Genesis chapter 20. Last few weeks, we looked at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. And here in chapter 20, Abraham and Sarah moved to Gerar. And I'll begin reading in chapter 20 at verse 1.
And Abraham journeyed from there to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister. And Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. 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.
But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Then Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you have in view that you have done this thing? 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.
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. 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. Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham. And he restored Sarah, his wife, to him. And Abimelech said, see, my land is before you.
Dwell where it pleases you. 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.
So Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants. Then they bore children. For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we have seen a very similar account in Genesis chapter 12. As soon as God gives the promise to Abraham that of him he will make a great nation, he will bless all the families of the earth through Abraham, Abraham, as a result of famine, goes into Egypt. And so he tells Sarah to tell Pharaoh that she is his sister. And we know how that account worked out.
Pharaoh, when he finds out, is upset. God plagued Pharaoh, and then ultimately Pharaoh drove Abraham and Sarah out of the land. Well, we see a similar situation here with Abimelech. Now Gerar is in Philistia.
So these are Philistines. At this particular time in the patriarchal history, they weren't the sort of foes and enemies that they will later become, especially at the time of the judges. So the Philistines, at this particular point, aren't really the enemies of Israel. But as we look at this particular section, we'll notice, first of all, the taking of Sarah in verses 1 to 7, and then secondly, the interaction between Abimelech and Abraham in verses 8 to 18.
And essentially, what we see is that not every city is a Sodom. Abimelech comes off pretty good in this narrative. I'm not suggesting he's necessarily converted, but he's definitely a recipient of God's common grace, and he is a man of integrity. God acknowledges him as such, and God confirms the reality that he had, in fact, acted in integrity toward Abraham's wife.
And so not every city is Sodom. And I think that's something for us to remember and recognize. I think as Calvinists especially, we have a tendency and a propensity to see the worst in everybody. And we need to remember that not every city is necessarily a Sodom or as bad as a Sodom.
God's common grace is a reality. The fact that God has common grace on this earth means that it's not a hell on earth, that occasionally you'll get an Abimelech, occasionally you'll get a decent pagan, occasionally you'll get somebody that doesn't function in a complete lawless fashion. So
The Taking of Sarah (vv. 1–7)
let's look specifically at the taking of Sarah, verses 1 and 2. We see this move to Gerar. Again, this is Philistine country. And then in verse 2 we read, now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister, and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
John Gill says concerning this, this was little better than a lie. It at least was an equivocation and deception, and not at all justifiable, intended to expose his wife's chastity, and discovered a distrust of divine providence. the same infirmity he had given way to, and the same evil he had fallen into in Egypt, and therefore was the more inexcusable now. Good men not only fall into sin, but have their relapses." And that is precisely what is happening here. Now, in Abraham's defense, I'd like to remind each and every one of us that there's not a book written with our shortcomings.
There's not a book written with our relapses. There's not a book written with our sins sort of out there or demonstrated for everybody to see. So on the one hand, we ought to appreciate that reality. But on the other hand, we need to remember the overarching trajectory of Abraham's life was a life of faithfulness, a life of godliness, a life of uprightness.
But nevertheless, it was not a life of perfection. Remember that Scripture always indicates the shortcomings, the errors, the blemishes, the faults, and yea, even the sins of the people, because the Scripture everywhere testifies that there's only one real hero, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one. that's wholly harmless and undefiled. There's only one that is without blemish.
There's only one that didn't have relapses, that didn't lie to pagan kings concerning the relationship that he sustained to his wife. Now notice, with reference to this information, after Abraham announces that she is my sister, it says at the end of verse 2, Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. Now, no doubt, this was to become one of his wives. Remember, she's 90.
And how she would have been this beautiful at 90, John Calvin actually has a helpful page on that particular subject. It was a bit extended, so I didn't bring it. But if you have Calvin's commentaries and you want to look at it, it'll probably cause you to smile a little bit, too. It's on page 522.
