Gen
2:20
Abraham
introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of
Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
The background to this sorry state of affairs is that
Abraham had just interceded for his nephew Lot and his family to be saved from
the Lord’s intention to destroy Sodom; Lot subsequently fled to the mountains
around Zoar; and Abraham then decided to journey away from the area to the
Negeb where he settled temporarily in Gerar.
Abimelech was the Philistine king of Gerar. The taking
of Sarah into his harem was most probably a political move, as Abraham was
known as a very rich and important man, and alliances made through marriages were
commonly arranged to ensure good will between rulers.
God came to this pagan king’s rescue by warning him in a
dream about the truth of who Sarah really was – Abraham’s wife – and He then
instructed Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham, which he immediately did the
very next morning. God had shown Abimelech mercy by preventing him from
touching her. He brought sheep, oxen, and slaves to this meeting, with the
generous offer that Abraham could live anywhere in his land. He also brought a
thousand pieces of silver to vindicate Sarah’s honour before all men.
Abraham’s response to all these happenings was far from
what we would expect from this godly man. We find that he had not learned his
lesson from the first time when he lied about Sarah being his sister (which she
of course was to an extent, she was his half-sister, but half a lie is just the
same as a full lie) to Pharaoh in Gen 12:10-20. God scourged
Pharaoh and his household with serious plagues on that occasion and repeated His
judgement again on Abimelech and his household by afflicting them with an
ailment that is not disclosed here. Abraham had not learned to trust God to
protect him and repeated his own corrupt plans.
Even worse, Abraham tried to shift the blame for all
these events on to God. In verse 13 he said 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."’
The word he used for ‘wander’ is the worst word available he could choose, it
is always translated negatively, to be used amongst others “of animals going
astray, of a drunken man reeling, or staggering, of sinful seduction, of a
prophet’s lies causing the people to err, of the path of a lying heart”.
And still, despite all this - God called Abraham a
prophet (verse 7). God did not cancel His promises to him. God
provided Isaac through him, and centuries later Jesus Christ was born from this
family line.
Pearls to ponder:
When we think about all the wrong things we continue to
do before God, it is only His mercy and grace that upholds us. Consider that
Jesus sees everything about us - every hidden thought; every weakness; every
failure. And still He died for us, so that we can be with Him for all eternity!
