Genesis 12

Chap. XII. Ver. 1-9. The call of Abram.—Babylonia is generally considered as the land in which idolatry originated; and the worship of the sun, and of fire as his representative as the first species of idolatry, and as that adopted by Nimrod and his followers, and even by some of Shem’s family; for Terah, it is not to be doubted, was an idolater of this class. The city in which he lived was called Ur, which means fire, and is supposed to have received its name from the object there chiefly worshipped. The following curious Rabbinical tradition, whether or not it has any foundation in truth, furnishes a fine satire on idolatry:—Terah, they pretend, was an idolmaker, and Abram was brought up to the same business: but, before he knew any thing of the true God, he perceived the absurdity of worshipping the creatures he had himself made, and sometimes used to ridicule the folly of his customers.

At one time, in the absence of his father, a woman brought a meat offering to the gods, as she called them, and Abram thought this a good opportunity of exposing the folly of idolatry; when she was gone, he therefore, with a large stick, broke and maimed all the images, except the largest, in whose hand he placed the stick. When Terah came home and saw what was done, he called Abram to account, who told his father of the offering brought by the woman, and that it had occasioned a quarrel among them, set them to fighting, and produced all the mischief which he saw. Terah, instead of perceiving the force of Abram’s satire, fell into a rage, and took him before King Nimrod, who commanded him to worship fire, and for disobedience committed him to the fire “of the Chaldees.”

This, however, is a Jewish fiction… Abram had a divine call, (as we have seen in (Genesis 11)) and was “not disobedient to the heavenly vision;” and so far from being persecuted by his father Terah, the latter anal [and] him, with other branches of the family, as there related. Dr. Hales distinguishes two calls of Abram; the one while in Ur, ((Acts 7:2-4).) then the chief seat of idolatry, and perhaps (as in after times) a city of astrologers and idol priests; the other when in Haran, after his father’s death, to pursue his journey into the land of Canaan. In this case we may omit the word had, in the first verse, and consider this as a distinct call to prosecute his journey on to Canaan; in both instances, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing [the country] whither he went.”

((Hebrews 11:8).) The design of Providence, however, was distinctly stated—he was to be separated from his country and his father’s house, that he might become the head of a great nation, and that in and through him “all the families of the earth” should be blessed. This was eminently and finally accomplished in Him who was “the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, and the Son of God.” ((Genesis 22:18).) A third appearance (if we suppose two before) took place “in the plain,” or at the oak (or turpentine tree) “of Moreh,” which was in the land of Canaan, and it is distinctly stated, was already taken possession of by Ham’s posterity: “the Canaanite was then in the land,” and not a foot of it was given in possession to the seed of Abraham, till forfeited by the crimes of the Canaanites.

((Genesis 15:16).) “And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.” Hence may we draw a lesson on the importance of perseverance. Many set out well, like the Galatian converts, ((Galatians 5:7).) who, after a while, tire and stop short of their journey’s end. But what doth hinder them? Sometimes their relations, sometimes wealth or pleasure, or the fear of suffering; but blessed are those who persevere—“He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” ((Matthew 24:13).) Ver. 10—20. Abram goes down into Egypt.—This portion of Scripture, though it records no event of great and primary importance, may furnish many useful and profitable suggestions. 1. The fairest earthly possessions will sometimes fail us.

Canaan, though “a land flowing with milk and honey,” was sometimes subject to famine, as in this instance, and afterwards in the time of Joseph: but there is another Canaan, of which this was typical, where there can be no famine; its fruits are ever blooming, and its leaves ever verdant. ((Revelation 22:2).) 2. The strongest faith may fail, and will sometimes fail under small trials, when it flourishes under great ones. Abram could leave his country and his father’s house, as “seeing him that is invisible;” but he could not trust Providence to protect his wife. 3. We have here a picture of an ancient monarchy, particularly of Egypt, which boasted its superior wisdom and advancement; and yet, it seems, a handsome woman could not pass through it without danger to her own virtue, and terror to her husband.

For the former there was sufficient reason, for Sarai was taken into Pharaoh’s (i.e. the King’s) house: but they were far from being so sanguinary as Abram’s fears had suggested, for they used him well for her sake. 4. The very means Abram had taken, by prevarication, to preserve his wife, had like to have deprived him of her, if God had not interfered in a manner he had no right to expect; for God plagued Pharaoh and his house. 5. The King of Egypt proves a much better man than Abram had expected. It is true, his princes, who conceived their master had a right to all the beauty, and probably all the wealth in the country, had brought her into his palace; but having received some providential warning, and learning, perhaps, by the confession of Sarai, that she was married, he refuses the temptation thus presented to commit adultery, and very honourably gives her back to her husband, with a strict command for his protection.

