Exposition of Genesis 12:10-20

So it's regrettably been a while since I've posted anything. I do not lack interest, but only time. This post is a "copy and paste" post. It is a copy of the first hermeneutical assignment due in my Biblical Interpretation class. In the class, we have several short (one page, which can be more difficult than writing five) assignments to interpret different Biblical genres (Narrative, Law, Psalms, Wisdom, Prophecy, Gospels, Parables, Acts and Epistles) from passages given to us. The first passage given was Genesis 12:20-13:1. I was asked to interpret the passage within its narrow and wider circles of context and to answer questions mostly regarding application today.

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."¹⁴When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸So Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go." ²⁰And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

This passage reveals God’s faithfulness to his covenant promise even when the recipient of the promise is unfaithful. Chapter 12 begins with the calling of Abram to take his family away from all that is familiar to a place not yet revealed to him. He goes because he trusts that God will bless him and make him a blessing. As Wenham notes, “After the great expectations aroused by the first episode in the Abraham cycle, this second one surprises us by the unheroic performance of the hero.”[1] No later than v. 13, his doubt is apparent. Telling the Egyptians that they are siblings is at best a half-truth, for she is his half-sister.[2] In leaving out the fact that they are married, he risks his own marriage, thereby risking the fulfillment of the promises of 12:1-3.[3] The promise is saved only because of divine intervention, God afflicting Pharaoh and his house with great plagues (v. 17).

In its wider literary circle of the Old Testament narrative, it is the first revelation that the Lord will intervene at times to protect his blessings.[4] At different times he provides plagues (Gen. 12:17, Ex. 7:14-12:32), famine (Gen. 42-46), miracles (Ex. 3-4, Ex. 14), strength (2 Sam. 22:40) or whatever else was necessary for the preservation of his covenant people. Though his people may doubt, deceive, dismay or disobey, he will go to great lengths to fulfill his promise, for, as Ross notes, His word is at stake.[5] This theme reaches its apex in the life and work of Jesus Christ, who went to the greatest length to redeem his people from their sin by taking it upon himself and destroying it at the cross.

Christians today can derive a greater trust in God from this passage. A Christian can know that when his life circumstances are not going the way he had hoped, he should not resort to deceitful practices. God is in control and working all things for the good of his people (Rom. 8:28). We understand the promises of God much more richly than Abram could have. As Hamilton notes, this certainly does not give Christians the excuse to be disobedient. But this passage gives believers security that God will act and has acted on their behalf when they are unfaithful.

Though Abram is the father of those who believe, he is not set up as an example to follow in this particular passage. Should one mistakenly discern this to be the case, one might conclude that God needs our help or our wisdom to fulfill his promises. Abram is a model for Christian living is that he perseveres in following the Lord’s call, but only because of God’s commitment to him.

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[1] G.J. Wenham, “Genesis 1-15,” in Word Biblical Commentary, eds. D.A. Hubbard and G.W. Barkert (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987) 290.

[2] V.P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1900) 381.

[3] A.P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998) 270.

[4] Ibid., 276.

[5] Ibid., 277.