who believe in Him. THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BIBLE WILL BE A COMMENTARY ON THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.
4So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.)
Abram was obedient to God. He left immediately. As soon as Abram left Ur, he became the recipient of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. This was an unconditional covenant. God will keep His six promises to Abram.
5And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
According to rabbinic tradition, “the people they had acquired” were the proselytes of Abram.
6Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
Shechem was a large pagan city. The Hebrew for “the oak tree of Moreh” is אֵלֹ֣ון מֹורֶ֑ה (elin moreh), meaning the “Terebinth of the Teacher.” This oak tree was a center of the Canaanite teaching of the oracles. The Oak of Moreh was connected with Canaanite paganism, Canaanite idolatry, and occult practices. Abram chose a dangerous place to erect his first tent.
The Canaanites were the antagonists. They were some of the most evil people who have ever lived. They were an entire civilization of satanists, occultists, and sexual perverts. Their land was filled with idolatry, violence, human sacrifice, prostitution temples, the occult, drugs, homosexuality, lesbianism, child molestation, and sex with animals.
The Canaanites practiced the oracles of Eilon Moreh. Abram did not. He was not coming to Canaan to be absorbed into their idolatry. He was coming into the land to be an ambassador for God. He was to be a witness to them of the one true God. Abram, Isaac, and Jacob would be the final testimony, the last chance, and final warning to the Canaanites.
7The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
This was Jehovah’s second appearance to Abram. This time He appeared as a theophany. Notice that God does not say that He will give the land to Abram, but to his descendants. Abram built his altar of the one true God near or next to the pagan altar. This was Abram’s first testimony to the Canaanites.
8Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.
Abram moved east and built another altar. He began public worship of the one true God.
9Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.
Abram traveled to the southern desert. He was traveling across the major trade routes of Canaan. The Canaanites would eventually take notice of him and have contact with the teachings of the one true God.
The Promised Blessing Jeopardized
10There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe.
Abram’s faith was not mature at this time. He was not yet at a maturity level where he could trust God in all circumstances. The Hebrew word for “stay for a while” is גּוּר (gur), meaning a temporary journey. Abram intended to return to Canaan.
There are paintings in the Tomb of Khnun-hotep III in Beni Hagan which confirm this historical event. These paintings show the arrival of thirty-seven Asiatic men, women, and children. It dates back to the time of Sesostris II (1897–1878 b.c.), which is the same time period of Abram.
11As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.
Sarai was 65 years old and she was still considered a beautiful woman. After the flood, people were still aging at a slower pace.
12When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.
Archives of the past show that Egypt was famous for wife abduction. The scouts were on the lookout for beautiful women that they could place into the Pharoah’s harem.
13So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.”
Sarai was Abram’s half-sister. This was still a lie, because Abram attempted to cover up the truth. He pretended to be her brother so that he could negotiate the marriage proposal and save his life.
14When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
Rabbi Rashi claimed that Abram hid Sarai in a chest, but she was discovered at the border customs crossing point.
15When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh,
Satan most likely knew of the promise to Abram. Therefore, he had Sarai removed from Abram in Egypt. As long as she was in the harem of the Pharaoh, she could not reproduce the messianic seed through Abram. The Abrahamic Covenant would be nullified.
16and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
The ancient law codes of that time stated that if the father was dead, then the brother was the legal guardian of an unmarried sister. Therefore, Abram was to receive the bridal dowry.
Notice that Abram was not trusting God, but he still received prosperity. This is the very opposite of what the prosperity preachers teach. This prosperity of livestock will lead to trouble with Lot in the next chapter.
Abram also received many Egyptian maid-servants. One of these maidservants will be Hagar. She will cause trouble for the wealthy Abram family. She will also cause the Jewish/Arab conflict which is continuing to this very day.
17But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
Abram’s immaturity not only caused problems in his own family, but it caused problems for Pharaoh as well. Even though Pharaoh had unknowingly violated the Abrahamic Covenant, God still kept His promise to Abraham and administrated the kind-for-kind curse of the Abrahamic Covenant. According to rabbinic tradition, the disease was leprosy. According to Rabbi Rashi, these plagues were a terrible skin disease which made sexual intercourse impossible. Abram was learning that he was divinely protected. He and Sarai could not die or be separated until they produced the messianic seed son who would fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
The text does not say how Pharaoh received this information. It could have been by divine revelation since Abimelech would later go through a similar encounter.
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!”
Normally, Pharaoh would have executed Abram. However, Abram was divinely protected by God. Pharaoh did not want to mess with Abram’s God.
20Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Abram was expelled out of Egypt. God made sure that Abram was to be His ambassador in Canaan. Because of the Abrahamic Covenant, Egypt gained knowledge of the one true God. Abram left Egypt as a rich man. All of the Egyptian servants of Abram received information of the one true God
In conclusion, the human viewpoint of the satanic world system teaches that Israel evolved naturally, like all other nations.
The divine viewpoint of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God teaches that Israel was supernaturally chosen, born, and protected by God..
Human viewpoint teaches that the land of Israel belongs to both the Jews and the Arabs.
Divine viewpoint teaches that the land of Israel belongs to God and He gave it to Israel.
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1. SAQ--What is the theme of Genesis 12?
2-7. What are the six promises of the Abrahamic Covenant?
8. Why is the rest of the Bible a commentary on the Abrahamic Covenant?
9. List at least five characteristics of the Canaanites.
10. How was Abraham an Ambassdor of God to both the Canaanites and Egyptians?