Genesis 12-13.

Bible StudyGenesisGenesis 12Genesis 13Genesis 14

11 Jun

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”[b]
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Introduction

We now begin the second major section of Genesis, “the Patriarchs” which covers the remainder of this first book of the Bible, Genesis 12 - 50.
Genesis 1 began with God calling creation into being.
Genesis 12 begins with God calling his new creation into being.
Genesis 1-11. From the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, there was a downward spiral of sin and evil. The flood and the confusion of Babel was God’s response. However, that did not answer God’s desire to be in fellowship with him.
In Gen 12, God begins that fellowship with Abram, calling him to form a new nation in a new land. This will result in “blessing” and salvation of the whole world. He will create a people for himself who will bear the message of his saving truth and grace into the world. This will eventually bring the whole universe to God’s originally designed fulfilment. Everything recorded in Abram’s life was the outworking of this call. Paul in Galatians shows how Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise to Abram. Abraham means “father of a multitude.”

“Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Heb. 11:8).

1. Read Genesis 11:27-32. Read also Acts 7:2-4. What do we learn about the background of Abram’s call? What do we learn about his family situation?

Genesis 11:27 tells us that Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, who all lived in “Ur of the Chaldees” (v. 28). After Haran died, Terah and the rest of the family left Ur to go to the land of Canaan (v. 31a). Gen 11:31b tells us that when they got to a place, which they named “Haran” after Abram’s deceased brother, they “settled” there. Acts 7:2-4 tell us that Abram heard God’s call in Ur, before they got to Haran (vv. 2-3). Abram asked the family to leave their homeland, but they stayed in Haran until Terah died. God called Abram again (Acts 7:4), implying that Genesis 12:1-3 is really God’s second call to Abram. In Acts 7:3 God calls Abram to leave country and people, but the Gen. 12:1 call adds that he has to leave his “father’s household.” It seems Nahor and others refused to go to Canaan.

Gen. 11:30 also reveals that Sarah was “barren. To understand the rest of Genesis, we need to realise the importance of procreation and the bitterness of barrenness in their culture. All aspirations were focused on the family, hoping for strong, faithful, successful children who carried on the family name and honoured their parents.

2. The call of God has two parts: the challenge and the promise. God requires something of Abram and offers something to him. Read Genesis 12:1-9. Analyse the call to Abraham. What does God require of him (See Galatians 3:8-9) ? What does God promise him? In what ways do we have this same call and promise? (See Numbers 6:22-26.)

What does God require of Abram?
First, God asks him to leave all that he (or any human being) holds as his foundation and security. Abram is to (1) leave his country, (2) leave his people, and (3) leave his family. Second, God asks him to do so without any firm idea of where he is going or of when the promises will be fulfilled (v. 1b, “to the land I will show you.”). First, leave your country letting go of economic and material security. He was leaving all physical and social safety.
Leave your people was to let go of cultural security to a place where he would be an outsider.
Leave your father’s household, his personal, emotional security. He could not rest in the relationships that ordinarily give us our sense of self-worth and significance. This was a radical call!
Abram is being asked to make his relationship to God more fundamental to his identity than any social, cultural, or psychological factor.
Second, God asks him to set out not knowing how or when the promised blessings will be fulfilled. The blessings promised are quite remarkable. God very explicitly says, “You have to commit to this life and set out not knowing where and how you are going to land” Gen 12:1b (“to a land I will show you”). “And [Abraham] went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Heb. 11:8, ESV).

What does God promise Abram?
First, Abraham will be made “into a great nation” (v. 2a). God will make Abraham into a new country. The significance, is that God is now creating a new humanity, a new society in which God’s truth and love can reign, in which the rest of the world will get a glimpse of how God wants life to be lived. There are several subsidiary promises that come under this general one. For example, Abram will get “a land” (v. 1), and that God will protect Abram (“I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse,” v. 3a).
Second, Abraham will be blessed and get a great name (v. 2b), this is a special covenantal, personal relationship with God. To be “blessed” is equated with intimacy with God (“make his face shine upon you”) and total fulfilment and well-being (“give you peace [shalom]”). This is what God is promising Third, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (v. 3b). This is, astonishing. Abraham will be the source of a universal salvation. God is going to save the world through Abram’s family. He must pass on this faith so that his children will become an alternative society, a new humanity in the world. And then, in some way, the healing of the nations and the salvation of the world will come out of that faithful community.

3. Read Genesis 12:10-20. What does this incident add to our understanding of Abraham’s call and ours?

When Abram got to Egypt, he faced the possibility of being killed to take Sarai as a “trophy wife.” So Abraham told a half-truth (she was his half-sister [20:12]). When he allowed his wife to be taken into Pharaoh’s harem, shamefully, he did not defend her. Though Abram lacked faith, God was faithful and did not abandon him. God found a way to show both justice and mercy. He punished Egypt [Gen 12:17], in such a way that Pharaoh discovers the truth and restores wife, Sarai to Abraham.

