Abraham in the South Country
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So we ended two weeks ago reading through an interesting little side story that is very similar to the story of when Abraham and Sarah journeyed through Egypt.
Let’s reread the contents of chapter 20 then cover it verse by verse.
Genesis 20.1-21.2
January 1st 2023
Genesis 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.
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.
Abimelech's Response
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.
Generosity and Restoration
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.
Genesis 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Remember the setting. Abraham had just looked out over the plain of Sodom and everything was on fire. Many assume that Abraham left the area because he was mourning over the loss of Lot and his family and the scripture never brings them together again. That said however, I consulted my Hebrew scholar sources and what a couple of them said was that Lot first went to the small city of Zoar, and people witnessed his escape, then to the mountain cave where things got very “familiar” shall we say?
And based on this the Hebrew view of some is that Abraham distanced himself from Lot because of the cave events knowing he was alive but disgusted by his nephew’s actions. There is the idea that Abraham had no reason to move as his land wasn’t affected by the fire but perhaps it smelled or was too sad for him to continue there. Can’t say for sure but these are some views.
So, he pulled-up stakes and apparently journeyed a short while and established himself in Gerar, which was a city in Arabia under
A King Named Abimelech
A king of the Philistines called Abimelech, whose name means “my father king” and who appears to have been not only the father of his people but also a righteous man.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. Sarah was probably about ninety years of age and maybe prego with Isaac by now though this seems to happen in the next verse. We have to wonder about Abimelech the King taking her as she had to have been greatly diminished in her beauty compared to when the Pharaoh king of Egypt took her years before with very similar results. But this time it appears to have been a move to align himself and his kingdom with Abraham who was very rich. Remember, Abraham went to war with the Canaanitish kings and in defeating them could have also made a name for himself as a power to be reckoned with and taking the sister of such could have been seen as having political sway so it wasn’t only sexually derived.
Abimelech's Interaction with God
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. This not-related-to-Abraham king had God speak with him in a dream and so we have evidence that God dealt with others too in the day. Not only that but our next verse suggests that the Gerarites under Abimelech were a good people and must have been loved also by God. Let’s read Abimelech’s response to God’s dream visit:
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. Now, because of his words and because of what God says back to him next, it seems that Abimelech was speaking the truth. What I don’t understand is God’s response here because He first tells Abimelech, “thou art a dead man,” and then Abimelech replies, justifying himself fully, and God says back to him in a dream (verse 6-7)
God's Awareness and Decision
“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.”
So, what the heck? Why say, “thou are a dead man” if God knew Abimelech did this in the integrity of his heart ESPECIALLY in light of the fact that He adds, “for I also withheld from thee FROM sinning against me therefore I suffered thee not to touch her!!!!!!”
Out of the gate it SOUNDS like a very brash and bold God who shows up all ferocious and says, “Thou art a dead man,” and then Abimelech straight up defends himself and then God sort of looks around and says, like John Lovetz, “yeah, yeah, I knew that about you. In faaaact, I’m the one who stopped you from doing anything bad in the first place.”
But instead of being an idiot let’s consider something else here that this exchange – evidences – that maybe God speaks and operates in the face of human freewill based on what is possible in the face of all things considered. So, while knowing the heart of Abimelech, perhaps God shows up and what he is really saying to the King is,
“If this continues to move forward the way it has gone already, and you keep who you think is Abraham's sister, and even make her your own, even though you had good intentions not knowing she was his wife, you are a dead man.” But instead of giving all the details He just says the end result if they play out the way humans are able to carry things out. I mean, we just watched Lot impregnate his two daughters so heck, God’s like, I’m not taking any chances here and says, “You’re a dead man.” Then Abimelech states that he is righteous in light of the facts and God then says, “I know.”
God's Intervention and Free Will
This about you, in fact I also stepped in to prevent you from even touching her.” Meaning, I have already helped stave off your death but things need to change. “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.”
I see this exchange as yet another evidence of God working with creations to whom He has given free will. And I see Him interacting to bring about the Messiah from and through this union of Abraham and Sarah from the start. We do see times where He does insert himself into the human economy as a means to assure protection and that in so doing His will is accomplished rather than just relying on the human race to unfold on its own. But this intervention allows for freewill choice even though God did step in and ensures Sarah’s protection as He gives Abimelech instruction but reminds him that if he fails to comply he WOULD die (as would all that are his). God also gives justification for Abimelech returning Sarah over the fact that she is his wife, saying, for he is a prophet and he shall pray for thee.”
