Genesis 12:1-9
Abraham Travels to Canaan

12:1. father's household. A man was identified in the ancient world as a member of his father's household. When the head of the household died, his heir assumed that title and its responsibilities. It is also identified with ancestral lands and property. By leaving his father's household, Abram was thus giving up his inheritance and his right to family property.

12:1. The covenant promises. Land, family and inheritance were among the most significant elements in ancient society. For farmers and herdsmen land was their livelihood. For city dwellers land represented their political identity. Descendants represented the future. Children provided for their parents in old age and enabled the family line to extend another generation. They gave proper burial to their parents and honored the names of their ancestors. In some of the ancient Near Eastern cultures these were considered essential to maintaining a comfortable existence in the afterlife. When Abram gave up his place in his father's household, he forfeited his security. He was putting his survival, his identity, his future and his security in the hands of the Lord.

12:6. tree of Moreh. Most likely this was a great Tabor oak (Quercus ithaburensis), which served as a landmark at Shechem and perhaps could have functioned as a point where a teacher (the literal meaning of Moreh) or judge would come to hear legal cases or provide instruction (such as Deborah's palm tree in Judg 4:5 and Danil's judgment tree in the Ugaritic epic of Aqhat). Besides being valued for their shade, such trees also served as evidences of fertility and were therefore often adopted as places of worship (not often as objects of worship).

12:6. Shechem. The site of Shechem has been identified with Tell Balatah, east of modern Nablus and thirty-five miles north of Jerusalem. Perhaps because of its proximity to two nearby peaks, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, it has had a long history as a sacred site. The strategic position of Shechem, at the east entrance to the pass between these mountains, also made it an important trading center. As early as the Middle Bronze I period, Shechem is mentioned in the Egyptian texts of Pharaoh Sesostris III (1880-1840 b.c.). Excavations have revealed an apparently unwalled settlement in Middle Bronze IIA (about 1900 b.c.) with the development of fortifications in Middle Bronze IIB (about 1750).

12:6-9. significance of altars. Altars function as sacrificial platforms. Their construction can also mark the introduction of the worship of a particular god in a new land. Abram's setting up of altars in each place where he camped defines areas to be occupied in the “Promised Land” and establishes these places as religious centers in later periods.

Genesis 12:10-20
Abraham in Egypt

12:10. famine in the land. Syria-Palestine has a fragile ecology that is based on the rains which come in the winter and spring months. If these rains fail to come at the appropriate time, are less or more than is expected, or fail to come at all, then planting and harvests are negatively affected. It was not uncommon for drought and resulting famine to occur in this region. Egyptian Papyrus Anastasi VI reports of an entire clan going down into Egypt during a drought. Modern archaeologists and geologists have found evidence of a massive three-hundred-year drought cycle that occurred during the end of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium—one of the time periods to which Abraham is dated.

12:11-12. wife as sister. The wife/sister theme appears three times in Genesis. It functions as (1) a protective strategy by migrants against local authorities, (2) a contest between God and the god-king Pharaoh in Genesis 12 and (3) a literary motif designed to heighten tension in the story when the promise of an heir to the covenant is threatened. The logic is possibly that if an individual in power desired to take a woman into his harem he might be inclined to negotiate with a brother, but he would be more likely to eliminate a husband. In each case, the ancestral couple are reunited and enriched and the local ruler is shamed. On a personal level this does not speak well of Abram, but it does make him appear more human than in other stories.

12:11. the beauty of aged Sarah. Sarah is described as a beautiful woman, though by this time she is between sixty-five and seventy years of age. The phrase used to describe Sarah here is sometimes used to describe a woman's beauty (2 Sam 14:27), but it does not necessarily refer strictly to feminine allure or attractiveness. It is sometimes used to describe male good looks (1 Sam 17:42), but it may be important to note that the phrase is also used to describe a fine specimen of cow (Gen 41:2). We need not therefore assume that Sarah has miraculously retained the stunning beauty of youth. Her dignity, her bearing, her countenance, her outfitting could all contribute to the impression that she is a striking woman.

12:10-20. Beni Hasan tomb painting. The Twelfth Dynasty (nineteenth century b.c.) tomb painting of Khnumhotep III at Beni Hasan (near Minya in Middle Egypt) depicts one of many caravans of “Asiatics” that brought raw materials and exotic items (frankincense, lapis lazuli). These traders wear multicolored robes, bring their families with them and travel with their weapons and donkeys laden with “ox-hide,” ingots of bronze and other trade goods. Their garb and the ease with which they were able to travel to Egypt may well reflect the look of Abram's household. Egypt served as both a market as well as a source of food and temporary employment for many groups driven by war or famine from the rest of the Near East.

12:17. nature of disease. The assumption in the ancient world is that all disease is a reflection of the displeasure of a god or gods. Infectious disease could be coped with through purification and sacrifice and might be treated with herbal medicines, but the root cause was viewed as divine, not physical. Thus disease was considered the direct result of sin or some violation of custom, so the ancients would seek to determine which god might be responsible and how he might be appeased. Medicinal remedies would be augmented by magical remedies and incantations.