Abraham separated from Ur, was separated from his father’s house, from Terah, he was separated from Egypt now, and now he is going to be further separated from his kindred, from Lot his nephew. It is interesting to note, as we look at this in passing (we will get to it a little bit later here), but it was not until after Abraham was separated from Lot, that God told Abram to “lift up your eyes and see the land which I am going to give you.” It is entirely possible, since the promised seed had not been given yet, that Abraham might have had Lot in the back of his mind as a possible heir. God is going to show Abraham that Lot is not the heir and they are going to separate.
I think that it is interesting as it shows in verses 3 and 4, that God brought Abraham back from the place in which he swerved to go down into Egypt. I think there is a lesson there. Sometimes, brethren, we have to backtrack almost to the very beginning, to get back on the beam so we can continue our journey to the right destination. I want to show you a couple of places in the New Testament where the apostle shows that very clearly.
That is another reason, another piece of evidence, why I think that Abram made a mistake in going down to Egypt. It was not a continuation of the journey except that it was a digression off to the side. God made it work out, and Abram learned some things from it, but it was not something that was necessary for his perfection. It does not seem that God was very involved in leading Abram to that area.
Now in Christianity, one is either moving forward, digressing off to the side, or being swept backward. There is no standing still. When Abram returns to Bethel, he has much more understanding, and with it he is able to point to a further separation of his kindred Lot.
Now let us recapitulate before we go on, because I want to give you another reason why I think Abraham made a mistake in going down to Egypt. Did you notice whenever you read through Genesis 12:10, that there was no mention of an altar, no mention of worship, no mention of prayer, no mention of walking with God, no mention of communion with God. God is mentioned only in plaguing Pharaoh for having taking Sarai into his harem. To me, the absence of these things is indicative of Abram’s closeness to God then. And it is only after he leaves Egypt and he gets back into the land of promise in Bethel, which means “house of God,” that an altar and calling on God is mentioned, all of those in Genesis 13:3-4.
They were actually traveling northeast here, and the reference of going to the south was going south of the Promised Land to the Negev, probably in the area of Beersheba, if your familiar with a map of Israel.
I think that it is interesting as it shows in verses 3 and 4, that God brought Abraham back from the place in which he swerved to go down into Egypt. I think there is a lesson there. Sometimes, brethren, we have to backtrack almost to the very beginning, to get back on the beam so we can continue our journey to the right destination. I want to show you a couple of places in the New Testament where the apostle shows that very clearly.
That is another reason, another piece of evidence, why I think that Abram made a mistake in going down to Egypt. It was not a continuation of the journey except that it was a digression off to the side. God made it work out, and Abram learned some things from it, but it was not something that was necessary for his perfection. It does not seem that God was very involved in leading Abram to that area.
Now in Christianity, one is either moving forward, digressing off to the side, or being swept backward. There is no standing still. When Abram returns to Bethel, he has much more understanding, and with it he is able to point to a further separation of his kindred Lot.
Now let us recapitulate before we go on, because I want to give you another reason why I think Abraham made a mistake in going down to Egypt. Did you notice whenever you read through Genesis 12:10, that there was no mention of an altar, no mention of worship, no mention of prayer, no mention of walking with God, no mention of communion with God. God is mentioned only in plaguing Pharaoh for having taking Sarai into his harem. To me, the absence of these things is indicative of Abram’s closeness to God then. And it is only after he leaves Egypt and he gets back into the land of promise in Bethel, which means “house of God,” that an altar and calling on God is mentioned, all of those in Genesis 13:3-4.
When it says he went to the south, you know if you went south from Egypt you would go to Ethiopia. But it means he went to the south of the land of Canaan, to the Negev, into the area of Beersheba. But he did not stop in Beersheba.
Now, we have not just one very rich man, but we have two. Lot is not called very rich, but he was also quite well off.