The Role of a Prophet
Interestingly, the Greek term form prophet is of compound derivation coming from the terms “pro,” (meaning before) and a word that means, “I speak” therefore, someone who speaks before it happens. But Abraham was not a prophet in this sense of the word and we can say this because the Hebrew word here translated, prophet, (nawbee) better means an inspired person and best means in its application to Abraham as one who prays for, entreats, or makes supplication on behalf of others and we have justification for this view in other places like (1st Samuel 10:9-13 and King Saul and in 1st Kings 18:29 and the priests of Baal). These prophets were so close to God that they would and could communicate with Him and then speak His mind to others.
We discover this definition of prophet assigned to Jesus when He is with the woman at the well and tells her that she has had many husbands and her response to this is saying, “sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” He had not spoke the future but revealed to her things He could not know but by the Spirit. To some, the meaning originated in trying to describe a person who was very intimate with God, holy, devout, even itinerant, not of this world, and then became more specifically assigned to people who spoke into the future.
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. Because God came to Abimelech in a dream by night it appears that the day came early to the man and he was champing at the bit to take action.
Early Mornings and Divine Communication
There is some super strong biblical supports for people rising up early to do things in connection with God. In many cases it could just be that God was working on them in the night and they rose early to act. Perhaps there is a great deal of culture involved as this was an agrestic community and caring for animals begins early too. But I personally believe, at least for me, that God speaks early in the day.
I mentioned last week that I took on a job at a warehouse and was working from 4pm to midnight Monday – Friday. For the first time in seventeen years straight (and really, almost since I was a young teen) I was not able to get up early and then as an adult, read, study and write but was relegated to going to bed around 1am and waking when the morning was half over. Our contract ended with that warehouse and I’ve had a few days to return to the early mornings ritual. One morning I woke up and knew that in my life, God speaks in the morning – and I texted my manager and told him I could only work from three or four am until 11 or 12 in the future – if you don’t hear God in your life, get up early and listen then. Something to consider.
Anyway, Abimelech rose, assembled his servants, and communicated to them what he had received from God which astonished them. (verse 9)
Abraham's Deception and God's Nature
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?
In other words, what caused you to create such a deception? What did you see? 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.
In the situation with Pharaoh years earlier, I suggested that Abraham surrendered Sarah up in faith, trusting that God would deliver her up from harm. Here, it seems that Abraham used deception as a means to protect himself from being killed. In other words, it seems pretty clear that he was afraid and allowed that fear to allow the ruse – which was based in a partial truth as he will add at verse 12, saying
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.
The Nature of Lies
The question is, was Abraham, the Father of Faith, guilty of a lie here? It seems so. Simply put, lies are what we use to get people to believe something that is not the truth. Telling a lie is based on the purposeful intent to deceive in some way or another.
When we pass along information not realizing it is untrue or that it will lead to unintended deception the information is a lie but the intention of sharing it is not lying but simply being wrong about the information we share. In other words, we don’t call people liars who do not intend to mislead – people are liars who purposefully mislead others. And in this sense, Father Abraham appears to have been a liar.
God's Unchanging Truth
Of course, we do not worship men and Abraham, great as He was, was a man. The wonderful thing about God is, as Numbers 23:19 says, He is “not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
All human beings have feet of clay. God does not. This is both sobering, terrifying and says volumes along the way. He is Truth. Sees the truth. There is no shadow in Him. He cannot lie. He cannot abide in any shade of darkness. He is a consuming fire. This means that whatever is before Him will be utterly and wholly exposed. I suggest that He will shine through every particle of our existence and hold us up to true unrestrained scrutiny through Love; that there will be nowhere to hide, no ability to obscure or deceive and nothing we can say or do that will not be true before Him.
I frankly expect this.
At the same time, this very God is merciful, kind and longsuffering and I believe that way up at the top of His list of desired traits in His children is transparency, honesty, loving truth, hating a lie and deeply felt and exhibited humility. And I happen to think that those who cultivate these attributes here in this life will find themselves incomprehensibly engulfed by Him and His love in the next.
Self-examination and Humility
I submit that exposing oneself to the total scrutiny of God’s sight takes time, and can be very uncomfortable. Want an exercise to really cause you to let Him in. I did this recently. I say alone in our apartment with no distractions and I did a tedious review of myself – almost in chronological order from childhood to the present. I asked God to look inside my heart and to show me what is there. What has been there, what I have chosen to do, what I have allowed myself to believe and think and act on.
I will not go into details but the end result was sheer humility that came hand in hand with the realization that anything that has every been good in my life came from Him, was Him and that in my flesh I made a mess of everything. It's a sobering but honest place to be – and serves to bring mercy to others when they fail.
