The best parts of the land were occupied. Abram’s group was large, and the herds required a constant supply of food and water. After grazing in an area for a period, they had to change locations.
From Shechem, they headed on to Bethel (10 miles north of Jerusalem) and built another altar and called on the name of the Lord. This would be an indication of sustained fellowship and communion with God. However, from this time of communion with the Lord came a time of divine trial and testing. God’s testing is never for his own benefit as he is omniscient and already knows the hearts of men. The testing he puts people through is so we can learn about ourselves. Abram was about to learn an important lesson, the hard way.
The herds required new grazing plains again. To increase the difficulty of the trial, God had caused a famine in the land. Resources were thin and the locals were protecting their territories closely. The entire region was in survival mode.
The famine provided an opportunity for Abram to confidently seek God’s provision in the land. God surely would have kept his promise. “I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.” This was the land God had shown him, and Abram had a blanket promise that he would be blessed. There were options available to Abram, but his old ways were influencing him. He failed to leave them behind in Mesopotamia too.
After a period, they moved on to the south towards the Negev, a dry desert area near Egypt. Obviously, they would not survive long in that region. Abram was making administrative and executive decisions for those traveling with him, as he was now the patriarch. Abram had been groomed by his father for this role and carefully considered all his options. On one hand, he had God’s promise. It was because of his faith in God’s promise that they found themselves in Canaan in the first place. On the other hand, he had conventional wisdom as he had seen his father use successfully for many years. The situation forced his hand. He made his decision based on a strategy he had in mind since they day he left home.
Abram led the group out of the land God showed them and headed to Egypt. The plan was to offer Sarai to Pharaoh as a wife for his harem. This plan required lies, deception and greed. Though Abram and Sarai were married, they shared the same father, which meant they were half siblings. Abram planned to manipulate the facts so as to present her as his sister while omitting the fact that she was also his wife. By doing so, Sarai would be well cared for, and Abram would receive gifts and honor for her sake. Additionally, the rest of the group would survive the famine, living under Abram’s leadership while in Egypt.
Sarai had been preparing for this deception for quite some time. Abram announced this strategy back when they first set out for Canaan. He coldly convinced her that participation in this lie would be her way of showing love for him. Her compliance resulted in exactly the outcome he had so cleverly anticipated. Sarai lived in the palace; Abram received additional livestock as a bride price; the members of the group were free to work under Abram’s leadership, tending his livestock. Their overall status increased greatly instead of sinking dramatically. Abram had used selfish human reasoning and had set aside God’s plan and God’s ways. The result of this testing revealed the utter sinfulness of the human nature. The end did not justify the means.
This phase of testing for Abram was complete, so the Lord inflicted serious disease on Pharaoh and his household on behalf of Sarai, Abram’s wife. As a result of that divine intervention, Pharaoh discovered the truth and rebuked Abram. Abram was humbled and led the group back to Bethel, the last place he had previously built an altar, and again called on the name of the Lord and worshipped him there. The communion between God and Abram was restored.
This was the second cycle of peaks and valleys on Abram’s journey of faith. Abram began from a place of holy communion with God and sank to the depths of his own sinful nature. He traded his wife for his own well-being even after God had promised to provide an heir to them. Perhaps he had previously reasoned that since Sarai had been barren, she would not be the woman to provide the promised son. He had considered her expendable, but God recovered his discarded wife and protected the sanctity of their marriage. Abram put his entire group at risk by seeking refuge in another country instead of trusting God to provide their needs in the land he showed them. In the end, Abram grew in his knowledge of God and his ways. This was a valuable lesson and it paid dividends immediately. The old Abram was focused on self-sufficiency; the new Abram would focus on the hope of God’s promises.
Next Section: Hope is the Key
Table of Contents: Faith, Hope and Love
Text for this post has been borrowed from my Kindle eBook Faith, Hope and Love (Book 2 of the Grace and Knowledge Series), by Brother Woody Brohm. Copyright 2013.
I’ve included the full text of the book on this blog and you are free to read the book in this format if you please. Just follow the Next Section Link or view the Table of Contents to skip to wherever you prefer.
All Scripture quoted from:
New International Version (NIV)
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