Genesis 12:10: The hill country lives on rain, and the Nile does not

Abram had barely begun his course when he met one of those difficulties. Such trials have a special power to test whether faith is genuine, both in its quality and in its object. "And there was a famine in the land." The difficulty meets him in the very place into which the Lord had called him. It is no easy thing to keep going when we see trial and sorrow, hardship and difficulty waiting for us on the narrow way. It is harder still when we can see within reach, as Abram could, a complete escape from the very trial that is hurting us.

But he is no sooner in the land than trial comes, and his young faith is put to the proof. He had already built an altar, but worship never rules out trial. In fact, the place of worship is always where faith is tested. But faith is worth little unless it is tested. When it comes out of the furnace, it is more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7).

Did he ask Jehovah before going there? Did he spread the circumstances of the land before Him? Not a word is said to suggest it... he goes unbidden into the place of the world's plenty. "There was famine in the land." Why did he not lay it all before Jehovah? Canaan was certainly not yet what it should be according to God; but had God not called him there? And could He not keep him there? Abram goes down to Egypt to stay there without a word of guidance from Jehovah. It was the direction of common sense. God records this fact openly. He never hides the truth, even when it shames those He loves.

Egypt was a snare to Abraham, and his stay in Egypt brought him only sorrow and shame. With Joseph, however, it brought blessing and glory. Why the difference? Is it not that in Abraham's case he "went down into Egypt to sojourn there" (Gen. 12:10), while Joseph was "brought" into Egypt? One went there in unbelief and self-will. The other was brought there according to the settled purpose and foreknowledge of God.

Canaan was a land entirely dependent on showers from heaven. Nearby was Egypt, with its great river and its channels cut from that river to water the farmland. It was a land watered by the foot, a place where man could manage things himself.

Egypt represents the world with its resources. Scripture does not say that God commanded Abram to go down there. Indeed, He could have sustained His servant in a famine just as well as in plenty.

Down in Egypt we have no altar, and no calling on the name of the Lord. God takes care of him and watches over him, but Abram is no worshipper there, not until he gets back. He goes down to Egypt, forced, as people say, by circumstances, not in the place of dependence or communion.

This behaviour was the result of his being in a wrong position. Had he stayed in the place to which God had called him, there would have been no need to deny his wife. But as usually happens, one wrong step led to another. He went into Egypt through fear of the famine, and there he denied his wife through fear of death.

This beautiful chapter shows us the man of faith recovering himself. He recovers through the faithfulness and loving-kindness of God, who never lets such a man wander far or stay away long. Egypt's gold and silver, its flocks and herds, could not satisfy Abram for long while he had no tent and no altar. So once more, with the renewed energy of faith, he rises from the dust of Egypt and retraces his steps to the land of promise.