And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
And there was a famine in the land. This calamity was in all probability produced by a season of severe drought; and Egypt enjoyed on that occasion, as on others, an exemption from it, in consequence of her fertility being dependent not on the fall of rain, but on the periodical overflowings of her river.
And Abram went down into Egypt. This is the uniform phraseology employed in describing such a journey, which is a continuous descent from the mountains or high table-lands of Palestine to the low level of the Delta. He did not go back to the place of his nativity, as regretting his pilgrimage and despising the promised land (Hebrews 11:15); nor did he intend to make a permanent residence in Egypt, but withdrew for a while into that neighbouring country, until the season of famine had passed. Although the distance of Egypt from Canaan was comparatively short, the conditions on which the harvests in the two countries depended were, as has been said, very different, the want of rain, which destroyed the crops in the latter, not at all affecting those in the former, and only patches of ground being tilled in Canaan, while in Egypt agriculture was those in the former, and only patches of ground being tilled in Canaan, while in Egypt agriculture was systematically and extensively practised.
It is not surprising, therefore, to read that there was abundance in Egypt, while the countries that bordered it were scourged with famine; and, accordingly, it is natural to find Abram in his necessities, as his son (Genesis 26:2), and his grandson (Genesis 42:2), under similar pressure, looking to Egypt for the means of sustenance. So early had that country become the granary of the ancient world. In that early age there was no regular traffic between Egypt and Palestine, and hence, the necessity for Abram to remove his whole establishment to the land of the Nile. But a great advance in international intercourse had taken place when the family of Jacob were compelled, by a similar pressure of dearth, to apply for relief in Egypt (cf. Genesis 41:57; Genesis 47:27).