Abraham – Making Progress (Genesis 12:6-20)

The writer of Genesis passes over the details of the journey by Abram from Haran to Canaan. All we are told is that a successful journey was made. The impression is given that nothing unusual happened during that period in Abram’s life. He left Haran and travelled to Canaan aware that the Lord had promised to guide him there. So although the author does not record any individual events, he does inform us of two details – one is that God keeps his word and the other is that some stages in the spiritual journey can be rather mundane. Every day Abram just had to keep going, and often this is the way with ourselves.

His experience depicts the reality of the Christian life. Often nothing unusual happens, we engage in the same activities day by day, and we have to keep going. Yet our comfort from these stages all depends on our perspective. We can look at these times and say nothing is happening or we can look at them and say, ‘God is leading me onwards and keeping his word. One day he will take me to the destination he has planned.’

The mundaneness of our spiritual experience should not cause us to think that there are not many significant milestones ahead. Often these times are days of preparation in which God gets us ready for what is ahead of us. Many a person has looked back to periods spent out of the limelight as days when God taught them many things. For example, we cannot begin to estimate what Paul discovered during the period he spent in Arabia. Therefore we should value quiet periods as important ones preparing us for more dramatic situations.

This passage divides into two sections: the first section tells how Abram built two altars to the Lord, one at Shechem and the other at Bethel; the second section relates the story of a conspicuous failure in the life of Abraham when he was willing to compromise his wife in order to save his own skin. At the very least, this incident tells us that the person whom God has chosen can perform unexpected actions and is a reminder that the one whom God intends to use can engage in sinful behaviour.

Building altars to the Lord

At first glance, we may see nothing surprising in this activity of Abram apart from indicating that he was a very devout person. Such no doubt was his character, yet I suspect that the author of Genesis wants us to see that Abram’s actions were in fact significant, and that for two reasons at least.

To begin with, we need to discover what was taking place at Shechem and the location near Bethel as far as the inhabitants of Canaan were concerned. Verse 6 indicates that there was a particular tree at Shechem and its mentioning by Moses gives us a clue. Trees were used in places of pagan worship because it was often assumed that the noise of the wind rustling through the trees was the voice of the gods and this noise would be interpreted by a soothsayer. The name Moreh means ‘oracle giver’ or ‘teacher’, and this tree points to Shechem as a place of pagan worship or divination.

The word ‘Bethel’ is the name that Jacob gave to the city of Luz after the Lord appeared to him when he was on his way to his uncle’s home (Gen. 28:19). Moses is using the name ‘Bethel’ because he is writing the story of Abraham long after Jacob gave a new name to the city, although when Abraham passed by the city it was called Luz. Modern writers use the same method today when they say that something happened near a place, although the place may not have existed when the incident happened. Archaeologists have discovered that pagan worship took place on a ridge on the east of Luz or Bethel. So Abram did the same thing there as he had done at Shechem – he built an altar to the Lord in places where pagan worship took place. Why did he do this?

Abram was saying more than that he was a worshipper of the true God. If that was all that he wanted to say, he could have built an altar anywhere and worshipped alongside it. Instead he was stating that he was there as the representative of the true God and that the land of Canaan would not be a place of idolatry for ever. These altars built by Abraham were both an expression of his confidence in the word of God and a challenge to those who worshipped the false gods. They symbolised the advance of God’s kingdom in a hostile environment.

Abraham’s actions depict how we should live today in a culture in which all kinds of religions are on display. Of course, we don’t erect altars in order to state who we are and who our God is. Instead we tell the story of Jesus Christ. As with Abraham, we have a choice where we can tell the story. He could have built his altar far away from the pagan shrines and we can tell the gospel far away from where the modern idolatries are taking place.

Yet if we have confidence in the gospel we will tell the story of Jesus right in the middle of where other things have first place. These other things can be anything that takes the place in the lives of people that Jesus should have – they can range from actual religious places through to apparently legitimate things such as sports events or musical concerts. Telling the story of Jesus will always challenge the listeners as to their way of life.

The author informs us that Abram received divine consolation and encouragement from God before erecting the altar at Shechem. There is a very basic lesson here for us. Before we do anything for God, we should have fellowship with God. Sometimes we need extra-special encouragement from the Lord, especially when we are about to do something that is very dangerous or something that we do for the first time. This altar at Shechem seems to have been the first made by Abram since the God of glory appeared to him in Ur of the Chaldees. His God was not insensitive to the weaknesses of his servant and drew near to encourage him. This was not the last time that the Lord would do this for Abram. Spending time with God before doing something for God brings spiritual energy and courage.

The appearance of the Lord to Abram was a theophany in which God appeared in a human form. This is the third recorded appearance of God to Abraham in this way. He was being assured that the Lord was with him as he progressed through the land. It is likely that these theophanies were appearances of the Son of God in particular before he took on a permanent human form.

It is important for us to note that courage was needed by Abraham. These religious sites had not been abandoned by their users – Moses stresses in verse 6 that the Canaanites were still in the land. Abram did not choose a derelict site in which to erect his altars. Instead, in the presence of the Canaanites, close to where they worshipped their false gods, Abram revealed that he was a worshipper of the true God. Of course, he knew that God was all-powerful. Yet his courage did not come from his knowledge alone. Like all who have dared to do things for God, Abram obtained courage by spending time with God.

