Genesis 12 begins the story of Abram.
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
God tells Abraham to leave his family.
Evolution teaches that societies go from poly/pantheistic to monotheistic to atheistic. Though this sounds logical, there is no evidence for it. The historical evidence actually shows that societies go from monotheistic to atheistic to poly/pantheistic. It is entirely possible that Abraham was the last of the believers in One God in Ur instead of the traditional first believer in Our God.
Sadly, I see evidence our culture is now at the transition from atheistic to poly/pantheistic having left monotheism behind a long time ago. We cannot believe we are the supreme being in the universe for long. Nature abhors a vacuum and we all know in our hearts there is something more than ourselves. If we can’t have our God, we invent gods to worship or worship creation instead.
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Now, the Jewish nation has never blessed “all the families of the earth” any more than any other people. God was referring to Christ here. He has blessed the entire planet with salvation available to all.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
God had told him to leave his family, but he takes his nephew Lot with him. This will cause problems later on.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
They were already quite rich at this point. They had hundreds of slaves as well as large amounts of animals.
Slavery wasn’t quite the same thing in ancient times as it was in American history. Though the owner did own the person, they were acknowledged as humans, unlike the slaves in the South, who, due to belief in evolution, were looked at as nothing more than smart animals. Ancient slavery was closer to what we think of as “being employed.”
The “Land of Canaan” is the area Ham’s son, Canaan, settled after the Tower of Babel.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, “Unto thy seed will I give this land:” and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
God promises He will give this area to Abram’s descendants. This is quite a promise since Abram is seventy-five years old at this point, and has no children.
8 And he removed from there unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
Abram worshiped God regularly, everywhere he went.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
God had not promised him Egypt and the Israelites never possessed that country.
Because of the Nile River, Egypt is often less affected by regional droughts than other countries in the area.
Josephus says that it was Abraham who brought the knowledge of mathematics and astronomy necessary to build the pyramids to Egypt. There would be no way to verify this idea, though it is also mentioned by other ancient historians, and Josephus had sources available to him that are no longer available to us (they burned up in the fire at the library of Alexandria in the first century).
We do know that math, astronomy, and a great deal of other learning came to Egypt from Chaldea, but so did the population in general. In fact, I find the idea that Ham brought that knowledge, having acquired it before the Flood, to be more likely. The founder of Egypt was his grandson, after all, and we know his brother Shem lived well into Abraham’s lifespan, so I would assume Ham did too.
11 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:
12 “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.
13 “Say, I pray thee, thou are my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.”
Sarai was more than sixty-five years old at this point. Imagine being beautiful enough at this age for her husband to be worried about being killed for her!
He wasn’t telling her to lie…exactly. She was his half-sister. But this was not the entire truth either.
Abram was giving in to fear instead of trusting God. God had told him he would bless all nations and that his descendants (which weren’t born yet) would possess Canaan. If God allowed the Egyptians to kill him, He would be breaking His promises to Abram. God would have protected him without this lie.
But Abram was human and all humans are subject to fear and doubt and make mistakes sometimes.
Sarai was some woman! She did what her husband told her to, risking being put into an Egyptian harem. I think she trusted that God would work it all out in the end. In fact, she is one of only two women mentioned as a pillars of faith in “The Faith Chapter,” Hebrews 11:11 “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” She was a woman who knew and trusted God.
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
She was taken into Pharaoh’s harem.
We don’t know for sure which pharaoh this was. The word “pharaoh” means “The Great House.” It carries no hint of a name any more than the word “king” does.
Since an Egyptian chronicler says Egypt lasted 1663 years, and it was conquered by Persia in 526BC, it must have been founded in 2188BC. The Tower of Babel happened around 2259BC and Abram was born in 2038BC.
- 2390BC The Flood
- 2259BC Tower of Babel
- 2188BC Egypt founded
- 2038BC Abram born
So Egypt was founded about 70 years after the Tower fell, and Abram was born 150 years after that. With the lifespans of the time, this may well have been Egypt’s first Pharaoh (who would have been known as Menes, Narmar and/or Mizraim. The Egyptians today call themselves the country of Mirz, and it wasn’t at all unusual for a king to be known by several names.
Mizraim was Ham’s second son. Shem’s son lived to be 933 years old, dying in 1455BC, about 500 years after this incident. This means there IS a good chance this is Ham’s grandson Mizraim.)
Traditional history says that there was some 2000 years between the first settlers of Egypt and the earliest pharaohs. How do we explain this disagreement with the biblical dates?
First of all, the traditional dates are drawn from very incomplete king lists written by Manetho in the late BC’s. Manetho (a Greek historian who assumed the earth was very old in accordance with the prevailing religion of Greece of the time) wrote the names of all the Egyptian kings he could find, but did say many ruled concurrently. Some of his evidence for kings was no more than part of a name scratched on a wall.
Modern historians (who also assume an old earth due to today’s prevailing religion- Evolution) ignore the comments saying certain dynasties were concurrent and put them all consecutive. They also insert large periods of time wherever they think there should be more whether they actually have evidence for them or not.
For example, there is no actual proof of more than a very few years between immigration into Egypt and the first pharaoh, it just fits evolution's story for there to be and civilization to take that much time to be invented. There is also no real proof of the First Intermediate Period (generally put between the 6th and 7th dynasties) so it is likely it didn’t exist.
The evidence is increasing that many of the dynasties actually ruled at the same time throughout Egyptian history, including evidence that dynasties 1, 4, and 6 ruled at the same time as 2, 3, and 5 and the "pre-dynasty” period was actually just part of Egypt that wasn’t under these dynasties but existed at the same time.
There is also the problem that the Traditional Timeline puts all kings ruling one after another, as if a son began to rule on the day his dad died. We now know that often the son began a co-rule as much as ten years before his dad's death. In at least one case dad, mom, son, and daughter all ruled at the same time! But the Traditional Timeline puts them one after another greatly expanding the time of their kingdom.
16 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.
Pharaoh gave Abram gifts for his “sister’s” hand in marriage. And Abram accepted them!
Josephus says Abram played mediator between different factions of Egyptians as well as bringing education and culture to the land. Josephus likely had access to the writings in the Library of Alexandria which later burned down, so it is possible he had more proof available to him than we do today. But it seems more likely to me that Noah brought this learning onto the Ark, passed it down to his sons and grandsons, who took it with them wherever they went after the Tower of Babel, in this case, to Egypt.
There is, however, records of a visor to pharaoh Djoser who saved Egypt from a great famine, was an architect, physician, and writer of wisdom. Some speculate he may have been Joseph, Abraham or even Ham. We don't know which yet.
Abram was not some two-bit wanderer, bum, roaming around, but a very rich man with an army among his servants. He was a prominent enough figure to meet with kings. It is possible God granted him extra wisdom to accomplish His will in his life, and that he used this wisdom to unify and civilize Egypt while he was there. The Bible didn’t think it important enough to tell us what all Abram did while there (except lying about his relationship with Sarah), but in light of some of the historical evidence, it isn’t unreasonable to assume he was quite busy.
17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
Sarai’s faith was not unfounded. God was protecting her.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that thou has done unto me? Why did thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
19 “Why said 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!”
20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
Pharaoh scolds Abram for his deception. He then sends him away with royal protection, letting him keep the gifts. Pharaoh had enough morals to know you don’t sleep with another man’s wife…even if you are the king of the land. Anyway, the Bible will soon tell us Abram had his own army. Reason enough to be cautious.