Genesis 20:1 – 7 “Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that 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; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.”
Abraham was at it again! He didn’t trust that God would protect him, so he lied about his relationship with Sarah. When does this story actually take place? If you go by the sequence of chapters, Sarah has got to be close to 90 by now. Perhaps this story actually took place earlier about the same time as the story about Sarah entering Pharaoh’s harem. Abraham refused to acknowledge Sarah as his wife, stating instead that she was his sister. Now evidently Abraham and Sarah were half – brother/half sister “same father/different mothers” as the Ghanaians would put it. Abraham had insisted that Sarah refer to him as her brother but not as her husband. Poor Sarah!
Fortunately, King Abimelech had not laid a hand on Sarah, and God told Abimelech in a dream that He had kept Abimelech from sinning. God had made all the women in Abimelech’s household sterile and threatened to kill Abrimelech and his household if Abimelech didn’t let Sarah go. Abimelech gave Abraham livestock, servants, and 1,000 pieces of gold and offered him the best land in his kingdom. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and God removed the curse of sterility from the women of Abimelech’s household.
Right about now you are probably thinking, “Huh! Great example! Why did God bother to help Abraham?” Good question. Why did this story make it into the Old Testament to be preserved for thousands of years? The point of the story is not how bad Abraham was, but how good and forgiving God was. God had made promises to Abraham and God was going to honor those promises. At the same time, God protected Sarah as well as protecting King Abimelech, who was evidently a good man.
APPLICATION: How many times have we told half – truths or presented situations to make ourselves appear as innocent as possible? How many times have we repeated our past mistakes? And how many times have we refused to acknowledge that we have habitually lied, both to ourselves and to others? Have we promised to attend a child’s school function, only to repeatedly fail to turn up because we were still at work? Has our family had to wait to leave on vacation for several hours as one family did because the doctor/father had failed to dictate all his charts until the last minute? Have we left a trail of broken dreams in our wake?
PRAYER: Father God, we confess that we are no better than Abraham! We have told half – truths and made promises that we have broken repeatedly. Lord, forgive us for lying. Help us to tell the truth and to fulfill the promises we have made. Thank you that you will forgive us just as you forgave Abraham all those years ago. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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