Day 27 Devotion – Abraham Visits Egypt

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. Genesis 12:7-9

Picture 1: Abraham moved form Shechem to camp on the east side of Bethel, which is just a little north of Jerusalem.

We are told here that Abram is traveling south through Canaan. First he camped at Shechem and here we see he camps between Bethel and Ai, which are both north of Jerusalem.


Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. Genesis 12:10


Next we are told that a famine causes Abram to flee to Egypt to escape it. We will now see that Egyptian archaeology is important in understanding Biblical archaeology and history. Egyptian records tell us that there was a famine so severe in Palestine that refuges fled there for relief. This famine took place during what is called the First Intermediate Period. Egyptian history is divided up into kingdoms and intermediate periods. During the kingdoms, the Egyptians were in power but there were periods in between where foreign rulers conquered Egypt and ruled. The Old Kingdom is important because that is when the pyramids were built. Then the Old Kingdom falls and the First Intermediate Period begins. One of the reasons Egypt probably was so friendly to the refugees including Abraham was that Egypt had been overthrown by foreign people of a similar ethnicity and were more welcoming. It is mind boggling to me that the pyramids are so old that when Abraham came in on this visit they were already about 400 years old. It is amazing how well the dry climate preserves structures and documents that would have long withered away under more humid and rougher weather conditions.

Picture 2: The Pyramids of Giza are the only surviving landmarks of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It's amazing that they are about 4500 years old. The middle one of the big three still has some plaster at the top. At one time the whole pyramid was covered with this white plaster that gave it smooth sides and looked like a snow capped mountain in the desert. The plaster has eroded off because of how steep the sides are. Many people confuse this pyramid with the Great Pyramid. The Great pyramid is actually in the back on the far right. The Great Pyramid is the tallest stone structure in the world from base to top. It looks shorter than the middle pyramid because the middle pyramid is sitting on higher ground.