Now what about cooks? What about people who took care of the herds and the flocks, the shepherds, the caretakers of one kind or another? What about household servants? We know that Abraham did not have a house per say, but I am sure, when we get into chapter 13 where it says Abraham was very rich, even though he lived in a tent it was probably one of the nicest tents you will ever see. Maybe a ten, twelve, or fourteen room tent. I do not know. At any rate, I get the picture of a man who led a group of somewhere in the neighborhood of at least one-thousand people and maybe up to two thousand people.
We are talking about a large portion of Terah’s family, Lot’s family, all of that group of people, all of their possessions, and the people whom they had acquired. These are not, I get the impression here, those born in his house, the three-hundred and eighteen, but the people he had acquired. Remember that I was on that verse the last week. These could have represented people that he hired to be carriers, scribes, whatever, mule drivers, donkey drivers, you name it, whatever they needed in the way of beasts of burden. They could have been people who were convinced by the teaching of Abraham and decided to attach themselves to him and made the pilgrimage with him down into Canaan and down into Egypt.
Now, if you are in Egypt and a group of one-thousand or so people come into your nation, I think that you would notice it. Because surely the Pharaoh of Egypt had people on the borders guarding the areas, the roadways, keeping him apprised of what was going on, what was passing down the road.
So when Abraham came into town, it was not a single nomad and his wife who was sneaking in under the cover of darkness, but rather we find someone with a very large retinue of people with him and it was not possible for him to sneak into Egypt.
I think if that occurred and they had newspapers, it probably would have been front page headlines in Egypt where he came in. So, it attracted Pharaoh’s attention and I feel certain that with Abraham being there, he would have asked for grazing lands, a water supply, and whatever it would take for those people, the retinue, to continue to live.
When they came out of there, it was no small, tiny, little, miniscule group of people who were sneaking out of Haran. It seems to me, at least according to their standards, it was a fairly large group of people that had gathered themselves around Abram, or that Abram had gathered around him, and so that when he left, it was a notable event.
The King James version says, “the souls that they had gotten.” Now undoubtedly these were servants, and it might also have included what we might call converted people. Now I don’t mean that they were converted in a way that we are converted, maybe they were. But they were at least persuaded by Abraham’s arguments. And if there were persecutions against Abraham, I think there were also persecutions directed at those followers of Abraham.
Now I do not think that I am going too far in saying that, as we would look at it today, what Abraham had gathered around him was what we would call the church on earth at that time and that they were beginning a period of pilgrimage, a wandering. There was a forerunner of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, and even today is a forerunner of our spiritual wandering in this world that is opposed to God.
Now the sequence, the order, is people then assets, people then wealth, people then money. The people are first in the order and then the possessions follow. So Sarah and Lot, and then possessions. Flip over to chapter 13 and verse 1, where Abraham and his family go to Egypt and certain things happen.
The sequence has changed from Genesis 12:5 where the order was Abraham and his wife, then Lot, then all his possessions. Now in Genesis 13:1, the order is Abram and his wife, then all his possessions, and then Lot. Why is that? The answer is because Abram’s possessions had come between Lot and him. Abram’s possessions had come between Lot and him. There has been a split between them.
Lot has moved away from his closeness to Abram and Sarah. And the wealth has come between them and Lot is starting to see himself as Abram’s heir. He is starting to be a little more focused on money than the family's relationship. The difference in the order that is mentioned in the two verses sheds a great deal of light on the subject. You will not be surprised to find that four verses later, there is an argument between Abram and Lot.
When we left Abraham the last time, he had been called out of his area and he had proceeded from Ur to Haran, left Haran and had gone into the land of Canaan.
We are talking about a large portion of Terah’s family, Lot’s family, all of that group of people, all of their possessions, and the people whom they had acquired. These are not, I get the impression here, those born in his house, the three-hundred and eighteen, but the people he had acquired. Remember that I was on that verse the last week. These could have represented people that he hired to be carriers, scribes, whatever, mule drivers, donkey drivers, you name it, whatever they needed in the way of beasts of burden. They could have been people who were convinced by the teaching of Abraham and decided to attach themselves to him and made the pilgrimage with him down into Canaan and down into Egypt.