But suffice to say, she was still obviously beautiful in her appearance, and this king of Gerar Abimelech was interested in her and took her into his harem to be one of his wives. Now, notice the intervention by God in verses 3 to 7. Before that, I want to mention something by Waltke. He says, on the brink of Isaac's conception, the program of redemption is placed in jeopardy.
There is no doubt that salvation depends on the faithful Lord, not on unfaithful humans. In other words, if it were up to men, it would be sidetracked. If it were up to men, it would go astray. Chapter 21, verses 1 to 7 record for us the birth of Isaac.
That's why twice in chapter 20 we are told that Abimelech did not touch Sarah, so that when we get to chapter 21, there's no hint whatsoever that Abimelech is the father of Isaac. It is Abraham. It is Sarah. It is a supernatural act of Almighty God.
And so the author is conspicuous to make sure that we know that, that Abimelech didn't go near her. Divine commentary in verse 4 at the very beginning, and then God reiterating his knowledge that he in fact did not touch her, God kept him from touching her in verse 6. So as we look at this intervention by God, notice the charge in verse 3. It says, 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.
So he comes to him by this dream at night, and he threatens him with the death penalty. Now this foreshadows what's going to come out later in the law with reference to adultery. Leviticus 20.10 and Deuteronomy 22.22 prescribes the death penalty for adultery. As we see Abimelech's response in this narrative, the idea horrifies him as well.
So within the pagan nations, they may have been given to fornication, but it was consistently understood that adultery was bad. You didn't go into another man's wife. And I think of Bimelech's response here, evidence is that he knew that. By God's common grace, by natural revelation, by the law written on the heart of man, man knows that it's wrong to take another man's wife.
And so God charges, God threatens, God says, indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife. Now notice his defense. Verse 4 at the very beginning is not Abimelech's defense, rather it's divine commentary. It's the omniscient narrator.
He tells us in verse 4a, but Abimelech had not come near her. Again, that is for the benefit of everybody that continues to read the history into chapter 21. so that when we see that Sarah is with child, it will never be thought that it possibly is a bimilex, because there is no ambiguity here. In chapter 12, when Sarah is taken by Pharaoh, there is some ambiguity. We do not know for certain that Pharaoh and Sarah did not have relations.
They could have had relations. The text, again, is ambiguous there, and we do not know for certain. You cannot leave chapter 20 with that mindset. There's no ambiguity whatsoever.
There's utter certainty that Abimelech never had Sarah. So there's no question whatsoever in terms of Abraham as the father of Isaac. But notice his testimony after this divine comment in verse 4a. He said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also?
Here he sounds like Abraham. Remember in Genesis chapter 18, when God announces the overthrow of the cities of the plain, Abraham intercedes on behalf of those cities and says to God, would you destroy the city if there's 50 righteous? And he goes all the way down to 10. And in the midst of that, he says, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?
Well, that's the same line of defense that Abimelech is asserting here. He says, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also? In other words, I didn't do this particular crime. I didn't engage in this particular activity of adultery.
I did not lay with Sarah. Will you judge me and will you judge our nation? And then he goes on to highlight or declare his innocence. He says, did he not say to me, she is my sister, and she, and notice the emphasis here, and she, even she herself said.
So he has the confirmation, he has the testimony, he has the evidence. Abraham told me that she was his sister, and she, she herself said that she was his sister. In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands, I have done this." Again, this is a pretty amazing assertion for a pagan to be able to make. Abimelech comes off very well in Genesis chapter 20.
Now notice the verdict in verses 6 and 7 from God. In the first place, God confirms his integrity. This is an incredible statement. Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart.
It's a beautiful thing for a Bimelech to be able to have the living and true God be able to say that. But we need to appreciate it's not solely the integrity of a Bimelech, but it's the sovereignty of God that ensured that he wasn't able to touch Sarah. Notice what it says in verse 6b, for I also withheld you from sinning against me, therefore I did not let you touch her. So yes, Abimelech had a degree of integrity.
