A few weeks ago, we looked at a section of the very first
letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. In
Genesis 12:1-9, we saw the Lord command Abram to leave his country, his
culture, and the religious system of his family behind. Abram was to leave all
that he had previously known behind in order to go to the land which I will
show you. The Lord did not provide Abram a destination; instead Abram was
simply pointed in the right direction and told to get going.
The Lord also
promised Abram that his obedience to the command would result in individuals
from every people group and culture, being blessed. In what God was going to do
through Abram and Abram’s descendants, all humanity would have the opportunity
to find blessing as Abram found blessing.
And it was in this story, that God revealed to us a
timeless truth that God’s promises require a response of trusting obedience. Just
as it was for Abram; just as it has been for humanity throughout history;
experiencing God and the promises of God require a response. And that response
involves is a response of trust and of obedience. Just as it was for Abram, God
has provided us clear direction when it comes to how we experience and live in
relationship with Him. And God’s direction has been the same throughout
history: follow Me to the place where I will show you.
We discovered that the Lord never reveals our life story
by telling us how the story of our lives is going to end. Instead, the Lord,
day by day, says “follow Me today. Follow Me and My word today and trust Me
that I am leading you the right way to the right place”. God call to us, just
as it was to Abram, is to obey Him and trust Him with the results of that
obedience.
We ended our time together with God showing Abram all the land that
was promised to his descendants. Starting from the north and traveling south,
the Lord led Abram on a journey to take a tour of the Promised Land. And each
leg of that journey required Abram to trust and obey the Lord as he was led
into the unknown.
This week, I would like for us to spend our time together
picking up where we left off a few weeks ago. And as we enter back into a
section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called
the book of Genesis, we come to one of the stories in the Bible that gives me
the confidence that the Bible was not made up by men. This story reinforces for
me the reality that the Bible was not made up by men, because, if I was writing
the Bible, I would not have put this story in the Bible.
This story is one of those stories that make you cringe
when you read it. This story has a high “ick” factor to it. And it is in this
story that we will see God reveal for us another timeless truth when it comes
to God, the promises of God, and how our response to God and His promises can
powerfully impact our lives. So let’s look at this story together, beginning in
Genesis 12:10:
Now there
was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the
famine was severe in the land.
After being led on a tour of the Promised Land, Abram,
Sarai, and Lot ended up continuing toward the Negev, which is the southern
desert area between Jerusalem and Egypt. However, there was a problem. And the
problem, Moses tells us, is that there was a famine in the land. You see, the
land that God had promised Abram was prone to times of drought and famine. As a
matter of fact, the book of Genesis records three significant famines that
occur in this area.
However, this was not a normal time of a lack of
precipitation. Instead, Moses tells us that the famine was severe in the land.
This phrase literally means that the population of the region was oppressed by
the drought and subsequent famine. This famine was weighing heavily upon the
people.
The famine was so severe that Abram made the decision to
travel to Egypt. Unlike the region of the Negev, Egypt’s water supply was much
more reliable, with the Nile River providing a consistent source of water. And
because of that reality Abram made the decision to make the trip to Egypt. The
decision to travel to Egypt was not God’s decision. Abram made the decision on
his initiative, not God’s initiative. When Moses tells us that Abram went down
to Egypt to sojourn there, this phrase means that Abram went to Egypt to live
as a foreigner.
You see, Abram did not travel down to Egypt in order to
embrace the culture of Egypt. Abram had no desire to become an Egyptian.
Instead Abram made the decision to travel to Egypt to live as an outsider in
the midst of the culture. Abram was simply relocating temporarily to seek
relief from the famine. However, as Abram approached the border of Egypt, we
see him engage Sarai in one of the strangest conversations that is recorded for
us in the entire Bible. Let’s look together as Moses lets us listen in on that
conversation, beginning in Genesis 12:11:
It came about when he came near to Egypt, that
he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful
woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; and
they will kill me, but they will let you live.
As Abram approached Egypt, a fear began to grow in his
mind. You see, Abram had come to understand that his wife Sarai was beautiful
in appearance. Abram recognized that he had married up in the world. And because
Sarai was easy on the eyes, she would draw a lot of attention from the
Egyptians. Sarai’s beauty would result in Egyptian men being attracted to her.
But since Sarai was married to Abram, she was no longer on the market.
At least, she was no longer on the market as long as
Abram was alive. If Abram was dead, however, Sarai would be available. You see,
Abram feared that when the Egyptians saw Sarai that they would kill him, but
they would allow Sarai to live so that they could marry her. And Abram recognized
that as a stranger in a strange land he and Sarai would be vulnerable. As
outsiders in a foreign land, there would be no one to support or protect them.
And as a result of Abram’s
fear, Abram shares his fear with his wife. "See now, I know that you are a
beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his
wife'; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.” However, what Abram
does not mention to Sarai is that the reason why the Egyptians would kill him
is so that they could have Sarai.
You see, Abram was so focused on his own situation that
he did not take into account how his plan could impact Sarai. From Abram’s
perspective, God’s promises would not be fulfilled if he was dead. But instead
of trusting and obeying God for his survival, Abram decided that he was going
to help God out by coming up with a plan to ensure his survival. We see Abram
reveal his plan to Sarai in verse 13:
"Please
say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and
that I may live on account of you."
Now this morning, imagine yourself as Sarai, place
yourself in her shoes: What would you think of Abram’s plan? Actually, Abram’s
plan was more of a command then a plan. Abram commands Sarai to lie to the
Egyptians so that instead of killing him the Egyptians would treat him well.
Now, if you were Sarai, would you be happy about the plan? And would you think
that the plan would place you in danger? While the Bible does not specifically
tell us what Sarai thought of Abram’s plan, her silence, here and later in the
story, indicates that she agreed to the plan.
Now a natural question that arises here is “What is Abram
thinking here? I mean what would possess Abram to try to get his wife to say
that she was his sister instead of his wife?”
To understand what would possess Abram to come up with such a plan,
let’s take a minute and place ourselves in Abram’s shoes. You see, from Abram’s
point of view, he believed that from a man’s perspective, if a woman is very
attractive, and there is a guy that is constantly with the woman, it would be
better for that guy’s chances of survival if that guy was her brother instead
of her husband.
In addition, by claiming to be Sarai’s brother, Abram
could fend off potential suitors by promising marriage and then not follow
through on that promise by actually giving her away.
Abram believed that by being
deceptive, he could buy time to deal with any man who was interested in Sarai.
Abram thought that he could just make the price and the conditions of marriage
too steep, and the potential suitor would back off. As a matter of fact, a little later in the
book of Genesis we see Laban attempt to use this technique when it came to his
sister Rebekah being given away in marriage to Isaac.
So Abram believed that he had a
plan to ensure his survival that was fool proof and would cover all the bases.
A plan that would result in Abram being treated well by the Egyptians who he
believed would attempt to win Abram over so he would to agree to let them marry
his “sister”. A plan that would ensure the survival of Abram and Sarai from a
famine and the advances of any man who would be interested in marrying his
beautiful wife. But, like so many plans, there was a major problem with Abram’s
plan.
Tomorrow, we will look at that problem
and its consequences….
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