Chapter 12
The Age of Israel is divided into several parts. First of all is the period of the patriarchs--everything from Abraham to the Exodus. Then, the period of the Exodus which starts with the 400 years of captivity in Egypt and forty years of wilderness wandering. Then finally the period of the law and the prophets, which starts from the time of the wilderness wanderings and goes down to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the day of Pentecost. The third dispensation follows, which is the Church, and then we have the completion of the Age of Israel, which is the Tribulation.
The period of the patriarchs is the introduction to the Age of Israel. 1. Abraham is selected as the pattern for patriarchs, the reason being that Abraham is the pattern of salvation, he was saved by faith in Jesus Christ—Romans 4:1-16. 2. Abraham is also the pattern for Old Testament spirituality—Romans 4:17-21.
Now in order to establish some system of chronology with regard to Abraham’s migration we will look at a few points:
1. Abraham left Haran 645 years before the Exodus. This period is broken down into two increments. The period of the patriarchs is actually 215 years. Then the sojourn in Egypt is broken down into 430 years—30 years of prosperity in the wake of Joseph and 400 years of captivity. The Exodus took place in 1441 BC. If you add 645 years to that you have the time when Abraham left Haran—2086 BC.
2. How do we establish the 215 years? Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abraham was 75 when he left Haran. Genesis 21:5 tells us that he was about 100 years old when Isaac was born. So we know from that that from the time that Abraham left Haran until the time of the birth of Isaac was 25 years in Canaan, except for a few brief periods when he was out of Canaan. Genesis 25:26, the statement that Isaac was 60 yrs old when Jacob was born. The next one is Genesis 47:9 where we learn that Jacob was 130 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, which ended the patriarch period because he was now in Egypt. These all connect up and give us 215 for the period of the patriarchs.
3. We get the 430 years from Exodus 12:40, 41.
4. Conclusion: Abraham left Haran 645 years before the Exodus from Egypt which was 1441 BC. Add to that 645 and you get 2086 BC.
5. The date of the Exodus 1441 BC. The date of entering Egypt is 1871 BC. Again, adding 645 to 1441, the year that Abraham entered Canaan was 2086 BC, and therefore since Abraham when he entered Canaan was 75 Abraham was born in 2161 BC. The patriarchal period, then, goes from 2086 BC to 1971 BC. The sojourn in Egypt goes from 1871 to 1441 BC.
Acts 7:2-4—Abraham started out by being a total flop. “The God of glory [Jesus Christ] appeared unto our father Abraham in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in
Haran.” God told Abraham to dwell in Canaan, but between Ur of the Chaldees and Canaan is a desert where even the Arabs did not go. They were not to cross the desert, they were to go down the valley. When they got to Haran then they were to move from Syria into Canaan. God told Abraham to go to Canaan but he didn’t go to Canaan, he stayed in Haran. He didn’t want to go to Canaan, he was more interested in making money as a trader in Haran.
Verse 3—“…and get thee out of thy country” [Ur of the Chaldees]; “and from thy kindred”—sometimes kindred are the greatest hindrance in serving the Lord. He didn’t get away from his family, he took his nephew, Lot. Abraham is never going to have everything that God has for him until he quits the foot-dragging, until he separates from Lot. He was also to separate himself from his father, which he didn’t do.
Verse 4—“…and dwelt in Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he removed into this land, in which ye now dwell.” Notice, he didn’t leave Haran until his father was dead. He had to have a jolt and his father had to die before he would come to Canaan where God wanted him to be.
When Abraham is in Canaan this is analogous to being in fellowship. But in the twelfth chapter of Genesis we are going to see him out of fellowship twice. First: Haran. Then when he was jolted into getting back in (rebound), he went to Canaan. This was the place of blessing, God has given him promises there, but as soon as the test came he took off for Egypt.
Genesis 11:26 – “Terah” means delay. He is the father of Abraham. “Nahor” means snoring. “Abram” means father of high and windy places. “Haran,” not to be confused with the town, means “dried up,” dead on the vine. Out of these four, father and three sons, one of them was saved—Abram.
Verse 27 – Haran has a son called Lot.
Verse 28—Haran died an unbeliever. Apparently Abram took in his nephew Lot.
Verse 29 – “the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,” which means contentious.
Verse 30—“But Sarai was barren.” This was the great problem in the life of Abram up to the time he is100 years of age. It becomes a very difficult problem for him, as far as the Bible is concerned, for a period of 25 years. This is his great test and all of his faith must be built up so that he can face this problem.
