Genesis · Chapter 12

V. 1. We have here the call by which Abram was removed out of the land of his nativity into the land of promise, which was designed both to try his faith and obedience, and also to set him apart for God. The circumstances of this call we may be somewhat helped to the knowledge of, from Stephen’s speech, Acts 7:2, where we are told,

1. That the God of glory appeared to him to give him this call, appeared in such displays of his glory as left Abram no room to doubt. God spake to him after in divers manners: but this first time, when the correspondence was to be settled, he appeared to him as the God of glory, and spake to him.

Verse 1. Get thee out of thy country] There is great dissension between commentators concerning the call of Abram; some supposing he had two distinct calls, others that he had but one. At the conclusion of the preceding chapter, Genesis 11:31, we find Terah and all his family leaving Ur of the Chaldees, in order to go to Canaan. This was, no doubt, in consequence of some Divine admonition. While resting at Haran, on their road to Canaan, Terah died, Genesis 11:32; and then God repeats his call to Abram, and orders him to proceed to Canaan, Genesis 12:1. Dr. Hales, in his Chronology, contends for two calls: “The first,” says he, “is omitted in the Old Testament, but is particularly recorded in the New, Acts 7:2-4: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, BEFORE HE DWELT IN CHARRAN; and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and come into the land (ghn, a land) which I will show thee. Hence it is evident that God had called Abram before he came to Haran or Charran.” The SECOND CALL is recorded only in this chapter: “The Lord said (not HAD said) unto Abram, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto THE LAND, xrah HA-arets, (Septuagint, GHN ghn,) which I will show thee.” “The difference of the two calls,” says Dr. Hales, “more carefully translated from the originals, is obvious: in the former the land is indefinite, which was designed only for a temporary residence; in the latter it is definite, intimating his abode. A third condition is also annexed to the latter, that Abram shall now separate himself from his father’s house, or leave his brother Nahor’s family behind at Charran. This call Abram obeyed, still not knowing whither he was going, but trusting implicitly to the Divine guidance.”

Thy kindred] Nahor and the different branches of the family of Terah, Abram and Lot excepted. That Nahor went with Terah and Abram as far as Padan-Aram, in Mesopotamia, and settled there, so that it was afterwards called Nahor’s city, is sufficiently evident from the ensuing history, see Genesis 25:20; Genesis 24:10, 15; and that the same land was Haran, see Genesis 28:2, 10, and there were Abram’s kindred and country here spoken of, Genesis 24:4.

Thy father’s house] Terah being now dead, it is very probable that the family were determined to go no farther, but to settle at Charran; and as Abram might have felt inclined to stop with them in this place, hence the ground and necessity of the second call recorded here, and which is introduced in a very remarkable manner; kl kl lech lecha, GO FOR THYSELF. If none of the family will accompany thee, yet go for thyself unto THAT LAND which I will show thee. God does not tell him what land it is, that he may still cause him to walk by faith and not by sight. This seems to be particularly alluded to by Isaiah, Isaiah 41:2: Who raised up the righteous man (Abram) from the east, and called him to his foot; that is, to follow implicitly the Divine direction. The apostle assures us that in all this Abram had spiritual views; he looked for a better country, and considered the land of promise only as typical of the heavenly inheritance.

Verse 1. We have here the call whereby Abram was removed from, the land of his nativity into the land of promise. This call was designed both to try his faith and obedience, and also to set him and his family apart for God, in order that the universal prevalence of idolatry might be prevented, and a remnant reserved for God, among whom his true worship might be maintained, his oracles preserved, and his ordinances established till the coming of the Messiah. God seems also, by sending him into Canaan, a country given up to the most gross, cruel, and barbarous idolatry, even the sacrificing of their own children to their idols, to have intended that he, and the other patriarchs descended from him, should be witnesses for God to these nations before their destruction; which is the plan God has generally, if not always, pursued; seldom, if ever, destroying a people for their wickedness, till he has sent his truth, in one form or another, and his witnesses among them.

Concerning the circumstances of this call, we may receive further information from Stephen’s speech, Acts 7:2, where we are told, 1st, That the God of glory appeared to him, to give him this call, and that in such displays of his glory as left Abram no room to doubt. 2d, That this call was given him in Mesopotamia; and that, in obedience to this call, he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran or Haran about five years: and from thence, when his father was dead, by a fresh command, he removed him into the land of Canaan. Get thee out of thy country — Now, by this precept, he was tried whether he loved God better than he loved his native soil, and dearest friends: and whether he could willingly leave all to go along with God. His country was become idolatrous, his kindred and his father’s house were a constant temptation to him, and he could not continue with them without danger of being infected by them; therefore God said, Get thee out. Hereby also he was tried whether he could trust God farther than he saw him; for he must leave his own country to go to a land that God would show him; he doth not say, it is a land that I will give thee: nor doth he tell him what land it was, or what kind of land; but he must follow God with an implicit faith, and take God’s word for it in general, that he should be no loser by leaving his country to follow God.

Verse 1. Had said. The God of glory appeared to Abraham, and enjoined him to leave his idolatrous country. Joshua 24:2. Acts 7:3.

THE CALL OF ABRAM, 1-3.

The history now narrows again to a single branch of the family of Terah — Abram and his descendants. The other branches, which are only incidentally alluded to hereafter as they are connected with the fortunes of the covenant people, remained in Chaldea at least for generations, and a large portion of them settled around the wells of Haran, where, in the days of Isaac and Jacob, we find them forming a community which furnished these patriarchs wives of their kinsfolks, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, while the sons of Abram were still sojourners among the children of Ham. It was now more than four centuries since God’s last revelation to Noah, and the blessing of Shem. The scattered nations were fast sinking into idolatry; but that the knowledge of God was yet in the earth, incidental notices, as that of “Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the most high God,” sufficiently declare. Where there was such a priest, and a royal priest, there must have been established worship and a number of worshippers. Probably the history of Job, the patriarch of Uz, wherein, as Ewald says, the manners, customs, style of thought and expression are all of the pre-Mosaic age, furnishes another example of genuine faith in the true God among a people who had never heard of the Abrahamic covenant. But Abram was now called from the family of Terah to be a blessing to the whole earth; the father of a missionary nation, who should preserve and disseminate the knowledge of the true God through all nations and ages. His whole life was to be an education in faith, which is the root of true religion. “Every movement in the physical and ethical history of Abraham is fraught with instruction of the deepest interest for the heirs of immortality. The leading points in spiritual experience are here laid before us. The susceptibilites and activities of a soul born of the Spirit are unfolded to our view. These are lessons for eternity.” — Murphy. It is in this way that the biblical history is so profitable for doctrine, counsel, and instruction in righteousness.

