Genesis 12-13
This story is about Abram’s faith in God, and God’s faith in Abram despite his misguided mistake that landed his wife in an unfortunate predicament. The Great Adventure Timeline combines certain verses from different books at times. The reason for the combination is to provide more context around the narrative book (in this case, Genesis) and capture the larger picture. This post is dedicated to Genesis 12-13, but please consider reading Job 1-2 afterwards.
Summary
God choses Abram to be his servant and promises Abram a great nation, a great land, and worldwide blessings (i.e., if anyone curses Abram, they too will be cursed). God told Abram to leave Haran, so Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and traveled to the land of Canaan. The Lord told Abram that Shechem would be a land for his descendants, so Abram built an alter to God. Abram moved on to Bethel and set up another altar in that location. There was a famine, so Abram and his family had to move on. They landed in Egypt.
Abram was afraid the Egyptians would kill him for his wife. Sarai was very beautiful, so Abram suggested they pretend to be siblings. The Pharoah took Sarai as his wife and gifted Abram with cattle and servants because Abram was her “brother”. God wasn’t thrilled with this turn of events, so he cursed the king and all his family with terrible diseases. The king figured out the deceit and kicked Abram and Sarai out of his kingdom. They were able to leave with everything that they owned.
Both Abram and Lot owned a lot of gold, silver, and cattle. The cattle herders for both Lot and Abram had trouble sharing the land for all of their animals. In order to prevent further strife among the herders, Abram suggested Lot pick a part of the land and settle. Lot saw that the Jordan Valley had plenty of water, so he settled there in the land of Sodom. Sodom had many evil residents.
“Look around,” the Lord told Abram. “All this land that you see will be given to you and your descendants forever.” A dynasty, if you will. Abram chose to live in the city of Hebron. He built another altar to the Lord.
Sidebar
Have you seen Inside Out 2? Without giving too much away, the emotion Anxiety believes that the only way to help Riley fit in is to get rid of the emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust (Senses of Self). Unfortunately, in doing so, Anxiety has inadvertently caused a chain reaction of out-of-control behavior. Anxiety’s misguided decision to get rid of the Senses of Self was predicated on her belief that it would save Riley’s reputation. Anxiety wasn’t necessarily bad, just misguided in her actions.
I see this in Abram. Some would argue that Abram was wrong in telling the Egyptians that Sarai was his sister. He was ultimately sharing his wife for self-preservation. I think that Abram was afraid for his life, so he came up with this misguided idea that he thought would work. And, let’s face it, it did work. He survived, and he received more valuable goods out of it. God did not approve and took matters into his own hands to protect Sarai. God gave the king and all in his household a disease for taking Sarai as his wife. This tactic worked in that the king probably became fearful, and rather than exact revenge, he simply let Abram and Sarai go.
So, why choose Abram? I believe God chose Abram due to his unwavering faith. God told Abram to pick up and leave, and he did. He went on to build several altars to worship God at each place he landed. When they chose to separate, Abram told Lot to pick his land first. Abram had faith that even if Lot chose first, the land left to him would still be satisfactory. Genesis 12-13 shows us that God fulfilled his promise to bless Abram despite Abram’s mistake. Perhaps God understood that Abram did not have bad intentions behind his idea to call Sarai his sister. Abram still had a good heart. Either way, we know that God has shown mercy to humankind in past verses (Genesis 3). God understands that we are flawed, and He seems to have a better understanding of this notion with each story.
Intention
We all make mistakes, whether intentional or misguided ones. Admit to your mistakes and sincerely apologize. Think of mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow, not as failures. Don’t let your mistake define you as a person.
