Genesis Bible Study

Genesis 12

By Amy Gentry

 

 “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 13:1-3

 How much time do you suppose passed between the time God told Abram to go from his land and gave him a blessing and the time when Abram went to Egypt?

“Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.” Genesis 12:10

After receiving the blessing, Abram’s faith is tested. 

The famine tested Abrams faith--

·       Didn’t he think God could provide for him even in the midst of a famine, when he lived in the land where God told him to go in first place

·       Did Abram trust God with the big picture but not the details?

“Faith is not a mushroom that grows overnight in damp soil; it is an oak tree that grows for a thousand years under the blast of the wind and rain.” (Barnhouse)

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Genesis 12:11-13

Sin of Omission—

·       I find it so flattering that Abram thought Sarai was so beautiful, even in her advanced age, she would be a target of unwanted male attention.  I guess the Egyptian Pharaoh sought true inner beauty rather than fleeting youth.

·       Telling Sarai to claim to be his half-sister was a half- truth, but a half-truth and a whole lie are the same thing.  He must not have trusted the Lord to protect them, therefore he took matters into his own hands. 

·       Since Sarai’s line would one day produce the Messiah, why wouldn’t God protect her?

“So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?” Genesis 12:18

·       Scolded in morality by a pagan king, he led Abram to the truth of the matter- If you would have trusted your God and told the truth everything would have been okay.

“Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.” Genesis 12:20

·       God did not take back the promise He made to Abram because Abram had taken matters into his own hands, by not trusting God with the details.  Abram still goes on to become Abraham, the father of many generations.

·       Even in Abrams disobedience, God still protected him and Sarai.  There is still a consequence of their sin, the acquiring of Hagar in Egypt, which would become a thorn in their flesh.  Maybe if they would have trusted God and stayed in the land where God told them to go, then they never would have met Hagar and Ishmael never would have been conceived.