1. The Lord had said — Rather, the Lord said. The pluperfect rendering was adopted by our translators from a supposed necessity of harmonizing this verse with Acts 7:2. But it is not necessary to suppose the writer here refers to a second call, which Abram received in Haran. According to a usage often noticed in these pages, the writer goes back and takes up his narrative at a point previously recorded — so we may believe, with Stephen, that this call of Abram occurred “before he dwelt in Haran.” The history of Terah was in the last chapter finished, and now begins the continuous history of the chosen seed from the great event in which it had its birth. It was a Jewish tradition, as we see from the book of Judith, that the descendants of Terah were driven out from Chaldea because they refused to follow the prevalent idolatry: “For they left the way of their ancestors, and worshipped the God of heaven, the God whom they knew: so they [the Chaldeans] cast them out from the face of their gods, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days. Then their God commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Canaan.” Judith 5:8, 9. Get thee out — Go for thyself; a special command. Note four particulars in this divine call. 1) Abram was to leave his native country, the fertile land where his fathers had dwelt for centuries, with its cities and its civilization, the mountains and noble rivers of his childhood. 2) His kindred, the stock of Eber, whom he left in Chaldea. 3) His father’s house, the family of Terah, whom he left in Haran. The closest earthly ties were to be broken. 4) He was to go forth, he knew not whither, unto a land that God should show him. Hebrews 11:8. He was to exchange the town and the pastoral life for that of the nomad; to leave the massive temples of Chaldea to build altars here and there in the wilderness. But by faith he saw his father-land, his home, in the promise of God. Hebrews 11:14.

2. That this call was given him in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and in obedience to this call, he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran or Haran about five years, and from thence, when his father was dead, by a fresh command, he removed him into the land of Canaan. Some think Haran was in Chaldea, and so was still a part of Abram’s country; or he having staid there five years, began to call it his country, and to take root there, till God let him know this was not the place he was intended for.

Get thee out of thy country-Now,

(1.) By this precept he was tried whether he loved God better than he loved his native soil, and dearest friends, and whether he could willingly leave all to go along with God. His country was become idolatrous, his kindred and his father’s house were a constant temptation to him, and he could not continue with them without danger of being infected by them; therefore get thee out, (Heb.) vade tibi, get thee gone with all speed, escape for thy life, look not behind thee.

(2.) By this precept he was tried whether he could trust God farther than he saw him, for he must leave his own country to go to a land that God would shew him; he doth not say, ‘tis a land that I will give thee nor doth he tell him what land it was, or what kind of land; but he must follow God with an implicit faith, and take God’s word for it in the general, though he had no particular securities given him, that he should be no loser by leaving his country to follow God.

V. 2. Here is added an encouraging promise, nay a complication of promises,

1. I will make of thee a great nation-When God took him from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people. This promise was,

1. A great relief to Abram’s burden, for he had now no child.

2. A great trial to Abram’s faith, for his wife had been long barren, so that if he believe, it must be against hope, and his faith must build purely upon that power which can out of stones raise up children unto Abraham.

2. I will bless thee-Either particularly with the blessing of fruitfulness, as he had blessed Adam and Noah; or in general, I will bless thee with all manner of blessings, both of the upper and nether springs: leave thy father’s house, and I will give thee a father’s blessing, better than that of thy progenitors.

3. I will make thy name great-By deserting his country he lost his name there: care not for that, (saith God) but trust me, and I will make thee a greater name than ever thou couldst have had there.

Verse 2. I will make of thee a great nation] i.e., The Jewish people; and make thy name great, alluding to the change of his name from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude.

Verse 2. I will make of thee a great nation — When God took him from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people. This promise was both a great relief to Abram’s burden, for he had now no child, and a great trial to Abram’s faith, for his wife had been long barren; so that if he believe, it must be against hope, and his faith must build purely upon that power which “can out of stones raise up children unto Abraham.” I will bless thee — Either particularly with the blessing of fruitfulness, as he had blessed Adam and Noah; or in general, I will bless thee with all manner of blessings, both of the upper and nether springs: leave thy father’s house, and I will give thee a father’s blessing, better than that of thy progenitors. I will make thy name great — By deserting his country he lost his name there. Care not for that, says God, but trust me, and I will make thee a greater name than ever thou couldst have had there. Thou shalt be a blessing — Thy testimony for God, thy example, thy prayers, and power with God, thy wisdom and prudence, thy peaceable and benevolent disposition and conduct, shall make thee a blessing in all places where thou shalt sojourn. I will bless them that bless thee, &c. — I will be a friend to thy friends, and an enemy to thy enemies; thus making, as it were, a kind of league, offensive and defensive, with Abram. Abram heartily espoused God’s cause, and here God promises to interest himself m his behalf.

Ver. 2. I will make of thee a great nation, yea many nations. All these are princely benedictions, conferring sovereignty, and adding a curse on the head of him who dare to rebel. Genesis 27:29.

2. I will make of thee a great nation — Great promises correspond with the great sacrifices commanded. 1) He left his nation, but should himself be the founder of a great nation. 2) He sacrificed kindred, but should be blessed with a spiritual kinship, as yet by him unimagined and inconceivable, but hailed afar off by faith. Hebrews 11:13. 3) He broke away from ancestral ties, but his own name should be illustrious as father of the faithful, ancestor of the Hebrew people, and of the world’s Messiah. 4) Most glorious of all, Thou shalt be a blessing — Hebrews, Be thou a blessing. “It is more blessed to give than to receive;” and, like the great Antitype, Abram’s highest glory was in being a fount of blessing to all mankind. He should be famous, not for what he took from men, but for what he gave to men; not like Sesostris, Caesar, Alexander, for the victories of the sword, but for the grander victories of truth and love. Abram signifies “the lofty Father,” and to-day Christians, Mohammedans, and Jews contend with each other in the veneration which they show for Abram as a father. Alexander Severus, the Roman emperor, built a chapel in his palace in which all the great religions of the earth were honored; and it is related that the statues of Abram and Zoroaster stood there with those of Orpheus and of Christ. Probably no human name is to-day so widely honored as that of the “father of the faithful.”