Lastly, Abram himself receives a merited reproof from a quarter from which he certainly did not expect it. Abram prevaricated in a manner very unworthy of “the friend of God,” the servant of Jehovah. It is true, she was his sister in a sense, that is, his half-sister: but she was also his wife, and he sinned pater [after] her exposing her to danger in order to screen himself. Notwithstanding Abram’s faults, however, God is still his protector, and “rebuked kings” for his sake. In how many instances (says Fuller) has God, by his kind providence extricated us from situations into which our own sin and folly had plunged us!”

Notes on the verses

Chap. XII. Ver. 1. Now the Lord had said.—Through the Hebrew language has no pluperfect tense, in translating it may be sometimes necessary to insert the sign of that tense, as here and in many other places; but if we suppose, with Dr. Hales, that this was another appearance, the little word had is unnecessary. Go thee out.—The original, though not so abrupt, is equally emphatical, “Go thou thyself,” as implying that though his family might linger in Haran, he must not stop with them, but go himself; and those whom he had not authority to take with him, must be left behind. Both Haran and Ur were in Mesopotamia, as well as Babylon, and the whole country seems to have been overspread with idolatry.

Babylon was afterwards distinguished as the “Mother of harlots,” which Mede explains as meaning the parent of idolatry. The prophet Jeremiah calls it “the land of graven images,” and describes the Chaldeans as “mad upon their idols.” (Jeremiah 1:35-38). Ur appears to have been a nursery for idolatrous priests, as Benares in India is now among the Hindoos. See Calmet in Ur; A. Young on idolatrous corruptions. For the above anecdote of Abram and Terah, see Levi’s Hebrew Dict. in. tber, who gives the story at length from a Jewish work entitled Medrash Bereshith. Ver. 5. All the souls they had gotten in Haran.—By souls are here meant persons; whether servants (or slaves) bought with money, or the children born of them, of whom we read, soon after, that he had 318.

ch. xiv. 14. The Jerusalem Targum considers them as proselytes to the worship of the true God; the Chaldee Paraphrast speaks of them as “subdued unto the divine law.” From hence two useful hints may be drawn by Christian masters; 1. That servants have souls; and, 2. That the souls of their servants should be instructed in the law. [Canaan, so called from Canaan the son of Ham, lies between the Mediterranean sea on the west, the wilderness of Paran, Idumea and Egypt, on the south, the mountains of Arabia on the east, and the mountain of Lebanon and Phoenicia on the north. Its length, from the city of Dan to Beersheba, is about 200 miles, and its breadth, from the Mediterranean sea to its eastern borders, about 90.]—Bagster.

Ver. 6. The place of Shechem, (as it was afterwards called, ch. xxxiii. 18,19.) unto the plain of Moreh.—Elon is supposed here to mean a species of oak; or, according to Celsius and others, the turpentine tree. The LXX. here render it “the lofty oak,” and Ainsworth thinks there was a grove of them. Similar was the oak of Mamre, ch. xiii. 18. The plains (or oaks) of Moreh are again mentioned, (Deuteronomy 11:30). and elsewhere. And the Canaanite was then in the land:—This has been urged as a proof that the book could not be written by Moses; or, at least, that this is an interpolation, but with what reason we cannot perceive. The words simply imply, that the Canaanites (the children of Canaan) had already taken possession of the land promised to Abraham, and not that the Canaanites had been since driven away, as the objection seems to suppose.—Dr.

A. Clarke. Ver. 9. And Abram journeyed.—The Hebrew reads as in the margin, “going and journeying,” but still veering ‘toward the south.” Ver. 15, [Pharaoh was a common name of the Egyptian kings, and signified, according to Josephus, a “ruler” or “king,” or according to Ludolf, “father of his country.”]—Bagster. Ver. 16. Abram had sheep and oxen, &c.—Rather, “flocks and herds;” for under the former term is included goats as well as sheep; and under the latter, beeves, that is, bulls and cows; for the Jews were not allowed to castrate animals. (Leviticus 22:24).—Dr. A. Clarke.