Genesis 12

To log onto UNITYINCHRIST.COM’S BLOG, Click Here

Share on Facebook

Genesis 12:1-20

“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: 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: 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. 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy 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. 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. 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. 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 on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 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. 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: 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. 14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, 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 [where Hagar came from], and she asses, and camels. 17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. 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.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED524]

“Genesis chapter 12 says “Now the LORD had said unto Abram,” and if I slip and call him Abraham and call Sarai Sarah until God changes her name, you can forgive me because Stephen in Acts 7 when he talks about “Abraham,” he calls him Abraham and says he was in Ur of the Chaldees, so he just takes it for granted that the people who are listening know who he’s talking about, I’ll do the same, “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:” (verse 1) The LORD “had said,” and the inference is in the grammar, “had said, and was continuing to say,” it’s not a present-perfect tense like we have in the Greek, but the language seems to indicate God had said this to Abraham and was continuing to impress this upon his heart. For your own, you want to take note of Acts chapter 7 there, verse 2, where it tells us Stephen says “The God of glory appeared unto Abraham,” now I’ll read it, it’s easier, he says “Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia,” Ur of the Chaldees, “before he dwelt in Charan, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.” (verses 2-3) So what we just read is, it said God had said to Abraham, that was spoken to him when he was in Ur of the Chaldees, before he had left, God had appeared to him in his glory, and had said that to him. If you remember Joshua, we read it last week, it says “Joshua said to all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood” the Euphrates “in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.” So we’re told clearly, that as Joshua 24, verse 2, that Abraham and his father, his father Terah, they were idolators, rabbinic tradition says Terah was an idol maker. That Abraham, there were no Jews, God will separate Abraham and call him, his son Isaac and then of course Jacob, and the Jewish nation [Israelite nation, made up of 12 tribes, the tribe of Judah only being one of those tribes] is born out of that, but there were no Jews [or Israelites for that matter]. There was no Judah, there was no Israel [Sunday-observing Christians don’t seem to make a distinction between Judah and Israel, whereas the Bible clearly shows there is one, but the other ten tribes became lost historically after the Assyrian Empire conquered and deported them, and they never really returned to the area of Palestine, technically, they’ve been lost from historic view, they’re out there somewhere, and Jesus will bring them back right after his 2^nd coming.] There was hundreds of years that have passed since the Ark had landed, and in Shem’s line there was a family who had settled with many of the Hamites, settled in the plain of Shinar, Mesopotamia, some of Shem’s line had settled there, and one of those families was under a father named Terah, who had a son named Abram. They were idolators and God appears to him. It doesn’t tell us what that looks like. We can only imagine, what is it like when “the God of glory” appears to you? Cardiac, right? How many of us have said ‘Lord, if you just do this,’ or ‘If you just send an angel, just let me see a feather float down, then I’ll believe, then I’ll obey,’ well, here he gets it, both barrels, it says ‘The God of glory appears unto Abram in Ur of the Chaldees, and says Get thee out from your country, from your father’s house, from your family, to a land that I’ll show thee.’ Now Abram get’s one out of three, that ain’t bad. You would think if the God of glory appeared to you, you’d get three out of three. He got out of his country, he didn’t get away from his kindred, or his father. Terah went with him, Lot his nephew went with him, members of his family had gone, and he went as far as Haran. Haran was the other place on the border of Mesopotamia where they worshipped Sin the Moon god, which is the main deity of Ur of the Chaldees. And Haran was either named after his brother who had died, or his brother was named after the city, because there was that worship there, maybe there were other relatives there, we don’t know, but they got there. Scholars argue about how long they stayed there. But the word “Haran” means “Parched,” if you look it up in your Strong’s Concordance. Terah some say means “delay,” we don’t want to put too much in those things, but certainly there’s an interesting picture of Abraham not going all the way to what God had called him to do. Now look, God is patient. God knew who the man was going to be, he knew what he was going to do through the man, the man was an idol-worshipper when God appears to him [from the previous sermon series by Mr. Rittenbaugh, it indicates Abram himself wasn’t an idolator, but his father and the rest of his immediate family were, especially Terah, Abraham’s father, and Nahor, Abraham’s younger brother], whatever that was like, it put something into Abraham that never left him. It describes the situation this way in the Book of Hebrews 11, it says “By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, he went out not knowing whither he went.” Now that’s pretty remarkable obedience. “By faith he sojourned in the land of the promise,” both definite articles, “as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” [see Revelation 21:1-23] and it says ‘Because of that, God was not ashamed to call them as his children,’ Abraham sojourns in the Land of Promise, never settling down because he’s looking for something that was put in his heart in Ur of the Chaldees in regards to eternity. Ur of course again, a city that Dr. Wooly in 1922, University of Pennsylvania was part of that, did the excavation and of course they found doctors offices, they found trigonometry and mathematics, they found art, they found all kinds of things, they found medical things, they found what you do after brain surgery, they found a number of things there. And of course Ur of the Chaldees probably at that point sitting on the Persian Gulf, and Abraham many times looking at the sand by the seashore that God would use to make an analogy to him later in his life. Ah, Abraham is a city boy, and God says to him, appears to him and makes enough of a dramatic impression upon him to at least get him out of his country. So impressed was Terah with the change in Abraham’s life, his father, that he goes with him. He takes Sarai, who is his half-sister, it tells us in chapter 20, verse 12 that Terah was Sarai’s father, but with a different mother. So, no law given at this point in time, no prohibition, she’s his half-sister, he’s married to her. It gives us the names, if you look, “these are the generations of Terah:” verse 27 of chapter 11, “Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran;” Haran was evidently the one he had first, because he dies before they leave. “And Haran begat Lot.” We want to put Lot into the picture. “And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.” (verses 28-29) Now it’s specific there, telling us that Nahor took a wife named Milcah, because Isaac is going to go back to the land of his nativity and run into his uncle Laban to find his sister Rebecca to take for his wife [it was actually Abraham’s servant that was sent back to Abraham’s land of nativity to meet up with Laban and his sister Rebecca]. Laban, we’re read, is the son of Nahor and Milcah, so this part of the family that remains back in Padam Aram in that part of the country. Remember Jacob will go there to Laban’s house and come away with Leah and Rachel and a big mess, we’ll get there. But the interesting thing it tells us there, that Rachel tried to steal the teraphim from her father’s house, the idols, the gods. So this was an idolatrous family. Abraham is touched and changed when the God of glory appears to him, but God’s not done with him. You would think that if the God of glory appeared to you it would only take one shot and everything would be fixed. [Nope, when God calls any one of us, which is a divine calling, we’re not fixed in one shot, Abraham’s story is our story, it takes a lifetime of spiritual growth and overcoming.] Not nearly so. God changes us line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, by the power of his Word, by the power of his Spirit. So Sarai, it tell us in Genesis 11 verse 30, “But Sarai was barren; she had no child.” “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees,” about 600 miles, “to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.” (verses 30-32) Again, we’re not sure how long, scholars argue, that they were there, but Abram had left his country, not his father, not his kin, and there were strings still holding him. And we know in our lives when God calls us, sometimes it’s a separating from, as it were, the land of our nativity, the surroundings we’re used to. Sometimes it leaves us in a position where we’re separated from the house we were raised in, Jesus said “I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword,” sometimes it divides, between a father and a son or a within a family. Sometime the necessary thing in order to grow is to separate from those old surroundings, those old friends, those old relationships. Well a number of years goes by, and finally Abraham’s now going to finish another 600 miles into the land of Canaan. But don’t underestimate his faith. What is it like for you, what would it take for you to say to your family, ‘I changed gods.’ ‘What do you mean you changed gods?’ ‘Well, we’re all wrong about this thing,’ ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Well, the real God appeared to me last night,’ ‘How do you know?’ ‘If you saw him, you would know, this is not up for debate. This was the real deal, and he told me to go to the land of Canaan.’ ‘Where?’ ‘He didn’t say, he said he’ll show me.’ ‘Where do we go?’ ‘West, rent the Ur-Haul, load it up, get the kids,’ just what kind of faith is that, and what kind of criticism did he get from his family? You think Abraham did this without his family saying ‘Are you sure, do you know what you’re talking about, where are we going? We’re leaving a wealthy city, all of this, what’s going on here?’ But whatever that experience with God was like, when it’s genuine, it weighs more than all of those other considerations, and it has to be that way in our life, it has to be that way.

