1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai;

4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

Abram’s story highlights the mysterious ways that God works in. First there was that famine which got Abram into the land of Egypt, where he would accumulate great wealth, the beginnings of his future kingdom. But Egypt was not supposed to be the land of Abram’s inheritance, Canaan was. So then there arose the dispute about Abram’s wife, another blessing in disguise, which pushed out of Egypt and back to his prior home on Canaan’s outskirts.

Abram has returned home, but he is not the same as when he went out. As we will see in the next verses he has grown too big for this place, the old clothes don’t fit anymore. God led him away to obtain the things that he needed, then led him back to continue his larger story.