On Genesis, Part 22: The Sojourn

On Genesis, Part 22: The Sojourn

As we have calculated and presented it in our Genesis chronology, some time around 1880 BC the patriarch Abraham was called by Yahweh to leave Haran, which we believe, for reasons we explained in our recent presentation on The Call of Abraham, was evidently his ancestral homeland before his father had moved to Ur. In Haran, Abraham had also been given many promises by Yahweh, or at that time, simply God Almighty, the one true God who could not have been known to him previously. However this had actually transpired we can only imagine, but Abram, as he should be called at this point, must have readily been convinced that this god who had spoken to him is the true God, because he is portrayed as having immediately acted in accordance with His calling.

In a sense, Abram was very similar in certain ways to his ancestor Noah. Noah had overcome a world of sin which was inundated by water. Abram in turn was chosen to overcome a world of sin which was inundated by lies. As Paul of Tarsus had explained in Acts chapter 17, Yahweh God had “26 … made from one every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, appointing the times ordained and the boundaries of their settlements,” which is a reference to the division of nations seen here in Genesis chapters 10 and 11, for which “27 to seek God. If surely then they would seek after Him then they would find Him…”, yet it is evident that none of them ever sought Him up to the point at which Yahweh had called Abraham. Ostensibly, Abraham was chosen as a vessel to carry the heritage of Adam through a deluge of lies. While Noah was an example of the importance of preserving the genetic purity of the race of Adam, Abraham was called as an example of the importance of seeking the Will of God and, once it is found, of maintaining the Word of God within that race. But while we cannot know whether Abraham had sought God, it is clear that he became obedient to God once he was addressed by Him.

Furthermore, as we shall see in subsequent chapters of Genesis, the experience of Abraham is also an example of the absoluteness of the Will of God even where Abraham himself had aspired to act in a manner which was contrary to what God had promised him. So that in turn elucidates the immutability of the Word of God as well as the unswerving commitment of God to maintain His Word and His promises as He had spoken them. As Paul of Tarsus had written in Romans chapter 4, by his own time the promises to Abraham had been fulfilled “As it is written”, referring to the promises in these chapters of Genesis, and this alone distinguishes the apostles from all of the denominational churches, which do not believe that the promises to Abraham were fulfilled “as it is written”, but instead profess another gospel, a gospel which is contrary to both the promises as they were written and to the words of the apostles. As Paul of Tarsus also wrote, in Romans chapter 15: “8 Therefore I say, Yahshua Christ came to be a minister of circumcision in behalf of the truth of Yahweh; for the confirmation of the promises of the fathers…”, as they were written.

When Abram was called, the whole world, meaning all of the Genesis 10 nations, had already long gone off into paganism, which Paul had described as the worship of angels, ostensibly fallen angels, in chapter 2 of his epistle to the Colossians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he described that same pagan worship as the worship of devils, which is just as true. As we have also discussed, citing Joshua chapter 24, even Abram’s own kin were pagans, and initially, for the first 75 years of his life, Abram also must have been such a pagan. Yet as he is described here, it seems that when Yahweh had called him, Abram immediately hearkened to the call, dropped his pagan beliefs, and followed the Word of God which had come to him.

Since there is a gap of just over 1,300 years between the time when Yahweh had spoken to Noah following the flood, in Genesis chapter 9, and the call of Abraham here in Genesis chapter 12, during which time Scripture is entirely silent except for the event of the division of the nations of Noah’s descendants, it is difficult to determine precisely how the Adamic world had come to be completely pagan before the time of Abraham. Of course, the writings of Paul to which we have already referred inform us that the Nephilim must have been influential in that regard. Today their descendants have once again corrupted all of society as they were once again permitted to set up countless idols. So as Christians, we should view this as another episode in the war between the seed of the woman, which is the race of Adam, and the seed of the serpent, which are the Nephilim collectively as well as the descendants of Cain.