The LORD’s Great Promise To Abraham & His Descendants

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram” and was still saying “get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:” (Genesis 12:1) Notice, “a land that I will show thee,” Hebrews 11 said he went out, not knowing where he was going, so God’s saying ‘Get started, and you’re going to need to stay in touch.’ That’s a challenge for us. And look what God says, “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:” (verse 2) this guy’s 75 years old now, and he doesn’t have any kids. “and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;” and hasn’t he. Ask any Jew, ask any Muslim, ask any Christian, and God has made his name great, “and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (verses 2b-3) Now when God appears and tells you that, you’ll have a little bit of trouble telling your family that, ‘Hey, he picked me.’ This is all grace, Abraham’s not a seeker, ok, he’s an idolator [from the previous sermon series by Mr. Rittenbaugh, it indicates Abram himself wasn’t an idolator, but his father and the rest of his immediate family were, especially Terah, Abraham’s father, and Nahor, Abraham’s younger brother], God appears to him and says ‘You!’ it’s of election, he picks him, ‘You’re the one.’ And he doesn’t say ‘you stupid knucklehead idolator,’ he said ‘I’m going to bless you, I’m going to make you a blessing, I’m going to bless those who bless you, and I’m going to curse him or her who curses you, I’m going to put blessings on top of blessings, on top of blessings, in fact, all of the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through you.’ All of grace. And I don’t see anywhere where this has been revoked. [Comment: When God spoke these words in Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him [or her] that curseth thee” it not only applied to Abraham, but history has shown us that God also applies this promise to the children of Abraham, which would be the Jews and the historically lost from view 10 tribes of Israel, as well as all believing Christians and Messianic Jews, as Paul brought out in Galatians 3, verse 9, and verse 29. One historic example of this comes out of World War II history, the Hikawa Maru. As World War II started, she was converted from being a 1^st Class ocean liner along with two of her sister ships into hospital ships for wounded Japanese combatants. Her two sister ships were blown out of the water by striking naval mines, with no survivors. Hikawa Maru did strike a mine, a near miss, damaging her propeller, but was fixed in drydock. As her career during WWII showed, she was one of the safest ships you could serve on. Why? Read below, about some Jewish refugees who had escaped Nazi Germany, fleeing across Siberia to Vladivostok where they boarded the Hikawa Maru, a first class ocean liner, and were treated by the Japanese crew and waiters like royalty, all the way from Vladivostok to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob obviously showered his protection on the Hikawa Maru and everyone on board her for the duration of World War II, and even preserved her as a floating museum after her career was over, she was never scrapped, whereas her two sister ships were blown out of the water and sunk, all hands lost, by hitting naval mines. Does God take his promise to Abraham seriously? Yes, he does, and if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, with God’s Holy Spirit indwelling you, you are also a child of Abraham (Galatians 3:9,29). Those that bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed, it’s in God’s Word.

