Lot
lost his wife, and his daughters, well that didn't go so well either.
Now Genesis switches back to Abraham. Welcome to the Panhandle and a
study through the Book of Genesis.
You
know some times we hold the people in the Bible up to some
unrealistic standards. But here in chapter 20 we see that Abraham was
human and he messed up. Am I making excuses for Abraham, no I'm not,
but I am not surprised either. Why did he make the same mistake
twice? (cf. Gen 12:11-20). Why would God's chosen representative err
in such a way? Through fear and temporary faithlessness, Abraham
resorted to a lie, deceit, and outright misrepresentation. The
scripture shows the good, the bad, and the ugly. Is impartial in
relating the blemishes even of its most celebrated characters.
CHAPTER
20 AT A GLANCE:
I.
Abraham's sin in denying his wife, and Abimelech's sin thereupon in
taking her v. 1-2.
II.
God's discourse with Abimelech in a dream, upon this occasion,
wherein he shows him his error v. 3, accepts his plea v. 4-6, and
directs him to make restitution v. 7.
III.
Abimelech's discourse with Abraham, wherein he chides him for the
cheat he had put upon him v. 8-10, and Abraham excuses it as well as
he can v. 11-13.
IV.
The good issue of the story, in which Abimelech restores Abraham his
wife v. 14-16, and Abraham, by prayer, prevails with God for the
removal of the judgment Abimelech was under v. 17-18.
Genesis
20
20:1
Now Abraham moved south to the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and
Shur. One day, when visiting the city of Gerar, 2 he declared that
Sarah was his sister! Then King Abimelech sent for her, and had her
brought to him at his palace.
3
But that night God came to him in a dream and told him, "You are
a dead man, for that woman you took is married."
4
But Abimelech hadn't slept with her yet, so he said, "Lord, will
you slay an innocent man? 5 He told me, `She is my sister,' and she
herself said, `Yes, he is my brother.' I hadn't the slightest
intention of doing anything wrong."
6
"Yes, I know," the Lord replied. "That is why I held
you back from sinning against me; that is why I didn't let you touch
her. 7 Now restore her to her husband, and he will pray for you (for
he is a prophet) and you shall live. But if you don't return her to
him, you are doomed to death along with all your household."
8
The king was up early the next morning, and hastily called a meeting
of all the palace personnel and told them what had happened. And
great fear swept through the crowd.
9
Then the king called for Abraham. "What is this you've done to
us?" he demanded. "What have I done that deserves treatment
like this, to make me and my kingdom guilty of this great sin? Who
would suspect that you would do a thing like this to me? Whatever
made you think of this vile deed?"
11
"Well," Abraham said, "I figured this to be a godless
place. `They will want my wife and will kill me to get her,' I
thought. And besides, she is my sister-or at least a half-sister (we
both have the same father)-and I married her. 13 And when God sent me
traveling far from my childhood home, I told her, `Have the kindness
to mention, wherever we come, that you are my sister.'"
14
Then King Abimelech took sheep and oxen and servants-both men and
women-and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
15
"Look my kingdom over, and choose the place where you want to
live," the king told him. 16 Then he turned to Sarah. "Look,"
he said, "I am giving your `brother' a thousand silver pieces as
damages for what I did, to compensate for any embarrassment and to
settle any claim against me regarding this matter. Now justice has
been done."
17
Then Abraham prayed, asking God to cure the king and queen and the
other women of the household, so that they could have children; 18
for God had stricken all the women with barrenness to punish
Abimelech for taking Abraham's wife.
It is very likely that this holy man
was so deeply affected with the melancholy prospect of the ruined
cities, and not knowing what had become of his nephew Lot and his
family, that he could no longer bear to dwell within sight of the
place. Having, therefore, struck his tents, and sojourned for a short
time at Kadesh and Shur, he fixed his habitation in Gerar, which was
a city of Arabia Petraea, under a king of the Philistines called
Abimelech, my father king, who appears to have been not only the
father of his people, but also a righteous man.
(From Adam Clarke's
Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)
Gerar was probably five or six miles
south of Gaza, and therefore a part of the territory belonging to the
Philistines. Some commentators, however, have located it about
thirteen miles southwest of Kadesh.
Abimelech, who ruled over the people of
Gerar, was unusually honest, ethical, and fair. His claims to
integrity, i.e., "perfectness" or "sincerity" and
innocency set him out as a man of high standards. When warned in a
dream by Jehovah, he met the difficulty squarely and manfully. He
appeared in a better light than God's representative.
