Genesis 12:14 - Meaning and Application

Here is the danger Sarai faced from the king of Egypt: her chastity, that is, her purity and faithful marriage honor, was in real danger of being violated. The danger of sin is the greatest danger we can face. Pharaoh’s princes, really more like his immoral agents, saw her and noticed how beautiful she was. They praised her to Pharaoh, but not for what was truly her honor, her virtue, modesty, faith, and devotion to God, because those meant nothing to them. They praised only her beauty, which they thought too good for a common subject.

They recommended her to the king, and she was quickly taken into Pharaoh’s house, as Esther was later taken into Ahasuerus’s harem (Esther 2:8), with the aim of bringing her into his bed. We should not think of Sarai as rising toward favor, but as being led into temptation. The causes were her own beauty, which is a trap to many, and Abram’s half-truth, which is a sin that often opens the door to more sin. While Sarai was in this danger, Abram gained from it. Pharaoh gave him sheep, oxen, and other wealth (verse 16), hoping to win his approval so he could more easily get the woman he thought was Abram’s sister. Abram could not have expected this when he came down to Egypt, and certainly did not plan it when he denied his wife. But God brought good out of evil. Even the riches of sinners are, in some way, stored up for the righteous.

Now we come to Sarai’s rescue from this danger. If God did not often step in by his special mercy and bring us out of the troubles we bring on ourselves through our own sin and foolishness, we would soon be ruined, and in fact would already have been ruined long ago. He does not deal with us as we deserve.

First, God sent plagues on Pharaoh, and by that means stopped him from going further in sin. It is a happy kind of punishment when it keeps us from a sinful path and brings us back to our duty, especially to the duty of restoring what we have wrongly taken or kept. Notice that not only Pharaoh, but his whole house, was struck, likely especially those princes who had praised Sarai to him. Those who join in another person’s sin justly share in the punishment. Those who help satisfy other people’s lusts should expect to share in their plagues. We are not told exactly what these plagues were, but they were clear enough, either by the plagues themselves or by an explanation given with them, to show that Sarai was the reason for them.

Second, Pharaoh rebuked Abram, then sent him away with honor. The rebuke was calm, but fully deserved: “What is this you have done?” What an unworthy thing to do. How unfit for a wise and good man. If people who claim religion act dishonestly, especially if they say something that comes close to a lie, they should expect to be corrected, and they should be thankful to those who tell them the truth. We even find a prophet of the Lord rightly rebuked by a pagan ship captain (Jonah 1:6). Pharaoh reasoned with Abram: “Why did you not tell me she was your wife?” He was saying that, if he had known, he would not have taken her into his house. It is a common fault among good people to suspect others more than they should. We often discover more virtue, honor, and conscience in some people than we expected. It should please us when that happens, as it did Abram here, who found Pharaoh to be a better man than he had thought. Love teaches us to hope for the best.

The dismissal was kind and generous. Pharaoh gave Abram his wife back without harming her honor: “Here is your wife, take her” (Genesis 12:19). Those who want to avoid sin must remove the temptation or get out of its way. Pharaoh also sent him away in peace. Far from planning to kill him, as Abram had feared, he took special care of him. We often trouble ourselves with fears that later prove groundless. We fear when there is no real reason to fear. We fear an oppressor’s anger as if he were ready to destroy, when in fact there is no danger (Isaiah 51:13). It would have been better for Abram’s honor and comfort to tell the truth at the start, because honesty is still the best course. It is also said that Pharaoh commanded his men concerning Abram (Genesis 12:20). This may mean that he ordered them not to harm him in anything. If so, rulers must not only avoid doing harm themselves, but also keep their servants and attendants from harming others. Or it may mean that, when Abram was ready to leave after the famine, Pharaoh assigned men to escort him safely out of the country. Pharaoh was likely alarmed by the plagues (Genesis 12:17) and understood that Abram was especially favored by Heaven. So, fearing further trouble, he made sure Abram suffered no injury in his land.

God often wins friends for his people by making others realize it is dangerous to harm them. It is a fearful thing to offend Christ’s little ones (Matthew 18:6). The psalmist refers to this passage when he says that God “reproved kings for their sakes” and warned them, “Touch not my anointed” (Psalm 105:13-15). Perhaps, if Pharaoh had not sent Abram away, Abram might have been tempted to stay in Egypt and forget the land of promise. Sometimes God uses even the enemies of his people to remind them that this world is not their home, and that they must think about leaving it.

Finally, notice the likeness between Abram’s rescue from Egypt and the later rescue of his descendants. Four hundred thirty years later, Abram’s family went into Egypt because of famine, and later they went there again for the same reason. He was brought out with great plagues on Pharaoh, and so were they. As Abram was dismissed by Pharaoh and left with the riches of the Egyptians, so were they. God’s care for his people is the same yesterday, today, and forever.