Hikawa Maru: Civilian service

In 1940–41, before Japan's entry to the Second World War, hundreds of Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution fled to Canada and the United States via Japan, and many of them sailed on Hikawa Maru.^[1] In August 1940 a party of 82 German and Lithuanian Jews who had travelled via the USSR and Vladivostok reached Seattle on Hikawa Maru.^[5] Later, Rabbi Zerach Warhaftig and his family travelled east from Lithuania to Japan. They left Yokohama on Hikawa Maru on 5 June 1941 and landed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 17 June.^[5]^[6] He described the trip as "a summer vacation and with the war seeming to be so far away" although, he said "I didn't have a peaceful mind because of the strong responsibility I had to help the Jewish refugees with the troubles they faced." Hikawa Maru and her sisters ran a regular liner route between Yokohama, Vancouver and Seattle.^[1] She had a reputation for service that combined splendid food and beautiful art deco interiors, and she was nicknamed "The Queen of the Pacific".^[3] Wikipedia]

“I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:” (verse 3a) and I’m glad when I hear President Bush say the State of Israel has the right to defend themselves. I’m glad to hear that. Not that earthly politics is our calling, but I’m just glad to hear that. “I will curse him that curseth thee” now anyone that wants to curse Israel should take a little look at history, what happened to Egypt, what happened to Assyria, what happened to Babylon, what happened to Rome, what happened to Nazi Germany, and what’s going to happen to Israel’s enemies now, it’s not going to change. [Comment: the ancient Assyrians migrated northwestward into north-central Europe to what is today Germany and Austria, where they had ancient colonies, once Babylon defeated them in Mesopotamia in the 600s BC. And those ancient Assyrians, now Germans, will be used one last time to punish Israel (including the 10-lost tribes, wherever and whoever they are) for their grievous sins, during the Tribulation, WWIII.] “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy five years old when he departed out of Haran.” (verses 3-4) Now look, we’re going to read in verse 4 that he departed, in verse 5 that he went forth, in verse 6 he’s passing through, in verse 8 he removed himself from there, in verse 9 he journeyed, Abraham’s on the move here, ok. 75 years old, that should remove anybody’s resistance in this room to yielding to the LORD, don’t tell me ‘I’m 70, 75, 80 years old, I’m too old, God can’t do anything with me.’ Abraham was 75 years old and would change the world because he yielded to the Living God. Now most of you here at 75, God’s not going to make a great nation out of you, that’s not my point, but who knows what he might do with any 75-year-old, 80-year-old that’s willing to say ‘Here I am, Lord, here I am, I’m not living for this world, I’m living for you. I have no agenda but to hear “Well done good and faithful servant,” so if you give me my marching orders each day, I’m a little hard of hearing now Lord, but my heart can still hear, I’m willing, I’m willing.’ And I hope it’s an exhortation to those of you who are more mature, ah, grandma’s, how desperately the Body of Christ needs you to be sold out for Jesus Christ. How desperately younger people need to see good finishers ahead of them.

