Genesis 12:10

There was a famine. Abram had scarcely passed through the Promised Land when a severe famine compelled him to leave it. Canaan, though naturally fertile, was subject to visitations of drought, especially in those years when the November and December rains, on which the country depended, either failed or were scanty (Gen. 26:1; 41:56; 1 Kings 17:1; Haggai 1:10, 11). The occurrence of this famine just at the time of Abram’s entering the land was an additional trial of his faith. It was to teach him lessons of submission, faith, and patience. He was to realize that even in the Promised Land food and blessings come from the Lord alone.

Abram went down into Egypt. Being in the south of Canaan, Abram found it natural to turn to Egypt, the country of plenty, to find sustenance. Although Egypt itself occasionally suffered from famine, because of failure of the Nile to overflow, it was known to surrounding countries as a haven of refuge in times of need. Ancient Egyptian records repeatedly mention the fact that Asiatics entered the country to feed their starving flocks. At times these visitors would remain in the country and become a menace to the natives. Amenemhet I (1991-1962 B.C.), first king of the Twelfth Dynasty, walled off his eastern frontier with the avowed purpose “not to allow the Asiatics to go down into Egypt, that they may beg for water after [their] customary manner so as to give their cattle to drink.” A later document, the report of a frontier official of the time of the Hebrew judges, mentions that Bedouins of Edom had been allowed to enter Egypt to keep themselves and their cattle alive.

The most famous record of a visit of Asiatics to Egypt at the time of Abram is a tomb painting for a nobleman under King Sen-Usert II (1897-1879 B.C.). It depicts the arrival of 37 Semitic Bedouins who had come to trade cosmetics with the Egyptians, and shows their features, colorful garments, weapons, and musical instruments. This unusual document is an important contribution to our understanding of Abram’s time. No modern artist preparing pictures of the patriarchal age can afford to neglect this contemporary painting of Abram’s time. This documentary evidence about Asiatics entering Egypt for trading purposes or to acquire food in times of want makes it easy to visualize Abram going down to the valley of the Nile to keep his herds and flocks alive.