Genesis 20
Notes
Transcript
Last week, we finished up Chapter 19 and the account of Lot, his family, and the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah. Tonight, we will be moving onto Chapter 20, and looking at a rather interesting text.
It is almost a situation like we see in 1 Kings 18 and 1 Kings 19 where Elijah is seen at the height of his ministry in one chapter and then at the lowest in the next.
Abraham has just spent time with the Lord Himself, shared a meal with Him, and pleaded with Him on behalf of the people in Sodom. What an amazing picture of how we should love our people and plead for them before the Lord. But now we are going to see Abraham make a silly mistake. It is actually one that he has made before, which we will talk more about a little later on.
The major lesson that we are to learn tonight from this account of history is that “God is faithful, even when we are not!”
Let’s read through this Chapter and pray!
***Prayer
It starts by telling us in verse 1:
1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar.
Before they arrive though, Abraham reverts back to an old tactic, one that we saw him use in Genesis 12:
2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
This is particularly striking because of where Abraham is spiritually. Since Genesis 12, Abraham has been through a lot with the Lord. He has no doubt grown in many ways. He has:
walked with God for years,
received incredible promises,
witnessed God’s covenant,
interceded for Sodom,
experienced God’s supernatural provision,
and yet he still falls into an old pattern.
If we can learn anything from this, it is this: some battles have to be fought more than once. Spiritual maturity does not make us incapable of repeating old failures. Though we grow with the Lord, we can still make the mistake of falling back onto some of our old ways when things look grim.
The issue here, is not that things actually were grim, but Abraham supposed that they would be. He allowed his fear of what might be overcome his faith in what was, and as a result he ended up making a horrible mistake. God had already laid out before Abraham what was to be expected. He had made a covenant with Abraham, promised him a son, whom Sarah was now pregnant with, and even though Abraham knew all of this, he still allowed his fear of what might happen to sway his conscience into doing something horrible.
As we will see through this account, Abraham’s failure affected others besides himself. It affected King Abimelech, all of King Abimelech’s household, Sarah, himself, and most importantly, it potentially affected the promised seed that God had miraculously placed within Sarah. Our private compromises rarely remain private in their consequences.
With that being said, we see also the unshakable faithfulness of God:
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
Abraham had created the problem, but God steps into the situation.
Now this judgment against Abimelech might seem severe, but remember what is at stake. In the very next Chapter, we are going to see that Isaac is born, the promised seed of the covenant. This isn’t just about taking another man’s wife, this about the will of God for the future of His people, and ultimately the line that would lead to the savior of the world. Everything was at stake. If Abimelech had laid with Sarah, then there would have been reason to believe that Isaac was not from Abraham.
Abraham failed to see what all was at stake here, but God did not, so He stepped in and secured the lineage of Abraham, and ultimately His own Son, Jesus Christ.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?
5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
Abimelech was frightened, as any of us would have been. He had no idea what was going on, and he makes this clear. He explains that he did this out of “the integrity of [his] heart and innocence of [his] hands.” (vs. 5)
God agrees with him and says that he knows Abimelech did not do this on purpose, but the result is all the same. He cannot move forward with this arrangement and if he does, the punishment will stand. That is why God “withheld [him] from sinning against [Him].” God did not allow Abimelech to do what could not be undone without first giving him a proper warning. He had no clue the severity of the situation, but now that he does, he is accountable for what happens next.
This should humble us. Abimelech is acting more like a man of God than Abraham is. Abraham is the prophet, he knew what was at stake, yet he acted foolishly in this moment. Yet Abimelech, who is not a prophet, is attentive to what the Lord says, fearful and reverent of His words, and is willing to be obedient.
But this goes to show just how blessed we are to have God as our Father. When Abraham allowed everything to be at stake, even the life of the very son he has waited his entire life to get, God stepped in. It was God who withheld the hand of Abimelech from sinning.
Just because we are indeed one of God’s children does not mean that every decision that we make will honor Him. There will be times when God will have to use the unlikely individual to remind us of who we are.
7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Though he is not acting like one at the moment, Abraham is still considered by God to be His Holy prophet. Though he has made a grave mistake in this instance, he is still the man whom God plans to use to bring about an entire nation of people for His glory.
He does not excuse Abraham’s behavior, but He also makes clear that Abraham is under His divine protection and guidance.
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.
9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.”
10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”
The irony here is painful. Abraham should have been showing Abimelech what righteousness looked like, but it is actually the other way around. Abraham should have been the one receiving a word from the Lord, but instead, it is Abimelech that receives the word from the Lord. Abimelech has to come and tell Abraham what the Lord has said because Abraham was in no place to hear it or receive it. I mean....wow!
So naturally, Abimelech questions Abraham as to why he has done this to him. Abraham explains three things:
Abraham had misjudged the people:
11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.
Abraham had assumed the worst about Gerar. He didn’t even give them a chance.
Abraham justifies his deception with technicalities:
12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Sarah is technically Abraham’s half sister. So by default, he did not view it as a full lie and used that as an excuse to justify his deception.
We all know that half-truths are the same thing as full lies. Even when something is technically the whole truth, if it is used in a way to deceive or misguide someone, it is wrong as well.
Abraham reveals that this had been the plan all along:
13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
Abraham had allowed his fear of what others might do to challenge who he was as a person. He knew that lying was wrong, yet his fear of others allowed him to justify these lies. This had become a pattern for him, and now, though he was walked with the Lord for many years, is still struggling to break away from this habbit.
14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him.
15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
16 Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was rebuked.
This is a perfect picture of grace. All that God required of Abimelech was to restore Sarah unto Abraham, but he went above and beyond that in several ways. He gave Abraham sheep, oxen, and servants. He gave him permission to dwell anywhere in the land. He also gave him a thousand pieces of silver to vindicate Sarah.
That word “vindicate” literally means a covering of the eyes. It means that Abimelech paid this money to Abraham to restore Sarah, or to cover up the wrong. It was a sign of forgiveness or mercy.
When it says that Sarah was “rebuked”, it means that she was justified.
Abimelech did all that was required plus some. He fully restored Sarah and blessed beyond measure. This is a picture of what God has done for us.
***Explain briefly the Gospel and how that God’s grace has covered up our sin and then even more than that.
Notice that there is no room for Abraham to boast after this exchange. He was blessed beyond measure and came away with way more than he went in with, but absolutely none of it was of his own doing. He did not orchestrate it by any means. This is salvation.
17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;
18 for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
There is something beautiful about this ending. The man who caused the crisis becomes the man God uses to pray for its healing.
There is a very important lesson for us to learn here. Grace does not mean pretending our failures never happened. Sometimes restoration includes helping repair what our actions damaged. Abraham had to pray for God to restore the man who was wronged by his own actions.
How do you think that made him feel? What type of attitude do you think was behind that prayer?
This text should encourage every believer!!
God does nor require flawless people before He can use them. He uses people who have failed, been corrected, received grace, and continue walking with Him.
