The Detour – (Genesis 12)

In the ancient world, where farming heavily relied on rainfall, a prolonged drought had a much more drastic impact on food supplies. In the Bible, famines are often the reason people migrated in search of the most basic necessity—food. Abram follows this pattern during one such famine, taking a detour to Egypt, and it seems that on this journey, he is moving away from God.

Throughout his travels, we see Abram building altars, but not in Egypt. Why is that? What made this particular expedition different? When we look at this incident in Abram’s life, it becomes clear that there is some distance between him and God at this point. This may explain why he deceives Pharaoh, not just to save his life, but also to profit from the situation. He sells his wife, Sarai, to Pharaoh and gains great riches in return, including livestock and servants. It is only when God intervenes—inflicting diseases upon Pharaoh’s household—that Pharaoh orders Abram to leave Egypt and return to his journey toward the Promise Land.

Abram Makes the Logical Choice

Abram was already travelling in the region of Negev, a desert and semi-desert area in southern Israel when famine struck the land. Faced with this crisis, he made the logical choice, considering all his options, and decided to go down to Egypt to outlast the famine.

Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. – Genesis 12:10 (NIV)

The famine was severe, and Egypt’s food supply was usually plentiful due to the reliable water supply of the Nile. Seeing that the land in Egypt was fertile, Abram took his entire household and cattle there to survive the famine. However, his son Isaac, when faced with a similar situation later, chose to trust God and stayed put, perhaps learning from his father’s earlier failure to rely on God’s guidance.

Oftentimes, like Abram, we make decisions based on the circumstances around us. We try to be pragmatic, reasoning through our choices in a logical way. Yet, our logical reasoning is often shaped by the world’s standards and what they deem as “good” or safe. People tend to blame Abram’s nephew, Lot, for making a selfish and calculated decision when he chose to settle in Sodom and Gomorrah over staying with his uncle Abraham. But, in reality, Abram himself made a similar choice, opting for Egypt over trusting the path that God had set for him.

The Lie

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” – Genesis 12:11-13 (NIV)

Abram realizes that he no longer has God’s protection in this foreign land, so he devises a plan to protect himself. Abram asks Sarai to lie because he fears that the Egyptian king, impressed by her beauty, might kill him to take her as his wife. This is another example of Abram not trusting God and relying on his own cunning to navigate the situation. Throughout his story, this becomes a recurring theme—Abram repeatedly tries to solve problems with his own wits, but in the end, these plans often fail.

When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians noticed that Sarai was a stunningly beautiful woman. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to him, which led to her being taken into his palace. In those days, women were often treated as possessions, and a beautiful, intelligent woman was considered a rare and valuable find. Much like modern-day rulers who collect every type of car for their personal garages, Pharaoh sought to add Sarai, a woman of remarkable beauty, to his collection, even though she was well into her sixties.

Pharaoh treated Abram generously for Sarai’s sake, and as a result, Abram gained sheep, cattle, donkeys (both male and female), servants, and camels. Not only did Abram lie to save his own life, but he also had no qualms about accepting gifts from Pharaoh in return. Camels were the Rolls Royce of the ancient world, reserved only for the super-rich. With the ability to run fast like a horse, carry heavy loads, and survive for days without water in the desert, camels became the most sought-after travel animal among the kings of ancient Near Eastern kingdoms.

The LORD Intervenes

But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. – Genesis 12:17 (NIV)

Pharaoh would likely have gathered his ministers to diagnose the current disease plaguing his household. Together, they would have traced the origins of the outbreak, eventually pinpointing that it began after he took Sarai as his wife. This realization would have led Pharaoh to understand that the cause of the affliction was linked to his actions with Abram’s wife.


Pharaoh, after realizing the truth, confronted Abram for deceiving him about Sarai. He questioned why Abram hadn’t revealed that Sarai was his wife and instead claimed she was his sister. Pharaoh then ordered Abram to take Sarai and leave Egypt. But why did God punish Pharaoh’s family for Abram’s sins?

Even though Sarai was barren, God still chose her to be the one through whom the lineage leading to the “snake crusher” would continue. The Egyptian king, whether knowingly or unknowingly, became a barrier to God’s redemptive plan. Though Pharaoh was not at fault, his position of power in Egypt placed him in a role where his actions interfered with God’s redemption plan through Abram’s lineage.

Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had. – Genesis 12:20 (NIV)

It’s often easier to take the visible road, the one that seems straightforward, rather than the foggy, dangerous path of faith. As long as we receive blessings along the way, we may keep going down the wrong route, convinced that it’s the right one. At times, we too may feel like God is not blessing us, not fulfilling His promises, or not blessing us in the way we had hoped. Like Abram, we might step away from our relationship with God, seeking to direct our own lives and explore paths we had once avoided.

While our time away from God may bring us temporary pleasure or material gain, in hindsight, we may regret the choices we made. Yet, God still chooses to protect us and bring us out of these situations. Just as He safely brought Abram out of Pharaoh’s jurisdiction, He will do the same for us. No matter what we’ve done during our time away from God, He accepts us with open arms, just like the father who welcomed the prodigal son back home.

Discussion Questions

1. What led Abram to travel to Egypt?
2. Why did Abram instruct Sarai to conceal their relationship?
3. Why was Pharaoh’s family punished for Abram’s actions?
4. Do we, like Abram, sometimes take unexpected detours in our journeys towards God?