The creation myths of Mesopotamia are precisely the opposite of the account of creation found in Scripture. Rather than reflecting the purposed, orderly creation of God, it gives an account of a serpent creating a world out of chaos. In that and other ways, it is discerned that the pagan myths were indeed the products of the Nephilim, the fallen angels who had sought to be worshipped as gods, but who were in fact actual demons. Often they seek to destroy the Adamic race not through outright war, but through love, false concepts of love such as the miscegenation of Genesis chapter 6 which is once again manifest throughout the world of today, or the Sodomy of Genesis chapter 19 which is also once again prevalent today.

But as for the Genesis 10 nations, while it cannot be certain to what degree any or all of them had been imbued with Nephilim blood at that early time, many of them had indeed mingled with the Nephilim, and especially the Canaanites. Nephilim kings ruled over many cities, and especially those of Canaan and Mesopotamia. The Hittite kings and others were convinced that they were gods and the manifestation of the sun on earth. The pharaohs of Egypt considered themselves to be gods as well as the representatives of the sun on earth. [1] Hittite kings referred to themselves as the Sun, the heavenly body which provides light for man. [2] One particular Hittite king, Labarnas I who lived in the early 17th century BC, declared in his proclamations that he was the son of the Storm-God and that his mother was the earth itself. The serpent was the symbol of ancient kingship among the Egyptians, Assyrians, Hittites and others. [4]

Many illicit sexual practices had already been introduced, even by the time of Peleg. For example, we find the following in the Epic of Gilgamesh: “Gilgamesh leaves not the son to his father; Day and night [is unbridled in his arrogance]. Is this the shepherd of [ramparted] Uruk? Is this their […] shepherd, Bold, stately (and) wise? Gilgamesh leaves not the maid to [her mother], the warrior’s daughter, the noble’s spouse!” So no woman was safe from the lust of the Nephilim king, and that had oppressed and grieved the people. [5] Then a little later in the epic this is clarified where we read: “For Gilgamesh, king of broad-marted Uruk, the drum of the people is free for nuptial choice, that with lawful wives he might mate! He is the first, the husband comes after. By the counsel of the gods it has been (so) ordained.” [6] Gilgamesh was a Nephilim king who claimed a right to just about any woman over whom he ruled, regardless of marital status.

This also helps serve to put into perspective the license which the pharaoh of Egypt would have towards Sarah, or that which Abimelech king of Gerar would have towards Sarah and later towards Rebekah, as it is described in subsequent chapters of Genesis. The ancient myths and other inscriptions are replete with accounts of sexual licentiousness. In a Protestation of Guiltlessness which is also found in the 125th chapter of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is a compilation of mortuary inscriptions which were only given that name by archaeologists in recent times, we read in part where it is attested by a deceased Egyptian man that: “I have not had sexual relations with a boy” and later it is repeated where it reads “I have not been perverted; I have not had sexual relations with a boy.” There is also a profession which states: “I have not had sexual relations with the wife of (another) man.” [6] So there it is apparent that both pederasty and adultery must have also been common problems in ancient Egypt, but at least some men had seen these activities as transgressions. These are but glimpses of the depravity of the pagan world from out of which Abram had been called.

[1 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament 3rd edition, James Pritchard, editor, 1969, Harvard University Press, p. 19; 2 ibid., pp. 203-211, 389; 3 ibid., p. 357; 4 ibid., pp. 263, 276; 5 ibid., p. 78; 6 ibid., p. 34.]

Now we shall commence with Genesis chapter 12, and the sojourn of Abram as he had been instructed by Yahweh to leave Haran:

4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

What we had not given notice in our commentary on the final verses of Genesis chapter 11, is that where Abram and Nahor were portrayed as having taken wives at around the same time, in verse 29, we may assume that they were together with their father in Ur. However Nahor and his wife are not mentioned as having been with Terah when he took Abram, his wife Sarai and his grandson Lot back to Haran in verse 31. So we only assumed that Nahor also returned to Haran, because in subsequent chapters of Genesis his own descendants are found in Haran, from among whom Isaac and then Jacob had later obtained their wives. But the text is not clear as to when Nahor had returned to Haran, or even if he had actually been in Ur when he took his wife.

