Sermon Tone Analysis

Wednesday February 15, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 20:1-2-Abraham’s Half-Lie Endangers Sarah and Abimelech

Lesson # 100

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 20:1.

This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 20 by studying Genesis 20:1-2, which records Abraham telling a half-lie to Abimelech saying that Sarah was his sister, which she was but a half-sister.

Abraham fails to tell Abimelech that Sarah is his wife and fails to do this because he is afraid that Abimelech will kill him in order to secure Sarah for himself.

This half-lie endangers not only Sarah but also Abimelech.

Although, he is not mentioned in the passage, Satan is the invisible enemy of God’s people who is behind the scenes influencing Abraham and tempting him to enter into fear, worry and anxiety.

Satan’s purpose for doing this is so that he can prevent the birth of Christ by preventing the birth of Isaac who was to be in the line of Christ.

Up to this point in our study of Genesis, we have seen that the human nature of Jesus Christ would come from the line of Seth (Gen.

4:25-26; Luke 3:38) and Shem (Gen.

9:24-27; Luke 3:36).

Then, as recorded in Genesis 12:3 God informs Abraham that Jesus Christ would be his descendant and now we saw in Genesis 17 that Abraham and Sarah’s future son, Isaac would be in the line of Christ as well.

In Genesis 20, we see another failure of Abraham and yet the Lord’s treats him in unconditional love and remains faithful to the covenant, which He established with Abraham.

2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Genesis 20:1, “Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.”

“Journeyed” is the verb nasa` (us^n*) (naw-saw), which means, “to pull up” stakes that stabilize a tent and is a technical term for “breaking camp.”

According to Genesis 18:1, “from there” is a reference to “the oaks of Mamre,” which was located in “Hebron” nineteen miles southwest of Jerusalem, on the way to Beersheba.

The question arises, “why did Abraham leave the oaks of Mamre in Hebron?”

It appears that he left because the view from Hebron overlooking the destruction of the Dead Sea region was too much for Abraham to take.

The Word of God does not record that Abraham was aware or informed that Lot was still alive.

The Word of God does say in Genesis 19:29 that God did answer Abraham’s intercessory prayer and delivered Lot from the destruction.

Abraham left Hebron and headed in a southwesterly direction, settling between Kadesh and Shur towards Egypt and then heading north to Gerar.

Therefore, it appears that Abraham packed up and left Hebron and went to Gerar in order to stop being reminded of the destruction of Sodom and from his perspective possibly the death of his nephew Lot.

So it appears that Abraham was operating again in unbelief by leaving Hebron since if he believed that God had answered his prayer to deliver Lot, he would have stayed or at least searched for Lot but it appears he didn’t.

The region of the “Negev” extends roughly from a line drawn from Gaza through the modern political boundary of the southern West Bank, extending south to the mountain ranges of the Sinai and through the Arabah to the Red Sea.

“Kadesh” means, “holy”, and was an oasis about seventy miles southwest of the Dead Sea and was located west of Israel’s western boundary, the River of Egypt or the Wadi el-Arish, in the southwest Negev.

The name “Shur” means, “wall” and was a city on the borders of Egypt and Palestine.

The word “sojourned” is the Hebrew verb gur (rWG), which refers to a specific legal status of a person who lives as a resident and is in a dependent legal status and is not a native, but is dwelling upon the land.

In societies, which possess a clan structure, this person is without legal protection since he has no blood ties.

Such a person, like Abraham, would have been dependent upon a native to recognize and protect him, which was the case we saw in Egypt and here in Gerar.

The Mari documents (1800 B.C.) indicate that the relationship between “sitting” farmers and nomadic herders (such as Abraham) was that contracts were drawn up concerning grazing and watering rights.

This relationship is known as “dimorphism” as these two distinct yet interrelated cultures exist side by side.

Abraham is entering into a land, where he no legal rights and protection, which will affect his decision-making and will cause him to enter into a contract that will compromise his wife and integrity and witness before the unbeliever.

“Gerar” was near the coast about twelve miles south of Gaza and about fifty miles south of Hebron, in the land of the Philistines.

According to archaeological excavations, “Gerar” was a prosperous city, controlling a lucrative caravan route indicating that Abraham was tempted to transact some business there.

Abraham does not get into trouble in Gerar because he is out of the geographical will of God since Gerar is still in the land of Canaan but he does get into trouble for lying.

Undoubtedly, Satan, knowing that the Lord is about to fulfill His promise and give Abraham and Sarah a child, is going to attempt to thwart the Lord’s plans in Gerar.

Genesis 20:2, “Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’

So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.”

On two occasions (Gen.

12 and 20) Abraham placed Sarah in a potentially adulterous situation to save his own life.

