The First Enslaved (Genesis 12:10-20)

Genesis 12 ends with a peculiar story that includes three main characters – Abram, Sarai, and the Pharoah of Egypt. This story marks the first mentioning of Egypt and Pharoah. Of course, the Jewish people will later be enslaved by the Pharoah in Egypt. However, our story takes place before the firstborn of Israel, Isaac, is a reality.

We might call this story in Genesis 12:10-20 as the prelude to the Israel-Egypt connection.

Much of the Old Testament is written in the shadow of empire. Three consecutive empires seek to and in fact control Israel. The first is the Egyptian empire followed by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The Egyptian empire is the context for the first two books of our Bible – Genesis and Exodus. And the Egyptian empire is the context for our story from Genesis 12.

Abram and Sarai immigrate to Egypt. That alone is telling. What does it tell? A couple things come to mind. First, that the parents of the Israel nation were once immigrants helps explain the immigrant friendly ways that Yahweh later mandates in the Torah, known as the Law to us Christians. Yahweh’s blueprint for his chosen people includes care and compassion toward the immigrant in large part because Abraham and Sarai were just that – immigrants.

Secondly, spouses immigrating to Egypt out of necessity and for survival’s sake – does it sound familiar, O Christian? Of course, Joseph and Mary, pregnant with a child, do the same. Indeed, their circumstances are not the same. Abram and Sarai immigrate because of famine. Joseph and Mary (with Jesus) immigrate because of genocide. Abram and Sarai are not yet with child, and Jospeh and Mary are, though a supernatural birth is in the works for our Genesis couple. So, there are differences. But there is certainly a purposeful mirroring going on in the Joseph and Mary story.

Abram and Sarai will parent a nation into being. Joseph and Mary will parent a movement into being, a movement we call the church.

Anyway, back to our Genesis 12 story. Entering Egypt, Abram is anxious. See, Sarai is other-worldly in her beauty. Abram is worried that some ambitious Egyptian bachelor might notice Sarai, desire her as a trophy wife, see her husband Abram as merely an obstacle to literally get rid of, and follow through on this. Abram is worried about his own hide, to be blunt.

So, without consulting with Yahweh who has covenanted faithfulness toward him, Abram hatches a crazy plan to claim Sarai as a sister. If they are simply brother and sister, they’ll spare Abram’s life and simply seek a bond with Sarai. Of course, Abram doesn’t know how that will work out, how an anonymous Egyptian marrying Sarai will end well. He’s not really thinking that far ahead. He simply wants to live.

Abram’s character is certainly not placed in a great, positive light here. There is judgment here. Abram is not trusting Yahweh, but hatching his own silly, inhumane plan. Disconnecting from God gives way to a lapse in wisdom and a sojourn into inhumanity.

Now, if you take away the morality of it all and are purely utilitarian about it, Abram’s plan works, at least temporarily. The Pharoah of all people notices Sarai and takes her on as a wife, albeit as one of many. We are not told Sarai’s feelings or experiences regarding this ill-advised, deception-moved marriage, but we can imagine it is either horrible or wonderful, depending on her relationship with Abram. I’m presuming the horrible option. What’s abundantly clear is that for Abram things are wonderful. He makes out like a bandit!

“For her sake [the Pharaoh] dealt well with Abram, and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels" (v. 16).

Yahweh is not happy with any of this. Abram’s going to get it, you’re thinking, right? Well, not directly. Remember God’s covenant with Abram? Abram broke the covenant. But Yahweh is merciful and keeps his side of the covenant. And so Abram is safe.

What about Sarai though? She is the doubly wronged party here. Abram certainly has wronged her. And the Pharoah, well, we can presume Pharoah’s treatment of Sarai was not pure. Sarai was basically enslaved. As a beautiful immigrant, the Pharoah seized Sarai, took her on as a lesser wife, and treated her like a possession. Enslavement describes Pharoah’s wrong toward Sarai.

Yes, Sarai’s practical enslavement in Genesis 12 foreshadows Israel’s future enslavement. Is there a similar corollary between Abram’s dastardly deception and Israel’s choices at the time of their enslavement?

It’s not perfectly clear, and this is getting ahead of the game (to Exodus 1). But, according to Exodus 1, the people of Israel living in Egypt have become so numerous and successful, the Pharoah sees them as a threat to Egypt’s “own people” and Egypt’s stability.

For Yahweh, it seems, Israel, like Abram, overly values ease and comfort in Egypt, in a land not their own, not given to them by Yahweh. Yahweh’s promised land for Israel is not Egypt as collectively successful and numerous they’ve become. Success and wealth do not a home make. Connection to God, who is Love, is what makes a home. Israel seems to have taken this for granted.

Anyway, back to Abram and Sarai and our story from Genesis 12.

So, Sarai is the Pharoah’s enslaved lesser wife. Pharoah treats her that way. Abram is making out like a bandit. And Yahweh does what?

He goes after both men who’ve wronged Sarai. Yahweh goes after the Pharoah and in a roundabout way Abram as well. Yahweh afflicts Pharoah and his court with “great plagues.” As for Abram, he loses all the privileges of being an in-law to the Pharoah and he, along with Sarai, are kicked out of Egypt, making Abram and Sarai immigrants again.

That said, Abram and Sarai are together again. It is better to be immigrants together than settled citizens apart. That’s certainly Yahweh’s take. The Promised Land must be entered together!