Syria to Egypt Ancient Trade Routes

הַר גְּרִזִּים (left / southwest), Shᵊkhëm and הַר עֵיבָל (right / northeast)

Eil•onꞋ near Khë•vᵊr•onꞋ (Gush Etzion)

After the death of TërꞋakh, ה' commanded AvᵊrâmꞋ to "get yourself going" out of Khâ•rânꞋ and go to Kᵊna•anꞋ where I will make you a powerful leader. I will bless those who bless you; and anyone who curses you I will damn. And in you shall all of the families of the a•dâm•âhꞋ become blessed.

So AvᵊrâmꞋ traveled with his caravan and encampment, his wife, Sâr•aiꞋ, and his nephew, Lōt, via the Inland Ridge Trade Route, through Damascus, Syria and into Kᵊna•anꞋ, passing around Yâm Ki•nërꞋët and continuing south into central Kᵊna•anꞋ to ShᵊkhëmꞋ, where AvᵊrâmꞋ set up his camp and pitched his tent in the nearby village of Eil•onꞋ Mor•ëhꞋ. There, AvᵊrâmꞋ envisioned ה' promising that He would bequeath the land to his descendants.

From Eil•onꞋ Mor•ëhꞋ, AvᵊrâmꞋ and his family continued moving south following the Inland Ridge Trade Route to Khë•vᵊr•onꞋ.

Famine In Kᵊna•anꞋ, AvᵊrâmꞋ Moves Family To Nile Delta, Egypt

Ancient World (showing modern countries); Nile Delta in light green

When a famine befell the land of Kᵊna•anꞋ, AvᵊrâmꞋ decided to move his family south and west into the Nile Delta of lower (northern) Egypt, where the annual flooding of the Nile made the Delta the food basket of the ancient world.

Sâr•aiꞋ – A "To Kill For" Femme Fatale!

Unlike the lands in which AvᵊrâmꞋ and his family had lived to this point, Egypt was the ancient world's superpower – and had been for more than 1,000 years, ruled by a dictator Par•ohꞋ who could do whatever he wished. Rumors abounded of rulers murdering men married to beautiful wives in order to take their wives for themselves.¹

AvᵊrâmꞋ was unaware of the Par•ohꞋ family's misguided belief that they were gods descended from gods by a "Holy Grail" divine bloodline that could not be mixed with "commoner" mortals. By their own beliefs, a Par•ohꞋ could only marry and reproduce within his own family's "divine blood" – usually a step-sister, a daughter of one of his Par•ohꞋ-father's several wives.

Par•ohꞋ Wahankh Intef II (ca. BCE 2108-2059, about the time of AvᵊrâmꞋ) – Limestone Funerary stele (Middle Kingdom Dynasty XI Thebes, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accession Number: 13.182.3)

So, although in some lands there was a danger of being killed because Sâr•aiꞋ was so desirable, unknown to AvᵊrâmꞋ, it was unlikely that the Egyptian Par•ohꞋ would compromise his claim of a Pharaonic "divine bloodline" underpinning his claim of rule by "divine right."

But because AvᵊrâmꞋ didn't know that, he feared being killed by the Egyptian Par•ohꞋ because Sâr•aiꞋ was so desirable. So, while in Egypt, he asked her to pose as his sister instead of his wife.

As a result, thinking she was AvᵊrâmꞋ's sister, the Egyptian officials who saw her recommended she be presented to Par•ohꞋ and took her to the palace to distance her from "commoner" mortals; presumably in preparation for eventual marriage to Par•ohꞋ. Because relative of a Par•ohꞋ must also be seen as distanced from "commoner" mortals, Par•ohꞋ also made AvᵊrâmꞋ a wealthy baron – with tzon, cattle, male donkeys, workers and maids, female donkeys and camels.

However, a contagious infection swept through Par•ohꞋ's household, and Par•ohꞋ blamed it on the new arrival: Sâr•aiꞋ. He soon learned that Sâr•aiꞋ was AvᵊrâmꞋ's wife, not his sister. But although Par•ohꞋ was mightily angry at AvᵊrâmꞋ, he shrewdly realized that it was politically unwise to publicly acknowledge that the Egyptian belief in "divine bloodline" and "divine right to rule," which kept the Pharaonic household in power, was so tenuous as to so nearly be compromised by a woman unqualified for deification.

Summoning AvᵊrâmꞋ, he dealt with the matter discreetly. "What have you done to me?" Par•ohꞋ demanded of AvᵊrâmꞋ. "Why didn't you tell me she is your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' putting me in danger of marrying a woman who is married to a mortal "commoner"? Take your wife and all of your belongings and get out of Egypt!"