And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
A severe famine arose in the land as another trial for Abraham, and it caused him to move down into Egypt for a time. When Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and sent him away with his wife and all that he had, Abraham departed under that dismissal. God had given him favor with the Egyptians, so that he left Egypt with more than he had when he went in. That increase came not by his own scheming but by divine favor resting upon him even in a strange land.
The sojourn ending in this dismissal was one of the places where God revealed Himself to other nations through Abraham. God called Abraham and prospered and honored him, and Abraham's fidelity was a light in every country where he stayed. He did not shut himself away from the people around him but maintained friendly relations with the kings of the surrounding nations, by some of whom he was treated with great respect. Through his integrity and unselfishness, his valor and benevolence, he represented the character of God, so that in Egypt the God of heaven was revealed through His representative. Yet this same account belongs to the record of Abraham's sin under temptation, preserved to show that even those favored by God can fall into error and that their failures are recorded as warnings and lessons for later generations.
A severe famine arose in the land as another trial for Abraham, and it caused him to move down into Egypt for a time. When Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and sent him away with his wife and all that he had, Abraham departed under that dismissal. God had given him favor with the Egyptians, so that he left Egypt with more than he had when he went in. That increase came not by his own scheming but by divine favor resting upon him even in a strange land.
The sojourn ending in this dismissal was one of the places where God revealed Himself to other nations through Abraham. God called Abraham and prospered and honored him, and Abraham's fidelity was a light in every country where he stayed. He did not shut himself away from the people around him but maintained friendly relations with the kings of the surrounding nations, by some of whom he was treated with great respect. Through his integrity and unselfishness, his valor and benevolence, he represented the character of God, so that in Egypt the God of heaven was revealed through His representative. Yet this same account belongs to the record of Abraham's sin under temptation, preserved to show that even those favored by God can fall into error and that their failures are recorded as warnings and lessons for later generations.