Notice the text says, ‘The LORD had said’, Genesis 12:1; this is past tense. Although we don’t know exactly how long-ago God spoke to Abraham, we do know that He did speak with him whilst he was in his homeland, Genesis 12:1 / Genesis 15:7 / Acts 7:2.
We also know from the previous chapter that Abraham is the father of the Israelites, Nahor and Haran were his brothers, and his father was called Terah, Genesis 11:27-31.
Ur of the Chaldeans was a very rich city. They had tombs, wheels, a sexagesimal system; in other words, they divided things into sixty, i.e. sixty minutes, and they used a cuneiform style of writing. They had some kind of theology about the afterlife, as they used to bury themselves alive with their servants.
The city was destroyed around 2100 B.C and after its destruction, those people in the area who migrated to the west were known as the Amorites. We have to remember that Abraham wasn’t a Hebrew or a Jew or even an Israelite but an Amorite, Ezekiel 16:3, and his father worshipped idols, Joshua 24:2.
Whilst in Ur, Jewish tradition says that Abraham’s father, Terah, was an idol-maker. Once he had to travel, so he left Abraham to manage the shop. People would come in and ask to buy idols.
Abraham would say, ‘How old are you?’ The person would say, ‘Fifty,’ or ‘Sixty’. Abraham would say, ‘Isn’t it pathetic that a man of sixty wants to bow down to a one-day-old idol?’ The man would feel ashamed and leave.
One time, a woman came with a basket of bread. She said to Abraham, ‘Take this and offer it to the gods.’ Abraham got up, took a hammer in his hand, broke all the idols to pieces, and then put the hammer in the hand of the biggest idol among them. When his father came back and saw the broken idols, he was appalled.
‘Who did this?’ he cried. ‘How can I hide anything from you?’ replied Abraham calmly. ‘A woman came with a basket of bread and told me to offer it to them. I brought it in front of them, and each one said, ‘I’m going to eat first.’ Then the biggest one got up, took the hammer, and broke all the others to pieces.’
‘What are you trying to pull on me?’ asked Terah, ‘Do they have minds?’ Abraham replied to his father, ‘Listen to what your own mouth is saying? They have no power at all! Why worship idols?’
There must have been something in Abraham that God saw as unique for Him to call him, Genesis 15:7. God asked him to leave his home and extended family in order to go to a country that God would show him, Genesis 11:31 / Acts 7:3 / Hebrews 11:8. Imagine someone asking you to leave your home but you don’t know where you’re going? That’s faith, Hebrews 11:6.
There are seven promises given to Abram.
1. A People, Genesis 12:2.
2. A Name, Genesis 12:2 / Genesis 15:5.
3. Protection, Genesis 12:3.
4. Prosperity, Genesis 12:2.
5. A Universal blessing, Genesis 12:3.
6. A Homeland, Genesis 12:7 / Genesis 15:18-21.
7. A Son, Genesis 12:3 / Genesis 3:15 / Genesis 17:16.
God promised to make Abraham a great nation, Genesis 12:2. This was fulfilled when Israel left captivity, Deuteronomy 26:5. Earlier, Moses asked what great nation had a law like the one given to them by God, Deuteronomy 4:5-8.
God also promised to bless Abraham, Genesis 12:2. This was fulfilled in Abraham’s lifetime, Genesis 24:1 / Genesis 24:34-35; he was also blessed in the children he was given, Isaiah 51:2.
God also promised to make Abraham’s name great, Genesis 12:2, as Abraham is such a famous man, even those who haven’t read the Bible have heard of him, and we know he’s very important to Christians, Romans 4:16 / Galatians 3:7.
God also promised that Abraham would be a blessing to others, Genesis 12:2. Christians today join with Abraham in receiving God’s blessings, Galatians 3:6-9, and of course, Jesus is the ultimate blessing for Christians, Galatians 3:14, and because of Him, blessings come to everyone, Romans 4:7-13.
God also promised to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, Genesis 12:3. This was fulfilled in God’s protection of Abraham. We see it when Abraham, with three hundred and eighteen men, went to save Lot from the armies of five kings who had just ravaged the region, Genesis 14:18-20. Later, we see it in God’s protection of Israel, Numbers 24:2-10.
