Setting: Genesis 12:9-10
Extra-Biblical Sources:
Bereishit Rabbah 39:10
There was a king who, while traversing from place to place, lost a pearl from the crown of his head. The king halted and had his retinue halt. When a passer-by asked, “What is going on here with the king and his entire retinue?” they were told, “A pearl has fallen from the king’s head.”
What did the king do? He heaped the soil in a number of piles, brought sieves, and sifted the first pile, but did not find the pearl… He did the same with the second, third, and so on, until when he sifted the tenth pile, he found it. Then the passersby said, “The king has finally found his precious pearl.”
There were ten generations from Noach to Abram. Through each one God sifted until finally he found his pearl.
I saw the man and his caravan from a distance as they passed by on their way to Egypt. They did not stop in Salem, for they surely knew that we were in as great a need as they, as the drought is prolonged. But God has shown me that I will see the face of Abram one day. El has a way of sending his chosen ones to Egypt for a time, and then calling them out again into the land of promise.