(Abram was living with his father Terah in Haran when this chapter begins. Haran is in the southeastern part of Turkey, and hundreds of miles from Abram's birthplace in Ur, of the land of the Chaldees.
Now we are going to see that Abram also has been named by God as the "blessed seed". So be assured that Satan will give his full attention to Abram, and his family, and to the land that will be given to him. Just as Satan used his tactics, his children the Kenites, and the fallen angels to come and even intermarry into God's people; Today Satan will try also to destroy those that are in the service of our Heavenly Father.
Satan's methods are the same, however, today we have the power and the authority through Jesus Christ's payment on the cross, to resist all of Satan's attacks upon us. Luke 10:18-22 gives each of us that power and authority to order Satan out of our homes and lives, including our work place and our marriages.
This power to resist is all part of this Abrahamic covenant.)
1921 B.C.
Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country,
(Yahaveh, "The God of Glory" of Acts 7:2. Fig. of Speech = The Glorious God, in contrast with idols [Josh. 24:2]. God is telling Abram to get out of the land of Babylon, the land of Confusion; and separate himself from the ties that hold him to it. Just as in the Babylon of ancient times, this Babel, or confusion is forming today on a massive scale, and God is telling us to get out of it.)
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:"
(leaving Nahor and his family [except Lot].)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation,
(note 7-fold promise with 7-fold blessing here. Cp. Ex. 6:4-8.)
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee (to Abraham personally. See 50:24) shall all families of the earth be blessed."
(THE GOSPEL [or GOOD NEWS] OF THE KINGDOM.
To Abraham and his seed was the good news proclaimed, and the promise given that God would make of him a nation in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed [Gen. 12:1-3]. This good news was gradually expanded and developed.
In Gen. 15:4 the heir was announced, and this heir was to be the Messiah [Gal. 3:16].
In Gen. 15:8-21 the inheritance was secured by an unconditional promise [not by a covenant between two parties, one of whom might break it, Gal. 3:18-20]. That inheritance was [and is yet to be] "the Holy Land", "Immanuel's Land" [Isa. 8:8], Immanuel Himself being the Governor [Isa. 9:6, 7], and "the zeal of the LORD of hosts" its security.)
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
(This time: not when they started from Chaldea. Abram and his entire household are separating themselves from his father's household, and they are migrating south. This is why saints are called the "set aside ones". We are to separate ourselves from those who don't care about the truth, and keep in fellowship with those who are like-minded, and care about the truth.)
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem,
(Shechem = back or shoulder. The place of Abram's first altar, Jacob's altar, and the Savior's first mission.)
unto the plain of Moreh (= teacher). And the Canaanite was then in the land.
(It is evident that from Terah's and Abraham's Call, Satan knew the line by which "the Seed of woman" [3:15] was coming into the world. In Chapter 6 he aimed at the whole human race. Now he aims at Abraham and his land. Here is the second explanation of the words "after that" in 6:4. He pre-occupies the territory ready to dispute the advance. The Canaanite "was then" = being already there [cp. 13:7]. The progeny of the latter attempt to corrupt the race had to be destroyed by the sword of Israel, as those "in the days of Noah" had been by the Flood.)
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land:" and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
(This altar to God that was built by Abram was to honor and worship God.)
8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,
(= the house of Elohim, an ancient Canaanite sacred pillar, doubtless from previous time, called Luz [= almond tree]. When Moses wrote he used the latter name.)
and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai (= Ai = heap of ruins) on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
(Between Beth-el and Ai would probably be Gerizim [= cutters] and Ebal [= stone, bare mountain], which were already or thus became sacred places.)
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
(The Negev or hill country south of Judah. The Egyptian text mentions Negeb. Town taken by Shishak are mentioned as being there, e.g., Jerameel, Gerar, Kadesh, and Gaza.)
10 And there was a famine in the land:
(Satan's attempt [thus early] to destroy Abraham's seed, through Sarah. 13 famines mentioned in Scripture. 13 in biblical numerics = rebellion.)
and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there;
(always "down" to Egypt. Egypt always being a base nation.)
for the famine was grievous in the land.
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, "Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
(In Egypt the women went unveiled. Even though she was over sixty five years old, she maintained her beauty. She lived to age one hundred and twenty five, and bear her son Isaac at age one hundred. Satan's next assault, working on Abraham's fear. If God had not interfered, v.17, where would His promise have been?)
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, 'This is his wife:' and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee."
(Abram knew that he was a foreigner in a foreign land, and that he would have a better chance to protect Sarai as her brother, then as her husband. As Sarai's husband the Egyptian's would simply kill Abram and take her. Abram is thinking right, contrary to many teachers interpretation of this verse, but God is still in control.
This representation of Abram being Sarai's sister is not a lie, for we are told in Genesis 20:12; "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." Sarai is Abram's half sister.)
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
(The Egyptians liked Sarai, and they were taken by her. It is through Sarai that the Messiah would come, and this is why God intervened. When you do it God's way, He will straighten out the crooked paths for you also.)
15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her,
(The official title of all kings of Egypt, like Kaiser, Czar, &c. Pharaoh = "the sun" or "the great house".)
and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
(The word and here, is a Fig. of Speech, Polysyndeton, emphasizing each class of property. All these pictured on the Monuments in Egypt. There were no horses in Egypt till 18th Dynasty.)
17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
(Divine intervention. Everything became barren in Egypt, and Pharaoh was told that Sarah was Abram's wife, and that this was the cause. The Pharaoh came to know the power of Abram's God, and he did not want to challenge that power and authority.)
18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
19 Why saidst thou, 'She is my sister?' so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way."
20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
(Notice this thing Abram did will come back to him in Jacob. You reap what you sow!
The Pharaoh didn't take back any of his gifts to Abram, so Abram is leaving Egypt a lot richer then when he came. Pharaoh commanded his men to leave Abram alone, and see to it that he has safe passage out of Egypt. It didn't take Pharaoh long to see the full divine power of Abram's God, and to respect that power.
Our lesson today is that Satan will try to destroy us whenever he has a chance, in whatever position we find ourselves. Satan thought he had victory over the lineage that the Messiah was to come through, when Sarai was married to the Pharaoh; but it is God that straightened out the the path. Sarai would not have a child until God's appointed time for that child, and when Sarai was one hundred years old, that was the appointed time. Isaac was not just another child, but a God given miracle, born to Sarai when humanly it was impossible.
Abram's faith never wavered for he knew God would see him through, and that God would keep His word.)