GENESIS - CHAPTER 12
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
12:1.
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.”
As we leave Genesis chapter
11 we turn from the consideration of a life (Terah’s) that stands as a warning for
all time against trifling with God, to the examination of one that stands as an
example for others to follow. From Ac
7:2 we learn that God’s call came to Abram while he was in Ur, before he moved to
Haran: “... the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.” Abraham’s
removal from Haran into Canaan fulfilled two of God’s commands, “Get thee out of
thy country ... and from thy father’s house....” but it left the third
unfulfilled, “... and from thy kindred....” for he took Lot with him, and it
wasn’t until Lot separated from him that God said to Abram, “Lift up now thine
eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward,
and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed for ever. And I will make thy seed
as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then
shall thy seed also be numbered” (Ge 13:14-16).
When God asks us to give up
something it is not to impoverish, but to enrich.
He would have us relinquish the worthless for the precious, the earthly for
the heavenly, the temporal for the eternal. “Thy
country” represents this world. As
those who are citizens of another country, heaven, we are to pass through this world
as Abram passed through Canaan. He was a pilgrim and a stranger who, “looked for a (the) city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10).
“Kindred” represents
humanity. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ severs the relationship by which,
in common with all humanity, the believer was formerly an heir of wrath and judgment.
“Thy father’s house” points to Adam.
As sons of Adam by natural birth we were heirs of death.
If Abram is asked to leave
Chaldea, where he possessed only a part, it is that he might receive the whole land
of Canaan, and not what we usually think of as Canaan, but the vast territory from
the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, Ge 15:18. (It
is to be noted incidentally that the river of Egypt is not the Nile, but the small
stream that flows into the Mediterranean about forty miles southwest of Gaza).
If he is asked to leave his country it is that he himself might be made a
great nation. If he is asked to leave
his father’s house it is that he might be the father of a great multitude (the
meaning of Abraham, his new name), and of many nations, Ge 17:4, and the channel
through which all nations are to be blessed.
The practical lesson for the
believer is that if our hands are to be filled with eternal riches, those hands must
first be emptied of the things of earth. Would
we have heaven as our eternal dwelling place? We
must give up the world. Before we can
become men of heaven we must sever the tie with our father Adam, for, “In Adam all
die” (1 Co 15:22). Only those who
separate themselves from their earthly father’s house (Adam’s) can become the
spiritual “fathers” of others, and a blessing to all men.
The greatest folly of which
man can be guilty is to refuse to relinquish his grasp on the worthless things of
earth and so prevent God from bestowing upon him eternal riches beyond anything the
mind of man can grasp. “Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God
hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Co 2:9).
“Everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundred
fold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Mt 19:29).
At this point God had
promised only to show Abram the land, reserving till the time when Lot
separated from him, the promise to give it; yet such was Abram’s faith that he
obeyed God’s call without question. “By
faith Abram, when he was called to go out unto a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promises: for he looked for a (more correctly the) city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:8-10).
12:2.
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”
It wasn’t until the days
of David and Solomon that Israel became great among the nations, that glory beginning
to appear in the reign of David, and reaching its zenith under Solomon.
David and Solomon are both types of Christ: David portraying Him in His
suffering and rejection; Solomon, in His millennial glory.
The complete fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, however, is still
future. Israel’s brief day of glory
under Solomon was but a glimpse of her coming millennial glory.
In making the promise God was looking to that day when Abraham’s Seed,
“which is Christ” (Gal 3:16), would take up the scepter of earth, and as
David’s greater Son, rule not only Israel, but the world.
But repentance must precede promotion. That
nation of which Abraham is the father, can’t be great until it has repented of its
sin, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and King.
Then, and only then, will be fulfilled God’s promise to Israel, “And I
will make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou
shalt not be beneath....” (Dt 28:13).
Israel is God’s mirror,
not only to the nations, but to the individual.
Apart from submission to the lordship of Christ there can be no blessing.
“... and make thy name
great.” Abram’s name was to be made great. It has been. Wherever
Christianity is known Abraham is also known. Men
have sought in countless ways, and often at great cost, to perpetuate the memory of
their names. The simplest and surest way
to preserve your name in eternal honor is to have it inscribed in the Lamb’s book
of life, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
”... and thou shalt be a
blessing.” Just as the glory of the
nation that was to spring from Abraham, is linked with Abraham’s “Seed”
(Christ), so also is the blessing which is to flow through Abraham to others. The blessing comes not from Abraham personally, but from his
“Seed.” It is the same with men: we
can be a blessing to others only as Christ lives in, and works through us.