Verse 3. In thee] In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man, his Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind through his death and intercession.

Verse 3. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed — This promise crowned all the rest; for it pointed at the Messiah, “in whom all the promises are yea and amen.” Now, with what astonishing exactness has God fulfilled these promises, and yet how unlikely it was, at the time they were made, that they should be fulfilled! Surely we need no other proof that the historian wrote by inspiration of God!

3. I will bless… curse — The promise is here expanded — Abram, as the man of faith, is to be identified with the divine plan for human redemption; his friends are, therefore, God’s friends, his enemies God’s enemies. Faith makes man one with God; takes up his plans into the divine plan. Thus “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called [as was Abram] according to his purpose,” who elects, as sons of God, those in whom this faith is foreknown. Romans 8:28, 29. The foreknowledge of Abram’s faith was the basis of the great promise, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This promise was conspicuously fulfilled in three modes by Abram. Abram became a channel of the divine law to all mankind. 1) From him came the Hebrew people, who for fifteen centuries preserved the knowledge of the unity, spirit, and holiness of God amidst manifold and abominable idolatries, which saturated all the ancient ceremonies. 2) From him thus came the Bible, God’s book, to the world. 3) And from him came the Messiah, the Incarnate God and Redeemer. This promise is as broad as mankind, as deep and high as human wants and aspirations, as far reaching as immortality itself. Abram believed it, though imperfectly comprehending it; not receiving in his earthly lifetime the thing promised, yet having God’s testimony of acceptance through faith, (Hebrews 11:39,) God having, in all this preparatory dispensation, provided, (Hebrews 11:40,) foreseen, and arranged for better things concerning us who enjoy the revelations in full sunshine, whose twilight gleam patriarchs saw afar off. Yet they were made perfect in their love by this distant view; what then must be our responsibility, who have come unto Mount Zion?

4. Thou shalt be a blessing-That is, thy life shall be a blessing to the places where thou shalt sojourn.

Verse 4. And Abram was seventy and five years old] As Abram was now seventy-five years old, and his father Terah had just died, at the age of two hundred and five, consequently Terah must have been one hundred and thirty when Abram was born; and the seventieth year of his age mentioned Genesis 11:26, was the period at which Haran, not Abram, was born. See on the preceding chapter.

Verse 4. So Abram departed — He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. His obedience was speedy and without delay, submissive and without dispute. So should ours be to him who says, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me.”

ABRAM IN CANAAN, 4-9.

4. Departed — Abram obeys, and goes forth from Haran, westward, over the river, as it was ever called by the Hebrews, the great Euphrates, afterwards the boundary of the kingdom of David and Solomon, separating Aram from Padan-Aram, the fertile Mesopotamian plain from the Syrian desert, and henceforth he was Abram, the Hebrew, the man who had crossed the border from beyond the great river, (o perathv, LXX of Genesis 14:13,) the emigrant, the pilgrim, (peregrinus, perager,) a typical name of spiritual depth and beauty. See note on Genesis 10:24. He crossed the high chalk cliffs which wall the plain on the west, and forded the broad strong stream with wife and nephew and dependants, his flocks and his asses and camels, and entered the Syrian desert, a pilgrim, henceforth a type of all who set out on the heavenly pilgrimage. The manners and habits of the East are to day so nearly what they were in Abram’s day that we can easily picture the scene.

5. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee-This made it a kind of league offensive and defensive between God and Abram. Abram heartily espoused God’s cause, and here God promiseth to interest himself in his.

Verse 5. The souls that they had gotten in Haran] This may apply either to the persons who were employed in the service of Abram, or to the persons he had been the instrument of converting to the knowledge of the true God; and in this latter sense the Chaldee paraphrasts understood the passage, translating it, The souls of those whom they proselyted in Haran. They went forth to go into the land of Canaan] A good land, possessed by a bad people, who for their iniquities were to be expelled, see Leviticus 18:25. And this land was made a type of the kingdom of God. Probably the whole of this transaction may have a farther meaning than that which appears in the letter. As Abram left his own country, father’s house, and kindred, took at the command of God a journey to this promised land, nor ceased till be arrived in it; so should we cast aside every weight, come out from among the workers of iniquity, set out for the kingdom of God, nor ever rest till we reach the heavenly country. How many set out for the kingdom of heaven, make good progress for a time in their journey, but halt before the race is finished! Not so Abram; he went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan he came. Reader, go thou and do likewise.

Verse 5. They took with them the souls that they had gotten — That is, the proselytes they had made, and persuaded to worship the true God, and to go with them to Canaan; the souls which (as one of the rabbis expresseth it) they had “gathered under the wings of the Divine Majesty.”

5. Substance — Literally, possessions which they had gained possession of — flocks and herds. Souls — Persons, which they had acquired, the dependent followers of the household establishment. We find afterwards that Abram has three hundred and eighteen trained servants whom he leads forth in a warlike expedition, to rescue Lot. Genesis 14:14.

6. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed-This was the promise that crowned all the rest, for it points at the Messiah, in whom all the promises are yea and amen.

V. 4. So Abram departed-He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. His obedience was speedy and without delay, submissive and without dispute.

V. 5. They took with them the souls that they had gotten-That is, the proselytes they had made, and persuaded to worship the true God, and to go with them to Canaan; the souls which (as one of the Rabbins expresseth it) they had gathered under the wings of the divine Majesty. V. 6. The Canaanite was then in the land-He found the country possessed by Canaanites, who were likely to be but bad neighbours; and for ought appears he could not have ground to pitch his tent on but by their permission.

Verse 6. The plain of Moreh.] אלונ elon should be translated oak, not plain; the Septuagint translate thn drun thn uyhlhn, the lofty oak; and it is likely the place was remarkable for a grove of those trees, or for one of a stupendous height and bulk.