Yes, Abimelech was not guilty of this particular act of adultery, but the fundamental reason and the overarching cause was because of the sovereignty of God. Turn to Psalm 105 for just a moment. Psalm 105, where this is brought out in the Psalter in a glorious way. Psalm 105, verse 7, he is the Lord our God.
His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham and his oath to Isaac and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant. I guess there is covenant in this, Isaac, saying to you, I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance when they were few in number, indeed very few and strangers in it, when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. He permitted no one to do them wrong.
Yes, he rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm." It's a beautiful statement. He permitted no one to do them wrong. Yes, he rebuked kings for their sakes. He exercises this restraint over Abimelech so that Abimelech does not go into Sarah.
He does not commit the treachery of adultery, and God is able to confirm the integrity of Abimelech because of the sovereignty of God. It was that reality that caused the fruitfulness of the integrity of Abimelech so that he would not engage in this wickedness. And then notice, it does not simply reduce Abimelech's guilt, but again, it eliminates the possibility that this man sired Isaac. It is certainly the case that that did not happen.
Now note verse 7, he says, 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." So this is the first time the word prophet is used in the Bible. It's applied specifically to Abraham in this instance. Abraham would be the prophet of God. speaking forth the word of God, and as well he would serve in that intercessory capacity as praying to God on behalf of others.
He does that later in verse 17, very specifically for this man Abimelech himself. And incidentally, one of the other means by which God perhaps prohibited or kept Abimelech from going into Sarah was the affliction of some sort of disease. If you look at verse 17, so Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children.
For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Now there's a lot of speculation in terms of how that came to pass or what the specific malady or problem was. but it could have been the case that he wasn't able to go into Sarah's wife because of some physical abnormality inflicted upon him in God's sovereignty so that he could not carry out that act, which may put it in the light as well that Abimelech isn't as righteous as perhaps he is suggesting. He had integrity to be sure, and he was a good man insofar as things go, but he himself was not a perfect man either. The Lord in his sovereignty kept him from engaging in the act of adultery.
Abimelech and Abraham (vv. 8–18)
Now notice the interaction between Abimelech and Abraham in verses 8 to 18. Now, Abimelech is understandably a little upset. I think that goes without saying. I mean, he, as the old commentators say, he expostulates with Abraham in this particular situation.
Again, he's a good guy overall, but he's irritated and he's frustrated because Abraham has brought the wrath and fury of God down upon his head. Here he is, a king in Gerar, minding his own business, and Abraham and Sarah show up, and, oh, she's my sister. Well, good. I'll take her into my harem.
And the next thing you know, he's having a dream, and Yahweh's coming to him and threatening to kill him. So his response to Abraham is a bit understandable when we get to verses 8 to 10. But notice first, in verse 8, 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.
Now, notice this and keep this in mind, because when Abraham responds, he said, I concluded there was no fear of God in this place. Well, he was wrong. Again, it's not the fear of God that leads to life. It's not the fear of God that the righteous have as a result of the Holy Spirit.
But it's this pervasive, overarching realization that there is a God in heaven and that he does hold men responsible. parallel to the fear of God displayed by those sailors at the time of Jonah in Jonah 1 at verse 16. Remember, Jonah says, I fear the Lord. I fear Yahweh. Well, obviously, that was simply a cognitive sort of a fear.
He had it in his head, but his actions indicated otherwise. He runs from God instead of runs to God. And yet those sailors are really afraid, and they offer up sacrifice unto Yahweh. So it's an intriguing thing.
Throughout the Old Testament, you see these times where pagans are struck with the fear of God, and when the godly, who are supposed to have the fear of God, are void of it. And the fear of God is something in the hearts of God's people that should affect us in terms of truth-telling, in terms of trusting Him, in terms of dealing with one another. But in this instance, at verse 8, He arose early in the morning. There's no time to waste.
