Genesis 12:10

"And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land."

There is no record here that God commanded Abram to go down into Egypt, and it must be concluded that he decided to do this on his own, the same being true also of Genesis 12:9, where it is stated that he kept traveling southward. One can hardly blame Abram. The promised land was already occupied by a ruthless pagan society of the Canaanites, and as Abram moved southward the famine closed in upon him. It is ever thus with those who would follow the Lord. After one has taken the step and made the move, the problems often seem to multiply. Leaving Canaan and going down into Egypt, however, would not provide the solution for the problems. Many a Christian has left the kingdom and "gone down into Egypt," only to learn as would Abraham that no child of God belongs there. "The Egyptians, like the Canaanites, were descendants of Ham (through Mizraim, not Canaan) and were also polytheistic, cruel, and immoral."[17]