Abram and Sarai: Genesis 12

We now meet a very blessed and well-known man in the Bible. Maybe you have heard of him before. His name is Abram.

Abram was another man who, like Enoch, lived close to God. He loved God and obeyed Him.

One day God told Abram to leave the country he was living in, and to move all his family, his clothes, and all that he owned to a new land that God would show him. Now just imagine that! Some people would have grumbled. They would have thought to themselves, “Why do I have to move so far away? I have to leave my relatives, my parents, and everyone I know. I don’t like to move to a new place where I don’t know anyone.”

But not Abram. He had faithin God. Remember how Noah had faith in God, too? Abram obeyed God because he knew that God would have him do only what was best for him. Abram believed that God would take care of him in this new country, too.

And God did have a plan for Abram. He told him, “I am going to give you and your children this new country. I will bless you, and give you many, many children and grandchildren so that you will become a nation of people.”

God also told Abram that because of him many people would be blessed. This was because Jesus Christ, who would be born to save God’s people from Satan, would be born from Abram’s grandchildren.

So now we see a large group of people leaving home, carrying many clothes and belongings with them. There we can see Abram; his wife, Sarai; and his nephew, a man named Lot. They are also taking their servants and horses with them.

Abram and his group walked and walked. Soon they came to a land called Canaan.

Here God told Abram, “This is the land I plan to give you and your children.”

Right at that spot, Abram gave an offering to God. This was how he showed his love and praise to Him.

Then the group went on. But then they had a new problem. There was a famine in the land, which means that there were no crops, little food, and hardly anything to eat. Abram didn’t want to stay there! So he and Sarai decided to leave Canaan and go to another country, called Egypt, for a little while.

But then Abram began to worry about Pharaoh. “Pharaoh” was the name for the king of Egypt.

Pharaoh was a very important man. If he wanted to marry Sarai, he could take her away from Abram and marry her as his wife. Then he could kill Abram! In those days the kings were able to do that.

So Abram thought about it. Sarai was a beautiful woman. If Pharaoh thought Abram was her husband, perhaps he would kill him—but notif he thought Sarai was Abram’s sister! That’s what he would do—he would tell Pharaoh that Sarai was his sister.

Now, you might ask, “This was very wrong of Abram, wasn’t it?” Yes, it was. Abram had lost faith in God. He forgot that if God had promised to make a great nation out of him, then He certainly would protect him in this strange country.

In a way, Sarai wasAbram’s sister. So was he really telling a lie?

Yes, in God’s eyes he was lying. This is because of what was in Abram’s heart. Abram was trying to deceive Pharaoh, to trick him, and he had sin in his heart. So it was a lie.

Here’s another example: Suppose Ben doesn’t want to go to school. He feels a teeny bit sick, but he makes it sound really bad to his parents. He knows he doesn’t feel sosick, but he tells his parents his stomach hurts terribly, his head is really pounding, and he feels awful.So Ben gets to stay home.

Now, it’s true that he doesfeel sick, his head ispounding, and his tummy doesfeel sore—but really, he knows it’s not thatbad. He knows it will go away. So, it is a lie when he tells his parents that. Ben is trying to trick them so he can stay home.

Abram decided to try an idea like this, so he told Sarai to tell everyone that she was his sister.

And what happened when Pharaoh saw Sarai? He thought she was a beautiful woman, and took her into his house. But he did not kill Abram, since he thought he was her brother. Pharaoh gave him many sheep, servants, camels, and asses for her, which meant that he paid a lot of money for her.

But then Pharaoh noticed that suddenly bad things began to happen to his family. Maybe they all became sick. Or maybe animals began dying. Whatever it was, Pharaoh knew that God was punishing him for taking Sarai into his house. Maybe God told Pharaoh the sin in a dream.

Some kings are very mean men, but God made Pharaoh very nice to Abram. Most kings would have killed Abram, but Pharaoh just said, “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Then I wouldn’t have taken her.”

Then he gave Sarai back to Abram and said, “Take her now and go out of the country.”

So the Abram, Sarai, and Lot had to leave Egypt and go back to Canaan.

We would like to think that Abram learned a lesson from this lie, but I am sad to say that he didn’t. Later he used the same lie with another king.

So we can see that God’s people sin, too. They are not perfect. But they, like we, must pray every day that God will keep them from sin and wicked ideas.

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