‘And Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country and your kinsfolk, and your father's house, for the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So Abram went as Yahweh had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran.' Abram obeyed the voice of God. Lot, his nephew also went with him. It is very probable that through Abram's witness Lot too had begun to worship Yahweh. It is possibly diffic... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls they had obtained in Haran, and they went out to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.' The repetitive phrases at the end are in typical Ancient Near... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.' The arrival at Shechem (a very ancient city) is mentioned because it is here that Abram will have his first meeting with Yahweh in the land. “THE OAK OF MOREH” may be intended to... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your seed I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to Yahweh who appeared to him.' This is the first theophany (awesome experience of God) received by Abram in the land. It confirms that he has now arrived at the place to which God has sent him... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel (‘house of God'), and pitched his tent, having Bethel to the West and Ai to the East. And there he built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh.' Abram is surveying the land and finding places for his herds and flocks to... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Abram journeyed going on still towards the Negev.' The Negev was the Southern highland, sloping southward between Hebron and Beer-sheba, the southernmost part of Canaan, and very suitable for grazing. Abram has now passed through the whole land, surveying it in Yahweh's name, and seeking pastu... [ Continue Reading ]
ADVENTURE IN EGYPT, INCREASING WEALTH, SEPARATION FROM LOT, GOD CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT (GENESIS 12:10 TO GENESIS 13:18). This section is to be seen as a whole leading up to the final covenant (Genesis 13:14). It reveals God's watch over Abram in all circumstances, and stresses that Yahweh's power re... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it happened that when he was on the verge of entering Egypt he said to Sarai his wife, “Look now, I know that you are a very beautiful woman. And when the Egyptians see you they will say ‘this is his wife', and they will kill me and save you alive. I beg you, say you are my sister so that it ma... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it happened that when Abram had arrived in Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful, and the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.' The description fits well with what would be expected to happen in a case like thi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he treated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and oxen and he asses, and menservants and maidservants, and she asses and camels.' Great kings were often not ungenerous when a beautiful woman was involved. Here he was dispensing favours, and the courtiers would be well instructed in the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife.' Presumably Pharaoh must have visited the particular palace where Sarai was in the harem and some dreadful illness clearly ensued there. Enquiries would then be made as to new arrivals to explain the probl... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say ‘she is my sister'. Now therefore here is your wife. Take her and leave.” And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him, and they brought him on the way, and his w... [ Continue Reading ]