Sermon Tone Analysis

Background

Last week we saw the wrath of God come down upon Sodom and Gomorrah because the outcry of their sins had become so great.

Lot had welcomed in the 2 angels sent by God to destroy the city, and they rescued him from the destruction of the city.

At quick glance, you might be tempted to say that this has happened before, and indeed it has.

TIMELINE

We can see that this takes place right after the destruction of Sodom.

Abraham would have witnessed the burning of the valley, and decided to move on.

Abraham left his place within the oaks of Mamre and traveled southwest into Gerar and set up camp.

We don’t know why.

As we’ve seen in the past, Abraham has told others that Sarah is her sister, not her wife.

What’s the motivation?

Fear.

And fear ultimately reveals a lack of faith in God.

Particularly in this case since He’s promised much to Abraham and made a covenant with him.

Abraham was not living according to the faith he had in God.

Those who believe in God ought to live according to their beliefs.

Sarah is taken into the harem of the king (again), at around 90 years old, but Scripture explicitly states that she was never touched.

This is important because Sarah’s womb is presumed to be opened at this point, as the son of promise would come through her.

God had to preserve the promises that He had made along the way.

God used a conversation within a dream to communicate to Abimelech and threaten him.

Abimelech would have been a pagan and not feared God like Abraham did.

Abimelech rightly recognized the gravity of the situation, and responded with his innocence and pure heart.

God even says He had a hand in keeping Abimelech from sinning.

As we talked about last week, God knows every intention in our hearts.

He commands Abimelech to return Sarah, but also gives a threat that he most certainly could have fulfilled.

Before we move on, I’d like to recognize what is happening here.

God is revealing to Abimelech 2 possible futures (from his standpoint).

This is called Middle Knowledge.

God is able to not only know what will take place in the future of everyone, but He can also see what could’ve been.

The household was rightly frightened at the real possibility of dying on the spot.

Abimelech takes it seriously and immediately takes action by summoning Abraham.

This was also a reproving for Sarah and Abraham.

Abimelech was essentially telling them not to do this again.

And this is in fact the last time in Scripture we see them use this ruse.

Abimelech’s questions seem justifiable, considering what has taken place.

Look at this interesting question: “what have you encountered, that you have done this thing?”

It presupposes that Abraham has a history of doing this.

We finally get to see what was Abraham’s motivation and reasoning.

He believes there is no fear of his God where he is.

He assumes he will be killed for his wife.

Likewise, he reveals Sarah as his half-sister.

Back in those days, it was not terribly uncommon for half-siblings to marry.

Abraham also reveals that this was something planned by them 25 years ago, the sibling story.

He considered it a kindness done to him.

Not only Abraham, but what does this say about the culture and the state of mankind?

Once again, Abraham is blessed by the monarch who took his wife, given livestock and servants.

Sarah was also restored to him.

In addition, Abimelech also allowed Abraham to settle anywhere he wanted to within their lands.

It is presumed that this would come with protection from the king.

We also see Abimelech tell Sarah that he paid Abraham 1,000 pieces of silver as a vindication for her (restitution).

This was due to him kidnapping another man’s wife, which was a serious offense.

Ignorance was not a defense.

These actions would have cleared Sarah and restored her honor.

Faithful to his charge, Abraham fulfilled his prophetic duty and prayed for healing over Abimelech and his household.

It’s unknown from what specifically they needed healing, but they certainly needed to be able to reproduce.

God moves within creation to effect His will for humanity.

It’s entirely possible that God did this to protect Sarah from getting pregnant.

Some scholars think it was at this point that Sarah’s womb was also opened.

APPLICATION

Those who believe in God ought to live according to their beliefs.

God moves within creation to effect His will for humanity.

Next week, we will continue the story of Abraham and see the birth of Isaac.

Communion: We practice open communion, which means if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you may join the church in taking the Lord’s Supper.

Communion is a practice of remembering what Christ has done by eating and drinking, and we are told that we must examine ourselves in the taking of communion, so that we do not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.

Take this time to examine yourself before we take communion together.