10And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. 11And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12Therefore 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.
13Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
14And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
17And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
18And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
19Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
We begin this part with there being a famine and Abram heading to Egypt where there was food. Egypt, famine and the nation of Israel come up a few more times in the bible. If God says something three times in the bible it means something important and we are to pay attention. Just before Abram enters Egypt he asks his wife to say that she is his sister rather than explain that she is his wife because he was afraid that the Egyptians might kill him and take her because of her beauty. This may sound a little cowardly on his part considering the fact that God told him he would live to an old age and have many decendents; but, Abram was getting to know God and his promises, we are not born with faith or understanding.
Part of the story of Abram is about our evolving faith, how it grows. Early in Abram did some unfaithful things. One of the things he did was tell his wife to lie in order to fool the Pharaoh. Abram knew what could happen because it was a common occurrence probably. In either case, he was right because the Pharaoh did take her into his house.
The Pharaoh took Sarai into his house and gave Abram all kinds of good things, basically a payment to a family for a wife. Yet the Lord decided to cause a plague to come upon the Pharaoh and his house. Egypt and plagues just seem to go together in the bible. Some people think the Pharaoh was mistreated by the Lord because he had been lied to; but, Sarai was not asked what she wanted, Pharaoh just took her. Is taking a woman, even if she is unmarried, against her will a good thing or an evil thing? What Pharaoh did was common in those days, women were looked at as possessions.
In understanding the story of Genesis and Exodus we can see how God works. One of the things he often does with Israel is to separate Israel from the wicked ways of the time, from the traditions of man. The story of Abram is about his being separated from his family and from bad society so that he could learn the right things, the way of God. In order to understand some things we need to see it from the outside.
God manages to get Pharaoh's attention and Pharaoh returns Sarai to Abram and sends him away unharmed and with all the things that Pharaoh had given him. Here is a question, if God had not plagued Pharaoh and Abram had told Pharaoh that Sarai was his wife, do you think Pharaoh would have killed him and taken his wife, I think the answer is yes. While the Pharaoh did bring Sarai into his house, he did not sleep with her. We know this because the Pharaoh was upset that he might have taken her as his wife and Pharaoh knew that if he had done that then God would have punished him even greater.
It is Wednesday night and I taught a home church for my Pastor friend who is out of town. I didn't gate home till late and then finally ate dinner around 10:00. As I have work tomorrow I will not be posting anymore tonight. I hope that whoever bothers reading these things that I write understands that it is a pleasure to go over the bible with you. I don't claim to have all the answers and expect to continually find more questions; but, it is nice to read the bible and consider what else is going on, it helps me to know God better.
I notice a lot of churches attempt to get to the point, to use the bible to explain things to people who haven't bothered to read it or attempt to understand it on their own. This is why I put the verses first and my thoughts second, I want you to read the bible and not just my thoughts on it, I do not add to or take away from what it says, I just try and give it some context that we don't automatically know. My purpose is to help people to consider it at a deeper level and not just read it as a story, we are to read it to get an understanding of how God works so that we can have a deeper relationship with him. How can you have a relationship with someone if you don't know them well, better yet, how deep a relationship can you have with someone you barely know?
It is possible that nobody will ever read my posts; but, somehow I doubt it. I write these words knowing in my heart that they will be here for someone to read, knowing that if I write the truth then they will be read. If people come to this site just to read the bible verses and skip my words, I will still be happy. There will come a time when books will be hard to find and they will cease to be published except on line. I would ask the reader to consider printing out each of these posts and putting them into a binder so that the word will always be with them even when the electricity and internet go down.
I have been asked many times which bible I use. My answer is that I will use whatever is available; however, all bible text on this blog is from the King James version. I am going to buy a new bible for myself because the one I use is starting to lose pages. I do not know which translation I will get, it is possible it will be the NIV. I have read the bible enough that it is in my heart and I can work with any translation, I hope you all become familiar with it enough to do the same. Peace.
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