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Text -- Genesis 12:16 (NET)

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Context
12:16 and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Abram the son of Terah of Shem


Dictionary Themes and Topics: Pharaoh | Ox | Noah | MANSERVANT | LOT (1) | LIBRARIES | LEVITICUS, 1 | Isaac | INTREAT; INTREATY; (ENTREAT) | He-ass | HAGAR | GENESIS, 4 | GENESIS, 1-2 | Dromedary | Cattle | Camel | Bullock | Abraham | ATONEMENT, DAY OF | ASS | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
JFB , Clarke , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable , Guzik

Other
Bible Query , Critics Ask

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

JFB: Gen 12:16 - -- The presents are just what one pastoral chief would give to another.

The presents are just what one pastoral chief would give to another.

Clarke: Gen 12:16 - -- He had sheep, and oxen, etc. - As some of these terms are liable to be confounded, and as they frequently occur, especially in the Pentateuch, it ma...

He had sheep, and oxen, etc. - As some of these terms are liable to be confounded, and as they frequently occur, especially in the Pentateuch, it may be necessary to consider and fix their meaning in this place

Sheep; צאן tson , from tsaan , to be plentiful or abundant; a proper term for the eastern sheep, which almost constantly bring forth twins, Son 4:2, and sometimes three and even four at a birth. Hence their great fruitfulness is often alluded to in the Scripture. See Psa 65:13; Psa 144:13. But under this same term, which almost invariably means a flock, both sheep and goats are included. So the Romans include sheep, goats, and small cattle in general, under the term Pecus pecoris ; so likewise they do larger cattle under that of Pecus pecudis

Oxen; בקר bakar , from the root, to examine, look out, because of the full, broad, steady, unmoved look of most animals of the beeve kind; and hence the morning is termed boker, because of the light springing out of the east, and looking out over the whole of the earth’ s surface

He-Asses; חמרים chamorim , from חמר chamar , to be disturbed, muddy; probably from the dull, stupid appearance of this animal, as if it were always affected with melancholy. Scheuchzer thinks the sandy-coloured domestic Asiatic ass is particularly intended. The word is applied to asses in general, though most frequently restrained to those of the male kind

She-Asses; אתנת athonoth , from אתן ethan , strength, probably the strong animal, as being superior in muscular force to every other animal of its size. Under this term both the male and female are sometimes understood

Camels; גמלים gemallim , from גמל gamal , to recompense, return, repay; so called from its resentment of injuries, and revengeful temper, for which it is proverbial in the countries of which it is a native. On the animals and natural history in general, of the Scriptures, I must refer to the Hicrozoicon of Bochart, and the Physica Sacra of Scheuchzer. The former is the most learned and accurate work perhaps, ever produced by one man

From this enumeration of the riches of Abram we may conclude that this patriarch led a pastoral and itinerant life; that his meat must have chiefly consisted in the flesh of clean animals, with a sufficiency of pulse for bread; that his chief drink was their milk; his clothing, their skins; and his beasts of burden, asses and camels; (for as yet we read of no horses); and the ordinary employment of his servants, to take care of the flocks, and to serve their master. Where the patriarchs became resident for any considerable time, they undoubtedly cultivated the ground to produce grain.

TSK: Gen 12:16 - -- And he : Gen 13:2, Gen 20:14 he had : Gen 24:35, Gen 26:14, Gen 32:5, Gen 32:13-15; Job 1:3, Job 42:12; Psa 144:13, Psa 144:14

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Gen 12:10-20 - -- - XXXVIII. Abram in Egypt 15. פרעה par‛oh , Par‘ oh, "ouro."Coptic for "king,"with the masculine article pi. or p. P-ouro, "the ki...

- XXXVIII. Abram in Egypt

15. פרעה par‛oh , Par‘ oh, "ouro."Coptic for "king,"with the masculine article pi. or p. P-ouro, "the king."If we separate the article p. from the Hebrew form, we have רעה re‛oh for king, which may be compared with רעה ro‛eh , "pastor, leader,"and the Latin rex , king. This is the common title of the Egyptian sovereigns, to which we have the personal name occasionally added, as Pharaoh-Necho, Pharaoh-Hophrah.