The Canaanite was then in the land.] This is thought to be an interpolation, because it is supposed that these words must have been written after the Canaanites were expelled from the land by the Israelites under Joshua; but this by no means follows. All that Moses states is simply that, at the time in which Abram passed through Sichem, the land was inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, which was a perfectly possible case, and involves neither a contradiction nor absurdity. There is no rule of criticism by which these words can be produced as an evidence of interpolation or incorrectness in the statement of the sacred historian. See this mentioned again, Genesis 13:7.

Verse 6. The Canaanite was then in the land — He found the country possessed by Canaanites, who were likely to be but bad neighbours; and for aught appears, he could not have ground to pitch his tent on but by their permission.

Ver. 6. The Canaanite was then in the land. Abraham did not wander like other patriarchs to a vacant country, but to a land already occupied by the children of Canaan. Africa was their lot, as descendants of Ham; but they had stopped on the road in the best of all lands.

6. Passed through the land — Descending, probably, by way of Damascus — as we find afterwards that the steward of his house is a native of that city — thence southward and along the valley of the Jabbok by the route afterwards followed by Jacob, and across the Jordan unto the place of Sichem, or Shechem, the region in which afterwards, and in the writer’s time, the town of Shechem was situated. (Neapolis and Nablus in subsequent time.) Yet the name, meaning shoulder, was probably given the locality from its being the water shed between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and from the place passed to the man Shechem, son of Hamor. The particular spot of Abram’s halt was the oak or oak grove (not plain) of Moreh, the name of its owner or planter. The town of Shechem, which we find here in the time of Jacob, lay in a beautiful sequestered valley between Mount Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south. These mountains are in the narrowest place only sixty rods apart, and rise in bold bluffs to the height of about one thousand feet. Groves of evergreen oak and terebinth, as well as luxuriant orchards of orange and citron, vocal with birds and running waters, are a delightful feature of the valley of Nablus to-day. In this lovely valley, beneath and between these bold crags, which more than four centuries afterwards echoed with the solemn blessings and cursings of his descendants as they covenanted with God at their entrance into the land of promise — here, near the spot where, more than nineteen centuries afterwards, Jesus sat on the well of Jacob and made “this mountain” a stepping-stone to the spiritual kingdom in which men shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth — it was fit that here the father of the chosen people should first pitch his tent and build his altar. But the oak grove under which he encamped belonged to Moreh the Canaanite. The land whose very earth and air were to be saturated with his name was the possession of idolatrous strangers, the Canaanite was (even) then in the land, as he was when this narrative was written. This remark seems to have been added to show why it was impossible at that time for Abram to take possession. This handful of pilgrims, when they arrived in the vale of Shechem, found a widely-spread nation already in possession of the land of promise.

V. 7. And the Lord appeared to Abram-Probably in a vision, and spoke to him comfortable words;

Unto thy seed will I give this land-No place or condition can shut us out from God’s gracious visits. Abram is a sojourner, unsettled, among Canaanites, and yet here also he meets with him that lives, and sees him. Enemies may part us and our tents, us and our altars, but not us and our God.

Verse 7. The Lord appeared] In what way this appearance was made we know not; it was probably by the great angel of the covenant, Jesus the Christ. The appearance, whatsoever it was, perfectly satisfied Abram, and proved itself to be supernatural and Divine. It is worthy of remark that Abram is the first man to whom God is said to have shown himself or appeared: 1. In Ur of the Chaldees, Acts 7:2; and 2. At the oak of Moreh, as in this verse. As hrwm Moreh signifies a teacher, probably this was called the oak of Moreh or the teacher, because God manifested himself here, and instructed Abram concerning the future possession of that land by his posterity, and the dispensation of the mercy of God to all the families of the earth through the promised Messiah. See Clarke on “Genesis 15:7”.

Verse 7. And the Lord appeared to Abram — Probably in a vision, and spoke to him comfortable words: Unto thy seed will I give this land — No place or condition can shut us out from God’s gracious visits. Abram is a sojourner, unsettled, among Canaanites, and yet here also he meets with him that lives, and sees him. Enemies may part us and our tents, us and our altars, but not us and our God.

Ver. 7. The Lord appeared to Abram; the Messiah, as Angel, realized his personal presence. The religion of the whole primitive world is founded on the appearances of God, or Messiah, the Angel to man. In the tenth conference of the Danish missionaries with a brahmin, when they pressed him with the different figures of his idols, he replied; “Our God has appeared eleven times, and in one place he is made as he appeared at one time, and in another place as he appeared at another time.”—The Egyptians have the same traditions of their Osiris. The Greeks in the Iliad of Homer, and in the Theogony of Hesiod, and in their poets, abound with the same traditions. Our Gothic fathers, in the poem Voluspa, amused their long evenings with runes or mysteries of religion. These runes formed the Edda, or code of instruction to posterity. All antiquity is coincident with the assertion of St. Paul, that “God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the fathers.” Hebrews 1:1.—Thy seed. St. Paul, who read the scriptures with an eagle’s eye, says, that God spake in the singular number, not of many but of One; that is, of Christ. This was the first promise, and highest favour of God to man; to Abraham, to Judah, and to David. Chap. 49:2 Samuel 7. The Messiah was from the beginning the hope, the rock and protection of his saints, in all the weary years of their pilgrimage. They kept him ever before their eyes as the dawn of future day.

7. The Lord appeared unto Abram — This is the first time that Jehovah is said to have appeared to man; and here, at Shechem, Christ revealed himself as the Messiah to a woman of Samaria. How Jehovah appeared at this time to Abram no man is now competent to say, and speculation and theories seem idle. Here was the first altar built to Jehovah as the covenant God; but we may be sure that “Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God,” was also at this time offering acceptable worship in this land of idolatry. Now for the first time Abram is told what is the land promised him, and yet it is not to be an inheritance for him, but only for his children. Unto thy seed will I give this land — There was now no established priesthood; the head of the family was priest in his own household. Abram builds an altar of earth and rough stones, and in the midst of his assembled household calls upon God by the mysterious covenant Name. He thus enters the land of promise with the solemn worship of Jehovah.

V. 8. And there he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared to him, and called on the name of the Lord-Now consider this,

(1.) As done upon a special occasion when God appeared to him, then and there he built an altar, with an eye to the God that appeared to him: thus he acknowledged with thankfulness God’s kindness to him in making him that gracious visit and promise: and thus he testified his confidence in, and dependence upon the word which God had spoken.

(2.) As his constant practice, whithersoever he removed. As soon as Abram was got to Canaan, though he was but a stranger and sojourner there, yet he set up, and kept up, the worship of God in his family; and wherever he had a tent, God had an altar and that an altar sanctified by prayer.

Verse 8. Beth-el] The place which was afterwards called Beth-el by Jacob, for its first name was Luz. See Genesis 28:19. la tyb beith El literally signifies the house of God.

And pitched his tent-and-builded an altar unto the Lord] Where Abram has a tent, there God must have an ALTAR, as he well knows there is no safety but under the Divine protection. How few who build houses ever think on the propriety and necessity of building an altar to their Maker! The house in which the worship of God is not established cannot be considered as under the Divine protection.

And called upon the name of the Lord.] Dr. Shuckford strongly contends that בשם arq kara beshem does not signify to call ON the name, but to invoke IN the name. So Abram invoked Jehovah in or by the name of Jehovah, who had appeared to him. He was taught even in these early times to approach God through a Mediator; and that Mediator, since manifested in the flesh, was known by the name Jehovah. Does not our Lord allude to such a discovery as this when he says, Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad? John 8:56. Hence it is evident that he was informed that the Christ should be born of his seed, that the nations of the world should be blessed through him; and is it then to be wondered at if he invoked God in the name of this great Mediator?

Verse 8. And there he built an altar, and called on the name of the Lord — Such, it appears, was his constant practice, whithersoever he removed. As soon as he came into Canaan, though he was but a stranger and sojourner there, yet he set up, and kept up the worship of God in his family; and wherever he had a tent, God had an altar, and that sanctified by prayer.

Ver. 8. And there (in Sichem) he built an altar to the Lord, and by faith took possession of the land, and near the place where the Hebrews crossed the Jordan.

8. Removed from thence — Abram moved southward from Shechem and pitched his tent on the little round mount now seen strewn with stones, as if for the building of an altar, south-east of Bethel — now called Beitin by the Arabs — a little spot covered with foundation stones and half-standing walls, while east of this mount, and at about the same distance, may be seen a hill covered with the gray ruins of Ai, the modern Et-Tel. See Joshua 7:2, note. The name Beth-el (house of God) is said to have been given to this spot by Jacob on two different occasions, (Genesis 28:19; 35:15,) so that here the historian may mean that Abram pitched his tent at the place afterwards called Beth-el; or it may have borne this name already in Abram’s day, an interesting relic of ancient piety, such as we meet with in the name Melchizedek, and the name may have again been applied to it in a new sense by Jacob after his wondrous vision there.

9. Abram journeyed — Literally, and Abram pulled up, (his tent-pins,) going and pulling up, (encamping and striking his tents.) Toward the south — Hebrew, towards the Negeb, that is, the country south of Palestine; probably encamping in the vale of Hebron, where we afterwards find him. Thus he dwelt in tabernacles (tents) with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the promise, a stranger in the land which yet he called his own. Hebrews 11:9.

V. 10. And there was a famine in the land-Not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites, but to exercise the faith of Abram. Now he was tried whether he could trust the God that brought him to Canaan, to maintain him there, and rejoice in him as the God of his salvation, when the fig-tree did not blossom.

And Abram went down into Egypt-See how wisely God provides, that there should be plenty in one place, when there was scarcity in another; that, as members of the great body, we may not say to one another, I have no need of you.

Verse 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.

Verse 10. And there was a famine in the land — Not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites, but to exercise the faith of Abram. Now he was tried whether he could trust the God that brought him to Canaan, to maintain him there, and rejoice in him as the God of his salvation, when the fig-tree did not blossom. And Abram went down into Egypt — See how wisely God provides, that there should be plenty in one place, when there is scarcity in another; that, as members of the great body, we may not say to one another, “I have no need of you.” No doubt he was sent into Egypt to be a witness for God there also; but, alas! through yielding to unbelief, eminent as he generally was for faith, he became rather a stumbling-block in the way of such as feared the true God, than an example for their imitation!

Ver. 10. Egypt. The famine compelled Abraham to seek shelter there. Josephus quotes an ancient author to say, that he taught the Egyptians Astrology and Arithmetic. These sciences passed from Chaldea into Egypt, and from Egypt into Greece.

ABRAM IN EGYPT, 10-20.

10. Famine in the land — Famine comes on him in the land of promise, and thus his faith is sorely tried. Not only were idolaters in possession of the ground on which he pitched his tents, but famine comes also. Canaan is watered by periodic rains; when they fail the ground dries up, and scarcity becomes no uncommon event. But Egypt, being watered by the regular overflow of the Nile, which was utilized by artificial irrigation, was rarely afflicted with famine, although when it did occur it was terribly destructive. Egypt was the granary of the adjacent nations in times of want. But Abram went there only to sojourn (rwg) till the famine was passed, not to dwell there. Abram passes down through the desert, as Jacob and his sons did afterwards for a similar cause to go down into Egypt. Abram, Israel, and the promised Seed fled before calamity through the same desert into the same land of refuge, sojourned there awhile amid its idolatrous civilization, its massive gods and temples, and then returned to Canaan — three advancing dispensations and divine manifestations which broke upon the world from this mysterious land, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet, “I… called my son out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1.

