Genesis 12:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 12:11
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
to approach (causatively · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
enter
לָב֣וֹאla.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יְמָהmitz.Ra.ye.mah
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
said
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙vai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Sarai
שָׂרַ֣יsa.Rai
H8297
Sarai · proper noun, a woman's name
wife
אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ'ish.To
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Behold
הִנֵּהhi.neh-
H2009
lo! · interjection
now
נָ֣אna'
H4994
'I pray' · interjection
know
יָדַ֔עְתִּיya.Da'.ti
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
fair
יְפַתye.fat-
H3303
beautiful (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular construct
woman
אִשָּׁ֥ה'i.Shah
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute
upon
מַרְאֶ֖הmar.'Eh
H4758
a view (the act of seeing) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 26:7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men…
Genesis 12:14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
Genesis 29:17 Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
Genesis 39:6-7 And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person,…
2 Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he…
Song of Solomon 1:14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 12:10-13
Here is, I. A famine in the land of Canaan, a grievous famine. That fruitful land was turned into barrenness, not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites who dwelt therein, but to exercise the faith of Abram who sojourned therein; and a very sore trial it was; it tried what he would think, 1. Of God that brought him thither, whether he would not be ready to say with his murmuring seed that he was brought forth to be killed with hunger, Exo 16:3. Nothing short of a strong faith could keep up god thoughts of God under such a providence. 2. Of the land of promise, whether he would think the grant of it worth the accepting, and a valuable consideration for the relinquishing of his own coun…
Sarai's complexion, coming from a mountainous country, would be fresh and fair compared with the faces of Egyptian women which were sallow. The counsel of Abram to her was true in words, but it was a deception, intended to give an impression that she was no more than his sister. His conduct was culpable and inconsistent with his character as a servant of God: it showed a reliance on worldly policy more than a trust in the promise; and he not only sinned himself, but tempted Sarai to sin also.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 12:11
Thou art a fair woman to look upon - Widely differing in her complexion from the swarthy Egyptians, and consequently more likely to be coveted by them. It appears that Abram supposed they would not scruple to take away the life of the husband in order to have the undisturbed possession of the wife. The age of Sarai at this time is not well agreed on by commentators, some making her ninety, while others make her only sixty-five. From Gen 17:17, we learn that Sarai was ten years younger than Abram, for she was but ninety when he was one hundred. And from Gen 12:4, we find that Abram was seventy-five when he was called to leave Haran and go to Canaan, at which time Sarai could be only sixty-fiv…
Abraham gave a human reason as human beings do. Nevertheless, because Sarah thought it was Abraham who was sterile, she was taken to the palace. [This happened] first, so that she might learn that it was she who was barren; second, so that her love for her husband might be seen, for she did not exchange [her husband] for a king while she was a sojourner; and [last], so that the mystery of her descendants might be prefigured in her. Just as she had no love for the kingdom of Egypt, they would not love the idols, the garlic or the onions of Egypt. The entire house of Pharaoh was struck down by Sarah's deliverance. So too would all Egypt be struck down by the deliverance of her descendants.
There came a famine, and so he went to Egypt. He knew that in Egypt the dissipation of youth was widespread, characterized by lust, impudent desires and unrestrained passions. He understood that among such men the modesty of his wife would be defenseless and that her beauty would be a danger for him. So he told his wife to say that she was his sister. By this we are taught that it is not so much beauty that one should seek in a wife, for this often leads to the death of the husband. In fact, it is not so much the beauty of the wife but her virtue and her seriousness that make a husband happy. Whoever desires the happiness of marriage should look not for a wealthy woman, who will not be held in check by the obligations of marriage. One looks not for one ornamented with jewels but with good manners. The wife who is conscious of being of a higher social level generally humiliates her husband. These things have a close connection with pride. Sarah was not richer in goods. She was not of more noble origin. Therefore she did not think her husband inferior but loved him as one of equal dignity. She was not held back by riches, by her parents, by her relatives, but she followed her husband wherever he went. She went to a foreign land; she declared herself to be his sister. She was willing, if necessary, to endanger her own modesty rather than the security of her husband. To safeguard her husband, she lied, saying that she was his sister out of fear that those who were seeking to ensnare her modesty would have killed him as a rival and defender of his wife. The Egyptians, in fact, as soon as they saw her, struck by her uncommon beauty, presented her to the king and treated Abraham with respect, honoring him as the brother of her who was pleasing to the king.