God also promised that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed, Genesis 12:3 / Genesis 3:15 / Genesis 22:18. The fulfilment would be through a specific descendant, Luke 1:67-79 / Acts 3:25-26 / Galatians 3:8 / Galatians 3:16. God promised that He will make his descendants as the dust of the earth, Genesis 13:16.
While in Egypt, the population of Israel increased greatly, Exodus 1:7, and when they left, they were a great nation, Deuteronomy 26:5. By the time of King Solomon, he said the population could not be numbered, 1 Kings 3:8.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A promise as big as this one can be fulfilled in only one thing, and that is by the coming of the Son of God to save all people from sin. Many discerning commentators have seen this. God had promised the ‘seed of woman’ as the One who would accomplish this, Genesis 3:15; and ‘now it becomes clear that it would be accomplished through Abraham’s own family.’
Remember that Christians are also called sons of Abraham, Galatians 3:7 / Galatians 3:29 / Romans 4:17-18. There is no dispute about the fulfilment of the following. 1. People. 2. Name. 3. Protection. 4. Prosperity. 5. Universal blessing. 7. A Son.
Most people are in agreement that all have been fulfilled, but there are a few who believe that the land promise hasn’t been fulfilled. Millennialists, for example, claim this promise has yet to be fulfilled. I want to spend a little time here to demonstrate how this promise has indeed been fulfilled.
Notice in Genesis 24:1-3 that under no circumstances must Isaac marry a Canaanite woman, and under no circumstances must Isaac leave Canaan. To leave would have been regarded as a rejection and loss of title to the land.
In Genesis 26, we find the promises confirmed to Isaac, Genesis 26:3-4 / Genesis 26:12. In Genesis 28, we see the covenant passes to Jacob, Genesis 28:3-4 / Genesis 28:13-15. In Genesis 35, we see the covenant confirmed again, whilst Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, Genesis 35:11.
In Genesis 37, we find Jacob living in the land, and two promises have been fulfilled: a son and a homeland, Genesis 37:1. God then prepares for the fulfilment of a third promise, the development of a nation, Genesis 46:3.
It’s significant that whilst Isaac wasn’t allowed to leave Canaan, no such command was issued to Jacob; on the contrary, God sends him to Egypt. The reason for the move was because of famine, with five more years of famine to come, Genesis 42:5 / Genesis 45:11.
Israel lived in Canaan, Genesis 47:27. Jacob died in Egypt but was buried in Hebron, Genesis 50:13. We also see in this chapter that Joseph prophesied that the Israelites would leave Egypt, although he didn’t indicate the circumstances of their Exodus.
God fulfilled the land promise, Joshua 21:43-45; however, what people tend to overlook is that Israel’s land promise came with terms and conditions attached. Moses even predicted their captivity, Deuteronomy 29:24-28 / Deuteronomy 30:16-18. Yes, restoration was possible, but that came with conditions attached too, Deuteronomy 30:3-5 / Deuteronomy 30:10.
Captivity finally came, in 721 B.C., we find the Assyrian captivity, from which the Northern Kingdom didn’t return. 150 years later, we find the Babylonian captivity. It was Nehemiah who led the return to the land.
In Nehemiah 1, we see him praying on behalf of the people and notice especially that his appeal to God’s promise was made through Moses, Nehemiah 1:8. Notice also that Nehemiah also confirms that the Land promise had been kept, Nehemiah 9:7-8. They return to the land, Ezra 1 / Jeremiah 29:11 / 2 Chronicles 36:22.
If this isn’t an act of faith, I don’t know what is, Acts 7:3 / Hebrews 11:8. There’s no arguing or questioning God when God asks Abram to leave, he simply obeys and goes at the age of seventy-five and he took his Sarai who was a Hittite, Ezekiel 16:3, and his nephew Lot, Genesis 12:5 / Genesis 13:1-2.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘According to the Samaritan text, Terah was 145 years old when he died. As Terah was 70 at the birth of Abram, Genesis 11:26, and the latter left Haran when he was 75, the Samaritan text confirms the statement in Acts 7:4, that Abram waited till after his father’s death to leave Haran.’