He's been spoken to by God. He's got to get things right. He's got to return Sarah to Abraham to set things in the proper order. He tells all these things in their hearing, and the men were very much afraid.
And then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, excuse me, what have you done to us? Now, this is a good sign as well. When Pharaoh complains to Abraham, he says, what have you done to me? Which, again, it's subtle, but it is conspicuous.
We have this instance where Pharaoh really only cares about Pharaoh's bacon. But when you look at Abimelech, at least he's concerned about the kingdom. He's concerned about the people under his charge. Again, this chapter portrays Abimelech as a pretty decent guy.
And so he says 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? Again, this is a realistic complaint on the part of Abimelech. Fill me in, Abraham.
Tell me why you did what you did, Abraham. I'd like to kind of know what I've done to bring this on, to instigate this. And then he says, you have done deeds to me that ought not to be done. That's legit and true.
You've done deeds to me that ought not to be done. And then Abimelech said to Abraham, what did you have in view that you have done this thing? Again, Pharaoh doesn't listen to Abraham. Pharaoh just dismisses Abraham and has him escorted basically out of the country.
Whereas Abimelech says, I want to hear from you. Go ahead and expostulate back. Respond to me and let me know what you were thinking.
Abraham's Defense to Abimelech
Now look at Abraham to Abimelech in verses 11 to 13. In the first place, he highlights this thought that there was the absence of the fear of God. Verse 11, and Abraham said, Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place. Again, his experience recently has been Sodom, Gomorrah, the cities on the plain, and those overthrown for their gross wickedness against the living and the true God.
So he probably at this point didn't have a whole lot of hope for any pagan city in terms of the fear of God being present. And it's probably not a personal dig at Abimelech. It's probably not, you know, I did some research on Google and found out that you're a bunch of wretched people, so that's why I came to you. No, he didn't know this.
This was his general operating assumption. Again, he was a Calvinist. He was reformed. He understood the doctrine of total depravity.
And typically, we view people in the worst possible light. Now, that's not always a bad thing, living in a generation that we do. But it's bad when we do that with one another. It's bad when we just assume that everybody's as wretched as they could possibly be without giving them the benefit of the doubt.
But he says, I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place. He misread the situation. He didn't understand the particularity involved in this city. But even more telling, it's back to what Gil said earlier.
He says that when he lied, it was an equivocation and deception, and not at all justifiable, and tended to expose his wife's chastity, and then he goes on to say, and discovered a distrust of divine providence. And that's one of the biggest problems in this particular chapter in terms of Abraham. It's not his distrust of the city-state of Gerar. It's not his distrust of Abimelech.
It's his lack of confidence in the living and true God. Because God had always been there for Abraham. What do we find in Genesis chapter 12 when he enters into Egypt? God protects him.
What do we find in Genesis chapter 14 when Lot is abducted by that coalition of eastern kings and Abraham gives pursuit? He goes after him and he recovers Lot and all of the goods and all of the persons that were abducted. Where's that courage and where's that zeal that we see in Genesis 14 applied to this situation with reference to Abimelech? He had been a man who had experienced, again, the goodness and the graciousness and the providence of God.
God had communicated to him by covenant in Genesis 15, and then again in Genesis chapter 17. God had listened to him intercede in Genesis 18, and God answers that intercession by the deliverance of Lot in Genesis chapter 19. So when we get to Genesis chapter 20, and he resorts to these old ways of lying to the king, that Sarah is my sister and not my wife, it is to demonstrate a distrust in divine providence. Now again, there's not books written that show all of our distrust of divine providence.
There's not books written for us to stand around or sit around and study and say, wow, I can't believe that guy didn't trust God in that particular instance. So we can't be too hard on Abraham. Again, the overarching trajectory of his life was a life of faithfulness, a life of godliness, and a life for each of us to emulate and to imitate. But there was not perfection in this man.
And it comes out glaringly so in a passage like this. He's afraid of Abimelech. He's afraid of these Philistines, when rather he should be trusting in God's providence to see him through these various situations. So he highlights the absence of the fear of God.
