When you travel to a promised land only to find a famine, what do you do? We can learn from Abram’s story how he handled stress and hardship during such times.
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you and that my life may be spared on your account” (Genesis 12:10-13).
Abram and his family face two threats: a famine and the journey to Egypt. However, he seems primarily concerned with his own safety, neglecting the potential danger to his wife.
Why did Abram find himself in such an unpredictable situation anyway? Why did he feel constrained to resort to deception?
A more charitable interpretation is this: Could Abram’s actions have stemmed from a desire to preserve God’s recent promises? Perhaps he feared that his death before fathering a child would make it impossible for God to fulfill his promise of making Abram a great nation.
Here is the first threat to the realization of God’s promises: a dead Abram, either through starvation or execution.
A less charitable interpretation is that Abram prioritized his own life over his wife’s well-being. In both situations, he appears to have acted on instinct rather than consulting God.
Pharaoh’s Actions
At 65, Sarai, though past her youth, was still beautiful. Pharaoh, naturally, was attracted to her and took her into his household, rewarding Abram handsomely in exchange.
When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
And for her sake he dealt well with Abram, and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels (Genesis 12:14-16).
In his call, God told Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3).
God executed His curse on the house of the Pharaoh, just as He promised Abram.
But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife (Genesis 12:17).
Pharaoh the Judge
One can only imagine Abram’s shame and guilt when Pharaoh confronted him.
So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone” (Genesis 12:18-19).
The story in Genesis often reads like a soap opera, and this is a prime example. Abraham, the man chosen to bless the world and be faithful to God, has, out of fear, essentially given his wife to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh’s words make it clear that he has committed adultery with Sarai. Now, Pharaoh is being held accountable, not because of his own high moral standards, but because he fears the God Abraham serves.
Pharaoh’s actions might seem more morally upright than Abram’s. However, it’s likely he was motivated by fear of divine retribution if he didn’t release and bless the man God had chosen.
And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him, and they set him on the way with his wife and all that he had (Genesis 12:20).
Reflections
Imagine Abram, after all he’d done, approaching Pharaoh and saying, “Pharaoh, you should really follow my God. He’ll bless you if you obey his rules.”
This is similar to the hypocrisy seen in the Christian world today: we tell a world that can easily see our flaws to believe in a God we ourselves aren’t fully committed to.
We must prioritize God in our faith, not seek substitutes for genuine faith, like power or prestige.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 