But beside that there is a beautiful analogy here. Contentious Christians are always barren. This is a believer who has a contentious mental attitude, a mind full of sour grapes and envy and jealousy and hatred of others. Contentious believers are always troublemakers, egotistical, and insensitive. They also demand all of the time you will give them, they have a tremendous approbation lust. They are greedy for human attention and human approbation.
12:1 – “Now the Lord had said (past tense) … Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from they father’s house [Terah], unto a land that I will show thee.”
11:31 – “Terah took Abram.” Terah is the father, and instead of Abram separating himself the family he took Terah and Lot with him. Abram is a believer; Lot is a believer; Terah is not a believer. Terah is running the show and Abram is going to obey his father rather than obey God. Terah is also a famous idolater—Joshua 24:2. Abram’s disobedience changes his mental attitude and even though his intention is good he does not come to Canaan.
12:2 – the anti-Semitism clause which is so important.[1]
Verse 3 – the last phrase, “and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Christ is of the seed of Abraham and is the basis of blessing all of the families of the earth.
Verse 4 – “And Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him” – so far, so good. But this is what happened that went wrong—“and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” What is not told here is what is in Acts 7 and Genesis 11. He didn’t go straight to the land, he stopped in Haran for an indefinite period of time and we only know that he was 75 when he finally left Haran. All of the time that he was in Haran he was miserable because he was out of fellowship, not in the will of God. He had three things in Haran: Terah, his father. Terah means delay, and the plan of God was delayed in the life of Abram until he left Haran. He had Lot [means secret, and sometimes it has the connotation of secretly self-seeking]. Sarai, which means contentious. And he was in the dried-up place where he had delay, secret self-seeking, and contention. Abram did not leave Haran until the death of his father.
This is the grace of God in getting Abram out of Haran and into the place of blessing. There is a principle behind this. Often the greatest adversities become the means of our greatest blessing. God had to awaken Abram to the fact that he was in the dried up place, and in the dried up place he could never have that peace, blessing, which is the monopoly of the born-again believer, and consequently he had to be jolted by great adversity—loss of his father—into waking up.
Getting into Canaan is a picture of rebound.
Verse 5 –“and all their substance that they had gathered.” Where did he get it? In Haran, acquired through business enterprise.
“and all of the souls that they had gotten in Haran” – Abram became a slave owner in Haran.
In this introduction to the patriarchs we have Abram in Haran, 11:29-32; Abram in Canaan, 12:4-8.
Verses 6-9, notice 9 things that Abram had in Canaan.
1. Shechem, the Hebrew word for shoulder, but also the word for power. The believer in Canaan has Shechem—power. We have the power of the Holy Spirit when we are in fellowship. In fellowship [in Canaan] we take in the Word. We also have the power of the Son, as in Philippians 4:13.
2. Moreh means instruction or teaching. You really only take in the Word of God when you are in fellowship. This is the importance of being taught the Word.
3. “the Canaanite was then in the land.” This means challenge and opposition. First of all, the Canaanite is to be evangelised. Abram is actually going to lead many of them to the Lord. The believer is always challenged to evangelise. Evangelism is the ministry of every believer. There is also opposition. The Canaanite will be evangelised in part and in part he will form opposition. When you are in fellowship with the Lord you will be challenged to evangelise but you will also face Satanic type opposition.
4. Verse 7, a promise. The challenge to claim the promises of God—“Unto thy seed will I give the land.” The challenge to claim the faith-rest technique. Abram’s peace depended on how much he claimed and believed the promises of God. If this is the land that God gives him when there is a famine in the land he doesn’t have to get upset and go to Egypt. All he has to do is to claim the promise. The reason that Abram goes to Egypt is because he refuses to believe the faith-rest technique.
5. The altar. This speaks of occupation with Christ, both retrospective and anticipatory. Retrospective as far as we are concerned—the cross. The altar is a constant reminder of the cross. We do not have the altar today, we have the communion table which is a reminder of the cross. Anticipatory: the One who hung upon the cross is now at the right hand of the Father but He will return to the earth.
6. The tent. This speaks of total dependence upon the Lord. Abram was not going to depend upon the walls of the city, he was not going to build a home, a fortification. He had tremendous wealth but all of his life he lived in the tent.
To better understand the word tent we go to Hebrews 11. How can a man living in a tent be safe? The land of Canaan was a place where marauders were constantly passing through. Verse 13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims [tent dwellers]on the earth. Verse 14, “For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” Verse 16, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” They were tent dwellers because God promised a city, and God told his wife and all of his family they would never dwell in a city until God provided the city which He promised. Abraham will receive that city in resurrection—Revelation 21:2, 10. So the tent speaks of depending on the power of the Lord, not upon human power. This doesn’t mean that Abram was stupid. He was a well-armed man and he trained his 218 male servants as soldiers. But the tent is Abram’s testimony that he can go to sleep at night and not be concerned about marauders attacking because there is a wall around him, and that wall is the Lord.
7. Verse 8, Bethel means house of God. When he is in fellowship he worships the Lord. Principle: You can only have Bethel when you are in Canaan; you
can only worship the Lord when you are in fellowship.
8. Hai was also in Canaan, it means heap of ruin and refers by analogy the old sin nature. He still has the old sin nature which is the source of all sin.
9. Verse 10 – the testing. “…and Abram went down into Egypt.” Now he is out of fellowship again. Everything in the land was to encourage him to stay
there. He had power—Shechem; he had instruction and teaching—Morah; he had the Canaanite—evangelising at home first; he has the promises of God
even though there is a famine in the land; he has the altar—occupation with Christ, and therefore he need not fear the famine; he has the tent—speaking
of total dependence upon the Lord; he has Bethel—worship; Hai is no help; he has the test, and the principle is this: When ever we have victory in our
lives, the victory of being in fellowship, then that victory will be tested. You will never have a spiritual success or a victory without that success being
tested. The purpose of the famine is to test Abram’s faith. Will he use these things which God has provided or not?
He went down to Egypt and failed the test because he didn’t utilise the things that he had—“to sojourn there.” He was only going to stay until the heat was
off. Going down to Egypt is escapism, the believer using human sublimation, human self-gratification as the basis of his happiness. It is the place of the human viewpoint as opposed to the divine viewpoint. In that sense, of course, Egypt is the world. The famine was a test. Can God meet the needs of Abram in the place where He wants him to be, even though there is a famine. Of course, the answer is yes. That is the answer of faith. But human viewpoint says no, I think I’ll go down to Egypt where there is a lot of food. Sojourn means to just stick around there temporarily until things get better. So Abram runs away, and as soon as you get out of fellowship you are in trouble again. Any believer in Egypt can work his way very rapidly into disaster.
Verse 11 – all the way down to Egypt he is looking at his wife. She is around 76 now but she is a beautiful woman. “…Behold now, I know that thou art a fair
woman to look upon.” The translation of this is pitiful in the KJV. The Hebrew word for fair is exceedingly beautiful. He is already thinking that the wretched old Pharaoh down in Egypt is going to want to add her to his harem—human viewpoint.
Verse 12 –“Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.” He has worked it all out.
Verse 13—he is out of fellowship, he wants her to lie. He wants to save his own skin: “that it may be well with me for thy sake,” the twisting of the ego: so that you will still have me!
Verse 14—no one notices Abram’s status symbols, they noticed Sarai.
Verse 15—She was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Abram wasn’t hurt because she lied and said she was his sister. Take a look at some of the things that comes to Abram when he is out of fellowship: ego, dishonesty, fear of man, divisiveness and lying. So the mother of a chosen race is found in the harem of a heathen king. Principle: The believer out of fellowship causes misery both to himself and those in his periphery.
Verse 16—instead of having his throat cut he became wealthier. “Treated” means he paid off Abram swell for her sake. In other words, Pharaoh has just bought the ‘sister.’
Verse 17 – the Lord intervened. It is God’s intention to bring Isaac into the world through Sarai. It can’t be done if she is going to remain in that harem.
Verse 18 – as soon as this illness hit the palace Pharaoh calls in Abram.
Verse 18 – Take her and get out! Notice: No testimony. In other words, it takes an unbeliever, a heathen king, to show Abram what a rat he is as a believer. At this point the heathen king is on a much higher plain than Abram. The heathen king deals with Abram in an honourable manner, tells him to take everything I have given you and get out. It is possible for a believer who is out of fellowship to behave in a manner much more unworthy than an unbeliever. Unbelievers often behave better than believers out of fellowship. There is a reason for it. The unbeliever only has one inner struggle—the old sin nature. But the believer out of fellowship is under pressure from the world, the flesh, and the devil. He has two struggles, one in the soul and one in the area of the old sin nature. The believer has no testimony out of fellowship.