Abraham's Fear of Death
Notice as well, he highlights his own fear of death. Verse 11, because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me on account of my wife. She must have been really beautiful. He must have felt some sort of a threat.
Something in this scenario is a bit puzzling in terms of telling men that she's my sister versus telling men that she's my wife. He probably thought they'd just cut his throat and take her. But if she's his sister, they're going to do what Abimelech does and bring her into the royal palace. This is a dangerous place to be for Abraham in terms of fearing for his own life.
He needs to trust God and he needs to recognize God's sovereignty. And as I say that, I realize that we traffic in those concepts a lot. We talk about trusting in God. We talk about God's sovereignty.
We talk about providence. We study the confession of faith that has a wonderful summary statement concerning divine providence. And yet, we struggle with these concepts, practically. Whenever something comes along that threatens our well-being, or anything that comes along that threatens to upset the apple cart a little bit, we freak out.
So it's easy to see with reference to Abraham, how come Abraham's doing these sorts of things and yet not always see it with us. We've tried our God and proven that he is faithful. We pray, we've experienced his providence, we have garnered his benefits and his blessings. Certainly we ought to be a people that are stable and secure and don't resort to lies and subterfuge in order to promote our lives.
We are in the hands of a good and a gracious God. And then
Abraham's Half-Truth About Sarah
notice, thirdly, he highlights a technicality concerning Sarah in verse 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. Last week, as we considered the situation between Lot and his daughters, we made the observation that the prohibition against incest hasn't been given yet.
I'm not justifying this particular scenario in terms of that, but that is technically the case. But God already said to Abimelech, she's his wife. God didn't say, well, there's a technicality there, and she's kind of his sister. No, in verse 3, indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.
This is what Gil means when he says this is equivocation and deception. Technically it's true, but that's not going to help you in this particular instance. Kids are masters at this, aren't they? You say to them, you're not supposed to have a cookie, and they take two, and they say, well, I didn't have a cookie.
Oh, OK. I had two cookies, right? Three cookies. They're all lawyers.
They're masters of equivocation and deception. Well, adults can be that way too. The Jewish Talmud is very much like that. Technicality upon technicality upon technicality to ultimately justify lawlessness.
It's a wicked practice. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Abraham, it's more admirable at this point to just say, look, I was afraid and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it.
No, technically, she is my sister. She is the daughter of my mother or my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. So he's just kind of skirting the issue a little bit, but again, stuff that you and I do, but it's written down here for us with reference to Abraham.
And then
Abraham's Standing Strategy
notice he highlights the strategies for their journeys in verse 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." It's precisely what we see there in Genesis chapter 12. In fact, this provides the rationale for that. He tells us, this has been our practice from the moment that God called me out of Ur of the Chaldeans, we went to Haran, and then ultimately came into the promised land of Canaan, and this has been our strategy, this has been our posture, This has been our story, so that as we meet these kings, as we go along in this nation and we meet these various persons, we can hide behind the idea that she's my sister, so they won't cut my throat and take her from me.
Again, the reality is that if she's his sister, they're still going to take her. I don't know, is that not obvious to anybody other than me that just because she's his sister doesn't mean she's off-limits? This very scene shows us Abimelech took her. The very scene in chapter 12 shows us that Pharaoh took her, and there the ambiguity is strong in the sense that we're not sure if he took her to his bed or not.
Abimelech's Gifts and Reparation
Now notice Abimelech's gifts to Abraham and Sarah in verses 14 to 16. Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham, and he restored Sarah his wife to him. So the gifts given to Abraham are parallel to gifts given to Abraham by Pharaoh. But with reference to Pharaoh in Genesis chapter 12, it almost seemed like gifts given for the acquisition of a bride, almost as if it were a dowry, almost as if it were a significant piece of gratitude for his having received Sarah.
