the Fourth Week of Advent
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Genesis 12:10
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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.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was intense in the land.
At this time there was not much food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food.
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to dwell there; for the famine [was] grievous in the land.
There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was sore in the land.
Sotheli hungur was maad in the lond; and Abram yede doun in to Egipt, to be a pilgrime ther, for hungur hadde maistrie in the lond.
And there is a famine in the land, and Abram goeth down towards Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine [is] grievous in the land;
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
The crops failed, and there was no food anywhere in the land. So Abram and his wife Sarai went to live in Egypt for a while. But just before they got there, he said, "Sarai, you are really beautiful!
But there was a famine in the land, so Avram went down into Egypt to stay there, because the famine in the land was severe.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.
And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.
[And] the there was a famine in that lande, and therfore went Abram downe into Egypt, that he myght soiourne there, for there was a greeuons famine in the lande.
And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
During this time there was not enough food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live.
And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.
And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went downe into Egypt, to soiourne there: for the famine was grieuous in the land.
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.
Now there was no food in the land. So Abram went south to Egypt to stay there, because it was very hard to live in the land with no food.
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.
And it came to pass that there was a famine, in the land, - so Abram went down towards Egypt, to sojourn there, because grievous, was the famine in the land.
Then there came a famine in the land: therefore Abram went downe into Egypt to soiourne there: for there was a great famine in the lande.
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.
But there was a famine in Canaan, and it was so bad that Abram went farther south to Egypt, to live there for a while.
And there came a famine in the country: and Abram went down into Egypt, to sojourn there: for the famine was very grievous in the land.
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.
And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, because the famine prevailed in the land.
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.
There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a while because the famine in the land was severe.
There was a famine in the land. Avram went down into Mitzrayim to sojourn there, for the famine was sore in the land.
And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.
And a famine was in the land, so Abram went down into Egypt to stay there. For the famine was heavy in the land.
But there came a derth in the londe. Then wente Abram downe in to Egipte to kepe himself there as a straunger, for the derth was sore in the londe.
Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, ‘Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."
Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner.
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.
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.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
am 2084, bc 1920
was a: Genesis 26:1, Genesis 42:5, Genesis 43:1, Genesis 47:13, Ruth 1:1, 2 Samuel 21:1, 1 Kings 17:1 - 1 Kings 18:46, 2 Kings 4:38, 2 Kings 6:25, 2 Kings 7:1 - 2 Kings 8:1, Psalms 34:19, Psalms 107:34, Jeremiah 14:1, John 16:33, Acts 7:11, Acts 14:22
went: Genesis 26:2, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 43:1, Genesis 46:3, Genesis 46:4, 2 Kings 8:1, 2 Kings 8:2, Psalms 105:13
Reciprocal: Genesis 47:4 - For to Judges 11:2 - thrust out 1 Chronicles 16:20 - they went Acts 2:10 - Egypt Hebrews 11:15 - mindful
Cross-References
Now [in Haran] the LORD had said to Abram, "Go away from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you [abundantly], And make your name great (exalted, distinguished); And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you, And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you. And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed."
So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the LORD had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Then he moved on from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving].
Then 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?
So the sons of Israel came [to Egypt] to buy grain along with the others who were coming, for famine was in the land of Canaan also.
Now the famine was very severe in the land [of Canaan].
Now [in the course of time] there was no food in all the land, for the famine was distressingly severe, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan languished [in destitution and starvation] because of the famine.
In the days when the judges governed [Israel], there was a famine in the land [of Canaan]. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live temporarily in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And there was a famine in the land,.... The land of Canaan, which was a very fruitful country, abounding with all kind of provisions usually; but now there was a scarcity of all; and which was both for the sins of the inhabitants of the land, and for the trial of Abram's faith, who was brought out of his own country, where was bread enough and to spare, into one in which there was a famine; and this might be a temptation to Abram to return from whence he came, and to slight and despise the country that was given him:
and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; not to dwell there, only till the famine was over; and rightly is he said to go down to Egypt, since that lay lower than the land of Canaan; and his going thither only to sojourn, and with an intention to return again to Canaan, shows the strength of his faith in the promise; and so far was he from going back to his own country, from whence he came, that he went directly the contrary, for Chaldee lay north east of Canaan, and Egypt south west: this country is in the Hebrew text called Mizraim, from the second son of Ham, see Genesis 10:6 it had its name Egypt not from Aegyptus, one of its kings, as some l say, but from the blackish colour of its soil, and also of its river Nile, and of its inhabitants; which colour is by the Greeks called "aegyptios", from "aegyps", a vulture, a bird of that colour: it is bounded on the south by the kingdom of Sennar, tributary to the king of Ethiopia, and the cataracts of the Nile; on the north by the Mediterranean sea; on the east by the Arabian Gulf, or Red sea, and the isthmus of Suez; and on the west by a region of Lybia, called Marmorica m.
