early church, which had experienced devastating poverty (in Jerusalem), the preeminence of God’s provisions was spiritual, not material. Even the verse often quoted by Christians today, Phil 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” pertains first to the spiritual resources that sustain the Christian in difficulty (see “needs,” 4:11–13). The events of Abram’s sojourn in Egypt, set between
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