He said to those in Gerar that Sarah was his sister but this is a half-truth.

As Abraham later explains to Abimelech, Sarah and Abraham shared the same father Terah but had different mothers (see Genesis 20:12).

Therefore, Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister but Abraham failed to inform the inhabitants of Gerar and Abimelech that Sarah was his wife because he was in fear for his life that Abimelech would kill him and take Sarah.

Now, notice that Abraham’s fear that Abimelech would kill him and take Sarah into his harem indicates that Sarah was still very beautiful even though she was approximately ninety years old at the time.

The custom in the ancient world would not allow a foreign prince such as Abraham and his entourage to live in Gerar without making a treaty or contract.

The custom also was for the foreign prince to give an acceptable daughter or a sister into the Abimelech’s harem to seal the treaty and guarantee the prince’s good behavior while in Gerar.

Therefore, Abraham is telling Sarah to say to the people of Gerar that she is his sister, which is a half truth since she was his half-sister, having the same father Terah but different mothers according to Genesis 20:12.

If no treaty were made, crossing the border into Gerar would be considered an invasion, an act of war.

Abraham was reasoning that if he didn’t make a treaty they would attack and kill him and take Sarah into Abimelech’s harem as a trophy of war, as was the custom.

If Abraham made the treaty she would go into Abimelech’s harem, but at least he reasoned that he would stay alive and be able to take care of those under his protection.

He also expected that Sarah would be treated well because of her great beauty.

As was the case we saw in Genesis 12 with Pharaoh of Egypt, the irony is that Abraham is making a contract with an unbeliever, Abimelech rather than placing his faith in the contract that the Lord made with him.

Principle: Better to trust the Lord with your life than with men.

Psalm 118:8-9, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”

Abraham attempts to deal with his fears with his own human power and intellect.

As we saw in Genesis 12 with Pharaoh, he has failed as Sarah’s husband but Sarah has not failed as his wife since she is being obedient to him.

The Lord is going to protect and honor Sarah for obeying her husband even though her husband is failing in his authority as her husband.

Principle for Christian women who are married, the Lord will protect you even if your husband fails in his authority as your husband.

Sarah’s submissiveness to her husband is an excellent example for Christian women to follow when conducting themselves in their marriages, especially in adversity.

1 Peter 3:6, “just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”

Now, you might say, how could Abraham commit this terrible sin again?

The answer is simple, Abraham, like all men whether believer or unbeliever possesses a sin nature.

Every one in the human race possesses an old sin nature as a result of the imputation of Adam’s original sin in the garden at the moment of physical birth, which makes them physically alive but spiritually dead and yet qualified for grace.

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

The fact that we all have a sin nature means that at any time we can enter into sin, thus Abraham simply makes a bad decision, which is motivated by his sin nature trend to fear, worry and anxiety.

The Lord is not happy with this situation since the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was to come through the line of Abraham and Sarah.

Sarah is an innocent victim of Abraham’s stupidity and the Lord will defend her honor.

Therefore, the Lord will intervene and exercise His omnipotence to overrule Abraham’s bad decision and force Abimelech to release Sarah to Abraham.

Genesis 20:2, “Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’

So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.”

“Took,” is the 3rd person masculine singular qal imperfect form of the verb laqach (jq^l*), which means that Abimelech sent messengers to “fetch, retrieve, summon” Sarah in order to add her to his harem.

So we have Abimelech here dispatching his courtiers in order to bring Sarah into his presence in the palace and add her to his harem.

The name “Abimelech” means, “my father is king” and is not a proper name but rather a title for royalty among the Philistines, just as the term “Pharaoh” and “Caesar” were.

As we have noted, Satan played a part in this also.

He plays a part in every sin, but he would have been especially interested in letting Abimelech have sex with Sarah since that would have thrown doubt on the child she would bring into the world.

We see several times that the devil tries to cut the line which leads to the coming of the Messiah into this world.

In the days of Esther he tries to exterminate the whole Jewish race.

After the captivity in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, he entices the returned captives to intermarry with the heathen nations, so that the Jewish identity would be wiped out.

He had the same purpose in the days of Malachi.

From Malachi 2:11-15 we understand that the coming of the Messiah according to the line God promised was endangered by Israel’s practice of divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying heathen ones.

The last belated effort was of course the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem.

Genesis 20:1-2 teaches us that lying will eventually get us into trouble.

The Lord hates lying and prohibits believers from entering into it.

Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD.”

Proverbs 6:16, “There are six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him.”

Proverbs 6:17, “Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.”

Proverbs 6:18, “A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil.”

Proverbs 6:19, “A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”

Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE OF YOU WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.”