And Abram journeyed, &c.— Without any fixed abode, this favoured patriarch removed his tents from place to place, Hebrews 11:9 as he found it most convenient, in primitive and happy simplicity; still directing his course towards the south: and provisions failing in the land of Canaan, he went down to AEgypt, which lay low in comparison of Canaan, to sojourn there a while, to make a temporary stay there, till the famine should be abated.
REFLECTIONS.—Abram is come into the land, but he finds no present possession in it. Observe,
1. His journeyings. He was a wandering pilgrim, without a settled abode, and in a strange land, glad to pick up a subsistence in the mountain or the plain, wherever he found a spot unoccupied. To be a stranger and pilgrim on earth, is the true character of a traveller to glory.
2. God's appearing to him. Though he was without comfort in the land, he had abundance in the Lord, whose presence amply repaid every toil. The Lord comes with promises of rich encouragement, and that is sterling payment in Abram's eyes: the land is now made over to him and his seed. Note; (1.) Where God visits us, we never can be desolate, though we were alone on a mountain. (2.) Though we leave all for God, we shall receive it again with interest; in this world an hundred fold, and in the world to come life everlasting.
3. Abram's grateful acknowledgment of the mercy. He builded an altar. A special favour demands a special return of thanks: though the promise be distant, faith embraces it as present and sure; such is its realizing nature. Not that this altar, in another sense, was extraordinary. Wherever he was, he had an altar with him; he and his house must serve the Lord, and prayer and praise are their constant duty and delight. Family worship is of ancient date; they who have not an altar in their family for constant devotion, will not have God in their house for their constant friend.