For the famine was grievous in the land; in the land of Canaan, and perhaps nowhere else; God ordering it so in his wise providence, that there should be plenty of food in one land, when there is a scarcity in another, that countries may be helpful to one another: of this famine, and of Abram's going down to Egypt on account of it, mention is made by Heathen writers; Nicolaus of Damascus says n, that Abram came out of Chaldee into Canaan, now called Judea, and a grievous famine being there, and understanding there was plenty in Egypt, he readily went thither, partly to partake of their plenty, and partly to hear what the priests would say of the gods; and Alexander Polyhistor relates, from Eupolemus o, that Abram removed from the place of his nativity, Camarine, called by some Urie, and settled in Phoenicia, where being a famine, he went with all his family into Egypt, and dwelt there.
l Apollodorus, l. 2. in initio. m Vid. Universal History, vol. 1. p. 391. n Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 16. p. 417. o Apud ib. c. 17. p. 418, 419.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- XXXVIII. Abram in Egypt
15. פרעה par‛oh, Par‘oh, “ouro.” Coptic for “king,” with the masculine article pi. or p. P-ouro, “the king.” If we separate the article p. from the Hebrew form, we have רעה re‛oh for king, which may be compared with רעה ro‛eh, “pastor, leader,” and the Latin rex, king. This is the common title of the Egyptian sovereigns, to which we have the personal name occasionally added, as Pharaoh-Necho, Pharaoh-Hophrah.
Genesis 12:10
This first visit of Abram to Mizraim, or Egypt, is occasioned by the famine in the land of promise. This land is watered by periodical rains. A season of drought arrests the progress of vegetation, and brings on a famine. But in Egypt, the fertility of the loamy soil depends not on local showers, but on the annual rise of the Nile, which is fed by the rains of a far-distant mountain range. Hence, when the land of Kenaan was wasted by drought and consequent famine, Egypt was generally so productive as to be the granary of the neighboring countries. As Kenaan was the brother of Mizraim, the contact between the two countries in which they dwelt was natural and frequent. Dry seasons and dearth of provisions seem to have been of frequent occurrence in the land of Kenaan Genesis 26:1; Genesis 41:56-57. Even Egypt itself was not exempt from such calamitous visitations. Famine is one of God’s rods for the punishment of the wicked and the correction of the penitent 2 Samuel 24:13. It visits Abram even in the land of promise. Doubtless the wickedness of the inhabitants was great even in his day. Abram himself was not out of the need of that tribulation that worketh patience, experience, and hope. He may have been left to himself under this trial, that he might find out by experience his own weakness, and at the same time the faithfulness and omnipotence of Yahweh the promiser. In the moment of his perplexity he flees for refuge to Egypt, and the Lord having a lesson for him, there permits him to enter that land of plenty.
Genesis 12:11-13
It is not without misgivings, however, that Abram approaches Egypt. All the way from Ur to Haran, from Haran to the land of Kenaan, and from north to south of the land in which he was a stranger, we hear not a word of apprehension. But now he betakes himself to an expedient which had been preconcerted between him and Sarai before they set out on their earthly pilgrimage Genesis 20:13. There are some obvious reasons for the change from composure to anxiety he now betrays. Abram was hitherto obeying the voice of the Lord, and walking in the path of duty, and therefore he was full of unhesirating confidence in the divine protection. Now he may be pursuing his own course, and, without waiting patiently for the divine counsel, venturing to cross the boundary of the land of promise. He may therefore be without the fortifying assurance of the divine approval. There is often a whisper of this kind heard in the soul, even when it is not fully conscious of the delinquency which occasions it.
Again, the countries through which be had already passed were inhabited by nomadic tribes, each kept in check by all the others, all unsettled in their habits, and many of them not more potent than himself. The Kenaanites spoke the same language with himself, and were probably only a dominant race among others whose language they spoke, if they did not adopt. But in Egypt all was different. Mizraim had seven sons, and, on the average, the daughters are as numerous as the sons. In eight or nine generations there might be from half a million to a million of inhabitants in Egypt, if we allow five daughters as the average of a family. The definite area of the arable ground on the two sides of the Nile, its fertilization by a natural cause without much human labor, the periodical regularity of the inundation, and the extraordinary abundance of the grain crops, combined both to multiply the population with great rapidity, and to accelerate amazingly the rise and growth of fixed institutions and a stable government. Here there were a settled country with a foreign tongue, a prosperous people, and a powerful sovereign. All this rendered it more perilous to enter Egypt than Kenaan.