The word לות or lowt from which Lot has his name means veil or covering (# 3875, 3876). As we had learned in Genesis chapter 11, Lot was the son of Abram’s older brother Haran. While the age of Lot is never provided, it is evident that he was very likely much younger than Abram, since he is unmarried, and only much later it is evident that he had taken a wife who had given birth to daughters. We may also assume that Lot was much younger than Abram because it is apparent that after the death of Lot’s father Haran, Terah had taken his grandson Lot into his own custody, having brought him with Abram from Ur to Haran. But now that Terah is dead, Abram had apparently assumed custody of Lot, and took him with him to Canaan.

Perhaps this is a further indication that Nahor did not immediately leave Ur for Haran, where his descendants are later found, because if Nahor is older than Abram, Lot would have been his responsibility if he were there when Terah died. It does seem that Nahor was older than Abram, since, as we have already explained while discussing The Call of Abraham, the ages provided at the death of Terah indicate that Abram was born sixty years after the birth of his older brother Haran, so it seems that Nahor was most likely born in the interim. But this is also only conjecture.

Now Abram begins his sojourn:

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

First, this reveals that Haran was not a city in the land of Canaan at this time, as popular sources often insist. Those same sources claim that Haran was a Canaanite city, because of its apparent culture, but that is not true. The world of the Near East at the time was under the Akkadian sphere of influence and shared the same general culture, with Akkadian subjects having been compelled to use the Akkadian language. Even the name of the city is said to have come from Akkadian. [7] It is evident that Terah and Abram did have to cross through Canaan to get to Haran from Ur of the Chaldees, as the text states in Genesis 11:31 where we read in part that “… they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.” But this does not necessarily mean that Haran was actually in Canaan. If Haran were in the land of Canaan, then Abram would not have left Haran to go into Canaan any more than someone living in Nazareth could be described as having left his home to go into Galilee, or someone living in Bethlehem could be described as having left his home to go into Judah. Nazareth was already in Galilee, and Bethlehem was already in Judah. So evidently, Haran was not already in Canaan.

[7 Harran (biblical place), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harran_(biblical_place), accessed July 21st, 2023, citing Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian (Second Edition, 2008), p. 36, p. 497.]

Later in history, several tribes of the Canaanites had expanded their rule or established themselves in countries outside of the original land of Canaan, which is evident in the empires of the Amorites, Hittites and Hurrians. But at this time, it seems that Haran was free of Canaanite rule, a situation which would change with the impending expansion of the Mitanni Kingdom. But the Mitanni Kingdom did not reach its greatest extent and the height of its power until some time after Jacob had already taken his wives from Haran and departed in order to return to Canaan.

The land of Canaan was to the south and southwest of Haran, on the other side of the Euphrates River. While Haran was far to the west, it was north and east of the Euphrates River, where it was still considered to be in Mesopotamia. This is evident in Genesis chapter 24, where Abraham had sent a servant to Haran to procure a wife for his son Isaac, and in verse 10 we read in part that “he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.” the term translated as Mesopotamia in that passage is Aram Naharaim, which is literally “Aram of the two rivers”, while Mesopotamia is from a Greek compound word which may literally be interpreted to mean “between the rivers”. Later, in Genesis chapter 27, Isaac warns Jacob and tells him “43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran 44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away…” Jacob was already over 40 years old, and he would remain in Haran for at least as long as 20 years.

