Genesis 12:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh 's house.

NIV: And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.

NASB: Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

CSB: Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household.

NLT: When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.

KJV: The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

NKJV: The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.

Abram's great fear immediately comes to be—in part, because of his own attempts to avoid it. Abram's plan was for his family tell a half-truth, intended as a whole lie: that Sarai (his wife and half-sister) was merely his sister. His hope may have been that, as Sarai's brother, he would have the right to refuse any marriage proposals. At the same time, Abram felt that a beautiful woman's "brother" would have been less a target for jealous violence than her "husband" (Genesis 12:12).

After Abram, Sarai, and their large company enter Egypt, the princes of Egypt's Pharaoh report on her great beauty. Pharaoh takes Sarai for his wife—most likely one of many. Apparently, the Pharaoh didn't need permission to take a man's sister for his wife. Ironically, as later verses will show, even the pagan Pharaoh balked at stealing a married woman (Genesis 12:18–19)!

The passage doesn't reveal whether Pharaoh actually slept with Sarai as his wife or was prevented from doing so by the affliction reported in the following verses. Given that Egypt's ruler probably had many wives already, and God's intentions for Sarai, the most likely situation is that he never had the opportunity to touch her.

Genesis 12:10–20 tells a story of Abram's fearfulness and God's faithful intervention to keep His promises. A famine forces Abram's large company to enter the land of Egypt in search of food. Pharaoh's sons quickly notice Sarai's great beauty, and Pharaoh takes her for one of his wives. This occurs because Abram, fearful for his life, has claimed that Sarai is his sister. In spite of Abram's lie and failure to trust Him, God afflicts Pharaoh's household for this dishonor, bringing the truth to light. Pharaoh, angry and fearful, sends Abram, Sarai, and the company back to the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12 contains one of the key moments in the history of the world. God chooses Abram as the first step in building His people Israel. Abram obeys God's call, and heads into the land of Canaan, territory which God promises to Abram's offspring. Quickly, though, Abram fails a test of faith in the land of Egypt while seeking food in a famine. God does not fail, however, to step in to save Abram's family and protect His agenda for Abram's life.

The end of Genesis 11 tells the story of Terah, Abram's father, and the family's journey to a new home in Haran. Genesis 12 shifts the story to Abram and his journey on into the land of Canaan. God promises to make Abram the father of a great nation, and to give Abram's descendants that very land. Abram begins to worship the Lord, but quickly fails a test of his faith in Egypt. God shows Himself faithful in a miraculous way, preparing Abram for what's to come in chapter 13.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.