But in this instance, this has been the return of Sarah, and nevertheless Abimelech bestows upon Abraham all these gifts. Wenham says mentioning these gifts here seems to imply that unlike Pharaoh's gifts that were given at the time of Sarah's marriage as convention dictated, Abimelech gave these presents after the proposed marriage had fallen through by way of reparation for his behavior. So there is a sense of repentance or reparation going on in the passage, and it's Abimelech. As far as Abimelech is concerned, he has dishonored Abraham, and he has dishonored Sarah, and that leads him then to convey gifts upon Sarah as well.
Notice in verse 15, Abimelech said, see, my land is before you, dwell where it pleases you. Again, completely contrasted with Pharaoh in Genesis chapter 12. Pharaoh couldn't get Abraham out of his country fast enough. Sure, he loaded him with gifts, but it was put them on your horses or your oxen and your donkeys and get out of Dodge.
We don't want you here. Not so with Abimelech. He knows that he has wronged them, and so he is now giving them this privilege. Abimelech said, see my land is before you.
Dwell where it pleases you. And then to Sarah he said, behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. That ain't chump change. That was a great deal of money.
That was a huge, massive, massive amount of money. But notice how he refers to him as your brother. That may be indicative of his irritation. That may be him needling her just a little bit.
Again, Abimelech comes off well here, but he's not perfect. And you could understand why Abimelech would have a little bit of an ax to grind, and he needles her by saying, I have given your brother 1,000 pieces of silver. Again. Technically true.
Again, they are brother-sister, at least halfway, but he may be trying to expose her complicity in the lie with reference to the problems that they had. John Gill says, since the words are directed to her and in which there is a sharp cutting expression calling Abraham her brother and not her husband, thereby putting her in mind and upgrading her with her equivocation and dissimulation. So it's just a bit of a, you know, we're in this situation because of you guys. Again, not always the righteous attitude.
We would despise that if our kids did that. We don't always despise it when we do it, but it's pretty obvious that that might be what's happening in this particular instance. But then notice the last clause. Indeed, this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.
Thus she was rebuked. The margin is a covering of the eyes for you to all." I think that the essence or the sense is that in this payment, not only to Abraham, but to Sarah, this makes good on the damage done to them by Abimelech. In other words, the payment of these gifts, the giving of these things, the entitlement to whatever part of the land you want to live in, This is a public display of Abimelech's making things right with reference to Abraham and Sarah. The margin has at the very end, thus she was rebuked, or thus she was justified.
If it's justified, I think that fits in with the context. She is vindicated, her honor is maintained, Abimelech did not go into her, and Abimelech made things right with Abraham and Sarah at this particular juncture.
Abraham's Intercession for Abimelech
Now notice finally Abraham's intercession for Abimelech in verses 17 and 18. So Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants. So there's two interesting things here. On the one hand, God in his grace and his mercy healed the pagans.
Abimelech was on dangerous ground, Abraham prays and God heals. But the second thing that's intriguing is that God hears Abraham and answers his prayer and blesses the household of Abimelech. So, all that to say that when we sin, we don't disconnect ultimately from God. Now, I always run the risk of saying things like this because it might embolden people to go out and sin, but if you understand Romans 6, 1, that won't be the mindset.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. The reality is that Abraham lies in this particular chapter.
The reality is that Abraham does some things in this particular chapter that betrays his confidence and his faithfulness and trust in God. And yet when he prays, God answers. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. We have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.
Brethren, we need to remember that God hears the prayers of Abraham, a man that wasn't perfect. God hears the prayers of every man in Scripture justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are nevertheless imperfect men. What do we find in James chapter 5? The fervent, effective prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Who's the man in view there? Elijah. And James says he was a man of like passions with us. And yet the Lord God hears the prayers of his upright, those who are in Jesus Christ.
So Abraham prays to God and God heals Abimelech, his wife and his female servants. Then they bore children. Now notice verse 18, for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Now in terms of literary sort of construction, this is beautiful.
