Or, Unbelief Only Makes a Tough Situation Tougher
Scripture: Genesis 12:10-20
Date: April 3, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
This morning we come to the first of many, really ugly stories about the patriarchs in Genesis. It’s surprising how many stories there are about ugly unfaithfulness from God’s own people.
Not everything in Genesis has been pretty so far. Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden, but they didn’t know how dark it would get on the other side of disobedience. Wickedness spread across the face of the earth before the flood. That wasn’t pretty, but the wickedness stood in contrast to Noah; Noah, at least, was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Likewise at the Tower of Babel, the crowd acted inconsistently with the givenness of their image-bearing status, but they didn’t claim to be worshippers of God.
But from Genesis 12:10 through the rest of the book, and in some ways through the rest of the Old Testament, we read story after story of God’s chosen people acting unfaithfully. It would repulse us more if it didn’t reflect us so much.
The unhidden ugliness is one of the reasons to believe that the Bible is true. If you were making up a religion and writing a book to persuade others to join, you probably wouldn’t write about the moral failures of your heroes. Abram, who is the father of the Jewish nation, and the father of all those withfaith (Romans 4:11; Galatians 3:7), is one of the worst examples of unbelief as well as being in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11:8-12). If the Bible were no more than propaganda, the marketing team would have said, “I know that’s what happened, but can’t we clean it up a bit? Let’s just leave the good parts.” The Bible doesn’t edit every recipe to make it sweet.
In Genesis 12:10-20 there is a bad problem: a severe famine. But by the end of the chapter there we will have seen an even bigger problem than the lack of food. Abram’s famine of faith is worse.
It wouldn’t be too difficult to pelt Abram with verbal stones from a distance. “What was his problem? Why didn’t he believe?” Of course, these are questions we want to apply to ourselves first. I wouldn’t want all of my story written down for others to read. There may be some good paragraphs here and there, and there would also be more paragraphs than I care to count telling my lack of trust. Some of the worst come right after some of the best. Let’s read and learn, and be fair to Abram as we acknowledge that when God tests our faith it can be very tough. Even more so, it takes God’s faithfulness. God is the most important character, and He is faithful to expose our faith-gaps.
There are five developments in the story.
In verse 4 Abram moved because the LORD told him to. Here he moves because there was a threat to the survival of the family.
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. (Genesis 12:10)
A famine means scarcity of resources, in particular of food, to provide for yourself and your dependents. Abram had just traveled over a thousand miles from Ur through Haran down into Canaan, and we last saw him in southern Canaan in the Negeb. He doesn’t have his own land, nor is Canaan itself fertile land, especially compared to where he came from. He came from the Fertile Crescent into a place more like desert, and irrigation hadn’t yet been sufficiently developed to pull in necessary water during a drought. This famine threatens Abram and Sarai’s survival. It is a bad situation. Abram starts planning how to provide.
We can easily imagine how Abram might be extra discouraged at this point. How long had it taken him to get here with all of his flocks and servants? He’s been faithful to follow God for months. And now there’s a famine too? “God, I’m only here because You said to come here. I’m here, I’m trusting You, and then this?” Abram’s faith could only take so much.
It happens to me. I see that thing coming and know I need to trust God. But then this happens, the thing I wasn’t expecting, and faith fails. This and that can be closely connected, or one right after the other. I think about it like I think about batting average. A batting average is good for nothing when you’re at the plate. Each at bat requires it’s own effort and what you’ve done yesterday doesn’t guarantee today’s success. Just because we passed yesterday’s faith test doesn’t mean we will continue to believe during today’s test.
A famine doesn’t happen overnight, or even over a week. Resources dry up over time. You wait as long as you can and hope that things are going to get better. Abram must have agonized over this decision, but nothing in the story explicitly states that Abram took his problem to the LORD. As the story develops, his lack of faith becomes more evident. Hence the title of the message: a famine of faith. Even if it was permissible for Abram to leave Canaan to provide for his family, the next decision demonstrates that his faith wasn’t strong.
That said, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The author of Hebrews points out that at least Abram didn’t go home to Ur. He could have gone back to Haran where his family did well. Even the translation that Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there suggests that Abram didn’t see this as a permanent move. Maybe he would rent in Egypt rather than buy, though sojourn could be translated as “dwell.” Had he gone south to stay?
He trades problems that he knows for problems that he doesn’t know. Be careful trying to run from your problems. There may be greater problems you can’t even imagine lurking behind your current ones.
If—and this is a big if—his sojourn was acceptable—and Moses doesn’t say either way—then this is definitely not acceptable. There is no way to spin this action on Abram’s part as being driven by faith. This moves from bad to worse.
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” (Genesis 12:11–13)
As Abram attempted to compensate for one problem he creates another problem. Famine threatened the family survival in verse 10. Now there is another perceived threat to his family’s survival, or at least Abram’s personal survival.
Had Abram heard that the Egyptians were immoral? Was Abram’s proposal based on stories he’d heard? He thought that the Egyptians would not commit adultery so much so that they would commit murder?
The trouble was Sarai’s good looks. She’s ** beautiful in appearance** even at 65 years old. She’s at the mid-point of her life (she died when she was 127), and hadn’t bore any children yet. We know of no reply on her part; she goes along with her husband’s strategy.
