Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name.”
(Genesis 13:1-4)

We can clearly see that Lot was with Abram when they went down to Egypt. We also see that Abram was not diminished when he went down to Egypt. Here he is returning with everything he had plus what he had gained from Pharoah as Sarai’s dowry. Yes, he was banned from Egypt and despised for his conduct there, but he was able to take comfort in his possessions – which were MANY.

Abram’s focus on stuff is detrimental to him and his calling in the Land – but the Lord deals with it (Genesis 14:23). We also see a return to relying on the Lord because Abram journeys until he reaches the last place he truly connected with the Lord – and seeks to connect with him again. Abram had been set apart as someone who consistently made altars to Yahweh everywhere he went. Here we see a return to that behaviour. God doesn’t directly engage with Abram – Abram is still in disobedience regarding his family (Genesis 12:1) – but Abram is returning to the process of aligning with God.

Abram didn’t travel south from Egypt, but went into the southern part of Canaan, where he had been before. He’s retracing his steps. The town he ends up in is the same one we will visit in Joshua 7.

Much in the same way Abram returned to where he had experienced an encounter with God, we are called to remember what Jesus has done for us, in us, and through us (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). We can build ourselves up in Him by remembering who He is and what He does. This is what David did as well when faced with difficulties (1 Samuel 30:6).

The sage Rashi writes: ‘ויעל אברם וגו’ הנגבה AND ABRAM WENT UP [OUT OF EGYPT] …TOWARDS THE NEGEB — He went up to proceed to the Southern part of the land of Israel — as it is said above (Genesis 12:9) “going on more and more to the Negeb” — to the Mount Moriah. Still, when one goes from Egypt to the land of Canaan, one proceeds from South to North, because Egypt is to the South of the land of Israel, as may be proved from the account of the journeys that the Israelites made in the wilderness and from the description of the boundaries of the land of Israel (see Numbers 33 and Numbers 34).’

The sage Ramban writes: ‘HE, AND HIS WIFE, AND ALL THAT HE HAD. The purport thereof is to let us know that they did not rob him of any of all the great gifts they gave him on account of Sarah who was to be for the king. They did not say, “You have tricked us, and the gift was given by mistake.” This was a miraculous event.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 1.—2. Driven by the famine, he had temporarily left his isolation and had moved into populous Egypt where matters had not been exactly pleasant for him. Now he moved back again to the place where the meaning of this country for his future, and the necessity for isolation for the present, had first become clear to him through the visible revelation of God. There he lived and took up again his old profession, to summon men in the name of God. מקנה: (in contrast to רכוש moveable but lifeless property hence “carted”) is living property, which already by itself follows its master, is conscious of belonging to its owner, ידע קונהו, and so is a person’s real “belongings”.’