ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Genesis 12

Gen. 12:1–3 Through Abram, all the families of the earth will be blessed. This marks an important turning point in Genesis, as it reverses the predominantly negative implications of chs. 3–11.

Gen. 12:1 said. In Acts 7:2–3, Stephen says that God called Abram before he lived in Haran; the esv footnote, “had said,” shows that the grammar allows for this interpretation.

Gen. 12:2 make your name great. This was the failed goal of the tower builders (11:4).

Gen. 12:3 Although Abram is called to be a blessing to others, much depends on how they will treat him. The text speaks of those who bless (plural) but of him who dishonors (singular), emphasizing that many more will be blessed than cursed. This promise that the nations will be blessed through Abraham is later reaffirmed to Isaac and Jacob (see 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). in you. This may simply indicate “by means of you,” but more likely this expression designates Abram as the covenantal representative for a people. To be “in” some person is to be a member of the group that person represents (see 2 Sam. 20:1).

Gen. 12:4 So Abram went. Abram’s response to God’s call was immediate and unquestioning. Lot went with him. Abram may have been responsible for Lot after the death of Haran (11:27–28). By this time Lot was a wealthy adult (see 13:5–6).

Gen. 12:5 the people that they had acquired in Haran. Abram had under his authority a substantial number of men; many of them may have been herdsmen (see 13:7). Genesis 14:14 mentions 318 trained men “born in his household,” and 17:12 refers to males whom Abram has bought with money from a foreigner. Abram migrates with everything he possesses from northern Mesopotamia to Canaan.

Gen. 12:6 Shechem is the first of a number of locations in Canaan associated with Abram. the oak of Moreh. As a seminomadic herdsman traveling with a large group, Abram probably camped away from urban areas; these locations are identified by distinctive natural features (e.g., trees; see 13:18). At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Other people already occupied the land when Abram arrived.

Gen. 12:7 the Lord appeared. This is the first of a number of times that God shows himself to the patriarchs. altar to the Lord. Altars were common places for worshiping God in the patriarchal period because no central sanctuary existed.

Gen. 12:8 From Shechem, Abram migrates southward to a location between Bethel and Ai, before going much farther in the direction of Egypt.

Gen. 12:9 The Negeb is the southern region of Canaan.

Gen. 12:10–20 A severe famine in Canaan forces Abram to seek refuge in Egypt. Because of the Nile River, Egypt was a more likely place than Canaan to find food during a drought. As is common in biblical stories, the narrator offers no moral evaluation of the participants’ actions.

Gen. 12:11–13 Abram devises a plan, based on a half-truth (see 20:12), implying that he thinks God is unable to protect him. Yet when the plot backfires, the Lord rescues him (12:17).

Gen. 12:15 Pharaoh is the title of the king of Egypt, not a personal name.

Gen. 12:16 To own camels, Abram must have been wealthy, since they were scarce in this time and place.

Gen. 12:17 Plagues on Pharaoh and his house will be seen again in the exodus from Egypt, when God will punish another pharaoh for his mistreatment of Abram’s descendants.