Gen 12:10

This first visit of Abram to Mizraim, or Egypt, is occasioned by the famine in the land of promise. This land is watered by periodical rains. A season of drought arrests the progress of vegetation, and brings on a famine. But in Egypt, the fertility of the loamy soil depends not on local showers, but on the annual rise of the Nile, which is fed by the rains of a far-distant mountain range. Hence, when the land of Kenaan was wasted by drought and consequent famine, Egypt was generally so productive as to be the granary of the neighboring countries. As Kenaan was the brother of Mizraim, the contact between the two countries in which they dwelt was natural and frequent. Dry seasons and dearth of provisions seem to have been of frequent occurrence in the land of Kenaan Gen 26:1; Gen 41:56-57. Even Egypt itself was not exempt from such calamitous visitations. Famine is one of God’ s rods for the punishment of the wicked and the correction of the penitent 2Sa 24:13. It visits Abram even in the land of promise. Doubtless the wickedness of the inhabitants was great even in his day. Abram himself was not out of the need of that tribulation that worketh patience, experience, and hope. He may have been left to himself under this trial, that he might find out by experience his own weakness, and at the same time the faithfulness and omnipotence of Yahweh the promiser. In the moment of his perplexity he flees for refuge to Egypt, and the Lord having a lesson for him, there permits him to enter that land of plenty.

Gen _12:11-13

It is not without misgivings, however, that Abram approaches Egypt. All the way from Ur to Haran, from Haran to the land of Kenaan, and from north to south of the land in which he was a stranger, we hear not a word of apprehension. But now he betakes himself to an expedient which had been preconcerted between him and Sarai before they set out on their earthly pilgrimage Gen 20:13. There are some obvious reasons for the change from composure to anxiety he now betrays. Abram was hitherto obeying the voice of the Lord, and walking in the path of duty, and therefore he was full of unhesirating confidence in the divine protection. Now he may be pursuing his own course, and, without waiting patiently for the divine counsel, venturing to cross the boundary of the land of promise. He may therefore be without the fortifying assurance of the divine approval. There is often a whisper of this kind heard in the soul, even when it is not fully conscious of the delinquency which occasions it.

Again, the countries through which be had already passed were inhabited by nomadic tribes, each kept in check by all the others, all unsettled in their habits, and many of them not more potent than himself. The Kenaanites spoke the same language with himself, and were probably only a dominant race among others whose language they spoke, if they did not adopt. But in Egypt all was different. Mizraim had seven sons, and, on the average, the daughters are as numerous as the sons. In eight or nine generations there might be from half a million to a million of inhabitants in Egypt, if we allow five daughters as the average of a family. The definite area of the arable ground on the two sides of the Nile, its fertilization by a natural cause without much human labor, the periodical regularity of the inundation, and the extraordinary abundance of the grain crops, combined both to multiply the population with great rapidity, and to accelerate amazingly the rise and growth of fixed institutions and a stable government. Here there were a settled country with a foreign tongue, a prosperous people, and a powerful sovereign. All this rendered it more perilous to enter Egypt than Kenaan.

If Abram is about to enter Egypt of his own accord, without any divine intimation, it is easy to understand why he resorts to a device of his own to escape the peril of assassination. In an arbitrary government, where the will of the sovereign is law, and the passions are uncontrolled, public or private resolve is sudden, and execution summary. The East still retains its character in this respect. In these circumstances, Abram proposes to Sarai to conceal their marriage, and state that she was his sister; which was perfectly true, as she was the daughter of his father, though not of his mother. At a distance of three or four thousand years, with all the development of mind which a completed Bible and an advanced philosophy can bestow, it is easy to pronounce, with dispassionate coolness, the course of conduct here proposed to be immoral and imprudent. It is not incumbent on us, indeed, to defend it; but neither does it become us to be harsh or excessive in our censure. In the state of manners and customs which then prevailed in Egypt, Abram and Sarai were not certainly bound to disclose all their private concerns to every impertinent inquirer. The seeming simplicity and experience which Abram betrays in seeking to secure his personal safety by an expedient which exposed to risk his wife’ s chastity and his own honor, are not to be pressed too far. The very uncertainty concerning the relation of the strangers to each other tended to abate that momentary caprice in the treatment of individuals which is the result of a despotic government. And the prime fault and folly of Abram consisted in not waiting for the divine direction in leaving the land of promise, and in not committing himself wholly to the divine protection when he did take that step.

It may seem strange that the Scripture contains no express disapprobation of the conduct of Abram. But its manner is to affirm the great principles of moral truth, on suitable occasions, with great clearness and decision; and in ordinary circumstances simply to record the actions of its characters with faithfulness, leaving it to the reader’ s intelligence to mark their moral quality. And God’ s mode of teaching the individual is to implant a moral principle in the heart, which, after many struggles with temptation, will eventually root out all lingering aberrations.

