Genesis Chapter 20

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.

Abraham told a lie of omission, where you tell the truth but limit what you tell to a portion of the truth that would lead a person to an incorrect conclusion. Sarah was his sister because they had the same father, that part he told. The part where they were married was left off out of fear of what could happen. This is another example of Abraham taking things into his own hands instead of trusting in God to take care of him. God is still merciful, though, he visits Abimelech in a dream and warns him about taking Sarah. In spite of Abrahams lack of faith in God’s protection, God protected him. I’ve done the same kind of things myself… where I took things into my own hands because I wanted to MAKE SURE things were going to be handled instead of trusting in God completely….and like Abraham, it messed things up….also like Abraham, God rescued me anyway. Eventually we need to learn to just give it to God and let God work it all out.

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

Imagine the stress Abimelech felt here.

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.

Abimelech pleads his case with God. He points out that he didn’t know they were married, that they told him they were brother and sister and his actions were based on this deception, so his motives were from a place of innocence. God is a righteous judge…. he knows that Abimelech was acting on misinformation.

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.

God is so merciful! He protected Abimelech from sinning against him because God knew he was innocent. God is a righteous judge…. he alone can see the thoughts and intentions of the heart….and he knows when to pass judgment and when to withhold it which is why we should be forgiving when people do something against us….and just let God sort it all out. God sees and knows things we don’t know. God’s plan for Abraham is to be the father of Israel along with his wife Sarah, he protected this plan by stopping Abimelech from taking Sarah.

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.

There was a fear of God in their hearts….and look, it saved them from being destroyed.

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.

Abimelech takes God seriously and is so upset, he rebukes Abraham for his lie that almost cost him and his people their lives. I don’t imagine Abraham felt very comfortable during this conversation. Even knowing God was actively protecting him after the fact, he was having to stand before this man and explain why he lied to him. I would have been embarrassed and ashamed to admit my reasons to Abimelech, but also knowing God knew what I did and that he had to fix the situation because of my lack of faith in him to protect me and mine. Like with all situations we turn over to God, even in our failings, God gives us growth. We say, “Lesson Learned”

¹⁰ And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

“Why Abraham… why’d you do this to me? What was your reason?” Reading this chapter I can almost see Abimelech angrily confronting Abraham… legs shaking with the fear of God and the realization of what almost happened.

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.

Abraham started his explanation with the statement that he didn’t think they were God-fearing people and the kind that would kill him and take his wife. He rounds it off with a justification of sorts that Sarah is technically his sister and the admission that he asked her to tell people he’s her brother. I don’t think Abraham was feeling great having to tell Abimelech this…..and he walked away from this experience changed into a man who wouldn’t do that again.

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.

Abimelech forgave, his heart was soft and obedient before God. He gave Abraham an offering and Sarah a promise and both of them permission to dwell in the land without fear.

¹⁷ So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

Abraham prayed over Abimelech and removed the curse that shut up the wombs of his women. God blessed him, his wife and his servants. It pays to obey God… and to forgive.

¹⁸ For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

This tells me that this entire event took a while for the women to become noticeably unable to have children. In all those months that Sarah was in his house he had not touched her because God was protecting Abraham, Sarah, Abimelech and his people. All in Gods time…we may not get instant answers, but we will get answers to our prayers… and while we wait, God is still looking out for us and working in our behalf.

Notes: God has been dealing with me to write about the topic of giving things to him to deal with whenever we are in conflict with someone else. Each side has a story… a reason why they did what they did….both sides think they are doing the right thing with their actions, but still there is conflict. By handing things over to God and allowing God to sort everything out, we‘re allowing space for God’s righteous judgment. God alone can look into the hearts of each of us the way he looked into the heart of Abimelech and saw that he was not intending to do anything wrong. He also looked into Abrahams heart and understood his reaction and deception was born out of fear…and God had mercy on him as well. God alone can search out hearts and the hearts of those who hurt us and sort it all out for the good of all involved. I have to remind myself, while I am a beloved child of God, so is my foe….and while I feel righteous in the things I do, so does my foe….and only God can see both at the same time and work it all out for our good and for his purposes. Forgive and hand it over to God…