As for “the souls that they had gotten in Haran”, the Scripture almost always focuses only upon the central characters in the narrative. But here we are informed that Abram had acquired custody of some number of other people while he was in Haran. This most likely happened as a result of the death of his father and his assumption of his father’s estate. This is explained further on in Genesis, in chapter 14, where it becomes evident that Abram was able to arm, train and field a small army of 318 men who had been born in his own house. So we may imagine that Terah, Abram and his brothers were men of substance long before Abram was called by Yahweh, and it is feasible that if there were 318 men in his house who were capable of going to battle, then Abram may have easily had a thousand to twelve hundred people in his house. The number would most likely consist of servants who were acquired in Mesopotamia who were primarily of his own kindred nation, fellow Shemites and even fellow Hebrews or closely related Aramaeans from Haran. It seems unlikely that either Terah or Abram were so powerful that they could hold in servitude aliens of different nations, where there could be a more likely threat of war. It seems that aliens in servitude could attempt to appeal to their own foreign kings for relief, or would be more likely to run away, while those of one’s own people had no such recourse.

Continuing the sojourn:

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

This place Sichem is the same as Shechem, and the King James Version is very often inconsistent in its spelling of place names or even given names. In Genesis chapter 34 it is the town occupied by Horites, errantly called Hivites, the prince of which had defiled Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, whereafter the town was ravaged by Simeon and Levi. Even later, Shechem was included in the lot granted to the tribe of Manasseh. The word מורה or moreh means teacher or teaching (# 4175, 4176), but the word which the King James Version translated as plain, which is אלון or alown, actually describes an oak or some similarly strong tree (# 436, 437). Here the Hebrew word for oak is singular, but the phrase appears again in Deuteronomy 11:30, where it is plural and should be “oaks of Moreh”, although the King James Version translated it there as plains. The word is oak in the Septuagint translations of these passages.

The Canaanite was in the land: As the Scripture explains in detail in Genesis chapter 15, Canaanites from various tribes, as well as others such as Kenites and Nephilim, were all dwelling together in this portion of the land of Canaan. We shall discuss them at greater length when we encounter them in that later chapter.

7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

The promises in this chapter are only the beginning of the promises which Yahweh had made to Abraham, which are expanded and made more specific in subsequent chapters, and they continue to be expressed directly by Yahweh until the time of the patriarch Jacob as late as Genesis chapter 35.

Abraham built an altar: it is very likely that he had experience building altars, as he previously must have built them for his pagan gods, since that is the manner in which he was raised. But even with that he did not remain attached to this place, and the sojourn of Abram continues:

8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.

The name Bethel is from a Hebrew phrase, בית־אל or beth el, which means “house of god”. This Bethel is evidently the same place where Yahweh had spoken to Jacob and repeated the promises to him, as it is recorded in Genesis chapter 35. Later in Genesis it becomes apparent that Bethel bore that name only from the time of Jacob, and Moses is using it here anachronistically, which he also did in other places with other names, such as in Genesis chapter 2 where both Cush and Havilah are mentioned anachronistically, in order that his readers would know where was the garden of Eden in their own terms. In Genesis chapter 28, in verse 19, it is explained that Bethel had formerly been called Luz, which signifies an almond tree. Certainly, Abram would have known Bethel as Luz, but Moses is writing several centuries later using terms that the children of Israel would understand.

The word translated as Hai here (# 5857) has various spellings in both Hebrew and in the English of the King James Version, and appears elsewhere as Ai, Aja, and Ajath. It is only Hai in this verse and where these two towns are once again mentioned in chapter 13, after Abraham returns to this place from Egypt.

This leads us to speculate as to why Abraham was sent by Yahweh to Canaan and why he had settled in Bethel. As we had mentioned while discussing The Call of Abraham, over the decades and centuries immediately after this sojourn of Abraham there was great turmoil in Mesopotamia and northern Syria, which saw the establishment of Amorite rule from Babylon in Sumeria and the rise of the Mitanni empire. The history of the region from that time would be a struggle between three Canaanite empires, those of the Hittites, the Hurrians of the Mitanni, and the Amorites of Babylon. During this period, Assyria was a subject state and Elam was often at war with various Mesopotamian states, both invading and being invaded by its neighbors west of the Tigris River. But apart from its troubles with the Hyksos, who are difficult to identify precisely, Egypt was a powerful state and remained relatively safe from the Canaanite empires, although the pharaohs had also made various treaties with one or more of them at diverse times.

