Abraham and Abimelech

Story: Abraham and Abimelech

Passage: Genesis 20

Characters: Abraham, Sarah, Abimelech, God

Summary: Abraham traveled to Gerar. He said that Sarah was his sister and Abimelech, king of Gerar took her. God told him he would die for taking another man’s wife. Abimelech was confused and maintained his innocence. God revealed that Abimelech was innocent because God didn’t let him touch her. God told him to return Sarah to Abraham and Abraham would pray for
Abimelech and he would be spared. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and God healed his entire household. God had caused all of the women in his house to become barren.

Notes:
Abrhaham was doing it again! He was giving his wife to another man to save his own life. Once again God punished the man even though he had no idea of what he was doing! I love the way God begins His conversation with Abimelech. Remember, Abimelech had no idea that he had taken another man’s wife. God said, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken…” That’s a scary thing to hear from God when you think you are innocent! Poor Abimelech tried to maintain his innocence and the Lord immediately acknowledged that he had indeed not touched her yet. But He also says that it was God that kept him from touching her. This implies that without God, he would have. The true test became how Abimelech would respond to this knowelge. Would he return Sarah without incident? This is what he did. Although you can tell he
was mad at Abraham for deceiving him like that. Abraham tries to make excuses and justify his actions by referencing the fact that she is sort of his sister. This seems pathetic to me, but it is encouraging that God used a pathetic person like Abraham to lead and found His chosen people! This should give you a ton of hope and confidence! God loves using weak men! Abimelech gave Abraham all kinds of livestock and possessions and let him live wherever he wanted to. So once again, God blessed Abraham through this deception! Another interesting observation is that Abraham is 100 years old at this point and Sarah is also quite old. The fact that Abraham was still worried he would be killed over her beauty makes me think one of three things could have been going on here. One, she was a very beautiful old lady. Two, Abraham was blind to the fact that they had aged. Three, she was very inwardly beautiful and that was what would attract Abimelech. Obviously, Abimelech did take her so something was going on here that drew him to her.

Questions: Why did God react so harshly to Abimelech when his intentions were innocent? Why did God once again bless Abraham through this deception? What on earth did Sarah think of this deal she made with Abraham?

Lessons: God can use us even when we screw up. When we are cowardly and don’t consult God
for our decisions, He does not give up on us. Instead He continues to show us mercy and grace and guides us in the direction that we should go. Also, sinning with good intentions is still sinning and still deserves death.