If Abram is about to enter Egypt of his own accord, without any divine intimation, it is easy to understand why he resorts to a device of his own to escape the peril of assassination. In an arbitrary government, where the will of the sovereign is law, and the passions are uncontrolled, public or private resolve is sudden, and execution summary. The East still retains its character in this respect. In these circumstances, Abram proposes to Sarai to conceal their marriage, and state that she was his sister; which was perfectly true, as she was the daughter of his father, though not of his mother. At a distance of three or four thousand years, with all the development of mind which a completed Bible and an advanced philosophy can bestow, it is easy to pronounce, with dispassionate coolness, the course of conduct here proposed to be immoral and imprudent. It is not incumbent on us, indeed, to defend it; but neither does it become us to be harsh or excessive in our censure. In the state of manners and customs which then prevailed in Egypt, Abram and Sarai were not certainly bound to disclose all their private concerns to every impertinent inquirer. The seeming simplicity and experience which Abram betrays in seeking to secure his personal safety by an expedient which exposed to risk his wife’s chastity and his own honor, are not to be pressed too far. The very uncertainty concerning the relation of the strangers to each other tended to abate that momentary caprice in the treatment of individuals which is the result of a despotic government. And the prime fault and folly of Abram consisted in not waiting for the divine direction in leaving the land of promise, and in not committing himself wholly to the divine protection when he did take that step.
It may seem strange that the Scripture contains no express disapprobation of the conduct of Abram. But its manner is to affirm the great principles of moral truth, on suitable occasions, with great clearness and decision; and in ordinary circumstances simply to record the actions of its characters with faithfulness, leaving it to the reader’s intelligence to mark their moral quality. And God’s mode of teaching the individual is to implant a moral principle in the heart, which, after many struggles with temptation, will eventually root out all lingering aberrations.
Sarai was sixty-five years of age Genesis 17:17 at the time when Abram describes her as a woman fair to look upon. But we are to remember that beauty does not vanish with middle age; that Sarai’s age corresponds with twenty-five or thirty years in modern times, as she was at this time not half the age to which men were then accustomed to live; that she had no family or other hardship to bring on premature decay; and that the women of Egypt were far from being distinguished for regularity of feature or freshness of complexion.
Genesis 12:14-16
The inadequacy of Abram’s expedient appears in the issue, which is different from what he expected. Sarai is admired for her beauty, and, being professedly single, is selected as a wife for Pharaoh; while Abram, as her brother, is munificently entertained and rewarded. His property seems to be enumerated according to the time of acquirement, or the quantity, and not the quality of each kind. Sheep and oxen and he-asses he probably brought with him from Kenaan; men-servants and maid-servants were no doubt augmented in Egypt. For she-asses the Septuagint has mules. These, and the camels, may have been received in Egypt. The camel is the carrier of the desert. Abram had now become involved in perplexities, from which he had neither the wisdom nor the power to extricate himself. With what bitterness of spirit he must have kept silence, received these accessions to his wealth which he dared not to refuse, and allowed Sarai to be removed from his temporary abode! His cunning device had saved his own person for the time; but his beautiful and beloved wife is torn from his bosom.
Genesis 12:17
The Lord, who had chosen him, unworthy though he was, yet not more unworthy than others, to be the agent of His gracious purpose, now interposes to effect his deliverance. “And the Lord plagued Pharaoh.” The mode of the divine interference is suited to have the desired effect on the parties concerned. As Pharaoh is punished, we conclude he was guilty in the eye of heaven in this matter. He committed a breach of hospitality by invading the private abode of the stranger. He further infringed the law of equity between man and man in the most tender point, by abstracting, if not with violence, at least with a show of arbitrary power which could not be resisted, a female, whether sister or wife, from the home of her natural guardian without the consent of either. A deed of ruthless self-will, also, is often rendered more heinous by a blamable inattention to the character or position of him who is wronged. So it was with Pharaoh. Abram was a man of blameless life and inoffensive manners. He was, moreover, the chosen and special servant of the Most High God. Pharaoh, however, does not condescend to inquire who the stranger is whom he is about to wrong; and is thus unwittingly involved in an aggravated crime. But the hand of the Almighty brings even tyrants to their senses. “And his house.” The princes of Pharaoh were accomplices in his crime Genesis 12:15, and his domestics were concurring with him in carrying it into effect. But even apart from any positive consent or connivance in a particular act, men, otherwise culpable, are brought into trouble in this world by the faults of those with whom they are associated. “On account of Sarai.” Pharoah was made aware of the cause of the plagues or strokes with which he was now visited.
Genesis 12:18-20
Pharaoh upbraids Abram for his deception, and doubtless not without reason. He then commands his men to dismiss him and his, unharmed, from the country. These men were probably an escort for his safe conduct out of Egypt. Abram was thus reproved through the mouth of Pharaoh, and will be less hasty in abandoning the land of promise, and betaking himself to carnal resources.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 12:10. There was a famine in the land — Of Canaan. This is the first famine on record, and it prevailed in the most fertile land then under the sun; and why? God made it desolate for the wickedness of those who dwelt in it.
Went down into Egypt — He felt himself a stranger and a pilgrim, and by his unsettled state was kept in mind of the city that hath foundations that are permanent and stable, whose builder is the living God. See Hebrews 11:8-9.