That being said, this portion of the land of Canaan to which Abraham was sent was not under Canaanite rule. Rather, the city-states of Canaan were subject to Egypt, and their kings answered to the pharaohs of Egypt, so in varying degrees they were under Egyptian rule. We can only speculate, but it seems that in this manner Yahweh would preserve Abraham and his seed until Israel could grow into a powerful nation, and the Canaanite empires could be diminished. By the time of the Exodus and the invasion of Canaan by Moses and then Joshua, that is precisely what had happened.

Some of the proofs that this portion of Canaan were under Egyptian control at this time are found in the Story of Sinuhe, or Si-nuhe, which dates to the death of pharaoh Amenemhet I around 1960 BC, only 80 years before the start of the sojourn of Abraham. The opening sentence of the story introduces the title character where we read: “The Hereditary Prince and Count, Judge and District Overseer of the domains of the Sovereign in the lands of the Asiatics, real acquaintance of the king, his beloved, the Attendant Si-nuhe.” So Si-nuhe was a governor of the states which were subjects of the Egyptians in the land of Canaan. The story line explains that Si-nuhe goes into self-imposed exile, traveling through the Levant for many years until finally he longs for and returns to Egypt. [8] During that period, as the story helps to exemplify, Egypt had maintained military control of Canaan and would remain dominant there for most of the time until the time of the Exodus.

There were periods, however, where the Hyksos, who were apparently rebel invaders from Canaan or perhaps even from Arabia, are said to have been temporarily successful against Egypt and occupied parts of Egypt. This history of this period is ambiguous, it is poorly documented, it is greatly contested among Egyptologists, and in our opinion, it is untrustworthy. The Hyksos period is generally said to have been from 1650 to 1550 BC [9]. But according to our chronology, Jacob went to Egypt and he and his family were settled in the delta in Goshen around 1665 BC. Later, while Israel was enslaved in Egypt, it is apparent that “During 1550–1400 BCE, the Canaanite city-states became vassals to the New Kingdom of Egypt, which expanded into the Levant under Ahmose I and Thutmose I.” [10] The year 1400 BC is very near the time when Joshua and the Israelites invaded Canaan and began to take it for themselves.

[8 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, p. 18; 9 Hyksos, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos, accessed July 21st, 2023; 10 History of Palestine, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine, accessed July 20th, 2023..]

Here at the end of this verse we read “and Abram called on the name of the Lord.” But this does not necessarily mean that Abram was informed of the name Yahweh, which Yahweh God would only later reveal to Moses, even if Moses used that name when he wrote this account. The word שם or shem, which is basically name in Hebrew, has a much broader range of meanings than the word name does in English. Among them is name as an estimation or opinion of something, as in his definition, Gesenius says in part, “the estimation of men concerning God” [11]. In another article on this word, we read in part that “The word shem means much more than just a name. A related word in Hebrew is the word neshemah meaning ‘breath’. In the Hebrew mind the breath is much more than the exchange of air in the lungs but was the seat of one’s character.” [12] So for that reason, neshemah also means spirit. As a digression, the author of that article also realized and admitted the true meaning of the account where Ham had seen the nakedness of his father. So Abraham very likely only called upon that entity which he had perceived had first spoken to him, and Yahweh being omniscient would regard his call. But Moses, writing this account years later, used the Hebrew form of the name Yahweh in order to describe it, as he had done in all of these accounts throughout Genesis.

This we read in Exodus chapter 6: “3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name YAHWEH [the King James Version has JEHOVAH] was I not known to them.” Our interpretation of this passage in Genesis cannot force Moses to contradict himself, and it is apparent that there is no actual contradiction once the wider senses of the meanings of the word shem are understood.