Dictionary and topics
Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Pharaoh — The official title borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that country was conquered by the Greeks. (See EGYPT.) The name is a compound, as some think, of the words Ra, the “sun” or…
Abraham · General references — General references
Beauty · .Sarah — .Sarah
Cowardice · .Abraham, in — .Abraham, in
Egypt · .Abraham lives in — .Abraham lives in
Egyptians · Hospitality of, to Abraham — Hospitality of, to Abraham
Ignorance · .Pharaoh — .Pharaoh
Sarah · .Near of kin to Abraham — .Near of kin to Abraham
Woman · Of distinction: Fair and graceful — Of distinction: Fair and graceful
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Genesis 12:11
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,.... Just entering into it, having travelled from the mountain between Bethel and Hai, two hundred and forty miles (p); or when he "caused to come near" (q), either his camp, as Aben Ezra supplies it, or his tent, or his family, as others:
that he said unto Sarai his wife, behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon; though sixty five years of age, being ten years younger than her husband, see Genesis 17:17 who was now seventy five years old, Genesis 12:4 yet might still be a fair woman, having a good complexion and comely features.
(p) Travels of the Holy Patriarchs, &c. p. 56. (q) "quum admoveret, sub tentoriu…
He said unto Sarai his wife. He now relates the counsel which Abram took for the preservation of his life when he was approaching Egypt. Andy since this place is like a rock, on which many strike; it is proper that we should soberly and reverently consider how far Abram was deserving of excuse, and how he was to be blamed. First, there seems to be something of falsehood, mixed with the dissimulations which he persuades his wife to practice. And although afterwards he makes the excuse, that he had not lied nor feigned anything that was untrue: in this certainly he was greatly culpable that it was not owing to his care that his wife was not prostituted. For when he dissembles the fact, that sh…
Abram in Egypt. - Abram had scarcely passed through the land promised to his seed, when a famine compelled him to leave it, and take refuge in Egypt, which abounded in corn; just as the Bedouins in the neighbourhood are accustomed to do now. Whilst the famine in Canaan was to teach Abram, that even in the promised land food and clothing come from the Lord and His blessing, he was to discover in Egypt that earthly craft is soon put to shame when dealing with the possessor of the power of this world, and that help and deliverance are to be found with the Lord alone, who can so smite the mightiest kings, that they cannot touch His chosen or do them harm (Psa 105:14-15). - When trembling for his…
This episode shows that God would not allow Abram to jeopardize his promises. Just after Abram’s obedience to the call, a famine tested his weak faith. God delivered him and his family, even though Abram foolishly used deception rather than trusting in God to preserve him in Egypt. • This story deliberately parallels Israel’s later bondage in Egypt. Because of a famine (Gen 12:10 // Gen 47:13), Abram/Israel went to Egypt (Gen 12:10 // Gen 47:27); there was an attempt to kill the males and save the females (Gen 12:12 // Exod 1:22); God plagued Egypt (Gen 12:17 // Exod 7:14–11:10); Abram/Israel plundered Egypt (Gen 12:16 // Exod 12:35-36); they were expelled (Hebrew shalakh, “send”; Gen 12:19-…
And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: "I know that you are a beautiful woman, and that when the Egyptians see you, they will say that you are his wife, and they will kill me and keep you alive: therefore, please say that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you," and so on until it was said, "The Lord, however, struck Pharaoh with great plagues and his house because of Sarai, Abram's wife; and Pharaoh called Abram and said to him: What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she was your sister, so that I took her as my wife?" Abraham did not lie because he said his wife was his sister, for she was also that, being a close relative; likewise Lot was called his brother, though he was his brother's son. Thus, he concealed that she was his wife but did not deny that she was his sister, entrusting the defense of his wife's chastity to God and avoiding human deceit as a man, since if he did not avoid danger as much as he could, he would tempt God rather than hope in Him. Indeed, what Abraham trusted in the Lord came to pass, for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who had taken her as his wife, being gravely afflicted, returned her to her husband. It is therefore far from us to believe that she was defiled by another's embrace, for it is much more credible that Pharaoh was not permitted to do this because of great afflictions. It can also be said that, according to the book of Esther, wherever any woman who pleased the king was prepared for him, she was anointed with myrrh oil for six months, and for another six months used various ointments and perfumes, and only then entered the king. It could be that after Sarai pleased the king, and while she was being prepared to enter him for a year, and Pharaoh had given many gifts to Abraham, and Pharaoh was afterwards struck by the Lord, she still remained untouched by his embrace.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
