Genesis 12
A New Nation for God

Genesis 12

Abram Journeys to Egypt

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.

10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” 14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

17 But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” 20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Unpacking Genesis 12

No matter what country we live in, Christians have a higher allegiance to a higher king and a higher country. Genesis 12 shows us where our true allegiance lies as we look at the life of Abraham, then known as “Abram,” when God first called him to establish a nation dedicated to Himself.

Genesis 12 doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It is one of the most important passages in the Bible, but we tend not to talk about it a lot. This passage lays the foundation for everything else in the Bible. This passage tells us where we came from spiritually, where we are going, who we are as God’s people, our future place in His kingdom, and even our relationship with whatever country we live in right now. So, Genesis 12 tells us a lot!

Genesis 12 follows Genesis 1-11, which recorded the tragic fall of mankind and the abysmal failure to establish a righteous society using man's wisdom. Sin entered in Genesis 3 and produced a wicked society following the way of Cain (Genesis 4). Even though God destroys that wicked society in the flood in Genesis 6-9, by Genesis 11, every nation is bent on rebelling against God.

Now we come to Genesis 12, where God calls one man named Abram to leave these rebellious nations and establish a nation dedicated to God and His ways. We can’t overstate how important that last sentence is: God called Abram out of the rebellious nations to establish a righteous nation that would be obedient to Him.

That was the purpose of Israel. They were to be a nation dedicated to God. That is the purpose of the church. It is to be a worldwide citizenship dedicated to God. Christ’s followers comprise the spiritual kingdom that continues the long line of promises that go back to Abraham and through Abraham, all the way back to the salvation promised in Genesis 3:15.

By way of background, the events of Genesis 12 occur somewhere around 2091 B.C.[1] Abram is 75 years old and living in a place called Haran. He had been born in Ur and moved to Haran with his father, Terah. After Terah died, God called Abram in verse 1, where it says, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you.’”

When the Lord says “go forth” in verse 1, He’s using specific wording in the original Hebrew to demonstrate the severity of the break He was calling Abram to make. God was calling Abram to leave Haran, Ur, and his people. He was calling Abram to leave his identity, wealth, and prestige. More importantly, the Lord called Abram to leave behind any identification with any nation that rebelled against the Lord in Genesis 11.

Notice verse 2 starts with the word “and.” The word “and” indicates that if and when Abram goes forth from Haran, then he will receive the rest of God’s promises in verses 2 and 3. Genesis 12:2-3 says, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Theologians distill these promises under three main headings:

·First, Abram would have abundant descendants.

·Second, the Lord would give them land to possess.

·Third, God would bless all the world's families through them.

These promises will become the backbone of what is known as the “Abrahamic covenant” that is ratified in Genesis 15.

Let’s pause and think about how these promises have been and are being fulfilled. There are two primary levels of fulfillment: one was the fulfillment of these promises through the Jewish people in national Israel. The other level of fulfillment is through the eternal kingdom God is currently creating through His Son, Jesus Christ. That kingdom will exist for all eternity.

I believe God is not done with Israel, and we must understand how these promises have worked in history up to the present day. These promises began with Abram and unfolded throughout the development of the nation of Israel.

Then, through Israel and with the arrival of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, the Lord offers a “New Covenant” with all people in the world. Anyone who enters this New Covenant, Jew and Gentile alike, will be part of God’s eternal kingdom. This eternal kingdom is the eternal fulfillment of these promises. (You can learn about the “New Covenant” in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, and Hebrews 8 by listening to the Key Chapters episodes on those chapters.)

Therefore, when it comes to an understanding our present place in this world, if you have embraced Jesus as your Lord, God, King, and Savior, then you are part of the eternal kingdom God promises to Abram here in Genesis 12.

This also means that, like Abram, you may have to “leave” the nation of your birth behind. You may have to make sacrifices for His kingdom. You may lose your wealth, heritage, or prestige. But please know that if you do, you are also storing up treasures that will last forever (Matthew 6:20, 19:21).

Now, let’s quickly look at the rest of Genesis 12.

In verse 4, Abram obeyed and left Haran. He took his wife Sarai, later known as “Sarah,” and his nephew Lot with him. They entered the Promised Land in verse 5, which was called “Canaan” at the time. In a bold act, Abram went right to the center of Canaanite idolatry, known as the “Oak Tree of Moreh at Shechem,” and built an altar to the Lord (verses 6-7).

We might expect Abram to take over Canaan, plant his flag and get to work building God’s kingdom, but that is not what happened. Abram spent years living as a nomad in the countryside (verses 8-9). He lived separately from their society, even though it would have been easier to live among them.

Later, in the final verses of Genesis 12, Abram moved to Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. In Egypt, Abram fell into a weird scheme where he traded his wife Sarah to Pharaoh, claiming she was his sister. The Lord intervened, and Sarah was returned to Abram. If that troubles you, it should. There is no rational explanation for this except to remind us Abram was a sinner too, and even he needed God’s forgiveness and atonement. We all do.

So, that’s Genesis 12. This chapter gives us an incredibly important account of God’s call upon Abram to leave the sinful nations of the world and establish a righteous nation that would obey God. Abram was 75 years old when God called him, and he obeyed the Lord by going to the Promised Land. Still, his actions showed he was not yet ready to be the father of this godly nation. That sanctifying process would take another 25 years, which will be the topic of the next several studies.

Study and Discussion Questions

Listening to the Key Chapters Podcast on this chapter provides further insights into the following questions.

1. Read over Genesis 12:1-3 and put a triangle around what Abram was supposed to do. How would you sum up Abram’s side of this covenant?

2. Put a circle around everything that God was promising to Abram and number each separate promise, then list them here:

1)

2)

3)

3. Read over verses 1-3. What were the promises that God gave to Abram? In what sense were these unconditional promises? From what you can tell in these verses, how does the Lord expect Abram to respond to them?

4.What do these unconditional promises indicate about God, His redemption plan, and the blessings He would pour out upon Abram and his descendants?

5. According to the study, how will this new nation be different from the nations of the world that we saw back in Genesis 11? How is this difference still reflected in believers' lives today?

6.Genesis 12 opens with Abram being 75 years old and living in the northern area of Haran. When God calls Abram to “Go forth from your country,” what would this departure have been like for Abram and his family? How was Abram’s obedience an indication of his faith? How did Abram respond? How is that a model for our responses to God’s commands?

7. How do you think Abram felt about leaving his family and former life behind? How would you have felt if you were in Abram’s shoes?

8. In verse 5, who went with Abram on his journey to the Promised Land? Glance back to the list of Abram’s family in Genesis 11:27-32. Who did not go with Abram? Why do you think they didn’t go with him?

9. In verses 6 and 7, the Lord appeared to Abram at the Oak of Moreh, a common place of pagan worship. What did Abram build there? Thinking about this radical action, how do you think Abram had such faith and courage? What does this kind of faith and courage look like in our walk with God today?

10. The study mentioned that there are physical descendants of Abram and spiritual descendants of Abram who have embraced God’s New Covenant by faith. Have you accepted God’s covenantal offer to join this nation of God-obeyers? If not, why not? If so, what does this look like in your life?

11. The end of Chapter 12 includes an account of Abram not looking very heroic. What happened in verses 10-20? How does this seem incongruent with a man of faith? What does this teach us about the kind of people God uses? Does this give you any hope that God might still have a plan for you?

[1] Ancient biblical dates are very controversial. To simplify the dates, this guidebook follows the detailed listing of dates set forth on https://biblehub.com/timeline/ (accessed 11/26/22).