Finding God’s Presence Again, A Man Of The Tent & The Altar

He was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. “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.” (verse 5) All of the souls they had gotten in Haran, we’re going to read in chapter 14, it says ‘When Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them to Dan.’ So whatever souls he had gathered in Haran, there were at least 318 armed servants that could handle the sword in his house, you add women and children to that, we’re probably pushing near a 1,000 people coming into Canaan with Abraham, it wasn’t him, a camel, Sarah and Lot. It was something evidently to behold, this man. Well of course, but that’s 999 questions everyday, ‘Are you sure you heard him? Are you sure he said, are you sure?’ “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.” (verse 6) “Sichem,” it means “shoulder” interestingly, it’s in the midst of Israel. “Moreh” is the Hebrew word that means “instruction.” He come to the shoulder, as it were, to the land, the place where we want to lean, where John leaned on the Lord’s breast, on the Lord’s shoulder. He came to Moreh, the place of instruction. And it says “And the Canaanite was then in the land.” Now, it says that to us, thinking that we’ll understand. Remember back in chapter 9, there was a curse on Canaan and his line, not on Ham, on Canaan. If you go to the University of Pennsylvania, and they have a great book store there at their museum, and you can get an archeological book or a book on anthropology that talks about the Canaanites, they are some of the most vile, idolatrous, immoral people on the face of the earth, you read what they were like, what they lived like, what they did, what was mingled into that culture. And here comes Abraham with Sarah, and he moves into the neighbourhood, this is some neighbourhood to move into. It doesn’t mean much to us, but Abraham gets there, and it says ‘the Canaanite was in the land,’ that was something to think about. “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed” he’s still childless, imagine him coming back and telling Sarah this the whole time, “will I give this land: and there builded he an alter unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.” (verse 7) Now notice, this is the first time we have the word “appeared,” in the Bible. We’re told in Acts 7 that he had “appeared” to him previously in Mesopotamia before he left, the first time we have the word “appeared” in the Bible is here. God appears to him when he’s in the plain of Moreh. And it’s interesting that it follows the fact that the Canaanite was in the land. Maybe when Abraham really needed encouragement, God dealt to him, met him there and gave him what he needed. But there was no appearance in Haran, there was an appearance in Ur of the Chaldees, and a charge to get out of the land and go forth. There was an appearance of the LORD when he came to where God had been waiting for him, in the land. But those years in Haran were wasted, it was a place that was parched, a place of delay, a place of half-obedience, it was a place where, as it were, the flesh had to die, his father passed away, there’s something there that had to change for Abraham to let completely go. And how often when we finally move on from half-hearted obedience and go into just real commitment do we find his presence again. Because he would never bless Haran with his presence, he would never bless half-hearted obedience, because then we’d just be content to stay there. He has many things to teach Abraham. And Abraham is in the process now of beginning to learn those things. Now look, and as we go through this, if Abraham was perfect I’d be discouraged. I’m very encouraged studying him, he takes up about 25 percent of Genesis, his name is mentioned 74 times in the New Testament. When we get to his life in Hebrews none of his failures are mentioned. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? That should be encouraging to us. But his humanness is put right before us in these accounts. “and [he] builded an altar unto the LORD, who appeared to him.” Now how did he know to build an altar to the LORD, what did he know about altars? God must have spoken to him about this when he appeared to him. He must have been personally instructed by God in regards to blood atonement, altars. Did he know about Adam’s, Abel’s offering? Did he know about the altar that Noah built after the Ark landed? Did he know about these things? He builds an altar, God no doubt having ministered to his heart the importance, the centrality of blood atonement, substitutionary atonement. “And” it says in verse 8, “he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.” So he comes to an interesting position in the land. Abraham’s headed south, Abraham loved the desert, and the desert has it’s own beauty. And anyone whose been over into that part of the world, you know, you still see the Bedouin, they still have these black tents. It’s very interesting to see a Bedouin tent out in the desert with a television antenna sticking out or a dish sticking out, with a Honda generator next to them, you’ll see that, it’s very remarkable. Are they watching American Idol in there? But in some ways, very much the same, very little has changed. So he’s moving towards the south, he becomes a man who loves the desert, loves that area. But we take note always here as we look at the life of Abraham, he’s the man of the tent and the altar, those are the things that identify him. He’s building altars, when he moves on, he leaves these charred places around the land, he doesn’t care what the Canaanite thinks, that’s his testimony, that’s his witness. He doesn’t care what they think, [where the Canaanites may be saying] ‘What are you doing, we don’t like our lamb well-done, you burnt that thing to a cinder, what are you doing?’ they didn’t understand, this is not a barbeque. ‘Let me tell you what we’re doing here, let me tell you what this is about,’ and he has no reservation about openly displaying his relationship with God, a great thing for us to take note of. And everywhere he goes he pitches a tent and builds an altar. And those will be the signatures of his life, because the tent, the tent will define for us his relationship with this world [temporary], and the altar will define for us his relationship with the next world. Because it’s going to tell us in chapter 13 that Abraham gets to the place, and the Jerusalem Targum says, he’s overloaded with gold and silver. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know what that feels like. Always take a shot at it for a day. What in the world is overloaded with gold and silver? He could have built a mansion anywhere, it says he didn’t have any permanent home. He bought a cave in Machpelah to bury his wife, but he never owned anything in the Land of Promise, as he continued to travel, everywhere he pitched a tent, because he was looking for the city whose builder and maker was God, he was looking for THE Promise that had been revealed to him [cf. Revelation 21:1-23, read it]. He couldn’t settle down here, because eternity always weighed more in his heart than the temporal. And yet at the same time, he understood clearly that without an altar, without the shedding of blood, he had no relationship with the next world. He understood these things. So wherever we find him, he’s a man of the tent and the altar. Now, here it tells us that he’s got Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. Again, Jacob’s not going to name this place Bethel for years and years after this. [but don’t forget, Moses is writing this looking back in time, recording present place-names, instead of what the Canaanite might have called the city that was Bethel.] Bethel means “house of God.” But Moses when he writes it, plants Abraham there for us between Bethel and Ai, Ai means “ruin,” or “heap of ruin,” Bethel means “house of God.” Here the man of faith with the tent and the altar, and he’s camped between “the house of God” and “the heap of ruin.” That’s where we’re at right now in our journey, if you haven’t noticed. Isn’t this world a heap of ruin? Have you had the news on in the last few days? And we’re headed to the house of God. How easily are we tempted to settle down here, to settle for less, to err into something that God tells us to stay away from, how often do we do that? And it ends up to be a ruin, it ends up to be problems. And yet Paul would say, ‘I’m renewed day by day, not of the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen, things that are seen are temporary, things that are not seen are eternal.’ So we find him camped at this place. Now it would seem everything’s hunky-dory, ok? He’s in the land, God’s appeared to him, he’s got his wife, got all of these people with him, he’s in a nice place in the desert he enjoys, it’s a nice area [that wasn’t necessarily a desert area at that period in time]. He’s between Bethel and Ai, he’s in a place that he should be, he’s calling on the name of the LORD. “And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 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.” (verses 9-10) First time you find the word “Egypt” in the Bible, whenever you see the word “down” and “Egypt” together it’s usually not good. Egypt’s mentioned about 600 times in the Bible, first time here, he goes down to Egypt to sojourn there, “for the famine was grievous in the land.” Now, it was common, when in this area of the world, there would be a drought which would cause a famine, for people to go to Egypt, because Egypt constantly had the flowing of the Nile, they had irrigation, they constantly had food. And it was typical, it was not unusual for people to head towards Egypt when there was a famine. The question that we have to ask ourselves, is Abraham obedient? Abraham’s in the land, he comes into the land, it’s a little bit discouraging, the Canaanites are there, we don’t know what that was like. But God appears to him and reaffirms and reassures his heart. And he’s building altars wherever he’s going, he’s seeking the LORD, and he’s calling out on the name of the LORD.. What does he get for calling out on the name of the LORD? a famine! I don’t like this, I’m a no hassle kind of guy, I want to go through my Christian experience with no problems, I want to teach Bible studies, sing songs and get Raptured, it’s very simple. I have a feeling it doesn’t happen that way. Why didn’t God just let it rain? He would say to the children of Israel, ‘If you worship me, if you keep my commandments, my ordinances, I’ll give you rain from heaven.’ Abraham’s in the land, he’s worshipping God, he’s building altars. Why didn’t he just let it rain instead of letting him go down to Egypt? You see, we have this idea, ‘OK, I’m where you want me to be Lord, I’m doing it your way now, so there shouldn’t be any problems.’ And the truth is, there are problems, and I hate to do this, because it will start for me tomorrow or the next day, there are problems that are mandatory courses, they’re not electives, they are designed. And we learn things there, and Abraham was going to learn to walk with God by faith. Abraham’s going to learn something that we all need to learn, and his life is going to be held before us. I look at it and think ‘Why not just let it rain, then he’s not even tempted to go to Egypt?’ But there’s a famine in the land, maybe because of the Canaanites, maybe because of their idolatry, I don’t know. Now you can hear, he’s got all these people with him, ‘Are you sure this is the Land of Promise? If this is the Land of Promise, why’s there a famine here? Are you sure God said come here? Maybe he said go north, and you said he said go south.’ And we listen to them [i.e. poor Abraham was having to listen to this], ‘What’s going on here, you said he appeared to you when you got here, you’re building all these altars, calling on the name of the LORD, and this is what happens?’ Do you think he got any of that at all? Let me ask you a question, have you ever been in a situation where you feel the Lord is leading you, and it’s relative to the people around you, and you’re asking them to cooperate, and it kind of seems like it backfires in your face [all the time], and they’re all standing around you saying ‘You need to fast or something,’ and what’s your conversation like when you’re alone with the Lord then? It’s like ‘Lord, what are you doing? I’m trying to be a good witness, telling everybody about you, your reputation is on the line here, I’m building altars, and this happens, this don’t look good on your resume’ Lord, I’m not making any headway, I’m passing out tracts and this is going on.’ I’ve had those conversations with the Lord, you too because you’re laughing. There was a famine in the Land of Promise, the place of God’s blessing. ‘Where’s God?’ I’m sure he’s thinking.