Abram thought he could preserve his life by playing with her honor. So he schemes a half-truth. Genesis 20:12, the second time he tries this approach, clarifies that Sarai is his half-sister. They had the same father, not the same mother. But this was a lie with the purpose to deceive. Presumably he thought that as her brother, he could use her as a tease. Suitors could pursue her in marriage, but he could string them along for however long they sojourned. To all interested parties: “We’ll see.”
Abram thought he could stall with this charade.
The famine was bad, the possibility of his murder was bad, but this difficulty was unforeseen. His unbelief makes a tough situation even tougher.
When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. (Genesis 12:14–16)
Abram suspected that the people would see Sarai’s beauty. He probably did not suspect that he would have to stall Pharaoh. How long can you stonewall the King of the country? Pharaoh is a title, a word that means “Great House.” He had more than square-footage, he had unilateral authority. He was not a President with checks and balances.
Princes or “courtiers,” those who were in and out of Pharaoh’s court, sought to earn Pharaoh’s favor by flattery and by pandering to Pharaoh’s wants. Sometimes they were asked for advice, but they mostly did whatever they could to keep their seat at the royal table. Perhaps we would understand it comparable to America’s Next Top Model, something such as “Egypt’s Next Top Concubine.” Look for the pretty people to please the Pharaoh.
Sarai was so pretty that the Princes knew that they couldn’t keep her for themselves. They took her from Abram and brought her directly to the Pharaoh; he is not one to say No to.
Abram doesn’t say no. Abram instead receives the gifts of Pharaoh.
It should have been the other way around based on Genesis 12:1-9. Abram should have been the one to bring blessing. Instead, Abram is blessed by Pharaoh, and Abram brings curses to Pharaoh’s house.
How long did Abram’s conscience plague him? What agony was Abram in, with no one to blame but himself? Did he think about telling Pharaoh the truth? If he thought that they would kill him for her being his wife, what about when they realized that he lied to them about her being his wife? Would they even bother to take him to a back room to kill him?
The best case scenario was to stall the suitors. There’s no stalling Pharaoh. What fear was in Sarai’s eyes? What panic was in Abram’s heart? How did he think he could get her back? He moved them there, he counseled her to deceive, and the mess is all his fault.
But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” (Genesis 12:17–19)
Abram becomes a channel of plagues rather than blessing. His presence brings the opposite of favor on Pharaoh and his house. Plagues is typically used in reference to skin diseases but Moses doesn’t specify the symptoms. It could have been something like leprosy, or perhaps something that caused the women to be barren. We’re not told how long it took to identify the plagues.
We’re also not told how Pharaoh recognized the cause of the plagues. But Pharaoh calls Abram and asks three quick, irritated questions. ** “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife?** Pharaoh is not trying to get to know Abram or understand where Abram’s coming from. These are “Off with his head!” level questions. Pharaoh understood the disrespect behind the deceit.
The worst thing happens now. Famine was bad. The deception was bad. The possible adultery was bad. But Abram losing credibility was the worst. Abram should have feared the loss of his testimony. Abram rationalized that he would fight their immorality with his own, and now Pharaoh has the high moral ground. Pagan Pharaoh is more righteous and he rebukes God’s chosen man. Abram has no defense.
Abram also lost credibility with Sarai, probably also with Lot, though he isn’t mentioned until the start of chapter 13. Lot certainly heard about it, as did all of Abram’s household servants.
But it was the LORD who afflicted Pharaoh and his house…because of Sarai . Yahweh protected Abram and his wife though Abram’s attempts failed.
Pharaoh kicks Abram out, hat in hand, tail between his legs.
And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. (Genesis 12:20)
Sent…away is the same as when God sent Adam and Eve from Eden (3:23). Abram and Sarai receive a military escort to the border.
They are deported and go back to Canaan where, as far as we know, there is still famine. They’re back to the bad ritual where they already were and now without credibility.
He has to be ashamed. How did his servants talk about him? What did Abram think about his own lack of faith?
Just because things are hard doesn’t mean that we’re in the wrong place. The famine didn’t make Abram leave. Based on what happens in Egypt, and since God gets him back to Canaan by rebuke, God didn’t direct Abram to leave the hard place in the first place. When you’re down in the count by two strikes, that doesn’t mean you should go back to the dugout. Keep swinging.
Just because things are hard doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be harder. Abram went out of the frying pan, into the fryer, into a bigger fryer, back into the pan beaten and rebuked.
You can’t avoid faith-choices. You can put your faith in God, or you can put your faith in something other than God. In one sense, Abram did live by faith. He believed in himself and his own abilities to provide and protect. It’s still faith. Trust in God or trust in not-God.
God is faithful even when we are faithless, see 2 Timothy 2:13. Abram made faith look good in the first part of the chapter. But God doesn’t need us to make Him look good. He protects Abram and Sarai in spite of Abram’s unbelief. That doesn’t give us warrant to do whatever, because real things were lost such as relational trust and spiritual peace.
How do you know when to wait or walk? It’s tough, but stay where you are. Or, it’s tough, go over here. It isn’t always obvious. Wait or walk by faith in Him, not in yourself. Fight or retreat, speak or don’t, because you believe He’s in it.