Everything promised to Abraham centered in his “Seed,” and what is not
sufficiently recognized is that it was this very thing that constituted the greatness
of Abraham’s faith. He looked to a
future day, when in resurrection, and through his “Seed” every divine promise
would be made good.
12:3.
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
This promise has been
partially fulfilled (complete
fulfillment awaits the Millennium) in God’s blessing every nation that has been
well disposed toward the Jew, and His withholding of blessing from those that have
not been. The literal blessing of the
whole earth through Abraham’s “Seed” has not yet been experienced, but will be
in the Millennium, though it should not be overlooked, that through the One Who is
the true “Seed” of Abraham, people out of every nation on earth during this
present Church age, have been blessed, “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places (things) in Christ.” It is also
worth noting that for the three things he was asked to give up - country, kindred,
and father’s house - he received in exchange seven blessings, “I will make of
thee a great nation, I will bless thee, make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing, I will bless them that bless thee, I will curse him that curseth thee, and
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” The giving up (becoming dead to) these three (number of
resurrection) things whose spiritual significance we have already examined, brought
him spiritually on to resurrection ground, and made him the recipient of what is
associated with the number seven, the fullness of blessing.
When God asks us to give up, it is only that He might make us truly rich.
12:4.
“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.”
We have already noted that
in taking Lot with him Abram was disobeying God’s command to leave his kindred. Many of us are guilty of the same disobedience: we take our
“kindred” with us. Lot represents
the carnal believer, but the lifestyles of the carnal Christian and the unbeliever
are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable. We take “Lot” with us when we have as our companions the
disobedient - the carnal Christian or the outright unbeliever.
We can’t walk with God and the disobedient at the same time, “Can two walk
together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Every
step taken in the company of the disobedient - believer or unbeliever - is a step
void of blessing.
We might note again briefly
what has already been examined in detail: in moving from Haran to Canaan, Abraham was
traveling southwest: south, the way of faith; and west, the way of approach to God.
”... and Abram was seventy
and five years old....” We miss
something when we ignore any part of Scripture, and this applies to the numbers as
well as to what many consider “the meaningless lists of people and places” found
in some chapters of the Bible. There is
not one unnecessary word in the Bible. The
factors of seventy-five are 3 x 5 x 5. Abram’s
departure from Ur represents the moment of conversion; and the departure from Haran,
the beginning of an obedient walk. As
one raised out of spiritual death, every believer stands spiritually on what is
associated with the number three, resurrection ground; and he has what is represented
by the number five, responsibility, first to walk obediently before God, and then to
be a witness to men.
12:5.
“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."
The frequency with which
Sarai’s relationship to Abram is mentioned would teach us that God has a reason for
emphasizing it. Galatians chapter four
makes it clear that she represents grace, so that her being joined to Abram, who
represents faith, is to remind us that the bond between faith and grace is like the
bond of marriage, unbreakable. The
believer can’t lose his salvation.
Man, alone, represents man
in his unconverted state; but married, he becomes the symbolic representative of the
new man, the wife being representative of the expression of his new nature. Abram’s taking with him “Sarai his wife” declares that
though his obedience wasn’t yet complete, he was none-the-less a man of faith, a
believer. It is significant that in
connection with his father Terah, who represents the moral but unconverted man, there
is no mention of a wife. That he had one
is obvious, but the lack of reference to her is God’s symbolic way of declaring
that Terah didn’t have spiritual life.
Lot means a wrapping. There could have been no more appropriate name, for the
“wrapping” of carnality hid the Divine life that was in him.
It is significant that his wife’s name isn’t given, and the references to
her are brief, the paucity of detail reflecting his evaluation of the spiritual as
compared with the secular. His
father’s name was Haran, meaning their mountain; and as a place name
their burning, and we have noted in our study of chapter 11 that the two meanings
combine to give the thought of pride and power.
It is significant that the son of Haran, the carnal Lot, did indeed exhibit
these evil traits - pride that impelled the pursuit of wealth, which is power. When we read therefore that Abram took with him out of Haran
“Lot his brother’s son,” it seems to be telling us that Abram took with him in
some measure at least, what Lot represents - pride and worldly ambition.
One of the requirements for
blessing was for Abram to separate “from thy kindred.”
It was not until that requirement was met, and Abram and Lot separated, that
the promise was given, “... for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it” (Ge 13:15).
Pride and worldly ambition
are subtle but deadly sins. We take
“Lot” with us more often than most of us would care to admit, and in doing so rob
ourselves of blessing.
”... and all their
substance ... and the souls that they had gotten in Haran.”
