Genesis 20.9-13-Abraham's Excuses for His Lie
Sunday February 19, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 20:8-13-Abraham’s Excuses for His Lie
Lesson # 102
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 20:1.
This morning we will continue with our study of Genesis 20 by studying Genesis 20:8-13, which records Abraham giving three excuses to Abimelech as to why he lied to him and said that Sarah was his sister and not his wife.
Genesis 20:1, “Now Abraham journeyed from there (oaks of Mamre in Hebron; see Genesis 18:1) toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.”
Genesis 20:2, “Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.”
Genesis 20:3, “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, ‘Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.’”
Genesis 20:4, “Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, ‘Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless?’”
Genesis 20:5, “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
Genesis 20:6, “Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.’”
Genesis 20:7, “Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Genesis 20:8, “So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened.”
Abimelech does not procrastinate but rises early in the morning in order to obey the divine instructions to restore Sarah to Abraham.
Abimelech and his servants were terrified because they knew that the God of Abraham who spoke to Abimelech in a dream telling him to release Sarah was the very God who just recently destroyed the cities of the plain as recorded in Genesis 19.
Genesis 20:9, “Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, ‘What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.’”
Abimelech quickly sent for Abraham not because he felt he was wrong taking his “sister” away from him since that was part of the agreement for letting Abraham settle in the land.
Rather, he did so because he feared that Abraham’s God would destroy him and his land if he didn’t.
God did not rebuke Abimelech but only warned him since he had not yet committed a sin.
Yet, in Genesis 20:9, Abimelech rebukes Abraham since his lie put Abimelech and his household in great danger.
Also, God never rebukes Abraham for his conduct but rather let’s Abimelech, a heathen king do it, which would humble Abraham since he is Abimelech’s superior spiritually.
The first rhetorical question, “what have you done to us” expresses Abimelech’s shock as to Abraham’s conduct.
The second rhetorical question, “how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin,” expresses his moral indignation.
Notice that Abimelech shows great leadership over and concern for his people, more than Abraham did as demonstrated by his question to Abraham, “what had you done to US?”
Notice that adultery was considered “a great sin” even by this heathen king and his countrymen.
The Word of God prohibits adultery.
Exodus 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.”
Abraham’s lie about his wife Sarah has compromised his testimony before this heathen king and his subjects and has invited rebuke from the cosmic system of Satan.
Christians are ambassadors for Christ and are commanded to keep their behavior excellent before the unbeliever in order to win the unbeliever to Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Just as Lot’s compromised his testimony before the Sodomites as recorded in Genesis 19, so Abraham in Genesis 20 compromised his testimony before Abimelech and the citizens of Gerar by lying.
The Lord hates lying and prohibits believers from entering into it.
Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD.”
Abimelech’s statement “You have done to me things that ought not to be done” demonstrates his awareness of a moral code even among the unbeliever.
The apostle Paul taught that God has instilled an awareness of a moral code in the conscience of every human being, believer and unbeliever alike.
Romans 2:14, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves.”
Romans 2:15, “in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”
Genesis 20:10, “And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?’”
Abimelech’s next rhetorical question, “what have you encountered that you have done this thing” expresses his desire to ascertain as to what Abraham saw in Gerar that would cause him to think that there would be no respect for God’s law prohibiting adultery and murder.
He is in effect saying to Abraham, “what did you see in Gerar that would lead you to think that we were murderers and adulterers?”
Genesis 20:11-13 records Abraham’s three excuses for his conduct in Gerar.
Genesis 20:11, “Abraham said, ‘Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’”
The expression “fear of God” involves general revelation regarding moral standards known by believer and unbeliever alike through conscience and accepted by them out of fear of God’s judgment.
Abraham indicates that his conduct was the result of fear, which is based upon a lack of faith or trust in the Lord’s protection.
This fear of Abraham’s was based upon a faulty premise, namely, that God is only able to act when men are willing to obey.
Abraham erroneously thought that God could save him only in a place where He was known and feared by men.
This was the same fear based upon a lack of faith in the Lord that Abraham displayed twenty five years before in Egypt with Pharaoh as recorded in Genesis 12 where he didn’t think that God could deliver him from Pharaoh.
Incidentally, this unbelief had to disregard specific revelation, for shortly before this incident God had twice told Abraham that Sarah would become pregnant and bear a child within the year (17:19, 21; 18:10).
Abraham’s conduct differs little from that of Lot in Sodom (Gen. 19).
Just as Lot sacrificed the purity of his two virgin daughters to the mob of gay men in Sodom in order to protect his guests (two elect angels) so Abraham was willing to sacrifice his wife to protect himself from harm.
Genesis 20:12, “Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.”
Abraham’s statement, though a lie, was technically factual since Sarah was, indeed, his sister, the daughter of his father, but not his mother.
She was Abraham’s sister, indeed but he did not say that she was his wife.
This kind of kinship marriage between Abraham and Sarah was not yet prohibited among God’s people since the Mosaic Law, which prohibited such things, was not yet given (Lev. 18:9, 11; Deut. 27:22; Ezek. 22:11).
Genesis 20:13, “and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’”
Abraham also explains that since God’s plan for his life called for him to wander, he instructed Sarah when they entered a new place to say that she is his sister out of fear that her great beauty would cause the king of the land to kill him in order to add her to his harem.
Abraham makes a true statement that God’s plan for his life was for him to wander about the land of Canaan, which precipitated his agreement with Sarah to state that she is his sister when they settled in a new place.
In Genesis 20:13, when Abraham states that God caused him to wander, he is not blaming God or complaining about Him but simply issuing a statement of fact.
Abraham erroneously thought that the kidnapping of women was commonplace in Gerar indicating he did not have a good view of the heathen and which view he more than likely acquired after seeing what the Lord did to the cities of the plain.
In Abraham’s thinking, his actions before Abimelech were not to be taken personally but were merely a policy he had with his wife, which was established many years ago.
What Abraham in substance is saying was that “we’ve always done it that way before so why should it be set aside after so many years?”
His policy was evil because it expressed his lack of faith in the Lord’s protection.
1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105 refer to this protection of Abraham and Sarah.
Psalm 105:14-15, “He permitted no man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes: ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.’”
In the end, there is no excuse for Abraham’s conduct and he should have simply admitted he was wrong in deceiving Abimelech.
At this time it appears that Abraham has not accepted responsibility for his sin since he never confesses his guilt to Abimelech.
The fact that God answered Abraham’s intercessory prayer for Abimelech indicated that he did in fact confess to God his sin of lying since God would not answer his prayer while he was out of fellowship.
1 John 1:9, “If any of us does at any time confess our sins, then, He (God the Father) is faithful and just with the result that He forgives us our sins and purifies us from each and every wrongdoing.”
God would not have accepted Abraham’s intercessory prayer for Abimelech if he were harboring any sin according to Psalm 66:18.
Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
Abraham would not admit his guilt to Abimelech since he was not Abraham’s judge but rather the Lord was and all sin was in reality against the Lord according to Psalm 51:4.
Psalm 51:4a, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.”