Walk in the Bible - Genesis 12
Genesis 12
Here we begin the story of Abram (and yes, at this point he's really called "Abram", but further along, GOD changes that - but for right now his name is "Abram" and his wife's name is "Sari" )
Verse 1 starts right out with GOD telling Abram to leave his family, his town and go to a place GOD would show him. Remember, Abram doesn't have a son yet, and he's not a young man at this time, he's 75 years old! There's no 401 K's no social security, no Medicaid or Medicare, when you got too sick to work or too feeble, you looked to your family to take care of you. GOD was telling Abram to forget about that, follow him to without telling him where he was to go - and in exchange for that, GOD was going to make his name great! HE wasn't telling him that he would be made great by his money, his fame, his good looks, his possessions, but that it would come from GOD HIMSELF!
Rashi reminds us that traveling, like GOD was asking Abram to do would break up a family, reduce that person's wealth and reduce their renown, as they'd be leaving their town, where they were known. In Bereshit Rabbah, 39,15 the sages even advise us that if that wasn't enough of an issue, that traveling would also reduce your fertility, as if Abram didn't have enough to worry about already ! So, GOD was asking Abram to leave everything he considered his security for the future, leave his extended family, which was an essential part of the family unit in that time, risk being robbed of everything, as that was a real possibility for travelers, and even risk his fertility further. Despite all that risk, Abram actually said "yes".
At the time this was being spoken by GOD, to Moses in the desert, the ancient Hebrews had likely heard tales in Egypt about mortals speaking with the GODS, or being granted a gift or an audience with the GODS, but only after performing some kind of heroic task or heroic deeds and being known throughout the whole land. Here GOD's reaching out to Abram and he'd literally done none of the above. GOD didn't ask Abram to perform some heroic feat, or slay some fearsome beast, HE asked only that Abram follow him, just that! He DID tell him, in verse 3 that anyone that cursed him would be cursed by GOD HIMSELF and anyone that blessed him would be blessed by GOD HIMSELF as well and that HE'D make his name great,
In verse 4 we see that not only did Abram go, but so did his nephew , Lot. Abram adopted him as his son, since his father had died as well. We also see, in verse 5 that Abram took pretty much everything he had with him. The Bible notes that both Lot and Abram had acquired animals and people, this could possibly have been part of an inheritance from his father, but the Bible really doesn't tell us if this is true. Either way, Lot, Abram and their wives headed away from Haran and went to Canaan. This wasn't a short journey either. Canaan was 400 miles away from Haran. Haran was near the northern end of the river Euphrates, so Abram would have to travel Southwest across the desert to Shechem which is modern day Israeal, then head west to near the Mediterranean sea, which is where Canaan was!
In verse 6 we meet up with the descendants of Canaan, the Canaanites. Canaan was cursed by Noah, back in Genesis 9:25 to be a servant of his brothers, and as we'll see a bit later on, GOD actually begins to fulfill this promise by telling Abram that this land will be for his offspring. Remember, Abram has no children at this time and Sari is still barren, so GOD , in effect is telling him that he hadn't forgotten about his promise to make his name great at all ! Abram's response is to build an altar , offering up some of his clean animals, in effect, offering wealth back to GOD in exchange for this. Animals were , in fact, a source of wealth at this time, you could use them for pretty much anything, even dowry (we'll see where the Pharaoh uses animals for dowry a bit later on in this chapter ) ! He not only did this once, but he did it again in the hill country east of Bethel (modern day Bethlehem).
In chapter 10 a famine hits the land, and Abram decides to stay for a little while in Egypt, but not live, the Bible's pretty clear about this as it tells us that he "sojourned" not "lived" in Egypt! Most Torah scholars believe this is a foreshadowing of what would happen to Joseph later on ! Now, just before they entered Egypt (in verse 11) Abram had a quick word with his wife. Remember, that this is being dictated to Moses in the desert after the Ancient Hebrews left Egypt, so the ancient Hebrews would have been very familiar with Egypt's carnal behavior. Ezekiel pretty much spells it out in Ezekiel 22:20, in fact, some scholars have pointed out that in the Egyptian language , at that time, there literally was no word for "virgin"!