All their wealth was taken with them into Canaan, and there is no hint of
divine disapproval. In this we learn
that God requires us to give up, not worldly wealth, but the spirit that would lead
us to trust in riches rather than in the One Who gives them.
It is not a mark of carnality for a believer to be rich in this world’s
goods, nor are temporal and spiritual riches necessarily mutually exclusive.
When earthly possessions are taken out of “Haran” (out of the sphere of
pride and worldly ambition) into “Canaan” (the sphere where God rules), and are
dedicated to His glory, used for Him, in the realization that we are stewards who
must one day give an account of our stewardship, then earthly riches can be a
blessing instead of what they so often become, a snare and a hindrance.
“They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare....” (1 Tim
6:9). It is the love of money
that is the root of all evil, (1 Tim 6:10). The
rich have a place in God’s kingdom no less than the poor.
Abram, for example, was rich, as was also Joseph of Arimathaea, to name but
two.
The removal of souls and
possessions from Haran into Canaan would teach us that Christianity is not just for
part of our lives, not just for “Sunday” - it is for every day of the week, it
embraces our whole lives, family as well as business, social as well as religious.
“And they went forth to go
into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”
In chapter 11:31, “Terah ... went forth ... to go into the land of Canaan;
and they came unto Haran and dwelt there.” Terah’s
journey ended in the place that represents pride and worldly ambition, but Abram
didn’t stop until he had reached Canaan, the place that represents the realm which
God rules, and which He has given to faith.
He is a wise man who profits
from the experiences of others. God has
recorded the experiences of Terah, Abram, and Lot, for our profit. May we learn the necessity of leaving “Ur of the Chaldees,”
and the folly of settling in “Haran.”
May it be recorded of us, writer and reader alike, that “They went forth to
go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”
12:6.
“And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain
of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in
the land.”
The first recorded stopping
place in Canaan was Sichem, which means shoulder.
Surely this recalls the parable of Lk 15:4-5, “What man of you, having an
hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the
wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”
Sichem would teach us the truth of the believer’s security in Christ: we
have come spiritually to “Sichem.” We
are on the shoulder of the Good Shepherd Who came into this world to seek the “lost
sheep.” Having found us, He has placed
us on His shoulder (Sichem), and nothing can remove the believer from that place of
strength and safety. “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to
pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I
and my Father are One” (Jn 10:27-30). “For
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord” (Ro 8:38-39).
The second stopping place
was Moreh, which means teacher: former rain.
In one sense the believer never leaves Sichem, he never loses the security of
his place on the shoulder of the Good Shepherd, but in another sense, however, he
travels to “Moreh.”
In 2 Pe 1:5 we are exhorted,
“Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge,” and in the same Epistle,
3:18 it is written, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.” God would have us
learn. That is why the teacher is one of
the gifts given to the Church. “And He
gave some, apostles: and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and
teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:11-13).
God wants us to learn.
While it is written that every believer is to “desire the sincere milk of
the word” (1 Pe 2:2), it is also written, “For everyone that useth milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb
5:13-14). The same writer in verse 12
rebukes the immature state of his audience, for he writes, “When for the time ye
ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first
principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not
strong meat.” In 1 Co 3:1-3 Paul, using similar language, charges the Corinthians
with a childish state resulting from carnality.
”And the Canaanite was
then in the land.” At first glance it
might appear that there was little significance either in the content of this short
sentence, or in its occurrence in connection with Abram’s coming to Moreh.
When we remember, however, that the Canaanite means trafficker, the
spiritual lesson becomes clear. The
“trafficker” in such close connection with the teacher sounds a warning that was
never more needed than it is today. The
Canaanite was not only in the land, he ruled it, the land to which God had
given Abram title, though not yet possession. It
is the same today. The world to which
God has given the saints title, though not yet possession, is ruled by the
“Canaanite,” the great apostate system that calls itself the church of Christ,
but which is Satan’s counterfeit of the divine reality.
The usurper is described in
Revelation 17 as the great harlot, which with her harlot daughters, “trafficks”
in the Word of God for her own enrichment, with the resulting eternal loss of the
souls of multitudes of deluded men who have followed her false teaching. Christendom’s false religious systems and cults are what the
Canaanite represents. They are the
“Canaanite” in connection with “Moreh” - false teachers trafficking in the
things of God for their own aggrandizement. The
“Canaanite” is still in the land, still at “Moreh,” for wherever you find men
seeking spiritual knowledge you will find also those willing to “traffick” in
that knowledge.
Before leaving Moreh we
might note that the word is very similar to Moriah, the place associated with
Abram’s offering of Isaac, and which means my teacher is God.
Abram learned something at both Moriah and Moreh.
At the latter he learned that the land was to be given to his seed, but at
Moriah he learned something of what it would cost God the Father to give His only Son
to redeem ruined men, and fit them to dwell in the sphere of blessing represented by
the land of Canaan.
The believer’s sojourn at
“Moreh” should be more than an experience that fills his head with facts
concerning God: it should fill his heart with love for the God Who, “So loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and Who, beginning with that greatest
Gift, has gone on to give us richly “all things.”
“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Ro 8:32).
The KJ version states that
he came unto the plain of Moreh, but the literal translation is oak or tree
of Moreh. The tree speaks of Calvary,
for Calvary is the true “Moreh.” It
is there that we learn what God is.
The Lord’s appearing to
Abram directly following the mention of Moreh would teach us that the true purpose of
Bible knowledge is to cause God “to appear” to us.
All other uses of knowledge are secondary to that purpose. If accumulated knowledge of Scripture hasn’t caused God “to
appear” to us, if we don’t know Him better as the result of our study, then it
has been in vain, and it is time to examine our motive for study.
There is the subtle danger that it may be to make me appear wise to others
instead of making God “appear” to me, and then through me, to “appear” to
them also.
While I can’t see clearly
a specific message in connection with the second meaning of Moreh, “former rain”
seems to speak of blessing, for the giving of the “early and latter rains” was
one of the evidences of God’s blessing upon Israel.
It seems therefore, that God is reminding us of the blessing that attends the
study of Scripture.
”... and unto thy seed
will I give this land.” There are at
least two reasons why the land is promised first to “thy seed” rather than to
Abram directly. One of those reasons is
that he had not yet met all of God’s conditions.
He hadn’t left his kindred: Lot was still with him.
But the second, and more important reason is that the “seed” is Christ
(Gal 3:16), and “In all things He must
have the preeminence” (Col 1:18). It
is in Christ that God’s promises are to be made good, not only to Abram, but to
every believer, “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen....”
(2 Co 1:20). (The KJ version tends to
obscure the meaning of this verse. Better
translations are, “For all the promises of God have their Yes in Him”; “For,
many as are the promises of God, in Christ is the Yes that fulfills them”; “Every
promise of God finds its affirmative in Him”).
Every promise of God will have its complete fulfillment in resurrection, and
without the resurrection of Christ there could be no fulfillment of any promise, for
all of them would be terminated by death. If
men are to have eternal blessings they must have also eternal life, and that is to be
had only in eternal union with the resurrected Christ.
All the kingdoms of earth must become the kingdom of Christ before any
believer can hope to inherit them. Because
we are God’s children through faith, “We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ...” (Ro 8:17). He, Abram’s
“Seed,” must inherit first.
12:7.
“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 is the first time we
read of Abram’s building an altar. The
altar implies sacrifice and worship, and Abram’s building it gives us an insight
into his character. The revelation of
the promises of God so touched his heart that he was impelled to worship. To us God has also revealed Himself, and in a far fuller measure
than to Abram. It is at Calvary that He
has given the revelation of Himself as the God of love.
Abram received a promise. We have
received better promises, (Heb 8:6). If
the lesser things which he received caused him to build an altar and worship, don’t
we have infinitely more cause to do the same? Our
obligation to present God with the sacrifice of an obedient life is declared in Ro
12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service (spiritual worship). And be not
conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
The same truth is beautifully expressed in the words of the hymn, “Love so
amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my, life, my all.”
12:8.
“And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and
pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai (Ai) on the east: and there he
builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.”
A mountain in Scripture
stands for a king and/or kingdom (good or bad), e.g., Dan 2:35, where the stone that
becomes a great mountain, is clearly a picture of Christ ruling the earth in the
Millennium. This mountain, then, to
which Abram came, represents Christ and the kingdom of heaven, the Person and the
place that are above the lesser things of earth.
Abram’s removal to the mountain speaks therefore, of separation from mere
earthly things, to a higher spiritual plane, where he experienced the fuller
enjoyment of God’s presence. His
removal to the mountain following his sojourn at Moreh would teach us that increasing
knowledge should draw us nearer to God and farther away from the world.
But God doesn’t just call
men from other things: He calls them to better things, from death to
life, from the certainty of hell to the certainty of heaven, from darkness to light,
from sin to righteousness. He calls them
to Himself. In the failure to recognize
this lies a great danger. That
separation which is from the world without being unto God, is Satan’s counterfeit
of God’s reality: it is mere asceticism, and many mistake it for genuine
conversion.
