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God calls Abram and blesses him with the promise of the Messiah From this chapter begins a special history of God's chosen Jewish people, which opens with a fairly detailed biography of the ancestor of the Jews himself - Patriarch Abram. The entire biblical narrative about him is divided into four sections or periods, each of which centers around the important divine theophany to Abram, the history of which begins chapters 12, 15, 17 and 22 of the book of Genesis. Gen.12:1–2. And the Lord said to Abram: To the question: when did God say this to Abram? - the majority, following Archdeacon Stephen (Acts 7:2), answers that this happened during the life of Terah, in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is confirmed by the subsequent context of the speech, namely the indication of the domestic land, which was only the land of the Chaldeans, and not Harran. get thee out of thy land, from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, [and go] to the land that I will show thee; and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing; The Apostle Paul says that the name of the land that was intended for him had not yet been revealed to Abram (Heb. 11:8); and yet he, obedient to the divine voice, does not hesitate at all to leave everything that was dear to him (his homeland, relatives and father’s house), and meekly exchanges all this for the unknown future and the restless life of a nomad ahead of him. “Look,” St. John Chrysostom says about this, “how from the very beginning the righteous man was taught to prefer the invisible to the visible and the future to what was already in his hands... Think, beloved, what an exalted spirit, not possessed by any passion or habit, was required to fulfill this command!” The purpose of such a severance of all ties with the past was divine care for the preservation of the family and house of Abram from being carried away by the widespread wickedness that even engulfed the house of his father Terah (Joshua 24:2-3). As if as a reward for such obedience and faith of Abram, the Lord gives him a solemn blessing, in which he announces four kinds of promises: 1) the promise of numerous descendants; 2) the granting of temporary and eternal benefits; 3) the reward of glory and immortality in posterity and 4) the transformation of his personality into a source of blessing to others. All these divine promises were actually justified in the subsequent fate of Abram’s descendants, as carnal ones, i.e. Jews, and even more so – spiritual ones, i.e. Christians (Rom. 4:11–17; Gal. 3:7–9). Gen.12:3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you; By concluding a covenant with Abram, God, according to the custom of people, enters into friendship with him (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) and promises to have both friends and enemies in common with him. and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. The best commentary on these words is given by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians, saying that through Jesus Christ the blessing of Abram extended to the Gentiles... Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold to Abram: “in you all nations will be blessed” (Gal. 3:8, 14). He departs with Lot from Haran Gen.12:4. And Abram went, as the Lord had told him; In the last words, some see an indication of a new theophany to Abram, which already happened in Harran and after the death of his father Terah. “Not out of disobedience against the Lord,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “but, of course, because Lot was young, and Abram took his father’s place; and even he, out of love for him and his meek disposition, did not want to be separated from the righteous man.” This is why the Apostle Peter says about Lot that he imitated the piety and faith of Abram (2 Pet. 2:7-8). Gen.12:5. And Abram took with him Sarah his wife, Lot his brother's son, and all the property that they had acquired, and all the people that they had in Haran; Based on these words, one can think that Abram’s stop in Harran was quite long, since he had already acquired both property and slaves here. Chrysostom especially emphasizes that all this was started by Abram in Harran and constituted his acquired property, and the entire paternal inheritance was left in Chaldea, according to the divine command about this. and they went out to go into the land of Canaan; Although, testing Abram’s faith and obedience, the Lord hid from him for the time being the final goal of his journey, however, obviously, the very direction of this path was somehow inspired by God to Abram or revealed by some special signs. and they came to the land of Canaan. That is, to the fertile Palestinian country, where the descendants of Canaan lived. Its borders were the Lebanese Mountains in the North, the Arabian Steppes in the South, the Syrian Desert in the East, and the Mediterranean Sea in the West. “Thus