Abram decides to tell Sari that she's to let people know that she's his sister and not his wife. There's just cause for this, believe it or not. The Egyptians DID have laws against sleeping with the wife of another man, but they weren't above killing that man to get his wife, in fact, the Torah scholar Sforno remind us of this. There's certainly an example of this happening in Numbers 31:15 !
Sari is , in fact, Abram's half-sister. Abram would later state that Sari is the daughter of his father , but not the daughter of his mother, so in his mind, she's not really his sister. God would clear that up later on in Leviticus 18:9 . With that said, the Torah scholars are divided on whether or not Abram also told Sari to say she was his wife so that he could accumulate some more wealth. Some scholars say no, some say yes. Those that say yes point to an old saying that essentially says if GOD gives you a blessing , don't just sit on your hands, take action to make that blessing happen. Which is what Abram seems to be doing now!
Abram enters Egypt, in verse 14 , and just as he suspected, all the men are making a big fuss over Sari and want her as a wife. At this point, the Torah scholar Malbim tells us that potential suitors came up to Abram and tried to buy her but he asked such a high price , no one could pay it,except the Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh's people definitely let him know about it too! This did two things for Abram, one, the townspeople stopped trying to get Sari as their wife and two, got Abram to the Pharaoh, and possibly some extra money for it as well
In verse 16 we see that the Pharaoh is so taken with Sari that he makes her his wife, not his mistress, not his concubine, but his wife, which means she was a senior member of his household! Interestingly enough Rabbeinu Bahya and Radak disagree with each other as to whether or not Abram actually got the sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves and camels from the Pharaoh like the Bible says or he just got to keep his own. Their is a suggestion that he actually got them from the Pharaoh in the Bible as it says later on that Abram was able to pay his creditors, indicating that he had to borrow at some point on the way !
GOD intervenes on both Abram and Sari's part in verse 17. The Pharaoh had bought Sari as his wife, hadn't even consummated the marriage and the Pharaoh and his household were afflicted with plagues. Sforno tells us that the Pharaoh got it the worst, his household got it a little less and Sari was untouched by this. Naturally this lead them to believe that the affliction was because of Sari! The historian Nachmanides states that when the plagues struck and it didn't affect Sari, they asked her if she knew why , and that's when she told him that she was actually Abram's wife, not his sister. Verse 18 seems to bear that out !
In verse 18, Pharaoh definitely knows that Sari is Abram's wife and some scholars believe he didn't even want to know why Abram said what he said, he literally tells him to take his wife and go so that the plagues will leave him and his household. Now the scholars don't agree on what the plagues were, exactly, so we don't know what they were, but they do agree that the Pharaoh wanted them both gone. Some scholars actually believe the Pharaoh wanted them to leave quickly because he though the commoners of town might try to take Sari for themselves. Verse 20 seems to bear that out as he actually had his own guard escort them to the borders of his land.
Rashi and Rambam both agree that the Pharaoh asked for Abram to be protected by his guard as far as his borders, and the Targum says as much as well. Tur HaAroch also agrees and says that not only that, but Abram and Sari were allowed to leave not only with their belongings but those that Abram acquired from the sale of Sari as the Pharaoh's wife too !
I can't help but be struck by how pertinent this is right now. Most of us have been asked to uproot ourselves from our jobs and work at home, some of us have been uprooted from our jobs all together and now have none. Just as GOD asked Abram to follow HIM, GOD's asking us the same today. Follow HIM. He's in control even in the midst of this virus that's ravaging the land, despite our best experts not knowing when it will end, he knows exactly when it will end. He knows how long we'll be away from our jobs, how long we have to be 6 feet away from each other, how long until business resumes as normal. He's in control right now and will always be. For those of us who've lost our jobs, HE'S our Egypt, our place to go where there is plenty, for those of us who feel lost and don't know where we're going, here's our guide , our voice in the wilderness, guiding us to a destination HE knows and will reveal to us, just as he revealed it to Abram. Just follow HIM, HE knows where HE'S going, HE'S the way.
If you're struggling - I want to hear from you. Feel free to drop a comment or email me, my email is listed in my profile ( askdeacond@gmail.com).
Keep coming back, there will be more walks in the Bible to come!
Here we begin the story of Abram (and yes, at this point he's really called "Abram", but further along, GOD changes that - but for right now his name is "Abram" and his wife's name is "Sari" )
Verse 1 starts right out with GOD telling Abram to leave his family, his town and go to a place GOD would show him. Remember, Abram doesn't have a son yet, and he's not a young man at this time, he's 75 years old! There's no 401 K's no social security, no Medicaid or Medicare, when you got too sick to work or too feeble, you looked to your family to take care of you. GOD was telling Abram to forget about that, follow him to without telling him where he was to go - and in exchange for that, GOD was going to make his name great! HE wasn't telling him that he would be made great by his money, his fame, his good looks, his possessions, but that it would come from GOD HIMSELF!
Rashi reminds us that traveling, like GOD was asking Abram to do would break up a family, reduce that person's wealth and reduce their renown, as they'd be leaving their town, where they were known. In Bereshit Rabbah, 39,15 the sages even advise us that if that wasn't enough of an issue, that traveling would also reduce your fertility, as if Abram didn't have enough to worry about already ! So, GOD was asking Abram to leave everything he considered his security for the future, leave his extended family, which was an essential part of the family unit in that time, risk being robbed of everything, as that was a real possibility for travelers, and even risk his fertility further. Despite all that risk, Abram actually said "yes".
At the time this was being spoken by GOD, to Moses in the desert, the ancient Hebrews had likely heard tales in Egypt about mortals speaking with the GODS, or being granted a gift or an audience with the GODS, but only after performing some kind of heroic task or heroic deeds and being known throughout the whole land. Here GOD's reaching out to Abram and he'd literally done none of the above. GOD didn't ask Abram to perform some heroic feat, or slay some fearsome beast, HE asked only that Abram follow him, just that! He DID tell him, in verse 3 that anyone that cursed him would be cursed by GOD HIMSELF and anyone that blessed him would be blessed by GOD HIMSELF as well and that HE'D make his name great,
In verse 4 we see that not only did Abram go, but so did his nephew , Lot. Abram adopted him as his son, since his father had died as well. We also see, in verse 5 that Abram took pretty much everything he had with him. The Bible notes that both Lot and Abram had acquired animals and people, this could possibly have been part of an inheritance from his father, but the Bible really doesn't tell us if this is true. Either way, Lot, Abram and their wives headed away from Haran and went to Canaan. This wasn't a short journey either. Canaan was 400 miles away from Haran. Haran was near the northern end of the river Euphrates, so Abram would have to travel Southwest across the desert to Shechem which is modern day Israeal, then head west to near the Mediterranean sea, which is where Canaan was!
In verse 6 we meet up with the descendants of Canaan, the Canaanites. Canaan was cursed by Noah, back in Genesis 9:25 to be a servant of his brothers, and as we'll see a bit later on, GOD actually begins to fulfill this promise by telling Abram that this land will be for his offspring. Remember, Abram has no children at this time and Sari is still barren, so GOD , in effect is telling him that he hadn't forgotten about his promise to make his name great at all ! Abram's response is to build an altar , offering up some of his clean animals, in effect, offering wealth back to GOD in exchange for this. Animals were , in fact, a source of wealth at this time, you could use them for pretty much anything, even dowry (we'll see where the Pharaoh uses animals for dowry a bit later on in this chapter ) ! He not only did this once, but he did it again in the hill country east of Bethel (modern day Bethlehem).
In chapter 10 a famine hits the land, and Abram decides to stay for a little while in Egypt, but not live, the Bible's pretty clear about this as it tells us that he "sojourned" not "lived" in Egypt! Most Torah scholars believe this is a foreshadowing of what would happen to Joseph later on ! Now, just before they entered Egypt (in verse 11) Abram had a quick word with his wife. Remember, that this is being dictated to Moses in the desert after the Ancient Hebrews left Egypt, so the ancient Hebrews would have been very familiar with Egypt's carnal behavior. Ezekiel pretty much spells it out in Ezekiel 22:20, in fact, some scholars have pointed out that in the Egyptian language , at that time, there literally was no word for "virgin"!
Abram decides to tell Sari that she's to let people know that she's his sister and not his wife. There's just cause for this, believe it or not. The Egyptians DID have laws against sleeping with the wife of another man, but they weren't above killing that man to get his wife, in fact, the Torah scholar Sforno remind us of this. There's certainly an example of this happening in Numbers 31:15 !
Sari is , in fact, Abram's half-sister. Abram would later state that Sari is the daughter of his father , but not the daughter of his mother, so in his mind, she's not really his sister. God would clear that up later on in Leviticus 18:9 . With that said, the Torah scholars are divided on whether or not Abram also told Sari to say she was his wife so that he could accumulate some more wealth. Some scholars say no, some say yes. Those that say yes point to an old saying that essentially says if GOD gives you a blessing , don't just sit on your hands, take action to make that blessing happen. Which is what Abram seems to be doing now!
Abram enters Egypt, in verse 14 , and just as he suspected, all the men are making a big fuss over Sari and want her as a wife. At this point, the Torah scholar Malbim tells us that potential suitors came up to Abram and tried to buy her but he asked such a high price , no one could pay it,except the Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh's people definitely let him know about it too! This did two things for Abram, one, the townspeople stopped trying to get Sari as their wife and two, got Abram to the Pharaoh, and possibly some extra money for it as well
In verse 16 we see that the Pharaoh is so taken with Sari that he makes her his wife, not his mistress, not his concubine, but his wife, which means she was a senior member of his household! Interestingly enough Rabbeinu Bahya and Radak disagree with each other as to whether or not Abram actually got the sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves and camels from the Pharaoh like the Bible says or he just got to keep his own. Their is a suggestion that he actually got them from the Pharaoh in the Bible as it says later on that Abram was able to pay his creditors, indicating that he had to borrow at some point on the way !
GOD intervenes on both Abram and Sari's part in verse 17. The Pharaoh had bought Sari as his wife, hadn't even consummated the marriage and the Pharaoh and his household were afflicted with plagues. Sforno tells us that the Pharaoh got it the worst, his household got it a little less and Sari was untouched by this. Naturally this lead them to believe that the affliction was because of Sari! The historian Nachmanides states that when the plagues struck and it didn't affect Sari, they asked her if she knew why , and that's when she told him that she was actually Abram's wife, not his sister. Verse 18 seems to bear that out !
In verse 18, Pharaoh definitely knows that Sari is Abram's wife and some scholars believe he didn't even want to know why Abram said what he said, he literally tells him to take his wife and go so that the plagues will leave him and his household. Now the scholars don't agree on what the plagues were, exactly, so we don't know what they were, but they do agree that the Pharaoh wanted them both gone. Some scholars actually believe the Pharaoh wanted them to leave quickly because he though the commoners of town might try to take Sari for themselves. Verse 20 seems to bear that out as he actually had his own guard escort them to the borders of his land.
Rashi and Rambam both agree that the Pharaoh asked for Abram to be protected by his guard as far as his borders, and the Targum says as much as well. Tur HaAroch also agrees and says that not only that, but Abram and Sari were allowed to leave not only with their belongings but those that Abram acquired from the sale of Sari as the Pharaoh's wife too !
I can't help but be struck by how pertinent this is right now. Most of us have been asked to uproot ourselves from our jobs and work at home, some of us have been uprooted from our jobs all together and now have none. Just as GOD asked Abram to follow HIM, GOD's asking us the same today. Follow HIM. He's in control even in the midst of this virus that's ravaging the land, despite our best experts not knowing when it will end, he knows exactly when it will end. He knows how long we'll be away from our jobs, how long we have to be 6 feet away from each other, how long until business resumes as normal. He's in control right now and will always be. For those of us who've lost our jobs, HE'S our Egypt, our place to go where there is plenty, for those of us who feel lost and don't know where we're going, here's our guide , our voice in the wilderness, guiding us to a destination HE knows and will reveal to us, just as he revealed it to Abram. Just follow HIM, HE knows where HE'S going, HE'S the way.
If you're struggling - I want to hear from you. Feel free to drop a comment or email me, my email is listed in my profile ( askdeacond@gmail.com).
Keep coming back, there will be more walks in the Bible to come!
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