Abram pitched his tent on
the mountain, far above the things of the sinful scene around him, that separation
bringing him closer to God. He began by
leaving Haran, the world’s high place, and coming to Sichem shoulder, and
from there God led him on to a place far better than Haran.
God set him on a mountain in Canaan. How
different with Terah! From Haran, the
world’s high place, to which self-will had taken him, he went down into death, and
if we are reading the type correctly, into the depths of hell.
Abram, willing to walk in the path of God’s choosing, was lifted by that
same God up to the mountain top. But a
mountain on earth, even in Canaan, isn’t the limit of his elevation: his eternal
dwelling place is far above earth’s highest mountain: it is in that city for which
he looked, “a (the) city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”
(He 11:10).
With his tent (the tent
always speaks of a pilgrim walk); and his altar (he was a worshipper); on the
mountain (he was separated from the world to God), he could look westward (direction
of approach to God) and there lay Bethel house of God, while eastward
(direction of departure from God) lay Ai the heap (of ruins).
As the believer looks “westward”, towards the end of his earthly life, he
sees “Bethel,” for the end of life’s journey is but entrance into his eternal
home, God’s house. And with his face
turned “westward,” behind him lies “Ai,” this ruined, doomed world.
It is the privilege of every believer to do spiritually what Abram did
literally - to “remove unto a mountain on the east of Bethel.”
We have that experience every time we turn aside from the things of earth and
listen while God speaks to us from the pages of the Bible, and when we, through
prayer, talk with God. These are the
spiritual counterparts of Abram’s removal to the mountain.
As we are “on the mountain” we enjoy all that the mountain represents, the
might and power of God working for us. Every
believer should have a set time each day “on the mountain” - a time without
interruption - when he opens his Bible and lets God speak to him, followed by his
speaking to God in prayer.
The mountain was east of
Bethel, i.e., Bethel God’s house lay to the west; and Ai the heap (of
ruins) - a picture of the world as God sees it, and as we should see it - lay to
the east. Abram didn’t remain on the
mountain for ever, nor do we, but one thing is clear, the result of our having been
“on the mountain” should be that when we come down, we should be moving
spiritually “westward” towards “Bethel” and not “eastward” towards
“Ai.” If those times “on the
mountain” don’t lead us nearer to God and farther away from the world, there is
something radically wrong with us spiritually. The
poet had grasped the true significance of the mountain-top experience when he wrote,
“The things of earth will grown strangely dim, in the light of His glory and
grace.”
This is the first time we
read of Abram’s pitching his tent. The
tent speaks of pilgrim character, and would remind us that such should be the
character of all who are “Abram’s seed” (Gal 3:29), “If ye be Christ’s,
then are ye Abram’s seed, and heirs according to promise.”
“These all (men of faith) died in faith, not having received the promises
(the fulfillment of the promises) but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb
11:13). “Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul”
(1 Pe 2:11).
“And there he builded an
altar unto the Lord.” This is the
second time we read of his building an altar, and we shouldn’t miss the spiritual
lesson of its being connected with his being on the mountain.
The closer we get to God the more we will be impelled to worship.
12:9.
“And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.”
As might be expected, the
man of faith journeyed southward (the direction of faith).
This southward journey speaks of a growing faith that trusts God more, and
self less. Upon descending from the
mountain he might have gone north, south, east or west, but he chose to go southward.
How often, having the same freedom of choice, we turn “eastward” toward
“Ai,” this ruined sinful world.
12:10.
“And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to
sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.”
A faithful God has preserved
the record of Faith’s victories, for the encouragement of others, but the same
faithfulness has required Him to preserve also the record of Faith’s failures, for
the admonition of others. Abram’s
lapse is recorded so that we might be preserved from similar folly, and the lesson
will be more easily understood if we remember that Egypt represents the world of
business and pleasure living in independence of God.
As noted already, Egypt and
Babylon have much in common. Both
countries are watered by a great river: Babylon, by the Euphrates, symbolic of the
great river of lies which waters the land of false religion, of which Babylon is the
symbol; but the Nile which waters Egypt is symbolic of the great river of wealth that
waters the world of business and pleasure. Both
rivers reach the sea through a multitude of smaller streams diffused through a marshy
delta. For all practical purposes they
lead nowhere, and the spiritual lesson isn’t difficult to read: the river of false
religion and the river of earthly wealth have similar endings - they lead only to
confusion and death.
There is nothing to indicate
that Abram ever considered returning to Babylon during the famine.
Having been there once, he was apparently well aware of the danger connected
with Babylon’s idolatry. Every
believer, like Abram, has been called out of “Babylon,” the world’s false
religious systems; and most, like him, would not return.
