We
noticed in our last article the fundamental lesson of separation as it is
exhibited in the case of Lot and Abram; we are now to see Abram in yet another light,
and most heart-searching lesson awaits us.
“And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn
there, for the famine was grievous in the land.”
One of the lessons that we all have to
learn is expressed in the words of Deuteronomy viii.:--
“Thou shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and
to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His
commandments or no, and He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He
might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither
did thy foot swell, these forty years; thou
shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the
Lord chasteneth thee.”
Perhaps
the strongest test of the faith indicated in these occurrences is the character
of the manna, “which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know”; faith trusts apart from sight or knowledge,
but sense yearns for something substantial,
not realizing that “faith is the substance of things hoped for”. We must not judge by some rule of thumb, for
each case has its own peculiar position in the purpose of God. When on another occasion a famine swept over
Canaan, and the sons of Jacob went down to Egypt, we can see that it was part
of a Divine plan to bring about God’s own purpose; and again, when Herod sought to kill the
infant Christ, Joseph and Mary found refuge in Egypt at the command of an angel
of God. Whether, therefore, Abram should
have remained in Canaan in spite of the famine, or whether he was right to go
to Egypt, it is not for us to say, one thing comes prominently out of the
story, and that is the terrible effect upon the pilgrim of faith a close
proximity to the world can have.
“And it came to pass when he was come near
to enter Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou
art a fair woman to look upon; therefore
it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say,
This is his wife and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and
my soul shall live because of thee.”
Bishop Hall’s pithy comment is worth
repeating:--
“God hath
said, I will make thee a great nation: Abram
saith, the Egyptians will kill me … he through inconsiderateness doubted twice
of his life doubted not the life of his seed … yet it was more difficult that
his posterity should live in Sarah, than that Sarah’s husband should live in
Egypt.”
When we
analyze unbelief, it is of all things most unreasonable. Abram would doubtless have defended his
attitude by saying that after all Sarai was
his sister. The poet has it that the lie which is half the
truth is ever the blackest of lies, and it is more abominable in Abram
to make the semblance of truth his refuge, than for the wicked to lie
outright. The world, the Pharaohs of
this spiritual Egypt, they will even reprove the man of faith for his
inconsistency. The famine in Canaan was
a trial certainly, but all trials that come upon the child of God are intended
to lead him more continually to Christ.
If Abram had only thought what he was doing, as he drew near to Egypt,
he would have realized that to take refuge in a lie was to depart from
God. True, Abram exchanged Canaan’s
famine for plenty — “he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and
maidservants, and she asses, and camels” — but
he had no fellowship with God. This
we shall see in the sequel.
The
plagues sent by the Lord because of Abram’s wife are sent to unmask Abram’s
deceit. An unbeliever (or at least a
type of this world), rebukes the man of God:--
“And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What
is this that thou hast done unto me? Why
didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Why saidst thou, she is my sister?
So I might have taken her to me; now
therefore, behold thy wife, take her and go thy way.”
Let us
notice how Abram’s sin involved others.
“What is this that thou hast done
unto me?” The pilgrim cannot step
aside from the path of faith without evil resulting to himself and others. How sad to think that he who had been
specially called out to be a blessing to all nations, should by his first
individual act involve (but for the mercy of God) a nation in sin!
Chapter
xiii. sees Abram leaving Egypt rich in
cattle, in silver, and in gold, yet poor as yet in the treasures of faith:--
“And he went on his journey from the
south, even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and
Hai, unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there
Abram called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. xiii. 3, 4).
This is a
picture of restoration, “He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His name’s sake”. The
time which Abram spent in Egypt was so much waste, so far as God was concerned; he had to retrace his steps to the starting
point. Similarly, Jonah ran away from
the Lord, and entered a ship bound for Tarshish, yet when the great fish
vomited up Jonah, he was upon the coast of the country he had been told to
visit (Jonah iii. 1):--
“And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
Not only
is it true that these lapses in the path of faith are so much lost time to the
individual believer, but it enters also into the great prophetical reckonings
of God with His people. We doubtless are
aware that there are what are called lo-ammi
periods in biblical chronology; lo-ammi being the Hebrew for, “not my people”. According to
I Kings vi. 1 the temple was
commenced in the 480th year after the children of Israel had
departed from Egypt,
whereas according to Acts xiii. 17-22 the period
is given as 573 years (this includes 3 years of Solomon’s reign), a
difference of 93 years. Abram’s loss of communion, and the
re-commencement with God from where he was at
the beginning, is but a small example of the principle that solves this
apparent riddle.
During
the time of the Judges Israel were taken away captive 5 times, and if we note
the duration of these captivities, we find they total exactly 93 years! In case some readers are acquainted with this
fact, we give the references hereunder:--
Chusan-rishathaim.
Judges iii. 8. 8 years.
Eglon iii.
14. 18
Jabin iv.
2. 20
Midian vi.
1. 7
Philistines xiii.
1 .
40
------
Total
93 years.
====
The years
of the Acts reckoning are Anno Mundi
(in the year of the world), whereas the 480th year of I Kings
is Anno Dei (in God’s year),
showing that no record is made of the years of captivity. What a short term of Christian service some
of us really serve when we come to consider the many lapses, and the many fresh
beginnings that we can remember. What a mercy that the Lord
does restore us, yet
should we remember His words, “Go, and sin no more”. The reader who is interested in the prophetic
times of Daniel ix. will find a further application of this
principle in volume VI The
Berean Expositor (page 165).
We are
sure that when Abram reached the place of tent and altar, and there called upon
the name of the Lord, he realized that nothing Egypt could offer was so
precious as these two accompaniments of his pilgrimage. The world throughout all dispensations has
been an unqualified snare: the wise will
profit by these scriptural examples, while the foolish will think that where
Abram failed, they will succeed.
Doubtless Lot thought he would overcome the evil of Sodom, but we know
that he did not.
We cannot
close without at least a remembrance of that One who though the Son of God (and
who could, had He wished, have turned the stones of the wilderness into bread),
nevertheless waited upon God, repelling the suggestion of dependence upon any
arm save that of His Father. Abram will
find his place in the list of those who lived by faith, but the One who eclipses
the whole cloud of witnesses is that One who is the author and perfecter of
faith.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
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