OUR
FATHER'S
WORD
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
unto my path."
Psalm 119:105
________________________________________________________________________________
Genesis
A Message For The End Time
by
Jim Lisenby
________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER
12
The Story Of Abraham Begins
At this point in Genesis we have now completed all the generations, or
pedigrees, of the early patriarchs who were the ancestors of Jesus of
Nazareth up to Abraham.
We began with the generations of Adam and ended with the generations of
Shem, and covered all those in between. The exceptional ones
being Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and Shem. The writer of Genesis
also included Cain and six generations of his posterity, the Kenites,
presumably because of the important role that they were to play in the
world. Needless to say, no ancestor of Christ sprang from Cain or
possessed his genes. We also covered the fallen angels and the
unrighteous things they did, and the children that they produced which
were said to be giants. Again, no ancestor of Christ was tainted
with the DNA of the fallen angels.
In this chapter we start something new in a sense. We begin now
with Abram, or Abraham as he is better known, and will continue with
the Hebrew seedline of Messiah. Chronologically in Genesis we are
at approximately the year 2000 BCE (+/- 100 years), and of all the old
patriarchs that lived after the flood, only Noah and Peleg are
deceased. Shem is still alive and it is entirely possible that
Ham and Japheth are also. The same could also be true for
the tyrant Nimrod, the one who, along with his mother, has caused so
much trouble for the Adamic people. Under their Draconian
dominating influence most of the people that had lived in the plain of
Shinar before the destruction of Babel, and the resultant dispersion,
had fallen into sin and idolatry. They worshipped Tammuz and
Semeramis, either willfully or through coercion. Even Abraham's
father, Terah, was a maker and seller of idols.
Abram, better known as Abraham, on the other hand was different.
He was of good character and hated idolatry, and he even broke and
destroyed some idols that his father had made. He was
intelligent, industrious, inventive, focused, and most importantly, he
became a friend and ally of God. He had a profound influence on
those around him in his day, and he still affects our lives today.
Let's get into his story now.
Gen. 12:1
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:
If you will remember from the preceding chapter, Abram's
father, Terah, lived in the city of Ur in the land of the
Chaldeans. Ur was likely located in the area where Kuwait is
today, or possibly southeast Iraq. It was not stated why in
Genesis 11, but Terah decided very suddenly to move his family from Ur
and head toward the land of Canaan. The reason is likely to have
been related to the fall of the city and tower of Babel. In other
words, on the surface it may seem that he simply decided to move, but
he was likely forced by circumstances, like everyone else, to leave for
parts unknown in haste after the disaster*. In chapter 11 it was
stated that God confounded them and scattered them across the
face of the Earth.
[*Late note added 11/16/06: It
is also possible that they left before the disaster occurred.]
The event that caused the destruction at Babel may have been much
larger in scope and in intensity than we have imagined it to be.
In any case, He and his family made it as far as the city of Charan and
they stopped there, for whatever reason. Abram was still living
in Mesopotamia when God told him to leave. That's right, he was
singled out and commanded to continue toward Canaan. And why
not? After all, it was to be the land that his children would
eventually inherit.
Gen.
12:2 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:
Gen.
12:3 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.
Gen.
12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot
went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he
departed out of Haran.
Haran
in verse 4 should read Charan.
Look at how old he was when he pulled up stakes and left Mesopotamia
for Canaan.
Gen.
12:5 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.
Again, substitute Charan for Haran. The
phrase souls that
they had gotten is probably referring to his herdsmen and
shepherds, even perhaps other workers or slaves with their children and
with any children that Lot had. Up to this point Sarai and Abram
had no children of their own.
Gen.
12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem,
unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
Sichem
would better read as the more familiar Shechem.
The last comment is concerning
Canaan and his offspring, who had seized the land and settled there in
violation of the land division agreement made among the sons of Noah in
the days of Peleg. The area that they settled in, the land of
Canaan, would roughly approximate the area that includes modern
Lebanon, Jordan*, and Israel including the West Bank
and Gaza. That area had been divided in the land division
agreement to Shem and his posterity, not to Ham of whom was
Canaan.
[*Late note added 11/16/06:
Jordan should actually read " portions of western Jordan".]
Gen. 12:7
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.
The word
altar here is from a
root word meaning sacrifice,
so it is probably referring to a sacrificial altar. That likely
means that some form of animal sacrifice was in vogue amongst the
Hebrews before Sinai. Abram was one of those rare people in the
Bible to whom God appeared on occasion, and there is no indication that
he was startled by the appearance of God. How would you react if
you suddenly came face to face with God?
Now, we must address something in this verse and also in verse 8 that
follows.
The world translated LORD here in
both verses is Yahweh
(Strong's No. 3068) and means the Existing One.
The shortened version of Yahweh is Yah, which means
I AM.
The reason I am bringing this up is because there is a possible
conflict between these two verses and Ex. 6:3, which Bible scoffers
will be quick to point out. But, if and when they do they will be
in error.
Consider the following verse which was written several hundred years
after Abram had built his altars here in Shechem and Bethel.