[11 Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Baker Books, 1979, pp. 832-833; 12 Ancient Hebrew Research Center, Shem, Jeff A. Benner, https://ancient-hebrew.org/names/Shem.htm, accessed July 20th, 2023.]

Abram will ultimately settle in Bethel, but for now his sojourn continues:

9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Here we must remember, that Abram had a great household in his company, and they must have still been with him as he traveled to Egypt, even if only the central characters of Abram and Sarai are the point of focus in the narrative. If Abram did not have such a retinue, then with the way that Sarai is described here, if the couple were alone it is highly unlikely that they would have ever survived the trek through Canaan. For that same reason, Abram’s entry into Egypt would also have been noticed by the Egyptians, and he would have very likely been closely watched, especially since the Egyptians were usually wary of Asiatics, whom they saw as hostile aliens. This we have already seen in some degree, in the Egyptian inscriptions which have been discussed throughout this commentary. For example, in part 18 of this commentary, titled The Hebrews, we presented an inscription from the Beth-Shan Stelae in which the Hebrews themselves were described as “wretched Asiatics” by the Egyptians.

11 And 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: 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. 13 Say, 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.

The beauty of Sarai, and what this passage meant to certain ancient Hebrew interpreters, is revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls in a work popularly titled the Genesis Apocryphon, which is a non-canonical elaboration on the book of Genesis which is more like a commentary than it is Scripture. So in column XX of the scroll known as 1QapGen ar we read the following, in part, where these words are put into the mouths of those men who reported the presence of Abram and Sarai to the pharaoh:

1 … […] … 2 … […] How … and pretty is the shape of her face, and how 3 [lo]vely and how smooth the hair of her head! How lovely are her eyes; how pleasant her nose and all the blossom 4 of her face … How graceful is her breast and how lovely all her whiteness! How beautiful are her arms!Q And her hands, how 5 perfect! How alluring is the whole appearance of her hand[s]! How pretty are the palms of her hands and how long and supple all the fingers of her hands! Her feet, 6 how lovely! How perfect her thighs! No virgin or wife who enters the bridal chamber is more beautiful than her. Above all 7 women her beauty stands out; her loveliness is far above them all… [13]

While a White woman certainly would not have been out of place in ancient Egypt, perhaps the whiteness of Sarai was accentuated here because that is also a sign of beauty, and perhaps Sarai kept herself shielded from the sun, under which any White woman would eventually tan to some degree. As we have seen in the Egyptian works of art which were described in our discussion of Mizraim in part 15 of this commentary, titled The Hamites, and part 19, The Appearance of the Sons of Noah, the women were typically represented with a light yellow color, and the men a darker shade of red. Perhaps that corresponded to the Egyptian lifestyle, where the women had only some small exposure to the sun, but the men were in the sun quite often often. In any event, there is no doubt that Sarai was perceived by the Judaean authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls near the time of Christ to have been completely White, just as Noah had also been described in those scrolls, and for a woman, such whiteness was associated with absolute beauty.

Where Abram had told his wife that “thou art my sister”, he had expressed a fear which may be perceived today as a lack of faith. He already had many promises from God, and he had already exhibited a trust that those promises would be fulfilled. Yet here he is afraid that he would be killed before they could be fulfilled. But Yahweh God Himself had evidently never faulted Abram for his worldly fear, and it seems to even have been natural and unavoidable, considering the behavior of other tyrants of the time, as we have already described from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

When we commented on Abram’s marriage to Sarai in our earlier commentary on Genesis chapter 11, we conjectured that perhaps she was the daughter of another, later wife of Terah, Abram’s father. That conjecture is supported in Genesis chapter 20, where Abraham is recorded as having said to Abimelech, in part: “And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”

