What did God tell Abraham and Isaac about going into Egypt and what happened when they tried it?
God told Abraham and Isaac not to go down into Egypt, but to sojourn in the land of promise. When they tried going into Egypt, they got into trouble and had to hurry back to Canaan. This instruction contrasted with God's later word to Jacob, whom He told not to fear going into Egypt.
Les teaches that God had told Abraham and Isaac, “Don’t go into Egypt,” and when they tried it, they got in trouble until they hightailed it back to Canaan. But later, in Genesis 46, God spoke to Israel/Jacob at Beersheba in visions of the night: “I am God, the God of thy father, fear not to go down into Egypt.” Les points out this was a change, because now God told Jacob not to be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there He would make of him a great nation. That is exactly what happened: after some 215 years in Egypt, Moses led out a company of anywhere from 5-7 million people, making Israel the biggest nation in the then-known world.