God’s appeared to him twice, but God’s not keeping him alive anymore, so Sarah’s lie is keeping him alive now

“and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. 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: 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.” (verses 10b-12) Now, you have to understand, we have found, in tablets, in writing, the ancient cultures knew that adultery was wrong, it said upon tablets if you caught a man and a woman in adultery, they would tie them together and throw them into the Euphrates River, let them drown together. In Assyria if they caught a woman cheating on her husband, they would cut her nose off, and she’d walk around with two holes in her face. And you see that a couple times, and you think twice. So ancient cultures recognized adultery was wrong. So the simple thing to do, is if you saw a married woman you were attracted to, you killed her husband and she was single. And you’re laughing, but they have found that mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphics, to kill the husband so the woman would be available. Now he knows that. And he says ‘Sarah,’ Now understand this, she’s 65 years old, and she don’t have like Revlon and you know all this, whatever she was using, we need to find out about it. ok? Olive oil, and I don’t know what she was doing, but…She lives to be 127 years old, ok, so she’s middle aged at 65. Middle aged, whether you like to admit it or not, is about 35, because it says it’s granted unto man three score and ten, the average lifespan now is 70 years, it says if you make it past that it’s God’s grace. So your middle aged at 35. I’m 56, people say ‘Oh, you’re middle aged now,’ and I’m thinking ‘How many 112 year olds you think I hang around with?’ [laughter] if you’re trying to be nice, that’s no consolation, if you’re 35 you’re middle aged, and you’d better think about that. So, does she have the appearance of a 35 year old or a 38 year old? I don’t know. But she’s beautiful, she’s attractive. Beauty, you see, can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on your perspective. Because it can be used to be seductive, it can be used in the wrong way. And there’s nothing worse than a beautiful woman with a foul mouth, or a bad attitude. Because beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes clean to the bone. I don’t know who made that up, but I heard that ever since I was a kid. [I know a gal whose beautiful on the outside, beauty’s skin deep, but as Pastor Joe says, ugly can go clear to the bone, that’s for sure, knew one of those.] Sarah is beautiful, it says ‘she was “fair to look upon,” therefore, he says ‘it’s going to come to pass, they’re going to see you, they’re going to say ‘Hey, this is his wife,’ and they’re gonna kill me to get you.’ So, “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.” (verse 13) ‘The heck with you, Sarah, I don’t know what’s going to happen with you, but I’ll come out with my skin. It’s better for you if I’m alive, you know.’ “and my soul shall live” look at this, “because of thee.” God’s appeared to him twice, but God’s not keeping him alive anymore, so Sarah’s lie is keeping him alive now. So it’s a half-truth, a half-truth is a full-blown lie. There ain’t no difference between a half-truth and a full-blown lie, ‘tell them you’re my sister, to save my skin,’ thanks Abe, and if you do it, you’re gonna keep me alive.’ No, no, we’re going to find as we read down a few verses that Jehovah’s going to keep him alive, Sarah’s not gonna keep him alive by lying. It tells us in 1^st Peter that Sarah is an example to wives, and you look at it in this context it helps to understand it a bit more, I’ll find it here, it says ‘Your beauty, don’t let it just be with outward adornment, and so forth,’ and that’s good, not bad, ‘but let it be more than that, but let it be the inner man of the heart, in the which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God of great price, for after this manner in old time the holy women also who trusted God,’ she had to, to be there with him, ‘they adorn themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are, if you do well and are not afraid.’ I think it gives us the indication, she was not afraid in this situation, it says she obeyed Abraham, not trusting Abraham, she obeyed Abraham, trusting the LORD. There was something in Sarah’s heart about Abraham’s role in the marriage and in her life, that she out of deference and respect to the Living God, yielded to, even though this thing was a half-truth. No, please, I am not saying, ladies, you need to listen to your husbands even when they’re sinning. You don’t, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying Sarah, we meet her now, must have been a remarkable gal. She’s 65, she’s beautiful, she steps into this horrendous circumstance. Abraham, whose supposed to be the head of the house, shouldn’t have entered into Egypt in the first place. It’s much better to be in the famine with the LORD, than in Egypt making up lies, trying to save your own skin, if you haven’t noticed. And when you head to Egypt, by the way, if you backslide, if you go back to the world, you end up doing these kind of things, half-truths, you end up manipulating circumstances trying to make everything work out. ‘So tell them you’re my sister, and it’ll be good with me, and I’ll live because of you.’ “And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.” and notice, “The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.” (verses 14-15) Now that tells us how beautiful she was. She’s 65, Pharaoh’s princes are commending her to him. If they brought an ugly 65 year old woman to Pharaoh, all their heads would be gone. She’s beautiful, and they’re not hesitating at all to say ‘Pharaoh, look at this one, down here with her brother, man, you need to see her, you don’t have one of these in your harem, they threw away the mold when they made this one, you need one of these.’ Something like that. So she’s taken now into Pharaoh’s house, into his harem. I’m sure that Abram and Sarai are both very prayerful about this time in their life. “And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants [Hagar was one of those], and she asses, and camels.” (verse 16) Pharaoh must have said, ‘Here’s this guy, got a lot of people with him,’ and most scholars feel, it’s just for you who dig in those directions, this is probably the beginning of the Hyksos dynasties, which were the Shepherd kings which ruled in Egypt for several hundred years, and were very cordial to nomadic people and shepherds. [Actually, as seen in Mr. Rittenbaugh’s sermon series on the Historic Abraham, this was way before the Hyksos shepherd kings. It was Mentuhotep-II, Mentuhotep-II was of dynasty 11 of Thebes, again, just for the purposes of identifying him. From a chart on page 9 of “Atlas of Ancient Egypt” by John Baines & Jaromir Malek, “Middle Kingdom 2040-1640BC, 11^th Dynasty (all Egypt) 2040-1991BC,” his dynasty is described on page 40, par. 1-3. He was of Dynasty 11 of Thebes. Now that dynasty began in 2035BC and lasted 143 years until 1892BC.] The Egyptians that would take over the Upper Nile again, it says “a new Pharaoh arises who knows not Joseph, they were very hostile towards nomadic people. [Pastor Joe has that one right, but this is waaay before that set of Pharoah’s the came along and conquered the shepherd king-Pharaohs just before the Exodus from Egypt, which was in 1446BC (see https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html). This Pharaoh Abram met was Mentuhotep-II, probably around the 1890s BC.] And Israel was relegated to Goshen then, but it seems he would have had a warm welcome under this dynasty in Egypt, and Pharaoh looks at Sarah, she’s beautiful, so he starts to treat Abraham well because of her, saying ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna be my brother-in-law, my new wife’s brother, part of the family, bro, hey how you doing?’ just starts treating him well. “And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants [Hagar was one of those], and she asses, and camels.” (verse 16) So Sarah’s looking out the window, and Pharaoh’s giving all this stuff to Abraham, ‘Here, how do you like this, more camels, more donkeys, hey, how do you like this, here’s sheep, here’s cattle,’ and Sarah’s thinking, ‘Hey, great, at least I’m getting a good price, I’m getting traded away,’ what’s this poor gal thinking? ‘Oh, how wonderful, more camels, oh ya, thank you, ok, ok, let’s put the wedding off a little while now.’ The very first time I was in Israel, was ’82, ’83, I forget, one of the pastors who had his wife with him, a group of Muslim businessmen thought she was so beautiful, they offered him 200 camels for his wife, on the trip. That’s a huge price, that’s a great compliment. And of course he turned it down, he’s a Calvary pastor. But it was funny to listen to him after that, when they were on the plane on the way home, bickering about something, and he said ‘You’re lucky I couldn’t get 200 camels on this plane.’ [loud laughter] I had a lot of fun with that. So his wealth is increasing, sheep, oxen, servants, no altar, no communion, nothing of heaven. He’s got himself into the position where worldly people think, ‘Hey, God’s blessing me, I know I’m living where I shouldn’t be living, and I know I’m telling half-truths, I’m not being honest, but hey look, I got more sheep, I got more cattle, look at my business, look at this, look at that, God’s blessing me.’ No he’s not. You’re just running out of room. And look what it says in verse 17, “And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.” Now see it wasn’t Sarah that saved Abraham, it was God. I don’t know what these plagues are like, when we get to the end of Deuteronomy we hear about some of the plagues, some of them are called “the botch,” whatever they were, they weren’t fun, and it became very evident to Pharaoh something was going on. We’re not told, did Sarah finally say ‘Hey, I’m his wife.’ We’re not told, or like it would happen after this, it was revealed in a dream, but “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?” Now I imagine Abram goes, imagining he’s going to get more sheep or donkeys or something. And when he sees the look on Pharaoh’s face, it’s kind of a dead giveaway, three interesting questions here. “What is this that thou hast done unto me?” “why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?” ‘Aren’t you the father of all those who believe? Why did you lie to me? Why didn’t you tell me the truth, why did you say she is my sister,’ “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.” (verse 19) That’s what it says. Ever been in that situation? That’s when you know, you know it’s interesting, you compromise, you backslide, and when the unbelievers start to tell you ‘You’re a lousy testimony, aren’t you supposed to be a Christian? what are you doing drinking here? what are you doing smoking that? What are you doing hanging around with her? Aren’t you one of those Bible-thumpers, aren’t you the guy saying ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus’ what are you doing here, why are you doing this?’ Doesn’t it sting when it comes from unbelievers, when they notice? Then you know you’ve hit the bottom rung, when the unbelievers are rebuking you for being a bad Christian. And those questions sting, I’m sure Abraham took them to heart, ‘Take your wife and go your way.’ He wanted the botch to clear up and whatever else he had cooking. “And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.” (verse 20) please notice this, “and all that he had.” Pharaoh said ‘I don’t want the sheep back, I don’t want the camels back, just get outa here!’ send an armed guard to make sure he got out of the land safe and sound.