surrounded by mountains, steppes and seas, this country, intended as a heritage for the chosen people, was more favorable than any other for raising them away from pagan influence. On the other hand, being in the center of the then known world, at the crossroads between Europe (from the sea), most of the Asian countries and Africa, this country offered very many conveniences for spreading the gospel preaching everywhere” (Vissarion). Comes to the land of Canaan and in a dream receives a revelation about its possession Gen.12:6. And Abram walked through the land [along its length] to the place of Shechem, Having entered Palestine, it is believed, from the north, Abram passed most of it to the south to the place where the city of Shechem was subsequently built, named by this name in honor of Shechem, the son of Hamor (Gen. 33:18–19). Over time, this Shechem became the capital of Samaria and appears to us more than once in the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments (Deut. 11:30; Judges 9:1; Ps. 59:8; John 4:5, etc.). In the time of Jesus Christ it was also called Sychar, and under Vespasian it was renamed Neapolis, from where the modern name of this place Nabulus, or Nablus, came. or "Mamre" as it is called elsewhere (Gen. 13:18). It is believed that we are talking about a whole oak or terebinth grove that belonged to a noble Canaanite who bore the surname Moreh, or Mamre, and was quite famous in that time and place. Gen.12:7. And the Lord appeared to Abram and said to [him], “To your descendants I will give this land.” This is the first biblical news of the appearance of God to man during the post-Flood period. Although the essence of God is invisible and incomprehensible, nevertheless, from the Holy Scriptures we know a whole series of external images in which He deigned to reveal Himself to people (Gen. 18:2, 17, 33, 21:17–18, 31:11–13, 32:24–30, etc.). This one was probably one of the same epiphanies. “The common basis of the manifestations of God in the Old and New Testaments, especially in human form,” says Metropolitan Philaret, “is a harbinger of the incarnation of the Son of God.” This is where most patristic interpretations adhere to the idea that the main character of all theophany is the Second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity - the Son of God. And [Abram] built there an altar to the Lord, who appeared to him. He built an altar or altar, no doubt, in order to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord for the promise given to him and his posterity, and then for the purpose of perpetuating the sacred place of theophany with an appropriate external sign. Gen.12:8–9. From there he moved to the mountain, east of Bethel; and he pitched his tent, so that from it Bethel was to the west, and Ai to the east; These two verses outline the general path of Abram’s nomadic journey through Palestine and his main stops. One of these large and important stops was the place that later became known as “Bethel” (Gen. 28:19). It is located 5 miles south of Shechem and 3 hours' journey from Jerusalem, in a valley abundant with beautiful pastures. Not far from here was “Gai” (Gen. 13:3; Neh. 11:31), the ruins of which are still known under the name “Medinet-Gai” and are located 5 m from Bethel to the east. Finally, the last designation of the path, translated in our Bible by the word “to the south,” in the Hebrew text contains an indication of a certain southern district of Palestine, called “Negeb” (Gen. 13:3, 20:1, 24:62), indicating the desert or steppe nature of the area. and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord [who appeared to him]. And Abram got up and continued to go south. And at this new place of his settlement, Abram, first of all, hastens to express feelings of gratitude to God, and by publicly and solemnly confessing the name of the true God (Gen. 4.26), he testifies to his right faith before the pagan Canaanites. Abram flees famine to Egypt Gen.12:10. And there was famine in that land. That is, in the land of “Negeb,” or in the northern reaches of the Arabian Desert, where Abram eventually descended. This was, of course, a new and strong temptation for Abram’s faith: instead of, according to the divine promise, enjoying various benefits from his new possession, he was forced at first to experience such a severe deprivation as severe hunger. And Abram went down to Egypt to live there, because the famine had increased in that land. Since the Nile Valley of Egypt, famous for its fertility, lay much lower than the Arabian steppe, the expression “descended” cannot but be considered especially successful. Abram went to Egypt, probably not without a special divine inspiration, and, moreover, only during the famine itself, as the Bedouins of Arabia still do in similar cases. Abram is in danger of losing his wife Gen.12:11. When he approached Egypt, he said to Sarah his wife: Abram and Sarah made such an agreement much earlier, even before leaving Ur of the Chaldeans (Gen. 20:13), since Abram obviously knew the moral debauchery of all the tribes among which he would have to wander and live. Behold, I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance; Although Sarah at that time was already 65 years old, but since this age was only half of her entire life (Gen. 23:1) and since, on the other hand, she was childless (Gen. 11:30), it is not surprising that she could retain her attractive beauty until now. Gen.12:12. and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife.” and they will kill me, but leave you alive; These words show excellent knowledge of the contemporary customs and morals of the Egyptian country, where the husband of a beautiful woman was killed, and the wife herself was taken into a harem; All this was especially widely practiced with immigrants from Arabia, whose women greatly benefited in beauty compared to the rather ugly Egyptian and Ethiopian women. Gen.12:13. tell me that you are my sister, There was no complete deception in these words of Abram: firstly, because in the East the word “sister” does not have the narrow meaning that we associate with it, but means close kinship in general, the concept of which includes all cousins, as well as nephews and nieces; secondly, and because Sarai was actually Abram’s half-sister or niece (Gen. 20:12). so that it would be good for me for your sake, and so that my soul might live through you. “This is a very difficult place: it is one of those places in the Bible that prove the extraordinary veracity of the sacred chronicle, precisely by clearly indicating the weaknesses, sometimes even crimes, of the greatest and holiest men of the Old Testament, Abram, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc.” (Vlastov). No matter how much we justify Abram’s act, we are nevertheless unable to destroy in him some element of cowardice and cunning. His only justification is the rudeness of the morals of that era, which made it possible to look at the marriage issue too broadly and condescendingly, and the hopeless situation of Abram, which forced him to resort to a lesser evil in order to avoid a greater one - his own destruction and the complete enslavement of Sarah. However, Saint John Chrysostom sees in this voluntary agreement of the spouses and their mutual sacrifice of their interests for the sake of the common good (one - the rights of a husband, the other - the dignity of a faithful wife) as the crown of their marital love and a model worthy of imitation. Happy escape from danger Gen.12:14. And it came to pass, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman; Abram’s assumptions were not slow to come true with all accuracy, and his plan of salvation was a success as well as possible. Gen.12:15. Pharaoh’s officials also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and she was taken into the house of the Pharaohs. Nobles - in the Hebrew text it is expressed by the word “princes” (sarej), which is quite consistent with history, which testifies to the belonging of the Egyptian courtiers to the highest castes of the country. The epithet “pharaoh” was not the proper name of any of the Egyptian kings, but represents a general title for all ancient Egyptian rulers, like the modern “king, king, emperor”, etc. As for the word production of this term, the best of them, given by Rouget, Brugsch and Ebers on the basis of hieroglyphic texts, derives the word “pharaoh” from the ancient Egyptian - “peraa” or “perao”, which means “great house” and that the term “pharaoh” itself gives a meaning completely similar to the modern name of the Turkish Empire - “Sublime Porte”. According to the most probable assumption of Egyptologists, Abram's journey to Egypt took place under one of the first kings of the 12th dynasty, i.e. 2000 years before the birth of Christ. Gen.12:17. But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with heavy blows because of Sarai, Abram's wife. What exactly is unknown; but by analogy of cases, one can think that they are the same as the house of Abimelech later, that is, barren (Gen. 20:18). Gen. 12:18–19. And Pharaoh called Abram and said: What hast thou done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she is your wife? Why did you say: she is my sister? and I took her as my wife. From this we can conclude that God’s Providence preserved the marital purity of Sarah, who lived at the court of Pharaoh for the time being only for testing. Gen.12:20. And Pharaoh gave commandment to the people concerning him, and they brought him out, and his wife, and all that he had, [and Lot with him]. So from this new temptation the righteous man emerges completely victorious. And everyone “who saw how he had previously, prompted by hunger, gone to Egypt with fear and trembling, and now returned from there with such glory, abundance and wealth, learned from this the power of God’s providence for him” (St. John Chrysostom). You might be interested in: