God first promises in 12:1-3:
"The Lord said to Abram,'Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father's house to the land I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.And I will bless those who bless you and those who damn you I will curse, and all the clans of the earth through you shall be blessed."Abram silently accedes to this command in 12:1. Using the same verb as the command, the text reports Abraham "went forth"(12:4) and "Lot went forth with him." The promise is vague: blessing. The direction seems vague: go forth.
Abram and his entourage set out for the land of Canaan. The text does not indicate a sign or direction of any sort directing Abram this particular way, nor does it tell us why Abram stops where he does on arriving in Canaan, in Shechem at the Terebinth of the Oracle.
God's promise looks dubious on Abram's arrival; after telling of Abram's arrival at Shechem, the narrator tersely and almost comically notes "The Canaanite was then in the land"(12:6). Perhaps, as Gerhard von Rad suggests(Alter, n.6, p.51), given such a counter-indication, God takes this moment to appear again to Abram and, as it were, remind him, "'To your seed I will give this land'"(v.7).
Despite the Lord's appearance at Shechem, the semi-nomadic Abram "pulled up his stakes from there for the high country east of Bethel"(v.8). Abram's setting off for "the high country" may be another way the text signals Abram's righteousness. When Lot eventually sets off on his own, he chooses to settle "in the cities of the plain"(v.13:12). Alter maintains "from the writer's perspective, abandoning the semi-nomadic life for urban existence can only spell trouble"(n. 12, p.55). Genesis further emphasizes that Lot has chosen poorly by quickly noting "the people of Sodom were very evil offenders against the Lord"(v.13).
His move toward city life and a more permanent mode of residence may be the telling aspects of Lot's choice, rather than his choosing level ground for his home. Yet, when the Lord comes to rescue Lot from the impending doom of Sodom, Lot is advised to "flee to the high country"(v.19:18), advice he is reluctant to follow. A less than righteous Lot is adverse initially to going to the high country. Instead, he begs leave to sit out the coming apocalypse in a town.
Abram does not remain in his promised land for very long. In addition to the presence of the Canaanites on the land promised him, "there was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt"(v.12:10). Should Abram's sojourn in Egypt be read as an expression of Abram's growing doubt or as his proper response to trial? In Egypt, Abram acts in what we would characterize as wily or less than righteous ways; claiming his wife is his sister and gaining wealth by the arrangement. This is the first of three occurrences in Genesis of a sojourning Abram passing Sara off as his sister to a foreign potentate. Its significance in Gen 12 might be properly read in relation to these other occurrences, rather than in relation to the narrative events directly surrounding it.
To my untrained eye, the narrative pronounces no judgment on Abrams actions in Egypt. He's clearly offended his host nation and is expelled from Egypt. Chapter 13 begins with Abram coming "up from Egypt" and afters a series of "stages from the Negeb up to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been before"(v.13:3). This could be as a sign that Abram has realized the error of his ways and decided to start over by literally going back to the place where he felt in touch with the Lord.
Yet, Abram profits by his stay in Egypt. In the matter of passing off Sarai as his sister, it is Pharaoh who is punished. The journey to Egypt is most likely not a transgression but a necessary step and test for Abram.
The text indicates at points that Abram's promise is one that must be realized in or after stages. As quoted above, Alter's translation of verse 13:3 indicates Abram returns "in stages." Many translations don't note this. The narrative records in a staged manner Abram's going forth to Canaan. In 12:4, it relates Abram first "went forth." The next verse tells of Abram taking Sarai, Lot and his goods and that "they set out on the way to the land of Canaan." It then adds, "they came to the land of Canaan." Then, next verse, "Abram crossed through the land to the site of Shechem." This elaboration would seem to be designed to have the reader in his reading of the text re-enact/experience the staged history whereby God redeemed and Abram fulfilled the promise made him. It was not immediately granted but required his proceeding on a path, a necessary sequence of steps.
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