“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.” (Genesis 12:10)
Egypt has a prominent place in the history of God’s people. Sometimes it’s a place of refuge and help:
– Genesis 42:2, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
– 1 Kings 11:40, “Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death.”
– Matt 2:13, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’”
Sometimes it is a force acting against God’s people:
– Exodus 1:12-13, “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.”
– 2 Chronicles 12:2-3, “… Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt.”
– Jeremiah 44:27, “For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.”
Since they are neighbors, it makes sense that Egypt and Israel’s paths regularly cross.
When Abram journeyed to Egypt in Gen 12:10, the Scriptures do not depict him seeking the Lord first to see if he should go. In fact, for some reason, Abram keep moving even after the Lord appeared to him in verse 7, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”
Why does Abram keep moving after the Lord says he will give his offspring the land he had traveled to?
Pause for a moment and ask the Lord if you are being tempted to move away from a place he wants you planted? Ask him to protect you from drifting to things that may be close or feel safe, but are not his plan for you.
John Riley
Junior High Pastor