When Abram left Haran, God had promised that He would bless Abram, and also that He would protect Him: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” But famine came to the land, and Abram took matters into his own hands and set out for the well-watered land of Egypt. There certainly was nothing wrong in Abram’s looking out for the welfare of his family, but we get no indication that he communicated with God at all about the wisdom of this decision. Matters deteriorated still further when Abram sought to protect himself at the expense of his wife, Sarai. Sure that Sarai’s great beauty would put his own life in danger, he suggested to Sarai that she say she is his sister, so that she could legitimately join Pharaoh’s harem without putting Abram’s life in jeopardy. (Comments could be made about the state of this marriage, if Abram was willing to save his own skin at the expense of Sarai's skin!)
God was not at all pleased about this situation, and caused an epidemic in Pharaoh’s household. It was clear to the ethically-minded Egyptians that something evil was afoot, and when Pharaoh discovered the nature of Abram’s lie, he sent him and his household packing. Interestingly enough, Abram was made very wealthy during his time in Egypt; one would think that he might have had the goodness to refuse the wealth gotten in such an illegitimate way. Obviously, his ethical sense had not matured greatly at this point!
Wealthy Abram headed from Egypt to the Negev. The Bible tells us that “he went from place to place until he came to Bethel…where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.” (Gen. 13:3-4)
This little detour of Abram’s is quite instructive. How often do we allow fear to distract us from the promises of God to protect us and lead us in His ways? And how often do we try to solve problems with our own solutions? Abram saw a problem—lack of food and consequent hunger—and he solved it in his own way without consulting his divine Protector. His emotional reaction of fear was not wrong in itself, but giving into the fear rather than acting on faith, led him on a trip to Egypt and a sin against the Egyptians.
Once he left Egypt, Abram traveled from place to place, seeming to be almost embarrassed to face God again. But eventually he headed back to Bethel where he had first worshipped, and he worshipped again. The old adage says that we can never go home again, but it’s comforting that, in our relationship with God, He longs for us to go home again (see the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15). Abram got sidetracked briefly, but once he was confronted with his sin (by the pagan Pharaoh of all people) he knew where to go—back to the God who had promised to make him great and to protect him in times of trouble.
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