The author here, obviously operating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is writing God's truth to be sure. He's writing history, sacred history. but he's writing it in such a way as to sort of wet our appetites or cause us to reflect upon the reality that if God is able to close and open the wombs of Abimelech and his wife and his female servants, then God is able to open and close the wombs of people like Sarah and like Rachel and Rebecca. And lo and behold, we turn the page, literally for me, if you've got my copy of the Bible, it's a literal turn of the page to see God open the womb of Sarah. This long-standing promise that Abraham and Sarah were going to have a son of promise together, this young man called Isaac.
Doesn't verse 18 just whet your appetite for that? Verses 17 and 18. If you didn't know that chapter 21, 1 to 7, was going to deal with Isaac and the birth of Isaac, you would have at least in your head this concept or idea that Yahweh is sovereign. He closes the womb, but he also opens the womb.
We get to chapter 21, and he opens the womb in fulfillment of the promise that he had repeatedly given to Abraham and Sarah concerning their seed, concerning their son Isaac.
Conclusion: Fear, Providence, and Faithfulness
Well, in conclusion, I think we ought to appreciate, in the first place, the fear of Abraham. The fear of Abraham. Not appreciate it in the sense of, wow, that's great, but appreciate it in the sense that, praise God that He records for us not only the victories of His men, but also their difficulties. Not so that we'll emulate and imitate their difficulties, but we'll find our repose and our safety and our security in their God.
He concluded there was no fear of God in Gerar, and thus he would ultimately be killed. But even more so, he concluded that there was no favorable providence of God in Gerar. That's the big problem, because he had witnessed and he had seen that in his history. When we look at the transaction of God with the soul of Abraham, there was everything in Abraham to have that rock-solid confidence in God Almighty.
When we get to chapter 22 at Mount Moriah, what's Abraham do in obedience to God? He takes his son, his only son, the son of his love, whom he waited all those many years for to get, and he just obeys God and marches dutifully up to that site where the temple would ultimately be built. I mean, when we get to Genesis chapter 22, the significance of that scene for the rest of redemptive history is massive. It's huge.
But we see Abraham respond to God in a way that is absolutely beautiful. I don't know of anybody that would just say, Okay, go grab their son, take them up to the mount, and prepare to kill them. But Abraham does that. That's the kind of faith, faithfulness, loyalty, integrity that Abraham has.
But along the way, there are these missteps, there are these issues, there are these problems. And as we see in Psalm 105, verses 11 to 15, God had purpose to spare his people from the threats of the pagan kings around them. with reference to the faithfulness of God. See, whenever we see the fear of man in Scripture, and God coming through nevertheless, we see that the promises of God ultimately rely upon Him, and in this we rejoice, and in this we have confidence. But He has sovereignty over Abraham and Sarah.
Whether Abraham acknowledges that when he goes to Gerar or not, It doesn't seem like it because he concocts the same sort of lie and says this to Abimelech. But God's got them. God's protecting them. God is over them.
And that's something we need to be consciously aware of as well. Even when we don't think that God is there, God is there. There's that blessed statement in Deuteronomy chapter 1, for those who are reading McShane's calendar, you just read that either yesterday or the day before. And in Deuteronomy, in fact, turn there, Deuteronomy chapter 1, it's a beautiful statement that completely is an interpretation of the wilderness that was contrary to what Israel possessed.
Notice in Deuteronomy 1 at verse 29, So he's saying that the past faithfulness of God with reference to the Exodus is going to obtain with reference to the wilderness. In other words, the God who brought you out of Egypt by His power and might in the display of the plagues and ultimately the destruction of Pharaoh's army, that God's not going to let you die in the wilderness. He's not going to bring you out by His outstretched arm of power only to let you starve to death in the wilderness. Isn't that how Israel interpreted the wilderness?
You've read that, right? Did they just say, praise God, we're in the wilderness and we're going to do whatever He says. It's like every step of the way they whine, every step of the way they grumble, every step of the way they complain. They complain about God, they complain about Moses, they complain about everything.