Sarai was sixty-five years of age Gen 17:17 at the time when Abram describes her as a woman fair to look upon. But we are to remember that beauty does not vanish with middle age; that Sarai’ s age corresponds with twenty-five or thirty years in modern times, as she was at this time not half the age to which men were then accustomed to live; that she had no family or other hardship to bring on premature decay; and that the women of Egypt were far from being distinguished for regularity of feature or freshness of complexion.

Gen 12:14-16

The inadequacy of Abram’ s expedient appears in the issue, which is different from what he expected. Sarai is admired for her beauty, and, being professedly single, is selected as a wife for Pharaoh; while Abram, as her brother, is munificently entertained and rewarded. His property seems to be enumerated according to the time of acquirement, or the quantity, and not the quality of each kind. Sheep and oxen and he-asses he probably brought with him from Kenaan; men-servants and maid-servants were no doubt augmented in Egypt. For she-asses the Septuagint has mules. These, and the camels, may have been received in Egypt. The camel is the carrier of the desert. Abram had now become involved in perplexities, from which he had neither the wisdom nor the power to extricate himself. With what bitterness of spirit he must have kept silence, received these accessions to his wealth which he dared not to refuse, and allowed Sarai to be removed from his temporary abode! His cunning device had saved his own person for the time; but his beautiful and beloved wife is torn from his bosom.

Gen 12:17

The Lord, who had chosen him, unworthy though he was, yet not more unworthy than others, to be the agent of His gracious purpose, now interposes to effect his deliverance. "And the Lord plagued Pharaoh."The mode of the divine interference is suited to have the desired effect on the parties concerned. As Pharaoh is punished, we conclude he was guilty in the eye of heaven in this matter. He committed a breach of hospitality by invading the private abode of the stranger. He further infringed the law of equity between man and man in the most tender point, by abstracting, if not with violence, at least with a show of arbitrary power which could not be resisted, a female, whether sister or wife, from the home of her natural guardian without the consent of either. A deed of ruthless self-will, also, is often rendered more heinous by a blamable inattention to the character or position of him who is wronged. So it was with Pharaoh. Abram was a man of blameless life and inoffensive manners. He was, moreover, the chosen and special servant of the Most High God. Pharaoh, however, does not condescend to inquire who the stranger is whom he is about to wrong; and is thus unwittingly involved in an aggravated crime. But the hand of the Almighty brings even tyrants to their senses. "And his house."The princes of Pharaoh were accomplices in his crime Gen 12:15, and his domestics were concurring with him in carrying it into effect. But even apart from any positive consent or connivance in a particular act, men, otherwise culpable, are brought into trouble in this world by the faults of those with whom they are associated. "On account of Sarai."Pharoah was made aware of the cause of the plagues or strokes with which he was now visited.

Gen 12:18-20

Pharaoh upbraids Abram for his deception, and doubtless not without reason. He then commands his men to dismiss him and his, unharmed, from the country. These men were probably an escort for his safe conduct out of Egypt. Abram was thus reproved through the mouth of Pharaoh, and will be less hasty in abandoning the land of promise, and betaking himself to carnal resources.

Poole: Gen 12:16 - -- To wit, by Pharaoh’ s gift, over and above his own; else it had been impertinent to mention it in this place.

To wit, by Pharaoh’ s gift, over and above his own; else it had been impertinent to mention it in this place.

Haydock: Gen 12:16 - -- Well. Perhaps they made him some presents to gain his favour; (Menochius) or, at least, they suffered him to remain quietly among them.

Well. Perhaps they made him some presents to gain his favour; (Menochius) or, at least, they suffered him to remain quietly among them.

Gill: Gen 12:16 - -- And he entreated Abram well for her sake,.... Pharaoh was very complaisant to him, showed him great respect, and bestowed many favours on him on accou...

And he entreated Abram well for her sake,.... Pharaoh was very complaisant to him, showed him great respect, and bestowed many favours on him on account of Sarai, whom he took to be his sister, and which were done, that he would consent that she might be his wife:

and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels; which were, some at least, if not all, the gifts of Pharaoh to him, or otherwise there seems to be no reason why they should be made mention of here. The Jews say g, that Pharaoh, because of the love he had to Sarai, gave to her by writing all his substance, whether silver or gold, or servants or farms, and also the land of Goshen for an inheritance; and therefore the children of Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen, because it was Sarai our mother's, say they.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 12:16 Heb “and there was to him.”