Abraham allowed Abimelech to believe a truth as a
Biblical Family Ties
The relationship between Abraham and Sarah is often a topic of interest due to its complex nature. Sarah was the daughter of Abraham's father but not of his mother. Although she was his wife, she was also his sister. Batrick, a Hebrew scholar, noted in his annals that "Terah first married Yona, by whom he had Abraham; afterwards he married Tehevita, by whom he had Sarah." This ancient tradition highlights the familial ties.
Abraham requested Sarah to portray him as her brother during their journeys to protect themselves, a request initially made when Sarah was young and beautiful. The biblical narrative describes this era when it was widely acceptable for a sister to become a wife. Abraham's explanation in Genesis 20:13 illustrates this, where he recounts instructing Sarah to say, "He is my brother" as a demonstration of kindness at every place they visited.
Controversies and Clarifications
When Abimelech took Sarah, he restored her to Abraham with gifts after a divine intervention. Genesis 20:14-16 reads, "Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife." The passage notes the ambiguous terms exchanged between Abimelech and Sarah, possibly referring to a protective "veil."
Abraham prayed to God, which led to Abimelech's household being healed, with women bearing children again. This followed a period during which the Lord had closed their wombs because of Sarah, as stated in Genesis 20:17-18. Some interpretations suggest that Abimelech was cursed and rendered incapable of defiling Sarah, a curse lifted upon her release.
The Fulfillment of God's Promise
As we conclude this narrative, Genesis 21:1-2 documents the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah. The Lord visited Sarah, and she conceived, bearing a son to Abraham in his old age. This event took place at the appointed time, twenty-five years after the promise was made.
Reflecting on new beginnings, as exemplified by the birth of Jesus, emphasizes the notion of waiting in faith. The process of being born from above mirrors the natural birth of Jesus, as Jesus himself stated in John 8:23, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world." This analogy serves as a reminder for those who come to faith, transitioning from spiritual infancy to maturity in Christ.
The Significance of Jesus' Early Life
Why so little is written about Jesus' young life? It's because He had to learn, and mature, and grow. Likewise, as “babes in Christ,” no matter how old we are, very little is expected of us. We are not born from above and expected or even equipped to love correctly, serve rightly, or instruct others—any more than God expected His only human Son to enter into His labors for at least three decades. And again, and for this reason, we know very little about Him for, “his time had not come.”
Hebrews 5:8-9
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
So again, the reason for the scant information about Him in the first three decades of life was God was maturing Him, growing Him, and readying Him to enter into His ministry. We might say that this was the period wherein Jesus of Nazareth increased in wisdom (which is knowledge applied) and stature (which could mean physical height and size) or spiritual understanding.
Preparation for Ministry
So even for God’s own human son, who Matthew writes in the first chapter of his gospel was called Emmanuel, which means, God with us, there was a need, once He was born from above, for Him to take root downward in order to produce fruit upward. We recall that Moses, after killing an Egyptian, was in the Midian desert for forty years of his life being prepared of the LORD to emancipate the Nation of Israel from bondage, and that it appears that the apostle Paul, once born from above, spent around fourteen years learning and studying in preparation for how God would use Him.
It has been my experience, through personal participation and the observation of others, that most people, once they “hear the word and receive it with gladness,” are so enthused by the new life within them that they are moved to action before they are rightly prepared. These, like most babes and children, are the most vocal on subjects least understood and, filled with zeal, are champing at the bit to street preach and proselytize, often ignoring the fact that they are still on diets of scriptural milk and therefore fail to understand God’s love and what it really looks like. Embarrassingly, I was one of these souls and was put in a position to speak to large audiences well before I ever understood the meat of the Word. This amounted to my having to publicly retract a number of positions I ardently taught as biblical and true.
Evidence of Spiritual Maturity
So again, all we have to do is look to the very life of Jesus of Nazareth to understand how God does works in and through us and remember, for the three years of His public ministry, He had ten times as many years in preparation. This is not to say that people are not allowed to share or be led of the Spirit as babes. But it is to remind ourselves of the importance of scriptural and spiritual preparation and maturity in those who feel inclined to lead or be involved. I do not suggest that there is any sort of time limit we should impose on people, but I do suggest that the evidence of true spiritual maturity is not so much doctrinal certainty but the manifest evidence of agape love toward others—especially in the face of criticism and attack as this trait shows a mighty presence of mature faith abiding in the life of a believer.
We will get to chapter 21 and the birth of Isaac next week.
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David
Laura
Eric
