READING: Genesis 20
BACKGROUND
Abraham is traveling again and has arrived in Gerar, a city believed to have been near Gaza. There, he meets up with Abimelech. (Abimelech means father-king and is likely a title rather than a name.) Once again he tells the king that Sarah is his sister in an effort to save his own skin. Apparently he has been doing this all along since leaving Ur twenty-four years earlier (verse 13).
God calls Abraham a prophet in this passage. This is the first occurence of the word. The Hebrew word is nabi, which means "to proclaim, declare, speak as an intermediary." The emphasis here is that Abraham will act as the official intercessor for Abimelech.
Once Abimelech knew the truth about Sarah and Abraham being married, he was very generous to them with silver and land. Abraham prayed to God for Abimelech and his household, so the LORD allowed them to bear children.
REFLECTION
Christians can develop the attitude that God only works in their lives and ignores the unbelievers. This is far from the truth. Here we see God working in the life of a pagan king. He even speaks to him in a dream. The best thing God did for Abimelech, though, is He kept him from unwittingly sinning against God.
When God revealed the truth to Abimelech in his dream, Abimelech responded with great fear. He feared the true God as soon as He revealed Himself to him. Ironically, Abraham had lied to Abimelech because he thought "surely there is no fear of God in this place" (verse 11).
Abraham thought he needed to take things into his own hands and lied to protect himself. Then when he was caught, he came out with his rationalization to justify himself (verse 12). This is so much a part of our sinful human nature! We can always have a "good" reason why we sinned.
APPLICATION
Do I trust God enough to obey Him completely and let Him handle the details? Or do I limit God to what I think He can or will do? I wonder how many times I've missed seeing what God can do in my life, because I've rushed in ahead and made arrangements myself. Maybe I need to step back more and let God be God.
PRAYER
Lord, let me see your hand at work, not only in my own life, but in those around me. You are the God who can do amazing things! Help me learn to be patient and to allow You to be in contol. Let me learn to trust You completely and obey You completely. Amen.
6 comments:
What I've never understood is why Abraham felt compelled to lie. Why was his potential/perceived issue with acknowledging Sarah was his wife...?
(Should have written above *what* was his issue, rather than *why* was his issue...)
Good question! Since Sarah was attractive (and wealthy), others might want her for a wife (or concubine). Very different culture here!
Apparently, a man (probably only a man of means, like a king) would kill a woman's husband so he could take the wife for himself. So if he thought Sarah was Abraham's sister, then he wouldn't have to kill Abraham to get Sarah; he could just have her. But if Sarah was married, then her husband stood in the way, and was at risk. Abraham realized he was at risk and lied to keep himself from being a target. In both of these instances, the pharoah/king thought Sarah was fair game (without a husband) and took her. But then returned her when confronted by God with the fact that she was Abraham's wife.
God would have protected Abraham if he had told the truth to begin with, and He did protect both of them even though they lied.
Like you, what hits me in this passage is how God protected Abimelech as well. I love this verse where God says, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against me." God knew his heart. God knew the truth.
Also, sin is ultimately against God. So often I tend to keep things on a horizontal level and it helps so much to realize the vertical. When I sin I sin against God. For me, it's much easier to rationalize sin when I keep it horizontal... but when I realize that it's truly God I'm sinning against, that makes it harder. (And I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me.)
Makes sense to me, Becky! :)
I'm still reading along here...
I haven't commented in a few days so this is a chapter back...I too have always been sad that Lot's wife looked back. A quick question...she became a pillar of salt. Why salt?
Carol...day 13...I answered your question about surrogacy.
Connie
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