Matthew Henry Commentary Genesis 12

God chose Abram and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, so that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained until the coming of Christ.

From that time forward, Abram and his descendants became almost the only subject of the history in the Bible. Abram was tested to see if he loved God more than all else, and whether he could willingly leave everything to go with God. His relatives and his father's household were a constant temptation to him; he could not continue among them without the danger of being infected by them.

Those who leave their sins and turn to God will be unspeakable gainers by the change. The command God gave to Abram is much the same as the gospel call, for natural affection must give way to Divine grace. Sin, and all occasions for it, must be forsaken—particularly bad company.

This call includes many great and precious promises, for all God's precepts are accompanied by promises to the obedient.

1. I will make of you a great nation. When God took Abram from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people.

2. I will bless you. Obedient believers shall be sure to inherit the blessing.

3. I will make your name great. The name of obedient believers shall certainly be made great.

4. You shall be a blessing. Good men are the blessings of their country.

5. I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. God will take care that none are losers, by any service done for his people.

6. In you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world, the greatest that ever the world possessed.

All the true blessedness the world now possesses, or ever shall possess, is owing to Abram and his descendants. Through them we have a Bible, a Savior, and a gospel. They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted.

Abram believed that the blessing of the Almighty would compensate for all he might lose or leave behind, supply all his needs, and answer and exceed all his desires; and he knew that nothing but misery would follow disobedience.

Such believers, being justified by faith in Christ, have peace with God. They continue on their way to Canaan. They are not discouraged by the difficulties in their path, nor drawn aside by the delights they encounter.

Those who set out for heaven must persevere to the end. Whatever we undertake in obedience to God's command, and in humble reliance on His providence, will certainly succeed and ultimately end with comfort.

Canaan was not, like other lands, a mere outward possession, but a type of heaven, and in this respect the patriarchs prized it so earnestly.

Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites, who were bad neighbors. He journeyed, continuing onward. Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled, and often to move into various conditions. Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world (Hebrews 11:8, 13, 14). But observe how much comfort Abram had in God. When he could find little satisfaction in conversation with the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in communion with that God, who brought him there, and did not leave him.

Communion with God is maintained by the word and by prayer. God reveals Himself and His favors to His people gradually; previously, He had promised to show Abram this land, now, to give it to him: as grace grows, so does comfort. It would seem, Abram also understood it as a grant of a better land, of which this was a type, for he looked for a heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16). As soon as Abram arrived in Canaan, though he was only a stranger and sojourner there, he established and maintained the worship of God in his family.

He not only attended to the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice; but he made it a matter of conscience to seek His God and call on His name: that spiritual sacrifice with which God is well pleased. He preached about the name of the Lord; he taught his family and neighbors the knowledge of the true God and His holy religion. The way of family worship is a good old way, not a new thing, but the ancient practice of the saints.

Abram was rich, and had a numerous family, was now unsettled, and in the midst of enemies; yet, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar: wherever we go, let us not fail to take our religion with us.

There is no state on earth free from trials, nor any character free from blemishes. There was famine in Canaan, the glory of all lands, and unbelief, with the evils it always brings, in Abram the father of the faithful. Perfect happiness and perfect purity dwell only in heaven.

When Abram had to leave Canaan for a time, he goes to Egypt, so that he would not seem to look back, intending to stay there no longer than necessary. There Abram misrepresented his relationship to Sarai, equivocated, and taught his wife and his attendants to do so too.

He concealed a truth in such a way that he effectively denied it, and by doing so, exposed both his wife and the Egyptians to sin. The grace Abram was most noted for was faith; yet he fell in this way through unbelief and distrust of Divine providence, even after God had appeared to him twice.

Alas, what will become of weak faith when strong faith is so shaken! If God did not deliver us, many times, out of hardships and distresses which we bring upon ourselves by our own sin and folly, we would be ruined. He does not deal with us according to what we deserve. Those are beneficial chastisements that hinder us in a sinful way and bring us to our duty, particularly to the duty of restoring what we have wrongfully taken or kept.

Pharaoh's rebuke of Abram was very just: What is this that you have done? How unbecoming for a wise and good man!

If those who profess religion do that which is unfair and deceptive, especially if they say that which borders on a lie, they must expect to hear of it; and they have reason to thank those who will tell them of it. The sending away was kind.

Pharaoh was so far from any intention to kill Abram, as Abram had feared, that he took particular care of him. Indeed, Pharaoh charged his men not to hurt Abram in any way.

We often perplex ourselves with fears that are completely groundless. Many times we fear when there is nothing to fear.

It is not enough for those in authority that they themselves do no harm; they must also keep their servants and those around them from doing harm.