City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“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. 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.’ 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 12:10-16 (ESV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

Megan’s Musings

While reading the passage I was all:

Definitely no Husband of the Year award for Abram. And God probably said, “Seriously, Abram? What were you thinking?!”

Before the trip to Egypt, God promised to make Abram into a great nation, and that he would be protected by God’s blessing (Genesis 12:1-3). Abram did not trust God to keep His Word. The entire reason they went to Egypt was survival (there’s no mention of God telling Abram to go there), and Abram told Sarai to lie for his own safety. He wasn’t so much afraid for Sarai’s well-being as he was for his own life. 

Sarai was about sixty-five when they went to Egypt, and she would live to one hundred and twenty-seven. Either standards of beauty were different than how we see them currently or she, like the patriarchs, did not age physically until later. Either way, she must have had (what was back then considered) supermodel-good looks for Abram to feel threatened and to attract the attention of Pharaoh. Like many women of the time, Sarai was taught to go with whatever her husband said, even if she disagreed with him. Although Abram was telling a partial truth, Sarai was his half-sister (Genesis 20:12) (Moses set the law not to marry siblings, full or half in Leviticus 18:9), a partial truth is no truth.  

Besides lying and forcing his wife to compromise her honor, Abram wasn’t thinking long-term. Did he really think once she became one of Pharaoh’s wives that he would let her go that easily? Or if his marriage would recover from this incident? Unfortunately, this will not be the last time Abram does this to Sarai, hoping to save his cowardly hide (Genesis 20:1-18). Spoiler alert: Both monarchs were actually decent and wouldn’t have harmed Abram to have Sarai (Genesis 12:18-20, 20:8-9).

Application

When we don’t trust God’s Word, not only do we suffer, but so does everyone around us, our family, friends, even strangers. If God has promised you something, He will keep His Word. It might not be on your timeframe, or even how you expected it to be, chances are high it’s even better than what you’ve been expecting. The Hebrews expected the Messiah to be a political savior. Although Jesus could have just toppled Roman rule and let the Jews have peace in their lifetimes, He knew they needed a spiritual Savior for something a lot better: eternal life. 

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You that I can trust You and Your Word. Help me not to rely not just on my own knowledge but on Your Wisdom and Word. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.