Furthermore, in manuscripts known as the Harris Papyrus, the Papyrus Chester Beatty I, and the Cairo Ostracon, were discovered a collection of ancient Egyptian love songs esteemed to date from the 13th or 12th centuries BC. In them, husband and wife are frequently portrayed as having addressed each other as brother and sister, in the same manner which is evident in the Biblical Song of Songs. [14]

So evidently Terah did have other wives besides the mother of the elder Haran, and the mother of Abraham, and possibly even Nahor. But a daughter in Hebrew may also refer to a granddaughter, so a more complicated relationship may have existed between the two and yet Abram could still call Sarai his sister. So where Abram instructed Sarai here, he was not asking her to lie, but rather only asking her not to tell the entire truth. If a lie by omission is discovered, it is only on account of the lust of the pharaoh that the entire truth would have to become known.

As a digression, there is a popular belief, after the work of a Biblical scholar named E. A. Speiser and his role in a commentary on Genesis published in a popular Anchor Bible series, that certain contract tablets discovered at the site of ancient Nuzi in Mesopotamia better explained some sort of sister-wife relationship which gave further insight into this and similar accounts in Genesis. However the interpretations of those tablets are problematical and decidedly uncertain, and they are not even necessary to understand these several events in Genesis. [15] But there were nevertheless distinctions between wives and concubines in the ancient world, which also affected entitlements to property or inheritance, and which are rather clearly evident throughout both Scripture and ancient history.

But that does not mean that the Nuzi tablets are entirely irrelevant to Genesis. They do reflect very early records of acts of legal adoption for the purposes of inheritance, something upon which the writings of Moses are silent. So they record men without sons of their own making arrangements to adopt other men so that they may inherit their estates and carry on their names, and that helps to explain why and how Abraham had later sought to make his steward, Eliezer of Damascus, his heir, something which Yahweh God had rejected completely. [16]

[13 The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Florentino G. Martinez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, Brill, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997, Volume 1, p. 41; 14 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, p. 467; 15 The Patriarch’s Wives as Sisters – Is the Anchor Bible Wrong?, Biblical Archaeology Review, 1.3, 1975, pp. 24-26, https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/1/3/5 accessed July 20th, 2023; 16 The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 4, pages 470-471, via Watchman's Teaching Letter #28, Clifton Emahiser, https://emahiser.christogenea.org/watchman-s-teaching-letter-28-august-2000, accessed July 20th, 2023.]

Now Abram finally arrives in Egypt:

14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Sarai is at least 65 years old here, since according to the subsequent narrative in Genesis she is ten years younger than Abram. Evidently, the patriarchs having had much longer lifespans, the bloom of youth was maintained by them for much longer in life than we may experience today and throughout more recent history.

16 And 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.

It is already evident that Abram had possessed these things from the time when he had departed from Haran, so perhaps this is only an indication that the pharaoh had let him keep them. Entering into the land of a foreign king, a man is subject to the mercy of that king. As we have already discussed from the evidence found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, ancient kings asserted a right to any woman under their rule. Here that is also evident of this pharaoh.

We do not know with any degree of certainty which pharaoh had ruled Egypt at this time, but it is with all certainty during the period of the 12th Dynasty, which according to some chronologies began had endured from about 1991 to 1802 BC. Senruset II is said to have ruled from 1897 to 1878 BC, however earlier in this commentary, in part 19 where we had discussed The Appearance of the Sons of Noah, we cited a source which had dated his rule to have begun in 1920 BC. In any event, the best candidate for this pharaoh is probably his son, Senruset (or Sesostris) III who apparently ruled for 39 years, thereby making him the pharaoh at this time. According to the later chronology his rule began in 1878 BC, and it is not unreasonable to imagine that it took that long for Abraham to have reached Egypt. However there are further caveats, as the lengths of the reigns of these pharaohs and the years they began within the general chronology are still debated by historians and archaeologists.