But Abram seems to have failed to recognize that Egypt was just as much to be
shunned as was Babylon. The one is as
dangerous as the other to the man of faith. We
are often guilty of the same wrong judgment however.
To become involved in the world’s business more than is needful, can result
only in spiritual poverty. It is a poor
bargain that requires us to exchange prosperity of soul for worldly wealth.
God bids His own, “Be content with such things as he have” (Heb 13:5).
The extent to which His command has been ignored, however, is amply
demonstrated in the spiritual poverty of all too many Christians.
Before examining the lessons
of Abram’s sojourn in Egypt, it might be well to note that there are at least two
reasons for famine, the more obvious being that it was usually sent as chastisement
for sin; and the second, not infrequently combined with the first, is to test the
faith of God’s people. Rarely do we
look on the black picture of Canaan stricken with famine, without discerning also the
golden thread of individual faith that glorified God by trusting Him to supply bread.
One example of this kind of faith is that of the widow mentioned in 1 Ki 17,
whose obedience resulted in her having meal (Christ), and oil (the Holy Spirit)
through all the time of famine.
On the other hand, the page
of Scripture is imprinted with warnings against leaving the land, even in famine. One such example is that of Elimelech, who went to Moab, (Ruth
chapter one). Another is the nation of
Israel. What began with a journey to
Egypt to buy corn, was prolonged to a four hundred year sojourn that saw the
Israelites finally become bond slaves to the Egyptians.
Famine has accomplished its
purpose when it produces repentance, and leads God’s people back to Him; or when it
simply casts them more upon Him. Too
often, however, it sends us, as it did Abram, “to sojourn in Egypt,” a place
always associated with the bondage of God’s people.
Many a believer has allowed a “famine” to drive him “down into Egypt.”
Intending to remain for only a little while, till the famine is past, he has
found himself in a bondage from which he cannot escape.
The road to heaven is strewn with the wrecks of Christian lives that have
suffered spiritual bankruptcy as the price paid for a little of the world’s gold -
gold which will have to be left here on earth when the soul takes its flight to
heaven, where the judgment seat of Christ will reveal the folly of having “gone
down into Egypt.”
The “famine” comes in
many forms, the temptation often so subtle that the believer has exchanged his
Christian liberty for Egypt’s bondage without even being aware of it at first. There is the need of a job, and the offer from the big corporation
is alluring.
The salary, the opportunities for advancement and travel, the social contacts,
the chances to meet the “right people,” etc., glitter so dazzlingly that they
blind the unwary to the grim fact that the price he must pay for all this is too
high. The company becomes his master,
owning him body and soul.
The big corporation,
however, has no monopoly on bringing Christians into bondage.
The tradesman, the clerk, the butcher, the baker... can all be drawn
spiritually into “Egypt.” The
aspiring college graduate is not the only one who finds “Egypt’s” attractions
luring him out of “Canaan.” That
second job “just to pay for the new car, the vacation, the new TV, etc.,” has a
strange way of becoming permanent. The
result is that there is no time for Bible study and prayer; no time for any Christian
activities; no time for God. The time
and talents that belong to God are seized by the “Egyptian taskmaster” once we
enter “Egypt.”
Abram chose to go
into Egypt. He wasn’t compelled to
leave Canaan - and neither are we. When
we choose to go into “Egypt” we are taking what belongs to God and yielding it to
the service of the adversary; and in robbing God we rob ourselves.
To put ourselves in such a position is to forget that as Christians we have no
right to say where we will go, for, “Ye are not your own....” (1 Co 6:19).
“For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s
freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men” (1 Co 7:22-23).
All too readily we forget that we “were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pe
1:18-19). What God said of Israel is
equally true of us, “I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine” (Isa 43:1).
Among the many things we may
learn from God’s permitting famine is the very simple and obvious lesson that there
is a difference between our wants and our needs.
He has promised to supply the latter, not necessarily the former, and we would
do well to learn to distinguish between the two.
There is, however, an aspect
of famine other than the mere temporal. The
soul as well as the body can suffer want. The
lean hand of famine sometimes lays its withering grip on the local church, drying up
the refreshing streams, reducing quality as well as quantity of spiritual bread.
In 2 Ki 6:24-25 we read that, “there was a great famine ... until an ass’s
head was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of
dove’s dung (a common weed) for five pieces of silver.”
Believers are sometimes reduced to equivalent spiritual fare. The ass typifies the
natural man, and also the body as the servant of the lusts of the flesh.
“Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt” (Job
11:12).
The head is the seat of the
intellect. Natural intelligence is often
substituted for what should be the Spirit’s teaching, with the result that God’s
people are reduced, not only to eating spiritually the “ass’s head” (worldly
wisdom), but also the “dove’s dung.” The
dove is a type of the Holy Spirit, and the “dove’s dung” represents that which
the Holy Spirit rejects.
While the Lord bestows the
gifts necessary for the upbuilding of His Church, a truth sometimes not understood is
that a God-given gift is not to be neglected, “Neglect not the gift that is in
thee” (1 Tim 4:14). It is to be
stirred up, “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee” (2 Tim 1:16). But it requires time and work to stir up and nurture spiritual
gift, and the famine-stricken condition of many of the churches today finds its cause
in the fact that the evangelists, and pastors (elders), and teachers have “gone
down into Egypt,” and are spending time there that belongs to God.
The sad effect is that the resulting “famine” drives others also into
“Egypt.” When Abram went down into
Egypt, Lot went with him.
12:11.
“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.”
The significance of
Sarai’s great beauty is easily understood when we remember that she represents
grace. Grace is an outstandingly
beautiful thing, for it is always ready to bestow a blessing where blessing is not
deserved. The believer is commanded to
“Grow in grace” (2 Pe 3:18).
12:12.
“Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that
they will say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee
alive.”
The men of the world also
see grace as a beautiful thing, and would desire to have it for themselves, but grace
is the exclusive possession of faith. It
can’t be possessed by the men of the world because they don’t have faith.
Abram was giving symbolic
expression to a spiritual truth when he said, “They will kill me....”
The world that admires grace, and would even desire to have it, nevertheless
hates the only one who can have grace, that is, the believer.
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ... but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (Jn 15:19).
The world desires to have grace, but not on God’s terms, as the “wife”
of faith.
12:13.
“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.”
The scheme by which Abram
hoped to save his life was to present Sarai as his sister rather than his wife, and
in this God is giving us an example of a spiritual truth: when the believer turns to
the world he always finds it necessary to separate himself from grace. It is significant that over twenty times in the record of
Abram’s life, Sarah is referred to, not simply as Sarai or Sarah, but as “Sarai,
thy wife,” or “Sarah, Abram’s wife.” God
keeps emphasizing the relationship that exists between Abram and Sarah: it is the
closest relationship that exists on earth, and is a type or picture of the
unbreakable bond that unites faith and grace, as well as Christ and the Church,
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Eph
5:30-32).
When Abram entered Egypt he
presented Sarai as merely his sister. Relationship
was still claimed, but it was not the close relationship of marriage. The believer’s turning to the world is a denial of grace.
12:14.
“And it came to pass that when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians
“Beheld the woman that she was very fair.”
We who possess grace tend to
be guilty of undervaluing its worth. Abram
described Sarah as “a fair woman,” but the Egyptians “Beheld the woman that she
was very fair.”
12:15.
“The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh:
and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.”
Today “the princes of
Pharaoh” still commend grace, and “Pharaoh” still takes “the woman” into
his house. Pharaoh and his princes represent those who rule this world.
Grace is universally recognized as something beautiful and desirable; but
however much the world may desire grace, faith alone may possess it.
To Abram she was his wife, and her name was Sarai (my princesses). There was a royal dignity connected with her as Abram’s wife.
She was in Pharaoh’s house, however, neither as wife, nor as Sarai, but
merely as “the woman.” The world may
have “the woman” in its house - the outward form, charm, manners, kindness,
generosity, etc., but to faith alone is grace “Sarai” and “wife.”
12:16.
“And he (Pharaoh) entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and
oxen, and he asses, and men servants, and maid servants, and she asses, and
camels.”
As Pharaoh treated Abram
well for Sarai’s sake, so will the world treat the believer - but only on the same
terms: the believer must give up grace. As
long as he is willing to become like the worldling, that is, separated from grace,
the believer will be welcomed in the world, and he may even be enriched with the
world’s goods. But what did the goods
of Egypt mean to Abram? All the wealth
of Egypt couldn’t compensate for the loss of Sarai.
What pleasure could Abram have found in his multiplied riches, with his wife
in Pharaoh’s house? Could anything
relieve the distress of knowing that the wife he had denied was in danger of becoming
the wife of the Egyptian?
The believer who turns to
the world, and thereby separates himself from grace, must pay a very high price for
his folly. The unbeliever is warned,
“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:36-37). In
recording Abram’s folly, God would warn the believer against similar foolishness,
of being enriched in earthly things at the cost of spiritual.
