Abram in Egypt
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Abram in Egypt
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Refuge from Famine
Later, the land was struck by famine. So Abram went to stay in Egypt for a while because the famine was severe.
Image by Julie Ayers from Creation Swap
After Abram had lived in Canaan for a while, a severe famine drove him out of the promised land into Egypt. Canaan had no irrigation system and relied on two periods of regular rainfall, in the autumn and spring.1 Any disruption in this cycle could cause the crops to fail.2 Egypt, on the other hand, depended on the more reliable flooding of the Nile and provided a place of refuge when the rains in Canaan failed.
All three of Israel’s patriarchs dealt with a period of famine, and Abram’s experience bears a striking resemblance to what happened to his descendants.3
Although both Abram and Isaac lied to protect themselves, acting out of fear instead of faith, God still rescued them for the sake of his promise. The exodus generation could look back at these similarities between the stories of their ancestors and their own story and trust that God would also faithfully keep to his promises to them.4
Abram’s Lie
As [Abram] approached the Egyptian border, he said to Sarai, his wife, “You are so beautiful that when the Egyptians see you and realize you’re my wife, they’ll kill me but leave you alive. I would like you to say say you’re my sister. That way, they’ll treat me kindly and let me live because of you.”
Image by Roland Schwerdhöfer from Pixabay
As Abram and his household approached Egypt, he started to fear what would happen to them there. His wife, Sarai, was beautiful, and Abram correctly foresaw that the Egyptians would want to marry her.5 He feared that if they found out she was married, they would kill him and take her by force.
Scripture doesn’t explain why Abram thought this was likely. For some reason, he lost the bold confidence he showed while traveling through Canaan, which was just as foreign to him. Did the famine erode his faith in Yahweh’s ability to protect him? Whatever the reason, this hero of the faith proved as prone to irrational fears as any other human being.
To protect himself, Abram decided to lie about his wife and say she was his sister instead. This was a rather clever ruse. A potential suitor would not need to kill a brother, and as the head of the household, he had the right to negotiate a bride-price for his sister. He may have felt that this would give him time to escape with Sarai.6 But he did not plan on attracting the attention of one of the most powerful men in the world.
Pharaoh
As Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman was indeed very beautiful. The pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before the pharaoh. So they took her to his palace.
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No sooner had Abram and his household entered Egypt than his deception caught up with him. The Egyptian border with the Sinai Peninsula was heavily fortified.7 Abram and the other refugees fleeing the famine would have to receive permission to enter.
When the Egyptian officials monitoring the border saw Sarai, they found her extremely beautiful, as Abram feared. But he could not have expected what happened next. Sarai was so beautiful that the officials told the pharaoh about her.8
If Abram hoped to flee during bride-price negotiations, that plan was dashed once the pharaoh became involved. A man that powerful did not need to negotiate. Besides, who would pass up the chance to become the brother-in-law of the king of Egypt? Believing that Sarai was eligible for marriage, he took her as his own wife (probably one of many). Abram couldn’t rescue her without admitting he lied.
Suddenly, Abram found himself in a dilemma of his own making. Yahweh had promised the land of Canaan to his offspring. But Sarai’s barrenness had left him without a true heir. Now, his own foolishness had left him without a wife.
Riches and Regret
The pharaoh treated Abram kindly because of [Sarai]. As a result, he had flocks, herds, donkeys, servants, and camels.
Image by Markus Steidle from Pixabay
As the pharaoh’s supposed brother-in-law, Abram quickly became a very wealthy man. Camels especially were a sign of great wealth at the time.9 But as Proverbs 20:17 says, “Food gained through lies may taste sweet, but you end up with a mouth full of gravel.” Abram’s wealth came at a high cost.
While the loss of Sarai was the most serious consequence of Abram’s lie, it was far from the only one.10 Soon after returning to Canaan, the number of animals Abram had would cause conflict and division between him and his nephew, Lot, who also seems to have prospered in Egypt.11 Their separation would put Lot and his family in grave danger—twice!12
In addition, the servants (or slaves) Abram acquired almost certainly included Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian slave and the mother of Ishmael. The resulting conflict between Sarai and Hagar would once again divide Abram’s family.13 Ultimately, it would cost him his firstborn son.14
Yahweh’s Intervention
But Yahweh sent terrible plagues against the pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So the pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she’s your wife? Why did you say she’s your sister so that I took her to be my own wife? But now, here is your wife! Take her and go!”
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Abram proved faithless in his dealings with the Egyptians, but Yahweh remained faithful to Abram and to his promise. Based on that promise, he was obligated to curse the man who had taken Abram’s wife.15 Although ignorant of Sarai’s true identity, the pharaoh was not entirely innocent. He acted presumptuously by taking her without her family’s consent. In doing so, he brought a curse of plagues not only on himself but on his entire household.
Like the rest of the ancient Near East, the Egyptians believed that physical problems have spiritual causes.16 The pharaoh probably used divination to determine the cause of the plagues and discovered he had angered Abram’s God.17 Unlike the future pharaoh of the exodus, this pharaoh acknowledged God’s power and immediately moved to appease him.
The pharaoh summoned Abram and sharply rebuked him. Abram could not deny that the entire affair was really his fault, but the pharaoh knew that punishing Abram would only further anger his God. So he returned Sarai and even allowed Abram to keep his ill-gotten riches. All he wanted was for Abram to leave.
Back to Canaan
Then the pharaoh commanded his men to send Abram away along with his wife and everything he owned. So Abram left Egypt and returned to the Negev with his wife and everything he owned. And Lot was with him as well.
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Not wanting to risk angering Abram’s powerful God again, the pharaoh commanded him to take his wife and leave Egypt. He appointed some of his own men to escort Abram back to the border. This escort served two purposes. It ensured that Abram did in fact leave, and it provided protection to ensure that no further harm came to him while he was still in Egypt.
So Abram returned to Canaan with Sarai and the rest of his greatly expanded household. And Lot also went with him. Although Lot was not mentioned at all during the family’s stay in Egypt, he was there. He just played no role in that story. But now that Abram had returned to the land promised to his offspring, the problem of Lot’s continued presence was about to take center stage.
- Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 5:24.
- Neeley, Translator’s Notes, Gen. 12:10b; Reyburn and Fry, Handbook on Genesis, 283.
- Genesis 26:1–6; 41:1–42:5; see Ross, “Genesis,” 99–100; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 291.
- See Typology.
- At this time, Sarai was over 65 years old, but that does not prevent her from being beautiful or desirable as a wife. Different cultures have different standards of beauty, and the average human lifespan was still almost double what it is today.
- Ross, “Genesis,” 100; Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 12:11–12; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 288.
- Ahram Online, “Hyksos buildings are the latest ancient discovery in Tel Habuwa,” by Nevine El-Aref, March 16, 2013, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/66979/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Hyksos-buildings-are-the-latest-ancient-discovery-.aspx.
- Pharaoh is a general term for any king of ancient Egypt. It's not known which pharaoh this was.
- Constable, Genesis, 209; Hamilton, Book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17, 383–384; Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 289.
- Constable, Genesis, 203; Ross, “Genesis,” 99.
- Genesis 13:5–12.
- Genesis 14:5–16; 18:20–19:29.
- Genesis 16:1–16.
- Genesis 21:1–14.
- See Contempt.
- Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 12:17.
- Genesis 30:27; 44:15.