(From The Wycliffe Bible
Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
2. ABRAHAM’S SISTER?
The concealment of his relation to
Sarah should remind you of a similar act of Abraham's a few chapters
back. The almost parallel account happened in Genesis 12. Only eight
chapter between the two incidences, however, that is an interval of
twenty-four years. From the present passage we learn that this was an
old agreement between him and his wife, while they were wandering
among strangers. It appears that Abraham was not yet conscious of
anything wrong or even imprudent in this piece of policy. He
therefore practices it without any hesitation. On this occasion he
appears for the first time as a prophet. He is the first of this
order introduced to our notice in the Old Testament, though Henok had
prophesied at an earlier period (Jude 14), and Noah's benediction
was, at the same time, a prediction.
(From Barnes' Notes,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
Sarah was now about ninety years age
old, and probably pregnant with Isaac. Her beauty, therefore, must
have been considerably impaired since the time she was taken in a
similar manner by Pharaoh, king of Egypt. But this time she was
probably now chosen by Abimelech more on the account of forming an
alliance with Abraham, who was very rich, than for her beauty.
A small king, such as Abimelech, would
naturally be glad to form an alliance with such a powerful chief as
Abraham was. Remember his defeat of the four confederate Canaanitish
kings, (Genesis 14:14). This circumstance was sufficient to establish
his credit, and cause his friendship to be courted; and what more
effectual means could Abimelech use in reference to this than the
taking of Sarah, who he understood was Abraham's sister, to be his
concubine or second wife, which in those times had no kind of
disgrace attached to it? (From Adam Clarke's Commentary,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft)
3. ABIMELECH HAS A DREAM
Behold your about to die. Laid upon a
bed of sickness, in common with several others of his palace, by a
sudden and violent illness, which apparently threatened to kill him,
he was led to serious reflection. His nights were disturbed by
dreams, in which his thoughts naturally took their course, as
suggested by the special nature of his disease; and God revealed to
him in a dream the cause of all his personal and domestic distress.
In early times a dream was often made
the medium of communicating important truths; and this method was
adopted for the preservation of Sarah. This is the first instance
that has occurred in the course of the sacred history, of God giving
a special revelation to any one who was not within the covenant; and
therefore it is proper to observe that in all such supernatural
communications it was to persons of power and influence, as Joseph
and Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, with a prospective reference
to the interests of his own people.
(From Jamieson, Fausset,
and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by
Biblesoft)
Abimelech, who had not yet come near
her, because God had hindered him by illness (vv. 6 and 17), excused
himself on the ground that he had done no wrong, since he had
supposed Sarah to be Abraham's sister, according to both her
husband's statement and her own. This plea was admitted by God, who
told him that He had kept him from sinning through touching Sarah,
and commanded him to restore the woman immediately to her husband,
who was a prophet, that he might pray for him and save his life, and
threatened him with certain death to himself and all belonging to him
in case he should refuse. That Abimelech, when taking the supposed
sister of Abraham into his harem, should have thought that he was
acting "in innocence of heart and purity of hands," i.e.,
in perfect innocence, is to be fully accounted for, from his
undeveloped moral and religious standpoint, by considering the
customs of that day.
(From Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic
Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
NOTE:
Genesis 20
"Prophet," he who speaks by
God, of God, and to God, who declares to people not merely things
future, but also things past and present, that are not obvious to the
sense or the reason; related: "flow, go forth."
(From Barnes' Notes,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
4. ABRAHAM’S EXCUSES
Abimelech did this publicly in the
presence of his servants, partly for his own justification in the
sight of his dependents, and partly to put Abraham to shame. The
latter had but two weak excuses: (1) that he supposed there was no
fear of God at all in the land, and trembled for his life because of
his wife; and (2) that when he left his father's house, he had
arranged with his wife that in every foreign place she was to call
herself his sister, as she really was his half-sister. On the subject
of his emigration, he expressed himself indefinitely and with
reserve, accommodating himself to the polytheistic standpoint of the
Philistine king:
(From Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic
Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
5. GOD RESTORES
ABIMELEK
These verses record the fact of
Abraham's intercession for Abimelek, and explain in what sense he was
on the point of dying (v. 3). "They bare" means that they
were again rendered capable of procreating children, and in the
natural course of things did so. The verb is in the masculine form,
because both males and females were involved in this judicial malady.
(From Barnes' Notes,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
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