Ex. 6:3 And I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Jehovah (pronounced Yeh-ho-vah) is simply an older alternate
spelling and pronunciation of the more modern and accepted name Yahweh
(pronounced Yah-veh, or Yah-ah-veh).
So, what gives? In Ex. 6:3 Yahweh is speaking to Moses,
theoretically the same Moses whom scholars say wrote all five books of
the Penteteuch. That would be Genesis, Exodus , Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Did Moses make a mistake here and
contradict himself?
The answer is no, he didn't. Moses, or his scribe, or whoever
wrote it initially, did so hundreds of years after Abraham lived.
Let us assume that Moses was indeed the author, and realize that he
knew God as Yahweh.
As stated in Ex. 6:3 above, Abram knew God as El Shadday
(Strong's No. 410 + 7706, pronounced Ale Shad-dah-ee), or God Almighty, but
Moses knew him as Yahweh,
and as the author it would have been natural for him to use that
familiar name at any time in his writings. I
hope that is clear to you. Give the writer here, or any
author for that matter, a little independence in his choice of
words.
Gen.
12:8 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.
Hai
might better read as the more familiar Ai, the second
city attacked by the children of Israel under the leadership of Joshua
about 400 years hence. In scripture it is variably Hai, Ai, Aija,
or Aiath
and it means heap
of ruins (Strong's No. 5857).
Bethel and Ai were situated
about 10 miles or so due North of Jerusalem and about a mile or so
apart from each other. Bethel means house of God
(Strong's No. 1008). Abram did not know the place as Bethel,
because at that time it was called Luz. Jacob, the grandson of
Abram, is the one who named the place Bethel over a hundred years
later after sleeping there one night and having his famous Jacob's Ladder
dream. You can read all about it in chapter 28.
Curiously, the Bible mentions another rather poorly defined place
related to Bethel whose name seemingly stood in contradiction to
it. It was called Bethaven, and
means house of
vanity, or house
of iniquity (Strong's No. 1007). Bethaven could have been
an actual place very near to Bethel, or it could have been an alternate
name sometimes used for Bethel because of the iniquity of the wayward
and rebellious house of Israel. In other words, because of their
ungodliness at times it was not called Bethel, the house of God, but
had become Bethaven, the house of a false and worthless god.
But, enough of that, let's get back to Abram.
Gen.
12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Remember now, this was not only Abram, but his entire retinue
of souls whose number we don't know.
Gen.
12:10 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.
They were being driven by need. In addition to the
people, there was their livestock to consider. Most civilizations
that exist on Earth today, do so because people were driven by need(s)
of one sort or the other in the past. In most cases that would be
weather, or warfare. In this case famine, which can be caused by
weather or warfare, or both.
Gen.
12:11 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:
Gen.
12:12 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.
Gen.
12:13 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.
Abram was a very smart man and he may have had good reason
for doing this. Many kings have felt that they had what was
called "the
divine right of kings" to take the women of other lesser men
within their kingdom. A good biblical case in point is what David
did with regards to Bathsheba and Uriah. That was an absolutely
unconscionable act by a good king, so what would a evil king or a
Pharaoh do? Perhaps Abram somehow knew that Egypt's rulers would take
the beautiful Sarai even if it meant killing him to get her.
Gen.
12:14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
This is remarkable because Sarai was about 70 years old here,
or perhaps even a little older than that. I'm not implying that a
70 year old can't be attractive, but the implication here is that she
was very desirable, even as a wife to a king, or a Pharaoh.
Gen.
12:15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her
before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
Perhaps Abram was right, Pharaoh certainly wanted her.
She truly must have been remarkable.
Gen.
12:16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep,
and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she
asses, and camels.
Pharaoh treated Abram royally because he was Sarai's
brother. Not only did he treat him well, but also his entire
company and all of their animals.
Gen.
12:17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great
plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
Whatever these plagues were, it is said that they were great. God
must have revealed to Pharaoh the cause of the plagues somehow because
he finally became aware of the reason for them, and he was terribly
upset to say the least.
Gen.
12:18 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?
Gen.
12:19 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.
Gen.
12:20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent
him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
It sounds like Pharoah's men literally forced Abram to leave,
he with all those and everything else that came to Egypt with
him. Pharaoh was really put out with him for the deception of
saying Sarai was his sister and he probably would have killed them all
except for the plagues. He was afraid of what God would do to him
if he harmed them. Actually, Abram didn't lie because Sarai was
his half sister, but she was also his wife. Things were certainly
different in those days because that would not be allowed today.
Abram really had put Pharaoh in a bad situation and God would certainly
have killed him had he persisted in keeping Sarai. Why?
Because God loved Abram and they were close friends, but also because
both Sarai and Abram were likely predestined by God to continue the
seedline of the Christ. Later in Genesis you will see how another
similar convoluted and messy situation arose concerning two more of His
dedicated forebears, Judah and Tamar.
Now on to chapter 13.
God bless with
understanding
of His word.
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2006 by Jim
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