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: 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. 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. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she [was] very fair.The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
In the past few verses, we see G-d speak to Abram, call him out of his ancestrial home, gave him a promise of a new life, land, and blessing and then show him the actual land. We then see Abram head to Egypt at the first sign of trouble.
Now we have Abram talking his beautiful wife into lying for him in case someone wanted to kill him for her.
Before we go any further, Egypt is seen as symbolic for the world. This, along with the past couple of verses, should peak our interest. So far, we have G-d revealing himself to Abram, calling him to be sanctified, separated from the world. We see G-d giving the promise and at the sign of trouble, he heads where? The world not G-d.
That is so typical of us humans. G-d proves himself everyday as long as we open our eyes. He is there. Why is it that in times of despondency, we turn our backs on the only one who can help us. It's a lack of faith. I sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's the truth.
We say we believe but head for the nearest tree at the first sign of rain. We need to continually rely on the promises of G-d. Was Abram faithless? No. He lacked the faith to get him through. As we will see, that will change.
I have a disagreement with a lot of people concerning faith. When we come to G-d through the Messiah, we gain the gift of the indwelling of G-d's Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to be perfect b'nai Elohim. However, we lack the faith. We see the same here with Abram. He and Sarai rather run to the world instead of relying on the promises of G-d. He was an immature believer. Unfortunately, we all go through those growing pains. Even more unfortunately, some of us never grow out of it.
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.And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. 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? 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. And Pharaoh commanded [his] men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
This blows me away. However, it does answer the questions many people have concerning others who call themselves Christian and appear to be evil. At first, Abram lied and now he's benefitting from it. Doesn't that seem so wrong? So evil? Secondly, It is such a bad testimony which will turn people away from G-d.
As in so many cases throughout our lives, we have to step back and separate the person from the actions. This is no different. Abram lacked enough faith to rely on G-d's promises but enough faith to believe and act intially on it.
Again, we are the same way. As we will see, Abram will grow in faith. That's what we have to do. G-d's is pleased when you believe in him and act upon it. However, it is necessary to grow continually. If we don't and we continually live in and rely on the world, we may still call him Lord, but don't be surprised if the Lord says, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
This would be such a tragedy because it's so easy....if we only rely on G-d and his promises.
Shalom
