Gen 12:1
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you: In Act 7:2, Stephen expounded on this call from God, saying that God appeared to Abraham. God is telling Abram to leave Haran, his father, and his country. Stephen said this call happened before Haran, so God must have appeared when Abram was in Ur. The bible doesn't go into detail about Abraham's early life, but this is an article written based off the historical record passed down orally and recorded in the Talmud, if interested.
Gen 12:2
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing: Here's God's promise to Abraham. God will make Abraham a great nation. While this did happen in part, this will be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom (Rev 20:2-7). Abraham's name is already great. Jews, Muslims, and Christians all revere him. All throughout the history of Israel, there has been turmoil, and they have been hated, so they haven't yet become the blessing that was promised. This too will be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom.
Gen 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you: If you want to be blessed by God, bless the Jews. And if you want to be cursed, curse the Jews. You can take God at His word. He will bless you if you bless Israel. Now, exactly how He blesses you, that's something we can't know before-hand.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed: This is a prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus.
Gen 12:4
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran: Abram listens to God and does what he is told. Haran is the location where they were staying, but Haran was also the name of Lot's father. After Haran died, Abram kind of adopted Lot, which is why Lot comes with Abram.
Gen 12:5
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan: This was mentioned in Heb 11:8. When Abraham packed up with his family and moved, it was completely by faith, not even knowing where he was going. It looks like Abram was already preaching and converting people to the one true God, gathering followers, and those are who he took with him.
Gen 12:6
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land: The Canaanites were descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. They spread west, and occupied the area from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, where modern day Israel is. This strangely mirrors the chants of the so-called Palestinians today, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Canaan was cursed in Gen 9:25. They were prophecied to be the slaves of Shem and Japheth. After the Exodus, when Israel comes back to the land, God commands Israel to wipe them out (Exo 23:23).
Gen 12:7
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: Abraham is the first person that God appears to. However this appearance took place, whether in person (Jesus appears multiple times in the Old Testament), or in the Spirit, we don't really know. But God promises Abram's seed, the land of Israel. And in reverence, Abram built an altar to God.
Gen 12:8
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: Bethel was where Jacob saw the stairway to Heaven (Gen 28:1-22). Before Jacob named it Bethel, it was called Luz, a Canaanite city. Once Abram arrived at this place, he immediately built an altar to continue the communion with God. Abram arrived to this new place with no fanfair, nobody greeting him, and surrounded by people with different gods. Abram had to live by faith, believing the promise that God gave him.
Gen 12:9
So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South: And Abram continues on from the place that he had just built an altar. He hadn't found a place to settle yet.
Gen 12:10
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: Abraham is well known as our spiritual father, and a man of faith. However, when Abraham goes to the land where God told him to go, and he arrives with nothing special happening, followed by a famine, it appears that Abraham then made his own decision to go to Egypt instead of staying where God told him to go. Nowhere in the text has God telling Abraham to go to Egypt, but that's where he heads.
Gen 12:11
And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance: She was only 65 years old, so still in her prime. People still lived over 150 years, with Araham living over 160, so this is not unbelievable. The cultures were also very different, so something like this will seem very foreign to us but was normal then. Sarai's name means "my princess."
Gen 12:12
Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me, but they will let you live: It's very possible that we see Abram behaving this way because he's not following God's will. We see nowhere in the text of God telling Abraham to go to Egypt. So before, on the journey to the promised land, we didn't see Abraham going through these types of hardships, having to maneuver his way through areas. God's way is easy, but when we step out on our own, hardship is inevitable. This isn't to say that God will always lead us down a path of ease, but when we step out of line with God's will, that way will always lead to trouble.
Gen 12:13
Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you: This weakness shown by Abraham is most likely a direct result of straying from God's path. Abraham going to Egypt here wasn't sanctioned by God, so Abraham is having to resort to lies, to the extent that he allows his wife to be taken from him and added to a harem. I'm not going to judge here because we have no idea what the culture was like back then, or what exactly took place. But since Abram wasn't following God's will here, Abram was afraid, and rightfully so. He didn't trust that God would provide in the promised land, instead choosing to go to Egypt where this type of behavior was normal. Hindsight shows that he should probably have stayed in the promised land and trusted God to provide.
Gen 12:14
So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful: I can imagine that Sarai must have been well taken care of and had the best dress, and whatever types of makeup that was available in those days. Abraham was rich, so could provide the best things available. No doubt that she was better groomed, and therefore more attractive than most, and since she was claiming to be single, was highly desired to be added to the harem.
Gen 12:15
The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house: This is very similar to what happened with Esther (Est 2:8). Apparently, the Pharaoh had the pick of any women he wanted. He would take them into his house and add them to his harem, paying the family.
Gen 12:16
He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels: He paid Abram well for Sarai too. That is a lot of livestock, as well as servants.
Gen 12:17
But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife: And God has to rescue Abram here. Because Abram went against God's commands, Sarai was taken from Abram. God had promised that He would produce a great nation from Abram, but that obviously couldn't happen if Sarai was taken. There was a lot of wrong done here, as Pharoah taking Sarai without consent is bad, but Abram and Sarai lying about their relationship is bad too. But out of all this wrong, God brings good.
Gen 12:18
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife: Because Abram wasn't acting on God's command, he was afraid for his life. He lied to Phraoh about his relationship with Sarai because he was afraid. If he had been following the command of God, Abram would have had no cause to be afraid.
Gen 12:19
Why did you say, 'She is my sister'? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way: Now the truth comes out, and it's not explained how. But somehow, Pharaoh connected the plagues to his taking Sarai. And on top of that, he somehow found out that Sarai was married to Abram. We see that Pharaoh asked Abram why he lied, but we don't see the answer. Perhaps this is because they were both wrong, and God had to make it right. You can know that the Pharaoh was wrong becuase he didn't demand that the gifts he gave Abram be returned.
Gen 12:20
So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had: Instead of Pharaoh demanding that the gifts he gave to Abram be returned, Pharaoh simply sent him away, and decreed that Abram be allowed to leave, so Pharaoh's people wouldn't touch him.
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