Genesis 12:19-20

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:10-20

Journey to Egypt and return (12:10-13:18)A long drought in Canaan must have caused Abram to wonder just how reliable this promised land was. In the end he journeyed to Egypt in search of better pastures (10).Fearing that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take his beautiful wife, he preserved himself by saying she was his sister. This was half true, because Sarai was a daughter of Terah by another wife (see 20:12); but Abram and Sarai did wrong in telling only half the truth in order to... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 12:20

And. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 12:17-19

"And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 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 that I took her to be my wife? now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way."There are many questions that rise with reference to this, but the Sacred Scriptures supply none of the answers. Josephus has this:"God's plague upon... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 12:20

"And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all they had."This is viewed as a military escort for the protection and safe passage of Abram's company, Pharaoh evidently fearing God's vengeance against him for any harm that might come to Abram.One of the great curiosities of the O.T. is the appearance of two other very similar stories, although different, from the one related here. One of the others likewise involved Abraham in Gerar (Genesis... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 12:20

Genesis 12:20. Pharaoh commanded his men, &c.— Pharaoh, struck with the divine punishment and admonition, (for men had not yet shaken off all degree of regard to a Supreme Being,) restored his wife to Abram, and dismissed the patriarch with an honourable and safe conduct. The AEgyptian kingdom, it is computed, had now been established about three hundred years, (in the days of Reu, ch. Genesis 11:18. according to the Arabian writers,) and was grown very powerful by the means of this king,... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 12:10-20

2. Abram in Egypt 12:10-20The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Abram chose to sojourn in the Nile Valley until it ended. In this incident Abram misrepresented Sarai because he feared for his life. By doing so, he jeopardized his blessing since he lost his wife temporarily to Pharaoh. However, Yahweh intervened to deliver Abram and Sarai from Egypt."The account of Abraham’s ’sojourn’ in Egypt bears the stamp of having been intentionally shaped to parallel the later... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-20

The Call of Abraham. The Removal to Canaan. The Visit to Egypt1. Had said] RV ’said,’ when he was in Haran. In what manner the call came to Abraham, whether through some outward incident which he recognised as the prompting of Providence, or through the suggestions of the Divine Spirit in his inmost soul, we do not know. Anyhow he regarded it as divine and authoritative, and it was too definite tobe misunderstood. Get thee out of.. and from.. and from] The repetition emphasises the complete... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-34

The History of AbrahamAt this point the specific purpose of the writer of the Pentateuch begins to appear more clearly. Speaking generally, that purpose is to trace the development of the kingdom of God in the line of Israelitish history. To this subject the preceding chapters of Genesis have formed an introduction, dealing with universal history, and indicating the place of Israel among the other nations of the world. The narrative now passes from universal history to the beginnings of the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 12:19

(19) So I might have taken her to me to wife.—The Hebrew is, and I took her to me to wife: that is, I took her with the intention of making her my wife. During the interval before the marriage Pharaoh and his household were visited with such marked troubles that he became alarmed, and possibly Sarai then revealed to him her true relationship to Abram. We find in Esther 2:12 that in the case of maidens there was a probation of twelve months duration before the marriage took place, and Sarai was... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 12:1-20

Genesis 12:1 Abraham was the father of the faithful, and we have here the first recorded test to which his faith was put. The first and one of the greatest. I. The Substance of God's Call to Abraham. 1. He was called from rest to pilgrimage. From his country and kindred and father's house, to undertake lifelong journeying. He was at an age at which he would fain rest. His wanderings seemed to be begun at the wrong end of his life. But it was then God said, 'Get thee out'. It is as life... read more