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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."
Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' "
Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.
Genesis 20:1-18
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Our scripture verses for today from Genesis, Chapter 20, bring an air of déjà vu with them.
You may remember in Chapter 12 that Abraham (known as Abram then) went to Egypt with his wife, Sarah (Sarai then), and out of fear that Pharaoh would kill him if he knew that Abram was Sara’s husband he devised and executed a lie. This involved Sarai posing as Abram’s sister before she was taken into Pharaoh’s palace to be a part of his harem.
Well, Abram and Sarai’s plan went up in smoke when the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and all his household with diseases, terrible circumstances that caused Pharaoh to summon Abram and ask him why he could have done such an awful thing before sending him, Sarai, and their entourage away.
Within this story, we learned that although Abram had been specially blessed by God in a big way to become the father of the Jewish nation, he did not have true trust and faith in God in his heart. For he feared Pharaoh, even though he knew God had been with him and indeed still was.
Now, fast forward to today’s scripture where we find Abraham and Sarah choosing to stop and stay in a place named Gerar and while there, we see that they hadn’t really learned anything from their past sin. Look again at those words here:
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."
Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done." And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ' "
Then Abimelech brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.
Genesis 20:1-18
Here, we find that King Abimelech was the most recent victim of Abraham and Sarah’s charade. It was the same as before, Abraham pawning off Sarah as his sister before she was taken away by the king.
Everything seemed to be going as planned for the deceitful couple, that is, until God intervenes and comes to Abimelech in a dream telling him he is good as dead because Sarah was actually a married woman.
After this revelation, we find Abimelech serving as his own defense attorney, fearful of the Lord’s judgment. He asks:
"Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
Here, we find Abimelech highlighting the dishonesty brought on by Abraham and Sarah and how he didn’t sin despite the ruse because he didn’t enter into relations with Sarah.
Then the Lord says something amazing to the king.
"Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
Through his words, King Abimelech thought he had overcome Abraham and Sarah’s scheming on his own, showing restraint in not entering into a tryst with Sarah, but God made it clear that it was He who had kept him from committing a wrong. Then, God commanded Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham or face dire consequence.
In other words, God made it clear that He was the real King in charge.
Well, we read where Abimelech did as the Lord commanded but also, like Pharaoh before, confronted and condemned Abraham for what he had done that almost had placed Abimelech and his nation in peril with God.
Abraham, seemingly unable to show accountability by telling the truth and admitting his transgression, confesses that Sarah is his wife but then goes onto try and make it as if he really wasn’t misleading Abimelech, saying that Sarah was really his sister as well the woman he married. The truth was that Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister and this isn’t the same, because Abraham and Sarah only shared one parent, their father Tereh.
Going back to the scriptures, we find Abimelech sending Abraham and Sarah away with livestock and money to cover the "offense against you". In turn, Abraham prays to God, asking for Him to heal "Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, for the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household". God honors this prayer and we find the story having a happy ending but there are things that we as believers need to learn from this story.
First, there is no one so righteous that they can’t fail.
We have seen twice now how Abraham, the father of all nations, failed to exercise faith in the God who made a special covenant with him. Fearing for his life as he and Sarah went into the presence of kings, Abraham felt it necessary to tell lies to protect himself instead of relying on God to take care of him and his wife.
Second, God will step in and provide warning when we are in the midst of deceit.
Abimelech would have fallen for Abraham and Sarah’s plot had God not sent him a vision in a dream. And we see where God did one better that that. For He prevented Abimelech from even touching Sarah before the revelation of the deception. In the end, God made it clear that He was to be glorified, not the earthly king.
When we draw near to God ourselves, we can know that He will draw near to us, watching over us and ready to send warning when we too might be in danger of being misled.
Finally, we should never be afraid to come clean if we have made a mistake.
As righteous as he was, Abraham couldn’t tell Abimelech the full truth about the matter, that he had just flat out lied about his true relation to Sarah. Abraham was never Sarah’s full sister and yet he presented his relationship with Sarah as brother and sister before husband and wife.
In today’s passage, we find Abraham repeating a sin of the past he only further discredited himself by refusing to tell the truth.
In the end translation, we need to remember this:
God never rejoices in falsehood.
Lying is sin, plain and simple and God cannot be in the presence of sin because He is always in the place of truth. He is truth personified and when we as believers commune with Him every day, His truth will become ours, driving us away from repeating acts of dishonesty like we see from Abraham and Sarah.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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