It is folly which has eternal consequences for either saint or sinner to
exchange eternal blessing for the paltry things of this world.
Connected with God’s
command to leave Chaldea and enter Canaan, were seven great blessings.
It is instructive to note that in leaving Canaan and entering Egypt, Abram
also received seven things, but they were all of infinitely lesser worth than the
blessings promised by God. Earth has
noting of worth to give. There is
fullness of blessing only when we are in the place where God commands us to be.
There is certainly some
spiritual lesson connected with each of the things mentioned, but I am unable to
determine what that lesson is. Sheep
represent humanity, e.g., “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
The ox is the symbol of service; and the ass represents the body as the
servant of the old nature, and it represents also man in his natural state.
Since the female speaks of passivity of the will; and the male, of activity,
the mention of he asses and she asses seems to be designed to teach something
relating to the operation of the old nature in the believer’s life.
I am also unable to determine the spiritual significance of the men servants
and maid servants, though here, too, the male and female obviously relate to the
activity and passivity of the will. The camel represents the believer’s body used in the service of
the new nature, e.g., Rebekah’s meeting with Isaac is clearly a picture of the
Rapture of the Church. It was a camel
that had carried her through the desert, just as our earthly bodies carry us through
the desert of this world toward our meeting with the heavenly Isaac.
At the moment of meeting, she “lighted off the camel.”
It was no longer needed; the desert journey was ended.
It will be the same with us. At
the Rapture the “camel” (the earthly body) will be replaced with the new
spiritual body.
There is also undoubtedly
some spiritual lesson relating to the order in which the things are named, for God
never makes His lists carelessly or capriciously.
There must be some reason why the sheep are named first, and the camels last,
as there must also be a reason why the men servants and the woman servants are listed
between the he asses and the she asses, but I regret being unable to discern what
that lesson is.
12:17.
“And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because
of Sarai Abram’s wife.”
The Lord’s plaguing of
Pharaoh is the symbolic declaration of the truth that curse, not blessing, results
from the attempt to possess grace on any basis other than faith.
Sarai didn’t become
Pharaoh’s wife, nor can grace ever be possessed by anyone apart from faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Only
through grace can a man produce the fruit of the Spirit in his life.
Without grace the best he can produce is the outward form: morality, etc.,
which the world mistakes for the fruit of grace, but the end of that way is the
“plague” - death.
12:18.
“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?”
Abram’s failure to confess
Sarai as his wife brought plague into Pharaoh’s house, and the spiritual lesson is
one that should not be lost on the believer.
In connection with salvation
God links together two things that can no more be separated than can faith and grace,
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation” (Ro 10:9-10).
Salvation involves two
things: believing in the heart, and confessing with the mouth.
The believer’s having faith in his heart, but without the confession of the
mouth, will do to the men of the world what Abram’s lack of confession regarding
Sarah did to Pharaoh and his house: it will bring the “plague.”
If the men of the world see only the moral impeccability of the believer’s
life, but never learn from his lips the reason why he lives that way, they will
conclude that a moral life is the only thing needed to take them to heaven.
Failure to confess with the mouth will result in our hearing, when it is too
late for remedy, the accusing question from the lips of those we deceived with our
moral living, but sealed lips, “Why didst thou not tell me?”
Only eternity will reveal how many have been deceived into thinking that the
way to heaven was by “good living,” because they saw the moral lives of
Christians, but never heard from their lips the confession of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the reason for their morality.
12:19.
“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.”
The world’s attitude
towards Christianity never changes. When
it finds that faith is necessary for the possession of grace, its favor ceases, and
the believer is dismissed. The only
condition upon which the believer can enjoy the world’s favor is to separate
himself from grace, and that is too high a price to pay for such a fleeting,
worthless thing.
12:20.
“And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and
his wife, and all that he had.”
As Pharaoh commanded his men
concerning Abram, so does Satan, the prince of this world, command his men, the
unconverted. Abram was to receive no
more of Pharaoh’s favor or of Egypt’s goods; nor will the man who walks with God
receive much of either the world’s favor or its goods.
For the believer, however,
it is small loss. He who is heir to
eternal riches can well afford to let the world keep both its favor and its wealth.
He can say with Paul, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss
for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may
win Christ” (Php 3:7-8).
Abram’s expulsion from
Egypt simply emphasizes the truth of 2 Co 6:14-16, “Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath
the temple of God with idols ... wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”
The world will have nothing
to do with faith, and the man of faith would do well to have nothing to do with the
world - except to confess Christ, and preach the Gospel to its perishing multitudes.
[Genesis
13]