Claiming the land of promise

Another lesson stands out from the choice of locations mentioned by the author. Shechem and Bethel were in different parts of the country. It is hard not to deduce that Moses is pointing out that Abram was inspecting the land in which God had promised to bless him. The patriarch was journeying through the land discovering what God had in store for him and his descendants in a physical sense.

In a similar way, God has given to his people a region in which he will bless them. This area is not defined in geographical dimensions. Yet, just as there were different places in Canaan for Abraham to observe and enjoy, so there are places in the spiritual country for God’s people to visit. Each Christian is called to live the life of an explorer of God’s country.

We can imagine Abram sitting down near Shechem and saying to himself, ‘All that my eyes can see belong to me.’ God would whisper to him, ‘You have a lot more than what your eye can see. But in order to see it, Abram, you have to move about the Promised Land.’ Therefore he had to get up and travel around, visiting various places. Similarly we can be content with one of God’s blessings instead of exploring them all. For example, we can so enjoy looking at the blessing of justification that we fail to look at other spiritual blessings such as adoption or the ministry of Jesus in heaven on behalf of his people. We have to get our souls on the move and visit other blessings and discover there too that God has good things for us.

In concluding this section we can note that the two features of Abraham’s activities – the tent and the altar – illustrate the basic outlook of person living for heaven. The tent indicates that believers are people on the move, travelling to a definite destination which they have not yet reached. The altar symbolises that they journey as those who are devoted to God.

Going too far

Things had been going well for Abraham. Then his circumstances changed and he found that he was in the midst of a famine. Perhaps he had never been in a famine before. So when he heard that there was food in Egypt he decided to leave the promised land and go there. Very likely he saw other people doing this and he followed their example. This seemed to be the common-sense approach to life.

It is apparent that Abram did not seem to realise that he was being tested by God as to whether or not he would depend on God when things were no longer easy. This was probably the first test he faced, so his response is understandable. It was not going to be the last test he faced, and no doubt he learned some painful lessons from this incident. As we think of this incident in Abram’s life, we should never be surprised at how quickly we can move from the heights of devotion to God to the depths of denial of God. Usually, it only takes a little test.

The narrator’s description tells us that Abram had made a big mistake in going down to Egypt. In what ways can we see this?

First, Abram lost his courage. He did not lose it a few miles into Egypt after he had seen hostile looks on the faces of the inhabitants. Instead he lost his courage as soon as he made the decision to go down to Egypt. His choice on the surface seemed like common-sense, yet below the surface it was an expression of distrust in God. He did not seem to grasp that the God who had led him from Ur could take care of his needs in the promised land. The moment we stop trusting in God we will lose the provision of divine courage and boldness that he usually gives.

Second, Abram lost his compassion. In a way that is completely indefensible, he was prepared to let his wife suffer in order to save his own skin. He became selfish and concerned only about himself. It was better for Sarai to be in a famine than in a harem, but since Abram was only thinking about himself, he was prepared to let her suffer. Probably his actions would be deemed reasonable by the standards of the culture, and he was perhaps wanting to be known as her guardian rather than her husband. In such a scenario, anyone wanting to marry Sarai would have to ask Abram. Such a worldly way of escape would be successful in the main, and perhaps Abram forgot that there was one man in Egypt who did not have to ask permission for his actions – Pharaoh.

It is intriguing that several years later Abram repeated the same strategy when he again left the promised land and went to Gerar (Gen. 20). Is there a hint here that our particular personal weaknesses will always show themselves when we step away from the Lord’s revealed will?

Third, Abram lost his discernment. We can see this in the way that he was willing to accept the gifts that Pharaoh gave him in exchange for Sarai. He became prosperous at the prospect of her danger. And he does not seem to have felt any guilt. Yet he was paying a heavy price for his riches for he was being blinded by his circumstances. Prosperity is not an infallible guide that we are walking according to the Lord’s will. If Abram deduced it was, then he was in real spiritual trouble.

The faithfulness of God

Fortunately for Sarai, and Abram, the Lord had not abandoned her and he protected her in the dangerous position her husband had placed her in. This is wonderful information because it is a reminder that the Lord is always faithful to his covenant arrangements. As Paul reminded Timothy, ‘if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself’ (2 Tim. 2:13).

Yet the faithfulness of God did not mean that he kept quiet by Abram’s sin. Usually, when a person repents of their sin to God, it is the end of the story unless there are public aspects to the sin. In this situation, Abram had to endure public humiliation. The rebuke was not a sign of Pharaoh’s nastiness, but of his concern for natural justice. There was little point in Abram building an altar in Egypt.

Instead Abram had to return to the last place where he had shown spiritual life, he had to return to Bethel where he had built an altar expressing his dependence on the Lord. We have no idea whether or not the famine was over in Canaan. In either case, Abram had now realised that spiritual relationship with God is more important than temporal security. Similarly many Christians have to return to their Bethels, to a life marked by devotion to Jesus. They have to repent of trying to find security and satisfaction in other things. The good news is that the way to recovery is a certain and sure path, along which they can travel confessing their sins. This path always lead to spiritual restoration, to the resumption of their walk with God.