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Gen 12:1-20 - --1 God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ.4 He departs with Lot from Haran, and comes to Canaan.6 He journeys through Canaan,7 which...

MHCC: Gen 12:10-20 - --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, ...

Matthew Henry: Gen 12:14-20 - -- Here is, I. The danger Sarai was in of having her chastity violated by the king of Egypt: and without doubt the peril of sin is the greatest peril w...

Keil-Delitzsch: Gen 12:15-20 - -- The princes of Pharaoh finding her very beautiful, extolled her beauty to the king, and she was taken to Pharaoh's house. As Sarah was then 65 years...

Constable: Gen 11:27--Exo 1:1 - --II. PATRIARCHAL NARRATIVES 11:27--50:26 One of the significant changes in the emphasis that occurs at this point...

Constable: Gen 11:27--25:12 - --A. What became of Terah 11:27-25:11 A major theme of the Pentateuch is the partial fulfillment of the pr...

Constable: Gen 12:10-20 - --2. Abram in Egypt 12:10-20 The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Ab...

Guzik: Gen 12:1-20 - --Genesis 12 - God's Call of Abram; Abram in Egypt A. God's promise to Abram. 1. (1-3) God's previous covenant with Abram. Now the LORD had said to ...

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Commentary -- Other

Bible Query: Gen 12:10-19 Q: In Gen 12:10-19, is there any extra-Biblical evidence of people from Canaan or other parts of the Mideast coming to Egypt? A: Yes there is. A tom...

Bible Query: Gen 12:10-20 Q: In Gen 12:10-20 and Gen 20:1-18 did God condone Abram lying? A: No. The Bible honestly recorded, but never approved Abram’s lying because of Hi...

Critics Ask: Gen 12:16 GENESIS 12:10-20 ; 20:1-18 —Why did God let Abraham prosper by lying? PROBLEM: We are told in the Bible not to lie ( Ex. 20:16 ), but, when Abr...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Genesis (Book Introduction) GENESIS, the book of the origin or production of all things, consists of two parts: the first, comprehended in the first through eleventh chapters, gi...

JFB: Genesis (Outline) THE CREATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. (Gen 1:1-2) THE FIRST DAY. (Gen 1:3-5) SECOND DAY. (Gen 1:6-8) THIRD DAY. (Gen 1:9-13) FOURTH DAY. (Gen 1:14-19) FI...

TSK: Genesis (Book Introduction) The Book of Genesis is the most ancient record in the world; including the History of two grand and stupendous subjects, Creation and Providence; of e...

TSK: Genesis 12 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Gen 12:1, God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ; Gen 12:4, He departs with Lot from Haran, and comes to Canaan; Gen 1...

Poole: Genesis 12 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 12 God calls Abram from his own country and kindred to Canaan, Gen 12:1 . Promises to make of him a great and flourishing nation, and to bl...

MHCC: Genesis (Book Introduction) Genesis is a name taken from the Greek, and signifies " the book of generation or production;" it is properly so called, as containing an account of ...

MHCC: Genesis 12 (Chapter Introduction) (Gen 12:1-3) God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ. (Gen 12:4, Gen 12:5) Abram departs from Haran. (Gen 12:6-9) He journeys thro...

Matthew Henry: Genesis (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis We have now before us the holy Bible, or book, for so bible ...

Matthew Henry: Genesis 12 (Chapter Introduction) The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; here the Holy Ghost enters upon his story, and henceforward Abram a...

Constable: Genesis (Book Introduction) Introduction Title Each book of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testam...

Constable: Genesis (Outline) Outline The structure of Genesis is very clear. The phrase "the generations of" (toledot in Hebrew, from yalad m...

Constable: Genesis Bibliography Aalders, Gerhard Charles. Genesis. The Bible Student's Commentary series. 2 vols. Translated by William Hey...

Haydock: Genesis (Book Introduction) THE BOOK OF GENESIS. INTRODUCTION. The Hebrews now entitle all the Five Books of Moses, from the initial words, which originally were written li...

Gill: Genesis (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS This book, in the Hebrew copies of the Bible, and by the Jewish writers, is generally called Bereshith, which signifies "in...

Gill: Genesis 12 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 12 In this chapter an account is given of the call of Abram to depart from his own country, with a promise of a divine bles...

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