At the start of Genesis 12, God speaks to Abram. This divine instruction marks a pivotal point in redemptive history. That is, God calls Abram out of his ancestral homeland and chooses him to be the father of a covenantal people whom God has set apart for Himself.
Specifically, in Genesis 12:1–3, God speaks and calls Abram out of modern-day Iraq. God is clear that Abram is to go to the land which the Lord will show Him, and that place is soon revealed to be Canaan, which is roughly modern-day Israel. Consequently, when Abram faithfully obeys God’s command to go and arrives in Canaan, God makes Abram a promise. Genesis 12:7–9 says:
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
Many listeners may hear all the places Abram journeyed in Canaan and then say, “So what? How is Abram’s travel itinerary in the Promised Land relevant to my life right now?” Well, it will be relevant to you if you have ever lost your way and wandered away from God, but are looking to go back home.
You see, in Genesis 12:1–9, God calls Abram, and Abram follows God’s command. For the moment, all is going well, as Abram is walking in obedience. But then, what happens in Genesis 12:10? The text tells us that a famine strikes the land. And so, Abram leaves the place (Canaan) that God specifically told him to go. Genesis 12:10 says:
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.
Now, let us pause for a moment and consider: Who told Abram to leave the Promised Land? Because it wasn’t God. In this chapter, the last thing God told Abram to do was to go to Canaan. Hence, it was ultimately Abram’s decision to leave the place God told him to go and flee to Egypt.
As a side note, I will make two quick points here. The first is that Abram’s actions are a perfect example of when the Bible merely describes what people do. Notice, then, that a mere description of human activity must always be contrasted with God’s commands. The Scriptures reveal people for who they are, whether good or bad. The Scriptures will also often show us the consequences of people’s bad decisions so that we may learn from others’ mistakes. And so, when you read your Bible, always consider, “Is this person doing what God told them to, or are they doing what they want to do?” To be a responsible interpreter of the Bible, you cannot necessarily equate human decisions with divine validation.
The second point is that in the Old Testament, Egypt figuratively is the place people go when they don’t trust God. Egypt is also a place that provides numerous distractions and temptations to keep people’s eyes off the Lord. Hence, Egypt is both a physical locale and a symbol.
So what happens next after Abram leaves Canaan? What happens is no incidental detail. Genesis 12:11–18 says:
It came about when he came near to Egypt, that [Abram] said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.
But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
In other words, because of a famine—or a perceived threat to his own well-being—Abram gets the idea to leave the place God told him to go. Unfortunately, as a result of one bad idea, many others follow: Abram subsequently lies about his wife, not only endangering her purity but also potentially jeopardizing the legitimacy of Abram’s descendants. By grace, the Lord intervenes and cleans up the mess that Abram has made.
If Abram’s story ended at Genesis 12:18, it would be fair to say that he failed. That is, God promised him great things, but the man failed to realize the promises made to him. Thankfully for Abram (and you and me), his story doesn’t end with his failure. So, what happens next? In the next verse of the next chapter (Genesis 13:1), the text says:
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.
Why is it important to recognize that Abram left Egypt to return to Canaan and go back to the Negev? Because the Negev was the exact place he was headed toward before Abram was side-tracked to Egypt. Again, as Genesis 12:8–9 says:
Then [Abram] proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
Hence, when Abram comes to his senses in Egypt and realizes he has gone off course, what does he do? He goes back to square one. He returns to the place where he originally went off course and resumes his journey. He goes back to the land where God had told him to go in the first place. Like the prodigal son, Abram returns to where he was supposed to be: the Promised Land, not the land of false promises.
Abram’s return to the Negev may seem like a small detail, but it has big implications in that only a kind and merciful God who knows we are weak and condescends to our frailties can make such a return possible. God could have irreversibly judged Abram’s distrust and then let him go forever. He could have cast Abram away and told him, “You failed the test, and so you don’t deserve the promise anymore.” But God made a promise, and God cannot deny Himself. And so, as in the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament, it is the loving father that makes the child’s return both possible and sweet. God allows Abram to experience what happens when he trusts in not-God: that is, everything becomes a mess. Consequently, when Abram returns, by grace, he then picks up where he left off with a presumed new frame of mind: Trust God and Him alone. Going back to square one thus means returning to the only valid object of our faith: the Lord. Yes, in life, we will trip and fall and be tempted to place our trust in something that may seem like the practical thing to do right now. And when we make the wrong decision—which we all will—know that the way back means going back to the Negev, back to square one. Our great hope is that when we return, the loving father rejoices to see His child return.
What I hope is clear is that going back to square one is animated by faith. Hence, this is the crucial test of the kind of faith that you have: Do your disappointments, disasters, and detours end up driving you away from God or drawing you back to Him? Because, if your faith trusts in you, failure will drive you away from God. You can either tell yourself, “I have to try harder next time,” or pretend as if the failure never happened. Either way, God is not the solution, and you end up farther away from Him. You end up progressively isolated from God because your failure exposes the hollowness of your claim that you can stand before the Lord based on your own works.
But, if your faith rests in God, then your failures won’t devastate you. Why? Because you are not trusting in yourself, but in the Lord, who never fails. Now, when your confidence and hope to stand before Him rest in what He has done, your standing is secure. Failure will thus drive you back to square one, back to the altar where you started, so that you can repent and rest in God. As it says in Psalm 37:23–24:
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
Ian M. Duguid had a magnificent insight in his commentary, Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham:
“People of faith fail just as others do. The difference is that when they fail, they do not fall, because they return to the Lord in repentance, calling on his name and seeking forgiveness.”
Beloved, going back to square one is simple because the Lord has made the path clear through Christ. The Christian life will be characterized by many failures, but Jesus will see to it that He loses no one. We cannot fall because He is forever risen. Amen.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal