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 20), and the other is related about Isaac in Gerar (Genesis 26:7-11). Of course, we reject the critical thesis that this event really could never have happened three times. They resolve the problem, of course, by supposing the confusion of different sources, or "different traditions" that the narrator combined into a single record. However, as Willis said:

"Since Abram lied about his wife once, he could have done so twice; and if Abram did it, his son may have imitated his father under similar circumstances."[23]

It should be remembered too that Abram was greatly enriched on the occasion of this first lapse; and that might have influenced him to repeat it. The ancient people of God fully learned that they could presume upon the providence of God to prevent any fatal destruction of the Chosen People until the Messiah should arrive. The leaders of the Jews upon the occasion of the destruction of their temple in 70 A.D., rallied the people by saying, "Do not be afraid; we cannot be destroyed until the Messiah comes!" Human weakness being what it is, such guesses as these are far preferable to the "separate traditions" postulated by guessing scholars. We believe that all three events occurred as related in Genesis.