We had, you know, great food to eat when we were in Egypt, and now we've got this manna, and, you know, we're just not thrilled with this. It's just like every step of the way. Their interpretation of the wilderness is that this is just a mess in our existence. But back to the text.
Verse 30 again, the Lord your God who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. Now verse 31, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place. I guarantee you they didn't interpret things that way. They did not think when they were eating manna that they were being carried by God the way a man carries his son.
Any of you fathers who've ever had to pick up a child and carry them know what's involved there. You love them, you care for them, and you want to keep them safe. And that's the picture created here for us. Even though they didn't see it, and even though they didn't interpret it that way, didn't mean it wasn't true.
And I think that happens with you and I. We don't always see it. It's not always conspicuous. It's not always obvious.
And so we conclude, well, you know, God really wasn't there for me. Where would we be if for any moment God wasn't there for us? And then in verse 32, yet for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go in the fire by night and in the cloud by day. But that theme or that concept is most excellent that you find there in verse 30.
The Lord your God who goes before you, He will fight for you according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes. If you go through the Psalms, especially the Psalms of Asaph, and you go through the Psalms that are the more melancholic. I mean, Asaph was a melancholic soul, that much I know. The Psalms ascribe to Asaph, he didn't seem like the happiest camper that you'd ever made.
He's the one who says in Psalm 73, God is good to Israel. But as for me, I almost went astray. I saw the righteous suffer, I saw the wicked flourish, and it just caused this great perplexity in my heart. So when you look at these Psalms of Asaph and then other select Psalms throughout the Psalter, the key event that oftentimes comes up to remind the people of Israel about the faithfulness of God is the Exodus.
In other words, if this God who brought you out of the land of Egypt with this mighty display of His power, how is He not going to deal with and vanquish your foes in the present? The past faithfulness of God is a present argument for the faithfulness of God, and that's Moses' talk there in Deuteronomy chapter 1. It's something that you and I need to keep in our minds. Abraham had seen the faithfulness of God.
Abraham should always rest in the faithfulness of God. We have seen the faithfulness of God. We should always rest in the faithfulness of God. Now, as it comes out of my mouth, I know that by tomorrow we're going to be perplexed or confused or we're going to have an issue of some sort.
Reflect on God's goodness and faithfulness. So he's sovereign over Abraham and he's sovereign over Sarah, but he's also sovereign over pagan kings. He communicates with Abimelech in a dream. He acknowledges Abimelech's integrity and he commands Abimelech in a course that will restore health to his family and ultimately preserve his life from death.
So that's pretty amazing, the God of heaven and earth and of pagans as well. Proverbs 21.1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. And he does that specifically here with Abimelech.
And then the final practical observation is we see here the fulfilling of God's promise. Go back to Genesis chapter 12 for just a moment, and then we'll close. Genesis chapter 12. Verse 1, now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. Notice, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Abimelech blesses Abraham. Abimelech confers great riches upon Abraham and Sarah.
Abraham then intercedes for Abimelech at the throne of grace, and what does God do? God blesses Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. God takes from them the affliction that they had that kept them from having babies. So the Lord makes good on his promise, I will bless those who bless you.
God's faithfulness is obvious in the book of Genesis, throughout the entirety of the Bible, and I think if Abraham teaches us anything, it is the fact that God is faithful to his people. Well, let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the life of Abraham and for the way that you sustained and blessed and strengthened him all the way. How we thank you for that faithfulness displayed in the Bible and displayed in our own personal lives. And I pray that we would have confidence in these things, that we would trust in you, that we would walk faithfully before you, knowing that you are a God who keeps His promises, a God who is covenanted to do His people good. We pray that you would go with us now.
We pray that you would bless us in the remainder of this week. We look forward to the Sabbath when we can gather together to worship you corporately. And we pray that you would be glorified and honored and worshiped in this church. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.