Verse 11. Thou art a fair woman to look upon] Widely differing in her complexion from the swarthy Egyptians, and consequently more likely to be coveted by them. It appears that Abram supposed they would not scruple to take away the life of the husband in order to have the undisturbed possession of the wife. The age of Sarai at this time is not well agreed on by commentators, some making her ninety, while others make her only sixty-five. From Genesis 17:17, we learn that Sarai was ten years younger than Abram, for she was but ninety when he was one hundred. And from Genesis 12:4, we find that Abram was seventy-five when he was called to leave Haran and go to Canaan, at which time Sarai could be only sixty-five; and if the transactions recorded in the preceding verses took place in the course of that year, which I think possible, consequently Sarai was but sixty-five; and as in those times people lived much longer, and disease seems to have had but a very contracted influence, women and men would necessarily arrive more slowly at a state of perfection, and retain their vigour and complexion much longer, than in later times. We may add to these considerations that strangers and foreigners are more coveted by the licentious than those who are natives. This has been amply illustrated in the West Indies and in America, where the jetty, monkey-faced African women are preferred to the elegant and beautiful Europeans! To this subject a learned British traveller elegantly applied those words of Virgil, Ecl. ii., ver. 18:—

Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.

White lilies lie neglected on the plain,

While dusky hyacinths for use remain.

DRYDEN.

11. Thou art a fair woman — Sarai was sixty-five years of age when Abram left Haran, being ten years younger than he, but, considering the longevity of the patriarchs, we may assume that at that period of life she would retain much of her youthful beauty, appearing much as a woman of thirty in our time. To the more dusky Egyptians an Asiatic woman would appear especially beautiful. The Egyptians were not Negroes, as is shown by the monuments; they were tawny in color, with straight hair, and features more Asiatic than African, (Rawl. Herod., 2:104;) but there was still a strong contrast between them and the true Asiatics, whose women might, therefore, appear to them very fair. Abram’s fear was by no means groundless, for the Egyptian monarchs were unscrupulous in exercising their despotic power for the gratification of their desires. But we here meet with a manifestation of unbelief and of a lack of sensitiveness in regard to the marriage tie on the part of the father of the faithful, which, to a Christian, is startling. But we must, as Kurtz observes, “Consider what Abram could gain by pretending that Sarai was merely his sister. If she had been introduced as his wife, any one who wished to possess her could only attain this by violence, which would have greatly endangered Abram’s life. But if she passed for his sister, it seemed probable that overtures would be made, and thus time, in this case the one thing requisite, be gained. Besides, he probably hoped that Jehovah, who had destined his wife to be the mother of the promised seed, would vindicate the honour of his promise.” But while the narrative furnishes a faithful picture of Abram’s struggle into true faith through the heathen corruptions which surrounded him, it teaches us also lessons of the divine discipline, and at the same time furnishes valuable incidental evidence of the impartial truthfulness of a history that so frankly sets down most humiliating truths concerning the father of the chosen people. Overawed by the splendours of the Egyptian civilization and by the absolute power of the Pharaohs, his faith in God’s power wavers, and he resorts to a prevarication for the preservation of his life, which it seems he had preconcerted with Sarai at the commencement of his wanderings. Genesis 20:13. Sarai was, it seems by Genesis 20:12, his half sister, daughter of his father by another mother, and he tells a half truth by calling her simply his sister, thus weakly exposing her to save himself. Of course, the sin was not so great as it would be under the Gospel or even the Mosaic law, but the course of Providence by which its weakness and wickedness was revealed to Abram is detailed for our instruction, while God’s forgiving tenderness is also set forth in his remarkable interposition to rescue Sarai from her peril. Abram — reproved and punished, yet spared and forgiven, as one who yet walked in the twilight of revelation — is thus trained for fuller manifestations of the divine will, and thus in his weakness as well as his strength — in his sin as well as virtue — becomes an encouragement and warning to his children, the heirs of faith. In judging of the magnitude of this sin we are to remember that Abram was everywhere encompassed by idolatry, and where there is idolatry there is always sensuality and falsehood. Such a lapse is not to be wondered at in one who breathed such a tainted air, although privileged to receive direct revelations from God. In fact, how truthful to human nature is this incident! how unlike the artificial virtue of legendary saints and heroes!

ABRAM IN EGYPT, 10-20.

10. Famine in the land — Famine comes on him in the land of promise, and thus his faith is sorely tried. Not only were idolaters in possession of the ground on which he pitched his tents, but famine comes also. Canaan is watered by periodic rains; when they fail the ground dries up, and scarcity becomes no uncommon event. But Egypt, being watered by the regular overflow of the Nile, which was utilized by artificial irrigation, was rarely afflicted with famine, although when it did occur it was terribly destructive. Egypt was the granary of the adjacent nations in times of want. But Abram went there only to sojourn (rwg) till the famine was passed, not to dwell there. Abram passes down through the desert, as Jacob and his sons did afterwards for a similar cause to go down into Egypt. Abram, Israel, and the promised Seed fled before calamity through the same desert into the same land of refuge, sojourned there awhile amid its idolatrous civilization, its massive gods and temples, and then returned to Canaan — three advancing dispensations and divine manifestations which broke upon the world from this mysterious land, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet, “I… called my son out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1.

V. 13. Say thou art my sister-The grace Abram was most eminent for was faith, and yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the divine Providence, even after God had appeared to him twice. Alas, What will become of the willows, when the cedars are thus shaken

Verse 13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister] Abram did not wish his wife to tell a falsehood, but he wished her to suppress a part of the truth. From Genesis 20:12, it is evident she was his step-sister, i.e., his sister by his father, but by a different mother. Some suppose Sarai was the daughter of Haran, and consequently the grand-daughter of Terah: this opinion seems to be founded on Genesis 11:29, where Iscah is thought to be the same with Sarai, but the supposition has not a sufficiency of probability to support it.

Verse 13. Say thou art my sister — The grace Abram was most eminent for was faith, and yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the divine providence, even after God had appeared to him twice! “Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Ver. 13. My sister. She was his uncle Nahor’s daughter; but that circumstance is scarce a mitigation of Abraham’s fault. The fear of man bringeth a snare, and often leadeth into sin. He doubted of God’s promised protection; but it was at a time when sorely pressed with famine.

ABRAM IN EGYPT, 10-20.