What we learn here is that despite Abram’s call and ours, he was and we are flawed. From call to fall, Abram quickly fell into unbelief after the spiritual high of Gen. 12:1-9. Abram is not so much a hero but a model of grace. Episodes of moral failure show us that God’s choice of Abraham and Noah before was about sovereign grace. He is not chosen because he is faithful. He becomes faithful because he is chosen. Like us.

4.Read Genesis 13:1-4. What does Abram do when he returns from Egypt? (see Gen 12:10-20.) What does this tell us about his heart on his return to Canaan.

We saw in Gen 12:10, that Abram fell into sin when a famine came upon the land (12:10).
What happened on his return to Canaan was a journey of repentance. Gen 12:20, Abram returned “with his wife and everything he had”. Gen 13:3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. tells us Abram retraced his steps as he returned to Canaan.
Notice his journey, first via the Negev, where he had made that foolish decision to go to Egypt (12:9). Then from the Negev to Bethel and Ai back to the place where he had first worshipped God formally (12:8). He “called on the name of the LORD” once again (13:4). He is retracing his steps in repentance. There are echoes of Jesus leading Peter to confess his love three times (John 21:15-18) after Peter had denied him three times. In Gen 13, Abram is not just expelling painful memories of failure. No, he is facing his sins in repentance. Finally renewing his commitment to God in worship. If failure drives you away from God, you misunderstand the gospel. God’s grace and mercy. Abram was growing deeper in faith as he faced his wrongs.

5. Read Genesis 13:5-13. What was Abram’s and Lot’s problem? What does Abram’s choice tell us about him, what does Lot’s choice tell us about him? Does this speak to you today?

Lot was Abram’s nephew, the son of Haran (dec’d). Lot went out with Abram to Canaan (12:4-5). Lot’s begins in Genesis 13-14 and ends in Gen. 18-19 – it is a sad story.

Abram’s next test was not adversity, but prosperity! Abram and Lot’s flocks increased, but the pastures did not. There was trouble between rival herdsmen as each sought the best grazing spots. It became clear that Abram and Lot could not continue living as neighbours. They decided to split to other regions of the country to thrive.

Abram allows Lot to make the first choice about where he will go. He allows him to go to the most fertile land. This is unusual, as an older member of the family. It would have been usual for Abram, to ‘up sticks’ to the best place and let Lot find another place. In Gen 13, Abram the elder defers to the younger and lets him make the choice.
Abram first sorted out his priorities. As in Gen 13:1-4, Abram now is obeying God’s call to stay in the land and to trust God to fulfil his promises in his time. Second he says, “we are brothers” (v. 8). Abram opts for a strong relationship within the family - between Lot and himself. “You choose where you want to go and I will take what is left over” (v. 9). Abram put “God and family” ahead of “career and wealth.” This speaks as much today as back then, our spiritual growth and our relationships have to take precedence over economics and self.

It is easy to read past verse 10 without noticing it. It said that Lot looked toward the fertile Jordan plain and saw that it was like “the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt.” Gen 13:10 gives us a window into his heart. Lot had seen the luxury and wealth of Egypt, which developed its civilisation on the plain of the Nile. The fertile lands became his idol - spiritual idolatry. Sin leads us to treat good things like career, family, or money as things that will fulfil our deepest spiritual longings. Gen 13:12 When Lot moved to the southern plain of the Jordan, he actually moved out of Canaan. Lot’s priorities are the opposite of Abram’s. He was willing to leave the promised land to become wealthy. This will not end well as is hinted in verse 13 and revealed in Gen 19.

6. Read Genesis 13:14-18. What does God promise Abram now so soon after his failure in Egypt?

Now God comes to Abram and tells him to “lift up your eyes . . . and look north and south, east and west” (v. 14). Commentators tell us that there is a spectacular “lookout” point between Bethel and Ai with a panoramic view of virtually the whole land. God now repeats his promise to give this land to Abram’s descendants (v. 15). He also strengthens the promise to make his descendants into a great nation. Abram is told that his descendants will be as innumerable as grains of dust. God is renewing Abram’s call, emphasizing its rewards and promises, not its challenges and requirements. Why is God doing this now? This is a rather typical pattern. Abram has just passed a test. After a failure—the trip to Egypt—he repented, and that repentance has matured and deepened him. It gave him the wisdom, love, and humility to make a very wise choice and escape the snare of wealth and riches. As a result of Abram’s obedience and sacrifice, God comes to him in a new and deeper way. Abram senses God’s approval and love in a heightened way. He becomes aware of God’s purposes for him in a clearer way. That is generally the pattern for us all. Increased communion and wisdom come in the wake of increased obedience and sacrifice. Derek Kidner writes: The sequel for both men is instructive. Lot, choosing the things that are seen, found them corrupt (13:13) and insecure. Choosing selfishly, he was to grow ever more isolated and unloved. Abram, on the other hand, found liberation. With the call of 12:1 at last fulfilled, the promise of “land” and “seed” was now amplified (v. 14)’.
So we see Lot becoming spiritually more enslaved by his choices, while Abram becomes more spiritually aware and liberated by his.