Abraham Tells Abemelech Sarah is His Sister

Topic: Lying
Passage: Genesis 20:1–18

November 6, 2019

Commentary

As this chapter opens, we find Abraham on the move. We are not told why he is moving but we find him rounding up his flocks and moving southward along the same road that has once taken him to Egypt (v. 1). Since God seems to be silent in this situation Abraham may have been acting on his own without any leading from the Lord. This is always a dangerous thing to do. Soon we find Abraham repeating his former sin. “And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister: and Abimelech king of Girar sent and took Sarah” (v. 2). However, we see God’s protecting hand as “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” (v. 3).

God’s standards on the matter of marital purity are high and unchanging whether in Abraham’s day, under the law, or in our day, the day of grace. To take another man’s wife is a sin worthy of death according to God’s law (vv. 4-18). Our human laws can be very accommodating. Abimelech had broken no human law because the law of that time was so written that his lust could be accommodated. The same kind of thing is happening today. There was a time when adultery was a crime but not anymore. We have rewritten the laws. There was a time when homosexuality was a crime but not anymore. We have written new laws to accommodate the deviates. Man’s way is to change the laws so he can fulfil his own lusts. This is not God’s way.

Application

I will never know, this side of heaven, how often God has steered me through some strange set of circumstances that has prevented me from committing serious sins. I can only thank the Lord!

Genesis 20:1– 18 (NET)

1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar, 2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

3 But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.”

4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 5 Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!”

6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her. 7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.”

8 Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants. When he told them about all these things, they were terrified. 9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!” 10 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”

11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 What’s more, she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

14 So Abimelech gave sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.”

16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given 1,000 pieces of silver to your ‘brother.’ This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.”

17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 18 For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.