10. Famine in the land — Famine comes on him in the land of promise, and thus his faith is sorely tried. Not only were idolaters in possession of the ground on which he pitched his tents, but famine comes also. Canaan is watered by periodic rains; when they fail the ground dries up, and scarcity becomes no uncommon event. But Egypt, being watered by the regular overflow of the Nile, which was utilized by artificial irrigation, was rarely afflicted with famine, although when it did occur it was terribly destructive. Egypt was the granary of the adjacent nations in times of want. But Abram went there only to sojourn (rwg) till the famine was passed, not to dwell there. Abram passes down through the desert, as Jacob and his sons did afterwards for a similar cause to go down into Egypt. Abram, Israel, and the promised Seed fled before calamity through the same desert into the same land of refuge, sojourned there awhile amid its idolatrous civilization, its massive gods and temples, and then returned to Canaan — three advancing dispensations and divine manifestations which broke upon the world from this mysterious land, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet, “I… called my son out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1.

14. Beheld — The Egyptian women were not veiled, like the Orientals. The pictorial representations in Egypt show the women unveiled, associating with men in all the freedom of modern civilization.

Verse 15. The woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.] Pharaoh appears to have been the common appellative of the Cuthite shepherd kings of Egypt, who had conquered this land, as is conjectured, about seventy-two years before this time. The word is supposed to signify king in the ancient Egyptian language. If the meaning be sought in the Hebrew, the root [rp para signifies to be free or disengaged, a name which such freebooters as the Cuthite shepherds might naturally assume. All the kings of Egypt bore this name till the commencement of the Grecian monarchy, after which they were called Ptolemies.

When a woman was brought into the seragilo or harem of the eastern princes, she underwent for a considerable time certain purifications before she was brought into the king’s presence. It was in this interim that God plagued Pharaoh and his house with plagues, so that Sarai was restored before she could have been taken to the bed of the Egyptian king.

15. Commended her before Pharaoh — The result is as Abram anticipated. He sins to help Providence, and Providence abandons him. This was also the sin of Jacob in stealing Esau’s blessing, and is no uncommon sin in God’s Church to-day. Pharaoh — This is the same as the PI-Ra and PHRAH of the hieroglyphics, meaning “The Sun,” and applied as a title to the Egyptian kings. P-RE is written as a hieroglyphic symbol over the titles of the Egyptian kings. In the monuments the sun is treated as the visible representation of the generative principle of nature, and sun worship may have been a primitive idolatry brought into Egypt from the East. The colossal Theban statues, representing kings as brothers of the gods, show how they assumed divine dignities, and furnish a comment on the name Pharaoh. Taken into Pharaoh’s house — An Egyptian harem. Herodotus mentions that the Egyptians had but one wife; but Diodorus says that this restriction was confined to the priests, while other men took as many wives as they pleased. Polygamy seems to have been allowed, while monogamy was deemed more reputable. Wilkinson states that the monuments show evidence that the kings had many foreign wives or concubines, captives taken in war.

Verse 16. He had sheep, and oxen, &c.] As some of these terms are liable to be confounded, and as they frequently occur, especially in the Pentateuch, it may be necessary to consider and fix their meaning in this place.

SHEEP; ˆax tson, from tsaan, to be plentiful or abundant; a proper term for the eastern sheep, which almost constantly bring forth twins, Cant. {Song of Solomon 4:2}, and sometimes three and even four at a birth. Hence their great fruitfulness is often alluded to in the Scripture. See Psalm 65:13; 144:13. But under this same term, which almost invariably means a flock, both sheep and goats are included. So the Romans include sheep, goats, and small cattle in general, under the term PECUS pecoris; so likewise they do larger cattle under that of PECUS pecudis.

OXEN; rqb bakar, from the root, to examine, look out, because of the full, broad, steady, unmoved look of most animals of the beeve kind; and hence the morning is termed boker, because of the light springing out of the east, and looking out over the whole of the earth’s surface. HE-ASSES; חמרים chamorim, from rmj chamar, to be disturbed, muddy; probably from the dull, stupid appearance of this animal, as if it were always affected with melancholy. Scheuchzer thinks the sandy-coloured domestic Asiatic ass is particularly intended. The word is applied to asses in general, though most frequently restrained to those of the male kind. SHE-ASSES; tnta athonoth, from אתנ ethan, strength, probably the strong animal, as being superior in muscular force to every other animal of its size. Under this term both the male and female are sometimes understood. CAMELS; גמלים gemallim, from lmg gamal, to recompense, return, repay; so called from its resentment of injuries, and revengeful temper, for which it is proverbial in the countries of which it is a native. On the animals and natural history in general, of the Scriptures, I must refer to the Hicrozoicon of BOCHART, and the Physica Sacra of SCHEUCHZER. The former is the most learned and accurate work. perhaps, ever produced by one man.

From this enumeration of the riches of Abram we may conclude that this patriarch led a pastoral and itinerant life; that his meat must have chiefly consisted in the flesh of clean animals, with a sufficiency of pulse for bread; that his chief drink was their milk; his clothing, their skins; and his beasts of burden, asses and camels; (for as yet we read of no horses;) and the ordinary employment of his servants, to take care of the flocks, and to serve their master. Where the patriarchs became resident for any considerable time, they undoubtedly cultivated the ground to produce grain.

16. He entreated Abram well — Observe that the presents which Pharaoh makes Abram are such as were suited to his nomad life. It is noticeable that nothing is here said of horses, which, as shown by the monuments, were introduced at a later period of Egyptian civilization. We find them there in the time of Moses.

V. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house-Probably, those princes especially that had commended Sarai to Pharaoh. We are not told, particularly, what these plagues were; but, doubtless, there was something in the plagues themselves, or some explication added to them, sufficient to convince them that it was for Sarai’s sake they were thus plagued.

Verse 17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh] What these plagues were we know not. In the parallel case, Genesis 20:18, all the females in the family of Abimelech, who had taken Sarah in nearly the same way, were made barren; possibly this might have been the case here; yet much more seems to be signified by the expression great plagues. Whatever these plagues were, it is evident they were understood by Pharaoh as proofs of the disapprobation of God; and, consequently, even at this time in Egypt there was some knowledge of the primitive and true religion.

Verse 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house — We are not told particularly, in what way they were plagued; but, doubtless, there was something in the plagues themselves, or some explication added to them, sufficient to convince Pharaoh and his house that it was for Sarai’s sake they were thus plagued.

17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh — As another Pharaoh and his people were afterwards smitten for their cruel oppression of Abram’s seed. What these plagues were we are not told, but they seem to have fallen upon all who were engaged in this despotic proceeding, and probably were of such a nature as to prevent Pharaoh from consummating his marriage with Sarai, and led him to see that his design ran counter to the purposes of Abram’s God. According to Josephus, the priests told Pharaoh the cause of the plagues; but Patrick suggests, that Sarai confessed the truth to Pharaoh.

V. 18. What is this that thou hast done?-What an ill thing; how unbecoming a wife and good man!

Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?-Intimating, that if he had known that, he would not have taken her. It is a fault, too common among good people, to entertain suspicions of others beyond what there is cause for. We have often found more of virtue, honour, and conscience in some people, than we thought there was; and it ought to be a pleasure to us to be thus disappointed, as Abram was here, who found Pharaoh to be a better man than he expected.

Verse 18. What is this that thou hast done — What an ill thing: how unbecoming a wise and good man! Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? — Intimating, that if he had known that he would not have taken her. It is a fault, too common among good people, to entertain suspicions of others beyond what there is cause for. We have often found more of virtue, honour, and conscience in some people, than we thought there was; and it ought to be a pleasure to us to be thus disappointed, as Abram was here, who found Pharaoh to be a better man than he expected.

18. What is this — The heathen despot reproves the sin of the God-fearing Abram! What a humiliation!

ABRAM IN EGYPT, 10-20.

10. Famine in the land — Famine comes on him in the land of promise, and thus his faith is sorely tried. Not only were idolaters in possession of the ground on which he pitched his tents, but famine comes also. Canaan is watered by periodic rains; when they fail the ground dries up, and scarcity becomes no uncommon event. But Egypt, being watered by the regular overflow of the Nile, which was utilized by artificial irrigation, was rarely afflicted with famine, although when it did occur it was terribly destructive. Egypt was the granary of the adjacent nations in times of want. But Abram went there only to sojourn (rwg) till the famine was passed, not to dwell there. Abram passes down through the desert, as Jacob and his sons did afterwards for a similar cause to go down into Egypt. Abram, Israel, and the promised Seed fled before calamity through the same desert into the same land of refuge, sojourned there awhile amid its idolatrous civilization, its massive gods and temples, and then returned to Canaan — three advancing dispensations and divine manifestations which broke upon the world from this mysterious land, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet, “I… called my son out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1.

V. 20. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him-That is, he charged them not to injure him in any thing. And he appointed them, when Abram was disposed to return home, after the famine, to conduct him safe out of the country, as his convoy.

Verse 20. Commanded his men concerning him] Gave particular and strict orders to afford Abram and his family every accommodation for their journey; for having received a great increase of cattle and servants, it was necessary that he should have the favour of the king, and his permission to remove from Egypt with so large a property; hence, a particular charge is given to the officers of Pharaoh to treat him with respect, and to assist him in his intended departure.

THE weighty and important contents of this chapter demand our most attentive consideration. Abram is a second time called to leave his country, kindred, and father’s house, and go to a place he knew not. Every thing was apparently against him but the voice of God. This to Abram was sufficient; he could trust his Maker, and knew he could not do wrong in following his command. He is therefore proposed to us in the Scriptures as a pattern of faith, patience, and loving obedience. When he received the call of God, he spent no time in useless reasonings about the call itself, his family circumstances, the difficulties in the way, &c., &c. He was called, and he departed, and this is all we hear on the subject. Implicit faith in the promise of God, and prompt obedience to his commands, become us, not only as HIS creatures, but as sinners called to separate from evil workers and wicked ways, and travel, by that faith which worketh by love, in the way that leads to the paradise of God.

How greatly must the faith of this blessed man have been tried, when, coming to the very land in which he is promised so much blessedness, he finds instead of plenty a grievous famine! Who in his circumstances would not have gone back to his own country, and kindred? Still he is not stumbled; prudence directs him to turn aside and go to Egypt, till God shall choose to remove this famine. Is it to be wondered at that, in this tried state, he should have serious apprehensions for the safety of his life? Sarai, his affectionate wife and faithful companion, he supposes he shall lose; her beauty, he suspects, will cause her to be desired by men of power, whose will he shall not be able to resist. If he appear to be her husband, his death he supposes to be certain; if she pass for his sister, he may be well used on her account; he will not tell a lie, but he is tempted to prevaricate by suppressing a part of the truth. Here is a weakness which, however we may be inclined to pity and excuse it, we should never imitate. It is recorded with its own condemnation. He should have risked all rather than have prevaricated. But how could he think of lightly giving up such a wife? Surely he who would not risk his life for the protection and safety of a good wife, is not worthy of one. Here his faith was deficient. He still credited the general promise, and acted on that faith in reference to it; but he did not use his faith in reference to intervening circumstances, to which it was equally applicable. Many trust God for their souls and eternity, who do not trust in him for their bodies and for time. To him who follows God fully in simplicity of heart, every thing must ultimately succeed. Had Abram and Sarai simply passed for what they were, they had incurred no danger; for God, who had obliged them to go to Egypt, had prepared the way before them. Neither Pharaoh nor his courtiers would have noticed the woman, had she appeared to be the wife of the stranger that came to sojourn in their land. The issue sufficiently proves this. Every ray of the light of truth is an emanation from the holiness of God, and awfully sacred in his eyes. Considering the subject thus, a pious ancient spoke the following words, which refiners in prevarication have deemed by much too strong: “I would not,” said he, “tell a lie to save the souls of the whole world.” Reader, be on thy guard; thou mayest fall by comparatively small matters, while resolutely and successfully resisting those which require a giant’s strength to counteract them. In every concern God is necessary; seek him for the body and for the soul; and do not think that any thing is too small or insignificant to interest him that concerns thy present or eternal peace.

GENESIS

20. Sent him away — The language implies an honourable escort, and a safe conduct out of Egypt. “It deserves to be noticed that throughout the history of the chosen race, Egypt was to them the scene of spiritual danger, of covetousness and love of riches, of worldly security, of temptation to rest on man’s arm and understanding, and not on God only. All this appears from the very first, in Abram’s sojourn there, Sarai’s danger, and their departure full of wealth and prosperity.” — Speaker’s Commentary.