Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Genesis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God, Humanity, and Creation
Mistrust, Disobedience, and Death
Covenants and Faith in God’s Promises
The Role of Women
Summary
Analysis
The LORD tells Abram to leave his country and family and enter a land that God will show him. The LORD says that he will make of Abram “a great nation,” and that through him, all of the earth’s families will be blessed. Taking Lot with him, Abram does as God says. He is 75 years old when he leaves Haran for the land of Canaan. When they enter Canaan, the LORD appears to Abram and tells him that he will give this land to Abram’s offspring. In response, Abram builds an altar to the LORD. He gradually journeys toward the Negeb.
Scholars mark Genesis 12 as the beginning of Genesis’s “patriarchal history,” which tells the story of Israel’s earliest ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons. God tells Abram to resume the journey his father began, to Canaan. In calling Abram to do this, God also states his intentions for all of humanity to come—he will bless them through Abram’s obedience. The promise that accompanies God’s call—that God will make “a great nation” through Abram—is surprising, given that Abram’s wife, Sarai, has already been described as barren.
Themes
When a famine hits the land, Abram and Sarai go to Egypt. Before they enter Egypt, Abram tells Sarai that because she is beautiful, the Egyptians may kill him and take her for themselves. Therefore she must claim to be Abram’s sister instead of his wife. As Abram had said, the officials of Pharaoh’s household take Sarai for Pharaoh and give Abram lots of livestock and slaves. But the LORD sends plagues into Pharaoh’s house, which leads Pharaoh to discover that Sarai is actually Abram’s wife. He sends Abram and his household on their way.
The narrative in Genesis doesn’t always make it clear how characters’ actions should be judged. In this case, judgment concerning Abram’s lie about Sarai is left ambiguous—but it’s implied that Abram has failed to trust God, since God just promised to provide Abram with many children (meaning that he wouldn’t let the Egyptians kill Abram). Nevertheless, God still takes care of Abram by ensuring Sarai’s release from Pharaoh’s house.
Themes
