Weekly Meditations: Genesis

Genesis 12

Main Idea/Themes

In this chapter, God gives a calling and a promise to Abrahm. The calling is for Abram to leave his old life and go to another place, remaining to be revealed. In verse 1, God calls him to leave his country, his people, and his family. Following this call, is a promise. The promise is about how Abram will be a blessing to all nations. This will happen because of another promise he will give to Abram later in genesis about having offspring. Abram travels through Haran to Canaan. Then he continued on to the Negev and eventually because of famine, went down to Egypt. It is here in Egypt that Abram and his wife Sarai replay the Adam and Eve failure of deceit, lying, and exposure to harm and death. At the end of the chapter, Pharaoh sends Abram and his wife away, with all the wealth he acquired while staying there.   

The themes of blessing and curse appear in this section as evidently seen through the promise God gives to Abram. Abram will be blessed by Yahweh as will anyone who interacts with Abram and blesses him. The same goes for those who curse Abram. Another more nuanced theme, or a cycle perhaps, shows up in the narrative in Egypt. While there, Abram sets up a scheme to deceive the Egyptians (as the snake did in the garden). The Egyptians “see” Abram’s wife and “take” her. This can be compared to Eve seeing the fruit and taking it in the garden. This cycle is repeated throughout the Torah and it replays the theme of testing and failure. 

Literary Structure

The promise has seven layers (showing completeness) that will result from Abram obeying the calling. These blessings are: 

1. Abram will become a great nation
   1. His name will be blessed
      1. He will be blessed by Yahweh
         1. Abram will be a blessing
      2. Yahweh will bless those who bless Abram
      3. Yahweh will curse those who curse Abram
2. All nations will be blessed through Abram

This promise is the driving force behind the whole biblical story. A story of how God is going to bring redemption and reconciliation to all humanity through one family. This is the story of Israel. As we see later on, Israel fails to be the people but God had another plan all along. His plan was to bring salvation through His own son Jesus who would come from the line of David, from Abraham, and from Adam. God would bless Abram and he would become a great nation through which all nations would be blessed. It would be through Jesus, not Abram, however that the blessing would actually be fulfilled.  

The literary structure of the chapter can be divided as follows 

1. Calling of Abram (1-3)
2. Abram’s Obedience and Worship (4-9)
   1. Haran to Canaan
      1. Shechem
         1. Altar built
      2. Hill country between Bethel and Ai
         1. Altar built
      3. Negev
3. Abram in Egypt (10-20)
   1. Abram’s plan
   2. Sarai taken
   3. Curse on Pharaoh 

Context/Historical Context

Genesis 12 begins a new cycle of narratives and a new section within the Genesis scroll. Genesis 12-50 is seen as one large section of Torah because of its similar story structures and themes spreading throughout the section. It continues the narrative rooted in Genesis 1-11. Humanity has been created, fallen, restored through a worldwide flood and now is needed to be brought back to God. Genesis 1-11 ended with the tower of Babel, a story that ended with humanity being scattered throughout the lands, their plan of reaching to the gods, failed. A family tree is given from Noah’s son Shem to a man named Abram. God then calls Abram to leave his country to which he does and ends up in Egypt where he comes up with a deceitful scheme to benefit himself. The story continues with Isaac and his son Jacob who has 12 sons. These twelve sons have many children and because one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, ends up in Egypt, so does the entire family. The family becomes so large which fulfills the prophecy God gave to Abram about having many offspring and becoming a great nation. 

Application

Wise application can be made from this chapter if we look at how Abram responds to God’s promise and calling. God promises to make Abram into a great nation and that God will provide and protect him (by blessing and cursing others) as he travels to the new land God will show him. Abram leaves his homeland and makes his way to Egypt. It is here that Abram seems to lose sight of the promise and fear takes over. He is afraid of being killed on account of his wife and so he deceives the Egyptians while putting his wife at great risk for his benefit. He already had the promise of God to carry with him but it didn’t seem to be enough at this moment. 

Sometimes we do this very thing. We know these promises God has made to us, we read them, sing, and pray them. Yet, when a situation arises that evokes fear, we forget God’s promises and try to protect ourselves at all costs. We can do better by not only remembering the promises but by living them. This means we live in a different way with a transformed heart because we know God’s promises. We must not just remember the promises but allow the promises to change our attitudes, our thoughts, and our actions.