Morning Light: Genesis 20 – Abraham Deceives Abimelech

[Today: Genesis 20] Abraham Deceives Abimelech. In chapter 20 of Genesis Abraham repeats the deception he perpetrated with Pharaoh in Egypt. He fears Abimelech and hides his marriage to Sarah with a lie. At the same time, God defends Abraham even in the midst of this moral failure. What are we to learn from this chapter in Abraham’s life?
[Gen 20:1-18 KJV] 1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She [is] my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she [is] a man’s wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She [is] my sister? and she, even she herself said, He [is] my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man [his] wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore [her] not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that [are] thine. 8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God [is] not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12 And yet indeed [she is] my sister; she [is] the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This [is] thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He [is] my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave [them] unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land [is] before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver: behold, he [is] to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that [are] with thee, and with all [other]: thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare [children]. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
In the previous chapters the covenant of God with Abraham is confirmed with repeated supernatural visitations. Additionally the Father brings the fate of Sodom and the cities of the plain to Abraham and calls Abraham his covenant partner without whom He will do nothing. Further, Abraham witnesses the fate of Sodom and his nephew Lot who has not produced incestuous offspring from his daughters. Having experienced all of this it then comes as a surprise that Abraham falls back into the conniving, dishonest and lying ways of his past. This lack of good character on Abraham’s part is repeated generationally with Isaac and almost destroys his blood line in the controversy between Jacob and Esau. We must always remember that our actions have generational impact upon those coming after us. In our evangelical faith we have been taught that “Jesus is coming tomorrow” to the extent that we give inadequate thought to the impact our actions and choices have upon generations to come particularly our families. The poor decisions you make today may not accrue a negative result in your generation but the compromises you make today will manifest as excess and failure in the generations after you.
Again, be reminded that God did not rebuke Abraham when he lied to Pharaoh. When Abraham and Sarah erred in elevating Hagar to second wife status God never rebuked them for this either. Why point this out? Is it ok to dishonor ourselves and make mistakes and even outright sin? No that is not what God is saying. God surely was not elated to see Abraham lie and cheat. What was His response? He didn’t rebuke but rather employed the strategy of Romans 2:4 “the goodness of God leads to repentance.” Does that mean there are no consequences? No – the consequences on Lot who Abraham love were disastrous and devastating. The consequences on Hagar and Ishmael were likewise difficult and brought on them much suffering. Abraham and Sarah too went through much stress and heartache which would have been avoided had Abraham listened to God instead of reacting to the situation at hand.
We have a concept of God that expects Him to pounce on us every time we deviate from a pre-determined course. That is simply NOT the truth. Paul taught this and was accused of teaching a libertine theology that “anything goes…” Because when you teach the gospel correctly it sounds wrong to the religious mindset.
Peter complained about this quite loudly:
[2Pe 3:16 KJV] 16 As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
In other words Peter didn’t offer Paul’s books on his tape table did he? Yet Paul rebuked Peter for contaminating the gospel with Jewish religious legalism because Peter was intimidated by the Judaizing Christians and by the Holy Ghost Paul recorded:
[Gal 2:11-14 KJV] 11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
God is willing to accept the fact that the unstable and unlearned misconstrue the gospel to their own destruction because it is necessary to liberate, empower and activate everyone in the middle with the power and grace of God’s unconditional love.
In v. 3-7 Abraham is at a very weak moment but notice that instead of losing his power with God – the Father tells a king that he won’t be healed unless this weak, fearful Abraham prays for him. Even in your humanity God is still with you. The power of God in your life is on the basis of grace and not religious performance or moral perfection. That is NOT an excuse to sin but when you state the gospel correctly it seems that way to a religious mind.
Notice that God points out if Abimelech had actually had relations with Sarah God would have destroyed him. God had mercy on Abimelech because HE was innocent and a victim of Abraham’s lie. Many times we wonder why God let’s sinners get away with things – here is an answer. When our lack of good choices emboldens are enemies God will often shield them from consequences that would otherwise be visited upon them. The indictment was against Abraham and not Abimelech who was an enemy of God and an enemy of Abraham.
When you look at people groups involved in pernicious sins such as the LGBT demographic you wonder why God lets them get away with their brazen contempt for biblical worldviews. Romans 1:28 tells us that widespread sin, specifically homosexuality is visited upon a culture when they do not like to RETAIN GOD in their knowledge. Does the church bear any responsibility for this? Jesus said this in the Gospel of John:
[Jhn 13:35 KJV] 35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Is this love the testimony of the church? Is this love the primary public face of Christianity as a sub-culture in the western world? No of course it is not. Therefore God’s punishment against the brazen contempt of the world for Christian religion is mitigated over the nations because we as a people have failed to present an uncontaminated testimony. We must repent of this and work to correct this for our sakes and the sake of a lost and dying world.
So Abimelech (v. 8-18) is required to reconcile himself to an imperfect and vulnerable Abraham who continues to make excuses and dishonor himself and his covenant God. Do you see that it is (Rom. 2:4) the goodness of God poured out upon us that brings his favor? Gal. 3:29 says we are a part of this covenant. The covenant that caused God to deal so with Abraham is the covenant ratified by Christ on the cross. It is no longer necessary for us to make excuses for ourselves to accuse others or justify ourselves. This is dead religion. We need to embrace the covenant of blessing wherewith God has blessed us and allow His goodness to produce His character in us that the world may see and know and find relationship with our savior because of His love for us and our love for men.