4 ABRAM IN EGYPT

A severe famine came to the land of Canaan. If we believe in the providence of God we will assume that this was allowed by God and that Abram’s trip to Egypt and the lessons he drew and we draw from it are all God’s doings. That fruitful land was turned into barrenness, possibly to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites who lived there, but, more importantly, because God was teaching Abram who also lived there to exercise and therefore develop his faith. It was a very sore trial and it tested what Abram would think. Would Abram think like his posterity later thought as recorded in Exodus 16:3? “The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this dessert to starve this entire assembly to death.’” Nothing short of a strong faith could keep up good thoughts of God under such a providence.

And what would Abram think of the land of promise? Would he think the grant of it worth accepting, and the property valuable in view of his having relinquished his own country to get there? For all appearance now it looked like it ate up the inhabitants rather than fed them. Now Abram was tried whether he could preserve an unshaken confidence that the God who brought him to Canaan would maintain him there, and whether he could rejoice in Him as the God of his salvation when the fig-tree did not blossom. Habakkuk 3:17 & 18 demonstrate that that prophet trusted God even if there was no profit. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Strong faith is commonly exercised with various temptations. God intends that we are refined. Notice what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:6 & 7. “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” It pleases God to try both young beginners and seasoned saints of experience with great afflictions. Frequently a man may be in the way of duty and happiness, and yet meet with great troubles and disappointments. Yet we know that “. . . in all things God works for the good . . .” (Roman 8:28).

So, because of the famine Abram traveled to Egypt. Interestingly, even in this we can see it demonstrated that a wise God provides plenty in one place when there was scarcity in another. As members of the Christian family, we may not say to one another,  “I have no need of you.” God’s providence took care there should be a supply in Egypt, and Abram’s prudence made use of the opportunity. We tempt God, and do not trust him, if, in the time of distress, we do not use the means He has graciously provided for our preservation. We need not expect needless miracles.

Notice that, to Abram’s credit, when experiencing a severe famine, he did not return to the country from which he came. The land of his nativity lay north-east from Canaan; and therefore, when he must, for a time, leave Canaan, he chooses rather to go to Egypt, which lay south-west, the contrary way, that he might not so much as seem to look back. Hebrews 11:15 gives us an interesting insight. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.” He did not return to Mesopotamia. And even when he went down into Egypt, it was only “to live there for a while.” The story line seems to suggest that it was temporary in Abram’s mind. Circumstances allowed by God for a time, may throw us into a bad situation, yet we should not remain there any longer than we need to. We can seek refuge without settling. Until we get to heaven we are travelers. Leaders should think this way so their followers will follow suit.

On the road to Egypt Abram makes a huge mistake. It was a great fault of Abram’s that he denied his wife and pretended that she was just his sister. The Scripture is impartial in relating the misdeeds of even the most celebrated saints. These are recorded, not for our imitation, but for our admonition and warning. His fault was to deny his relation to Sarai and in doing so to teach his wife and probably all his attendants too, to do so also. What he said was, in a sense, true, but his purpose was to deceive. He concealed a further truth and thereby exposed both his wife and the Egyptians to sin. Instead of being a righteous influence, he was the opposite. He assumed the local people were worse than they were. Abram is not a good example for a cross-cultural Christian worker.

At the bottom of Abram’s deceit was a jealous timid fancy that some of the Egyptians would be so charmed with the beauty of Sarai that, if they knew he was her husband, they would find some way or other to kill him in order to marry her. He presumes they would rather be guilty of murder than adultery. Evidently marriage was taken more seriously then in Egypt than it is today in many places.

Abram had no real reason to assume the worst behavior from the Egyptians. The fear of man brings a trap; many are driven to sin by fearing a possible danger that never materializes. Yet Jesus was clear that we should not fear those who may even kill us. In Luke 12:4 we see, “I tell you friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.” The grace Abram was most famous for was faith; and yet he fell into a great error through unbelief and distrust of the divine Providence, even though God had appeared to him twice. Sarai shows greater faith than her husband, as shown here and then again at a later time in this series. Faithful, cooperative, level-headed Sarai did the right thing when Abram didn’t.

Abram’s deceit placed Sarai in danger. The danger Sarai was in, was of having her chastity violated by the king of Egypt and, without doubt, the peril of sin is the greatest peril. Pharaoh’s princes, it becomes apparent, were Pharaoh’s pimps. They saw. Isn’t that problem? They only saw the exterior, external and physical, certainly not her inner, spiritual, far more important and valuable virtue, modesty, faith and piety. They merely observed what a beautiful woman she was and praised her to Pharaoh. Their value system was wrongly based on temporary, physical appearance and failed to appreciate her more valuable and important qualities. They recommended her to the king and she was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Esther also was taken into the haram of Ahasureus (Xerxes), but Esther was not married and eventually Ahasureus (Xerxes) followed her advice and God brought about a great deliverance for His people. Esther was taken in the king’s palace and entrusted to Hagai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor” (Esther 2:8c-9a). We know from that story that God can use an obedient woman to bring about deliverance, but with Sarai it seems the glory brought to God is merely in her own miraculous deliverance, which, of course should not be minimized. That was a miracle; the good results in Esther’s story were far greater—eventually the rescue of all the Jews. Sarai was taken to Pharaoh’s house in order to be taken into his bed, but, nevertheless, watch how God protected the obedient and virtuous Sarai. It is, after all, not a sin to be beautiful.

Being beautiful, however, can expose one to temptations others may not have. Sarai was in danger and Abram was not only safe, but preferred with good treatment evidently because of her. Pharaoh gave Abram sheep, cattle, donkeys, servants and camels probably to gain his consent, that he might the more easily have Sarai whom he supposed to be Abram’s sister. We surly cannot think Abram expected this when he came down into Egypt, much less that he had anticipated it when he denied his wife, but God brought good out of evil. The wealth of the sinner sometimes proves, in some way or other, to be laid up for the just. It seems there are several lessons here. 1. God delivers the obedient. 2. We should not expect gross immorality everywhere (Pharaoh seems more righteous than Abram in this story), and 3. When God works for good, He is successful. Abram received valuable livestock through this experience. God protects and blesses better than we can imagine.

God delivered Sarai from this danger. If God did not deliver us, many a time out of those straits and distresses into which we bring ourselves by our own sin and folly, and which therefore we could not expect any deliverance from by promise, we would soon be ruined. Yes, we would be ruined long before this. God is good and deals with us better than we deserve.

God punished comparatively innocent Pharaoh and prevented the progress of his sin. Those are happy punishments that hinder us in our pursuit of sin. They effectively bring us to our duty, even the duty of restoring what we have wrongfully taken and detained when He sees it was not willful, but ignorantly done. Not Pharaoh only, but his house, was plagued, possibly including those very princes that had commended Sarai to Pharaoh. Partners in sin are justly made partners in the punishment. Those that serve others’ lusts must expect to share in their plagues. We are not told particularly what these plagues were but it was evidently nevertheless sufficiently clear that it was for Sarai’s sake they were suffered.

Pharaoh reproved Abram calmly and justly. “What have you done to me?” and dismissed him with respect. What an improper thing Abram had done! How unbecoming to a wise and good man! If those that profess to know the Lord do what is unfair, especially if they lie, they must expect to hear of it and have reason to thank anyone that will tell them. The prophet, Jonah, also was justly reproved and corrected by a heathen ship-master, “The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish’” (Jonah 1:6). It would be embarrassing for those of us who know God and have been subjected to all His righteous influences and refining corrections to be subjected to a rebuke from an unbeliever. Even so, if that happens, let us bear the shame and receive the correction. It could be that our humility and quick confession of sin would impress the unbeliever favorably and be a correction to them too.

Pharaoh reasons with him: “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?” intimating that, if he had known this, he would not have taken her into his house. It is a fault too common even among good people to entertain suspicions of others beyond what there is cause for. We have often found more of virtue, honor, and conscience, in some people than we thought they possessed and it ought to be a pleasure to us to be disappointed by this, as Abram was here. Abram found Pharaoh to be a better man than he expected. In 1 Corinthians 13 we are told to expect the best, not the worst, but to trust and hope, not to judge and suspect evil. Charity teaches us to hope for the best.

The dismissal was kind and very generous. He restored him his wife without offering any injury to her honor, “Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” (12:19). If we want to avoid sin, we must avoid temptations. Those that want to prevent or avoid sin must remove the temptation, or get out of the way of it. He also sent him away in peace and, contrary to Abrams suspicions that he would kill him to get Sarai, he took particular care of him. Not always do we escape the traps we have set for ourselves, but how often do we perplex and ensnare ourselves with fears which soon appear to have been altogether groundless. We often fear where no fear is merited. We fear a danger that simply is not there. Isaiah 51:13b asks a question and then makes a profound statement: “. . . that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction:? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?” What does it say about us if we fear when really there is no danger? It would have been more to Abram’s credit and comfort to have told the truth at first.

Pharaoh even instructed his men to treat Abram honorably as they depart. He charged them not to injure him in any thing. It is not enough for those in authority to do no hurt themselves, but they must restrain their servants, and those around them, from doing hurt. We also see that God’s protection of Abram and Sarai was thorough. The king evidently appointed his men that, as Abram returned home, to conduct him safely out of the country. Probably he was alarmed by the plagues as would have been inferred from 12:17, “But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sraai.”  Through fear of the return of the diseases he took special care that Abram should receive no injury in his country. God can raise up friends for His people, by making men know that it is at their peril to hurt them. It is a dangerous thing to offend Christ’s little ones. Psalm 105:13-15 says, “. . . they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: ‘Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.’” And Matthew 18:6 says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

We could speculate that if Pharaoh had not “. . . sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had, . . .” Abram may have been tempted to stay in Egypt and forget the land of promise. After all, sometimes enticements and attractions lure us away from the path of duty just as readily as opposition and adversity. God does not let us be tempted beyond our power to resist the temptation. And sometimes God makes use of the enemies of His people to convince or remind them, that this world is not their home.