On their journey, they first came to Shechem, Genesis 12:6 / Genesis 33:18-19 / Joshua 24:1, and because the Canaanites were already in the land. Notice that the LORD appeared to him, Genesis 12:7, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ. It seems that God needed to reaffirm to Abram that this was the actual land that He would give to his descendants, Genesis 12:7 / Genesis 15:18-21.
Kline, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This action expressed Abraham’s faith that the land was the Lord’s to give, and that he accepted as true his promise that his seed would occupy it.’
Notice also that he built an altar to the Lord, Genesis 12:7; this was one of many he would build in his lifetime.
Abram came to Bethel, Genesis 12:8. This is an interesting place, as archaeological discoveries have indicated that this city was actually in ruins about five hundred years before Abraham’s arrival.
It was a fortress city that had originally been built by the Egyptians around 2900 B.C., but was destroyed around 2500 B.C. It’s here that Abraham built another altar and worshipped God, Genesis 12:8. He then set out toward the Negev, Genesis 12:9.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This was not a stop at Bethel, but at a place between Bethel and Ai, right in the shadow of places that celebrated pagan shrines and altars, but Abram again built an altar and called upon Jehovah.’
It’s clear that because of the severity of the famine in Canaan, Abram took his extended family into the delta regions of Egypt in order to find pastureland for his herds and food for his family, Genesis 12:10.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Egyptians, like the Canaanites, were descendants of Ham (through Mizraim, not Canaan) and were also polytheistic, cruel, and immoral.’
Because of the beauty of Sarai, Abram conceived a plan to spare his own life in view of the lust of the Egyptians for beautiful women, Genesis 12:11-12. It’s clear that Abram was scared that he would be killed in order for someone to take his wife, so he came up with a reason that he and Sarai were together without mentioning they were married. He may have thought it was better to lose Sarai than his own life so that God’s promises to him could be fulfilled.
He asks Sarai to lie about her being his wife, Genesis 12:13, even though Sarai was actually his half-sister. She was the daughter of one of the wives of Terah, Genesis 11:31, but not of Abraham’s mother, Genesis 20:12.
It certainly looks like Pharaoh just accepted the statement that Abram and Sarai were siblings and never thought to ask if they were married before having Sarai come into his home, Genesis 12:14-15. Abram received many gifts from Pharoah but for Sarai’s sake, Genesis 12:16, possibly as some kind of dowry.
It was a half-truth, but a total falsehood and instead of Abram being a blessing to the house of Pharaoh, he was a curse on this occasion because the result of this lie, God had to intervene and inflict serious diseases on the house of Pharaoh, Genesis 12:17.
Josephus, in his writings, says the following.
‘God’s plague upon Pharaoh was a serious physical disorder, a distemper, and also a sedition against his government. Whereupon he inquired of the priests how he might be freed of such calamities, and they told him that they were due to the wrath of God caused by his taking the stranger’s wife.’
Thank God that God intervened and stopped both Abram and Pharaoh from making foolish mistakes. Pharaoh then summons Abraham, who obviously now knows he has been deceived, and understandably, he demands answers, Genesis 12:18.
Pharaoh then chastised Abram and expelled him from Egypt for his deception, Genesis 12:19-20. It seems that Abram was allowed to keep the gifts because Pharaoh wanted to compensate for his own error. Abram lied through half-truths, and he nearly lost his wife because of it.
One of the beauties of the Bible is that it doesn’t try to hide the sin of some of the godliest men we read about. Noah got drunk, David committed adultery, Abram lied about his wife, and will do so again later, Genesis 20:1-18, and Isaac will go to tell the same lie as his father, Genesis 26:6-12.
Wenham, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Here Abram’s failure in the face of hostility, like Israel’s sinfulness in the wilderness, is surely recorded as a warning for later generations, 1 Corinthians 10:11. and as an illustration of the invincibility of the divine promises, Romans 11:29.’