Read Genesis 12:10-13:18 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Gen 12:10-13:18 {p} Abram’s faith in the promise tested + promise reaffirmed
Gen 12:10-13:18 chiastic structure
1a) Gen 12:10-13:1a, Because of famine, the promised land could not sustain Abram;
1a) Gen 12:10, There was a famine in the land + Abram went down to Egypt for the famine was great;
1b) Gen 12:11-16, Abram to Sarai: Tell them you are my sister, that it may be well with me;
1a) Gen 12:11a,When he was come near to enter into Egypt;
1b) Gen 12:11b-12a, Abram to Sarai: Because you are very fair, when they know you are my wife, they will kill me;
central axis) Gen 12:12b, But you they will keep alive;
2b) Gen 12:13, Say instead you are my sister, that it may be well with me because of you;”
2a) Gen 12:14-15, When Abram was come into Egypt, the princes of Egypt praised her beauty to Pharaoh/ Sarai was taken into Pharaoh’s house;
1c) Gen 12:16, Pharaoh dealt well with Abram/ sheep + oxen + servants + donkeys, camels;
central axis) Gen 12:17, YHVH plagued Pharaoh + his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife;
2c) Gen 12:18a, Pharaoh called Abram + accused him of not dealing well with him;
2b) Gen 12:18b-20a, Why did you tell me she was your sister, not your wife? Take her and go/ they sent him away;
2a) Gen 13:1a, And Abram went up out of Egypt;
1b) Gen 13:1b, He went + his wife + all that he had + Lot with him, into the South;
central axis) Gen 13:2, And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold;
2b) Gen 13:3a, And he went on his journeys from the South;
2a) Gen 13:3b-18 {p} Because of their great substance, the promised land could not sustain Abram + Lot;
1a) Gen 13:3b-4, He came to Bethel, to the altar he first made + called on the name of YHVH;
1b) Gen 13:5, Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks + herds + tents;
1c) Gen 13:6, The land was not able to bear them dwelling together, for their substance was great;
1d) Gen 13:7a, There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram + Lot;
central axis) Gen 13:7b, And the Canaanite + the Perizzite dwelt then in the land;
2d) Gen 13:8, Abram to Lot: “Let there be no strife between me and you, for we are brethren;
2c) Gen 13:9-11, They separated themselves from one another;
1a) Gen 13:9a, Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me;
1b) Gen 13:9b, If you go left, I will go right, or if you go right, I will go left;
1c) Gen 13:10a, And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan;
1d) Gen 13:10b, That it was well watered everywhere;
central axis) Gen 13:10c, Before YHVH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah;
2d) Gen 13:10d, Even as the garden of YHVH, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar;
2c) Gen 13:11a, Then Lot chose him all the plain of the Jordan;
2b) Gen 13:11b, And Lot journeyed east;
2a) Gen 13:11c, And they separated themselves the one from the other;
2b) Gen 13:12-13 Abram dwelt in Canaan + Lot in the cities of the plain as far as Sodom/ men of Sodom were wicked;
2a) Gen 13:14-18 {p} YHVH called to Abram;
1a) Gen 13:14a, YHVH to Abram, after Lot was separated from him;
1b.1) Gen 13:14b-15a, “Lift up your eyes + look north, south, east, west: all the land which you see;
1b.2) Gen 13:15b, To you will I give it, and to your seed forever;
central axis) Gen 13:16, And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered;
2b.1) Gen 13:17a, Arise, walk through the land in its length + breadth;
2b.2) Gen 13:17b, For to you will I give it;”
2a) Gen 13:18 {p} Abram moved + dwelt by Hebron, and built there an altar to YHVH.
The central axis of the structure emphasizes how greatly YHVH had prospered Abram, for He had promised to bless him. But the reason I say the topic of this paragraph is that Abram’s faith in YHVH’s promise was first tested, then reaffirmed, is because of the A pairs. YHVH had just promised Abram this land in Gen 12:1. So the first thing that happens is that the land cannot sustain him because of famine; and then, when that test is resolved, the land cannot sustain him because of his and Lot’s great abundance. In both of these tests, Abram yields his right. In the first test, he is Sarai’s husband, but she is taken into Pharaoh’s house, and YHVH intervenes on Abram’s behalf to restore her to him. In the second test, he is the elder to whom the promise of the land was made, and who had the right of authority over lot being the elder of the family; but he yields his right and allows Lot first choice. In response to Abram yielding his right rather than exercising his right, YHVH reaffirms His previous promise to Abram and adds to it (reaffirming to Abram that the land he just yielded, God would give to him, thus intervening on Abram’s behalf just as in the first test). Can you see what was added to Abram this second time? (Hint: compare Gen 12:1-3 to Gen 13:14-17).
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