It is because of this that God immediately extends the invitation of covenant to Abram upon seeing his willingness to look beyond himself and trust the story. It is this kind of individual that can partner with God in helping Him restore all of creation.
But it's not just an individual that God is looking for. He's also looking for a nation that can impact the world around them. And so he extends the offer of covenant to Abram. God invites him to leave his household and come to a land that God will show him; if he does this, God will make him into a nation and bless them. But it's not the blessing that God is speaking of in His covenant. It always has been about the missional partnership. God is looking to build a nation that will bless "all people on earth".
So Abram moves on and demonstrates even more understanding of God's story. Where his predecessors took God's blessing and built a tower for themselves, Abram takes God's blessing and builds a different kind of tower. Abram builds an altar.
Abram understands that the story is about honoring God and what God is up to and not about honoring himself. There is a stark contrast between the people of Babel and Abram. Do you remember how the center of the chiasm was about how bad it would be if the people settle down? Well, Abram builds his altar and then pitches his tents. What is a tent? A mobile home. For Abram, the altar is constant. For Abram, God is the thing that doesn't move, but he is always mobile. God will fulfill His promises in His timing and His way, but Abram is always going to need to be mobile to walk in obedience.
But blessing is always marked by testing.
And so, one of Abram's first tests comes (we'll talk more about "testing" later; suffice it to say it's not as we often think of it). There is a famine in the land.
And so what will Abram do? The thing that everyone does in Abram's day is travel to Egypt. No matter the drought, the land of Egypt is always blessed by the flooding of the Nile and a surplus of food. So this is the no-brainer move, right? Is there a message about which story you are putting your trust in? It appears as though Abram is still needing to learn how to trust the story. God has promised Abram a future and yet Abram hightails it down to Egypt in a pursuit of his own security.
Now, I'm certainly not throwing Abram under the bus. I'm not trying to suggest that he is being blatantly disobedient by heading to Egypt. You or I would do the exact same thing in our world. There is this constant tension between being a person of faith and a person of responsibility. I believe there is no "right" answer to this tension, but it is always a wrestling match about where the trust in your heart lies. As an example, I purchase health insurance for my family. I do this because it is responsible, but there is a very short leap between that and putting my trust in my own ability to provide versus God's provision in my life.
I think God is wanting to see what is in Abram's heart and teach him a lesson.
And so Abram heads to Egypt in order to make a responsible investment in his family's security and survival. Now, at this point, everyone else seems to gang up on Abram and make him a horrible villain. They claim that he lies about Sarai and puts her in danger, all to save his own skin. This criticism certainly makes sense from a cursory reading of the passage, but a little historical context will go a long way.
Abram never truly lies. He says the Sarai is his sister, the daughter of his father. The qualifying statement "daughter of his father" makes it clear that he is not claiming that she is his direct sister. All of the familial terms used — sister, daughter, father — are Hebrew words used to speak of general extended kin. What Abram is saying is that Sarai is under his patriarchal leadership. Now, while he is leaving out the part of her being his wife (a significant deception, I agree), he is not lying. He certainly is not doing it simply to selfishly protect himself. There is more going on here.
Abram is trying to provoke the courtship of Sarai. Abram, knowing that his wife is an attractive woman (she must have been a smoking hot 40-60 year old woman!), knows that the people of Egypt will be interested in courting Sarai as a potential wife. In the ancient Middle East, this will involve showering the patriarch with gifts and wealth in order to win his approval and lead to the granting of his virgin in marriage to you. Abram is attempting to shrewdly and deceptively work the cards so that he will be showered with wealth and than leave Egypt with the provision he needs to survive. This is the key to this story. It is not that Abram is a jerk. It's that Abram isn't trusting in God to provide; he's not doing it God's way.
Abram's plan backfires. The whole courtship rituals are based on the leverage of the parties involved. The patriarch is the one who holds the power in the arrangement. It is the patriarch that is the greater party. Unless, of course, it's Pharaoh who sees your virgin. Pharaoh is NEVER the lesser party. Where most everyone else will be required to shower you with gifts and take a wife later, Pharaoh takes a wife and then showers you with gifts. This is a turn that Abram did not see coming.
But God is looking out for the family and, through the circumstances surrounding the situation, Pharaoh becomes aware of the deception and sends Abram away — with all of the gifts and wealth that had been showered upon him. And so Abram takes the pieces of the broken situation and pitches his tents in the land of Canaan.
Did that last line sound familiar?
Abram pitched his tents in the beginning of the story.
And what would the Eastern reader immediately think upon hearing this?
This might be a chiasm.
If you go back and check, you'll find the chiasm yourself.
Abram's altar and calling on the name of the LORD. (12:7)
Pitched his tents east of Bethel, between Ai and Bethel. (12:8)
Abram in the Negev. (12:9)
Went into Egypt. (12:10)
"Say you are my sister" and Abram will be blessed [with wealth]. (12:13)
"Why did you say 'She is my sister'?" and Abram is blessed [with wealth] (12:19-20)
Went out of Egypt. (13:1a)
Abram in the Negev. (13:1b)
Pitched his tents east of Bethel, between Ai and Bethel. (13:3)
Abram's altar and calling on the name of the LORD. (13:4)
This makes the center of the chiasm Genesis 12:14-16. The whole point of the story is where Abram's plan backfires and Pharaoh ends up with his wife. Abram is being invited to learn a very important (and very trying) lesson. Things don't always work out the way we plan; our plan is rarely what God has in mind. It is so much better to do things God's way. We may pursue our own security and may even find it, but it will come at great cost.
God's message to Abram: Remember to trust the story — I am for you.
This is why a person can sometimes make all the right decisions and be incredibly "responsible" and follow God with all their heart — and still experience hardship. Sometimes — many times — God's way is different. He will say later through Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways..." (Isaiah 55:8)
I know some close personal friends who love Jesus with everything that they have. They have made all the right decisions and have been incredibly generous AND responsible. And yet, he lost his job of twelve years. But he would be the first to tell you that he's experienced the goodness of God more in that "famine" than any other time of his life. Because sometimes, despite all of our attempts to secure our own future, God has different plans — better plans — for us.
God's message to us: Remember to trust the story — I am for you.
Let's see if Abram will learn from his testing in Egypt.
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