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Gen. 20:9
"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 show unto me; at
every place whither we shall come, say of
me, He is my brother."
Abimelech
acknowledged his own sin in taking Sarah,
even, calling it a "great sin." Yet,
Abimelech also knew that this whole episode
would not have taken place if Abraham and
Sarah had been forthcoming concerning their
relationship. He had every right to
question the actions of Abraham and to
admonish him for doing what he did. Abraham
and Sarah through their deceitfulness
brought Abimelech and Gerar into a position
of near destruction from God. He was
correct in saying to Abraham, "thou hast
done deeds unto me that ought not to be
done."
Abraham's
response to Abimelech when questioned why he
did what he did was "because I thought,
Surely the fear of God is not in this place,
and they will slay me for my wife's sake."
Even for someone as faithful as Abraham and
Sarah, yet there were times that their faith
waned and they attempted to take things into
their own hands. Rather than trusting that
God would watch over them, in this occasion
and in the similar episode in Egypt, they
had trusted in their own ingenuity.
However, when we trust in ourselves rather
than God, we generally cause ourselves
problems and make a mess of things.
Ultimately their deliverances came from God
and not from their own plans.
In the above,
Abraham reveals to us that Sarah is his half
sister. That explains why what he said and
what she said was not directly a lie. Yet
it was deceitful for them to say this and
mislead people into believing they were
siblings and not spouses.
Gen. 20:14-16 Abimelech gives gifts unto
Abraham and Reproves Sarah
Gen. 20:14
"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."
To
the above passage we make the following
observations:
1. Abimelech obeyed
God when he restored Sarah back to Abraham.
Because Abimelech feared God he did not
linger in restoring Sarah.
2. Abimelech
believed God when God told him that Abraham
was a prophet. Abimelech recognized the
superiority of office of the prophet over
his office of King. We do not know how
Abimelech gained his office, but we do know
that God appointed Abraham to the office of
prophet. Thus, Abraham's office is superior
to Abimelech's office.
3. In honor of
God's blessings upon Abraham, Abimelech gave
gifts unto Abraham: sheep, and oxen, and
menservants, and womenservants and a
thousand pieces of silver. Abimelech was a
wealthy man, but he was willing to give of
his wealth to assist the prophet of God on
his journey of life.
4. Abimelech
reproved Sarah. He did this by gently
referring to Abraham as her brother.
Moreover, she was reproved in that Abimelech
was gracious and giving unto Abraham and her
while she and Abraham had been deceitful.
The scriptures tell us to overcome evil with
good: Luke 6:35 "But love ye your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing
again; and your reward shall be great, and
ye shall be the children of the Highest: for
he is kind unto the unthankful and to the
evil."
Gen. 20:17, 18 Abraham prays for Abimelech
and his household
Gen. 20:17 "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."
Previously Abraham had
interceded on behalf of Lot and God honored
Abraham by delivering Lot from the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now
Abraham prays unto God for Abimelech and his
household. Lot was very close kin to
Abraham, but Abimelech was a stranger. Yet
Abraham prayed for Abimelech as well as
Lot.
God answered the prayer of
Abraham on behalf of Abimelech and his
household and gave to them children which
had been withholden from them because of
Sarah. |
