Read Genesis 13:1-18. What does this story teach us about the importance of character?

Abram returns to where he was before, as if his trip to Egypt were a mere unfortunate detour. God’s history with Abram starts again, where it had stopped since his first trip to the Promised Land. Abram’s first station is Bethel (Genesis 13:3), just as in his first trip to the land (Genesis 12:3-6). Abram has repented and is back to “himself”: Abram, the man of faith.

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Abram’s reconnection with God shows already in his relationship with people, in the way that he handles the problem with Lot, his nephew, concerning the use of the land. However, it is Abram himself who proposes a peaceful agreement and allows Lot to choose first (Genesis 13:9-10), an act of generosity and kindness, indicative of the kind of man Abram was.

The fact that Lot chose the easiest and best part for himself, the well-watered plain (Genesis 13:10-11), without any concern about the wickedness of his future neighbors (Genesis 13:13) reveals something about his greediness and character. The phrase “for himself” reminds us of the antediluvians, who also chose “for themselves” (see Genesis 6:2).

In contrast, Abram’s move was an act of faith. Abram did not choose the land; it was given to him by God’s grace. Unlike Lot, Abram looked at the land only at God’s injunction (Genesis 13:14-15). It is only when Abram separates from Lot that God speaks to him again (). In fact, this is the first recorded time in the Bible that God speaks to Abram since his call at Ur. “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever” (Genesis 13:14-15, , NKJV). God, then, invites Abram to “walk” on this land as an act of appropriation. “Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you” (Genesis 13:17, NKJV).

The Lord, though, makes it very clear that He, God, is giving it to Abram. It is a gift, a gift of grace, which Abram must appropriate by faith, a faith that leads to obedience. It is the work of God alone that will bring about all that He has promised to Abram here (see Genesis 13:14-17).

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Join the Hit the Mark Sabbath School Panel as they have a lively, interactive discussion of the week’s lesson, “The Roots of Abraham.”

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Read Genesis 12:10-20. Why did Abram leave the Promised Land to go to Egypt? How did the pharaoh behave in comparison to Abram?

Ironically, Abram, who had just arrived in the Promised Land, decides to leave it for Egypt because “there was a famine in the land” (Genesis 12:10, NKJV). Evidence of people from Canaan going into Egypt in times of famine is well attested in ancient Egyptian texts. In the Egyptian teaching of Merikare, a text composed during the period of the Middle Kingdom (2060-1700 B.C.), people coming from Canaan are identified as “miserable Asiatic” (aamu) and described as “wretched … short of water … he does not dwell on one place, food propels his legs.” — Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1973), Pages 103, 104.

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The temptation of Egypt was often a problem for the ancient Israelites (Numbers 14:3, Jeremiah 2:18). Egypt, thus, became a symbol of humans trusting in humans rather than in God (2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6, Isaiah 36:9). In Egypt, where water could be seen on a daily basis, faith was not necessary, for the promise of the land was immediately visible. Compared to the land of famine, Egypt sounded like a good place to be, despite what God had said to him.

The Abram who now leaves Canaan contrasts with the Abram who left Ur. Before, Abram was portrayed as a man of faith who left Ur in response to God’s call; now, Abram leaves the Promised Land by himself, of his own volition. Before, Abram relied on God; now he behaves like a manipulative and unethical politician who counts only on himself. “During his stay in Egypt, Abraham gave evidence that he was not free from human weakness and imperfection. In concealing the fact that Sarah was his wife, he betrayed a distrust of the divine care, a lack of that lofty faith and courage so often and nobly exemplified in his life.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 130.

What we see here, then, is how even a great man of God can make a mistake and yet not be forsaken by God. When the New Testament talks about Abraham as an example of salvation by grace, it means just that — grace. Because, if it weren’t by grace, Abraham, like all of us, would have had no hope.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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