Genesis 13:1-4

“And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; 4 unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” and he went up with Lot, who now had a taste for Egypt, he went up with his herds and his flocks increased, he went up with a slave girl named Hagar who would cause problems throughout human history in one sense. It says Abraham, in verse 2, was very rich. That’s where the Jerusalem Targum says “Abraham was overloaded with gold and silver.” Abraham was overloaded. Now I guess if your traveling by camel and by donkey, it’s possible to be overloaded with gold and silver. He was overloaded with gold and silver, “And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.” (verses 3-4) you ever been here? That’s the long way around the famine, folks. He ends up back where he started, back between “a heap of ruin” and “the house of God,” back thankfully to the altar, back to genuine worship again, back to the place where he had started, as the Scripture tells us to come back to our first love. David would say ‘Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.’ Jesus would say to the church in Ephesus [and the whole Ephesus era of the Church in Revelation 2], and look, I take this to heart. Paul when he wrote to the Ephesians wrote some of the most remarkable, heavenly, incredible things to that church. And 32 years later, Jesus says to that same church, ‘You know what? You’ve lost your first love, you got all kinds of great stuff cooking, you got all kinds of activities, you’re doing all kinds of stuff, but you’ve left off, not you’ve lost, you’ve left your first love. Remember from whence thou hast fallen, repent, do the first work.’ (Revelation 2) And I think, here we are 24 years from our first Sunday morning service, and God has done a lot of great stuff, and there’s a lot of things going on here, great stuff. But I’m also very aware that we can have a machine, we can have all of the momentum, without real movement of the Holy Spirit. We can have all kinds of stuff going on, and Jesus can still say, ‘You know what, to the natural eye, there’s all kinds of things going on, but right in the center of things, there’s an atrophy, the spiritual pulse of things is waning, because it’s become Christianity, it’s not driven any longer by the fact that you’re on fire and that you love me.’ But because God is gracious he allows us to be derelicts, to leave the path, to make our journeys to Egypt. He could just send rain and stop all of that. Somebody said to me this week, ‘Why didn’t God just let Moses become Pharaoh?’ Would have been a whole lot easier. But he allows us, allows me, to go through these things. And I know if you know how wonderful it is to come back to the place saying ‘Ya, I really resonate, this was when I was in your Word every day, I remember Lord when I just sought you, and I just loved to hear from you.’ I remember when we first got saved, I mean, I’m looking for Larry here, but I remember when we first got saved, we were crazy, because we were praying ‘Lord, do you want us to read the Bible or watch the 700 Club?’ Then we’d do that for awhile, and say ‘Lord, do you want us to eat lunch now? I think the Lord wants us to eat now. Do you want us to have a steak sandwich or a hoagie?’ We were out of our minds in one sense. But I have to believe, on the other side of that, there was just something that the Lord loved about that naivety, that you can lose. Now just to play it safe, I have a hoagie and half a steak sandwich [loud laughter]. I want to do it right, my motives are good. God is going to stretch out over many chapters this man’s life in front of us. He’s going to show us that his son Isaac will learn to tell the same story, ‘She’s my sister.’ God’s going to show us that our children are watching us. And so often they repeat the flaws they see in our own lives [my father was a wonderful man, although a nonbeliever, he lived as though the laws of God were in him, a good person, and yet until the last 20 years of his life he smoked two packs a day of Camel cigarettes, and then he gave me the standard ‘don’t smoke, do as I say, not as I do’ speech, so what do I do? I end up smoking a pack a day of cigarettes from teenage till about age 23 when I gave them up, thankfully. But my dad was such a powerful example of strong, silent goodness, that his smoking imprinted on me as well, which I couldn’t overcome without a miracle from God, literally.] We’re going to see Abraham have one son that he prefers over another, and shows a favoritism which ultimately because of Sarah’s unhealthy [i.e. she couldn’t conceive], then we’re going to see Isaac do the same thing with Esau to where Jacob has to steal the Blessing, we’re going to see these traits of failure, and God’s going to work [through all these things]. We’re going to see Jacob then run, afraid of his brother, have a dream [from God] at Bethel, through the dream set the course of his life, go to Padam Aram, work for seven years, get deceived, end up with Leah, work for seven more years for Rachel, come back, wrestle with God [Yahweh, the pre-Incarnate Christ], his name is changed to Israel, and in his old age he raises up on his knee a young son, of the 12 sons, the 11^th, Joseph, who would be a young man who had a dream [again from Yahweh], and through his dreams he’ll be carried down to Egypt, and will work faithfully for seven years, and then be lied about and be cast into prison, where he’ll labour for seven more years, until he ends up next to Pharaoh. We’re going to see some very remarkable, very human, very genuine things for all of us to take note of, as moms, as dads, as relatives, as children, as Christians. Just, I love the humanness of the characters. You know, the first 2,000 years went by in eleven chapters. The next 2,000 years are going to take the rest of the Old Testament to bring us to the New Testament. God is slowly going to bring before us his working with men, that as human as we are. And as Paul said, ‘the things that are written aforetime are written for our learning, our instruction, that we might have hope in these days upon whom the ends of the age have come.’ Read ahead. If you’re here tonight, and you don’t know Christ, you don’t earn it, you don’t get there because you deserve it. If you ended up here tonight, and your saying ‘You know what, I think God is speaking to my heart,’ ya, he can love you, he can save you, he can change your life. If you’re here tonight and you’re not saved and you want to pray with someone before we leave, we’re going to have the musicians come and sing a last song, at the end of the service make your way down here. We would love to give you a Bible, we’d love to pray with you, we’d love to introduce you to this God, who is willing to take us in our failures, in our struggles. He’s willing to take us when we had worshipped other gods, as it were, and to wash us and cleanse us and make us his own. And not because we keep the promises we make to God, but because we receive the Promises that God makes to us. I encourage you to do that this evening. Let’s stand, let’s pray, please read ahead, chapters 13, 14, great, great stuff…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 12:1-20 and Genesis 13:1-4, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]