While Moses records no direct conversation between the pharaoh and Abraham, there must have been one, as it is revealed in the final verses of the chapter. But first, with Sarai apparently having been apart from Abram and probably in the woman’s quarters of the pharaoh’s estate, in the next verse we read:

17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

An ancient nobleman would not simply take a woman to bed. Rather, a bride would be prepared, bathed and dressed for such an occasion, and a wedding chamber would also be prepared and equipped with refreshments for the event. Whether it was one night or several that Sarai was apart from Abraham cannot be known, but evidently the pharaoh was prevented from fulfilling his lust. In the opening verses of this 12th chapter of Genesis, Yahweh had already promised Abraham that his seed would become a great nation, and here we have the first indication that He certainly had the ability to fulfill his promise. Abram also should have gained that understanding, but in subsequent chapters there are still expressions of doubt.

Now there is evidence of the conversation which Abram must have already had with the pharaoh:

18 And 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? 19 Why 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.

As we have said, if the pharaoh had restrained his concupiscence, the accusation of a lie by omission would never had to have been made. We may also see here, that the pharaoh was not restrained by any custom, and did not have to ask Abram for Sarai. Instead, he may simply have taken her if he wanted her, as he had already taken her into his estate. But here it is nevertheless evident that he at least had the decency to refrain from a woman who was already married.

While we do not know if the pharaoh, once he began having these troubles, had had any conversation with Sarai, he must have at least suspected that she was married, and accepted the plagues as a warning not to touch her for that reason.

So in the final verse of the chapter we read:

20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

The plagues which the pharaoh had suffered must have also served as a warning not only to restrain himself from Sarai, but also to continue to treat Abram kindly, in spite of what he may have thought of him for not disclosing the entire truth about his wife. So it is evident that for that reason, the pharaoh made certain that Abram would depart from Egypt unmolested.

Now we shall commence with the opening verses of Genesis chapter 13:

1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

It is strange seeing Abraham described as going north into the south, but the perspective is that of Moses. The phrase “into the south” signifies the southern portion of the land of Canaan. As we have already discussed, much of the land of Canaan was also subject to the pharaoh of Egypt, and there Abraham and his house would remain until Jacob returned to Egypt. Perhaps, as the prophets later declare, in Hosea chapter 11 that “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt”, the fact that Abraham had also gone to Egypt, suffered trial there, and overcame that trial through the Providence of Yahweh, had also forebode those words. But of course the reference is to the later Exodus of Israel, and those words were fulfilled once again in Christ Himself when Joseph had taken him to Egypt.

Now Abram returns to Bethel:

3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; 4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Arriving in Bethel, even with all of his riches Abram continued to call on his God. Now this is the end of his sojourn, and marks the beginning of another chapter in his life. Of these events, Paul of Tarsus later wrote in chapter 11 of his epistle to the Hebrews that “8 By faith Abraham being called had obeyed, to go out into a place which he was going to receive for an inheritance, and went out not knowing where he would go. 9 By faith he sojourned in a land of the promise, as an alien having dwelt in tents with Isaak and Jakob, the joint heirs of that same promise.”

As we had written in our December, 2016 commentary on that chapter of Hebrews, The Substance of the Faith, it is evident that so long as the patriarchs dwelt only in tents, their stature remained humble. Then, since they would never have been perceived as a threat to their enemies, ostensibly they were never a target and were able to dwell harmlessly among them. When men have the protection of Yahweh God, they do not need walls. This we find in Zechariah chapter 2, in another context, where speaking of the captivity the prophet wrote: “3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: 5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

Then, still speaking in reference to Abraham, Paul continued and wrote: “10 For he was awaiting a city having those foundations of which Yahweh is craftsman and fabricator.” While it is apparent that Abraham never found that city during his earthly life, he did indeed find it, as Paul was speaking about the Jerusalem which is yet to be realized, the City of God which descends from heaven. So Paul made an analogy, that once he was called, Abraham dwelt in no city, because he awaited the City of God.