ABRAM HEADS FOR EGYPT

GENESIS 12:10–20

The Lord selected Canaan, the hub between three continents, to be the Promised Land. Our expectation is that Abram would remain securely settled in this land (Gen. 12:1–7). So we are surprised to read just three verses later that Abram is leaving the Promised Land (Gen. 12:10). Without apparent hesitation and without seeking the Lord’s approval for his decision, Abram headed to Egypt. We will see why he left and why his reason for leaving was not justified.

The motivation for Abram to flee the famine in the Promised Land and move to Egypt was the Nile River. The land of Canaan had a much more austere and challenging natural environment than most readers might think. The water that matured the grain fields, filled the wells and cisterns, and turned the pasturelands green came from the heavens in the form of precipitation. If the cycles of seasonal rainfall were mistimed or failed to arrive altogether, the residents of Canaan were in for a very rough time. As this account opened, that was the reality, for a severe famine had come to Canaan (Gen. 12:10).

By contrast to Canaan, the well-being of those living in Egypt was not dependent upon a cycle of seasonal rainfall. Egypt enjoyed a river-based hydrology that tapped into the ever-flowing waters of the Nile. Gathering precipitation from lands as far as four thousand miles away, the Nile provided an environmental stability to those living in Egypt that was completely foreign to those living in Canaan.9 Abram had originally come from southeastern Mesopotamia, a land that enjoyed hydrology similar to that of Egypt, so he knew the security that a river-based system like the Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided. But rather than walking toward his former homeland, he walked the shorter and well-worn path to Egypt to seek relief from the famine.10 Along with that relief, he understood the potential of tapping into the benefits that were intimately linked to living on the Nile.

Wooden model of Pharaoh Senusret I (1971–1926 BC) of the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Cairo Museum.

Scene from the tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan in Egypt of a group of Semite traders entering Egypt to sell eye paint (ca. 1890 BC).

As compelling as these reasons might be to abandon the Promised Land, the reasons for staying in Canaan were that much more so. The first and most glaring reason for remaining was that Canaan, not Egypt, was the Promised Land that the Lord had chosen as the podium to proclaim the message of the one true God. When Abram left Canaan, and for as long as he was absent, the plan for the podium was on hold. Second, the security offered by the abundant natural resources of Egypt did not encourage trust in the Lord in the same way the famine-stricken land of Canaan could. The predictability and regularity of the water provided by the Nile River could foster independence from God, while the uncertainty and unpredictability of rainfall in Canaan encouraged dependence on the Lord. Finally, God had directed Abram to remain in Canaan so that his family might become a blessing to the world. This promise was in no way compromised by the famine at that time in Canaan. But Abram abandoned God’s plan and chose to seek rescue from Egypt on his own terms (Gen. 12:13, 16).

When Abram left Canaan and traveled to Egypt, he did so for a reason. He sought security and wealth in the predictable land of Egypt. In doing so, he put himself, Sarai, and the greater plan of rescue and blessing the nations at risk. Abram rejected the Promised Land to find survival in a predictable environment. It would take time before Abram learned the Creator of the universe would fulfill all the promises made to him—but in very unpredictable ways.

Abram travels to Egypt

The pyramids at Giza were already hundreds of years old before Abram and Sarai journeyed to Egypt.