Genesis 20:1-18 - Sin Lies at our Door

Genesis 20:1-18

Abraham and Abimelech

1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 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.”

4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 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.”

6 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. 7 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.”

8 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. 9 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.” 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

11 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. 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. 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.”’”

14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 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.

17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; 18 for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Abraham lied when he failed to trust God in the matter of his wife as they traveled.  He forgot what the LORD said to Cain in Genesis 4:7 to be aware of sin crouching at the door that desires to overtake us if we do not overrule it.  Expediency rarely works the work of God.  Here Abraham and Sarah found themselves in the kingdom of Abimelech and this man who trusted God for eternal heirs by faith failed to trust His sovereign protection to keep his beautiful wife from being taken from him and he killed so that the king could have her as his wife.  Or so he imagined anyway.  Then his reasoning justified the lie instead of ruling over the fear with trust in God’s providence and protection as he told everyone that his Sarah was his sister.  However, God gave the king a dream warning to not take her as a wife since she was married to Abraham, thus exposing the lie.  He begged God to spare his life for wanting to have her as he pleaded his ignorance and his innocent intentions of integrity.  The LORD affirmed the king’s integrity and His intervention to protect both him and her.  He then commanded the king to restore Abraham’s wife to him or suffer the consequences along with his whole family!  When he awoke the next morning, the king told everyone the unveiled truth and fear moved the king to confront Abraham the prophet to find out why he had deceived them and almost cost him his life by nearly sinning with her.  Abraham gave his reasoning that justified his deception with a fear of the ungodly taking Sarah and killing him to have her.  He of course reasoned the lie as a half truth by telling how his wife actually was his half-sister.  He revealed also that they had concocted this story to tell everyone along their journey to protect them both.  The king honored the truth revealed at last and the narrow escape shown to him by God by giving Abraham much riches to make the misplaced desire right before God and man.  It also was a rebuke to Sarah for her part in the lie and to show himself honoring her to forgive her own sin against him.  Then Abraham prayed for the king and he and his household were healed and began having children once more.  The curse was lifted from them by hearing the truth and forgiving the lie.  We learn then that as sin lies at the door of our walk and talk that we must trust God with truth in what we do and say (Ephesians 4:25), not working deception in our own way out of fear.  Do we then have faith to avoid lies to protect ourselves from what might happen, or do we trust the providence of the Lord in our lives?  We are to forgive those who do try to deceive us (Ephesians 4:32) as well to honor God.  Remember, sin lies in wait at the door of our lives but we are to overcome the temptation to protect ourselves from evil with truth and trust in the providence and promises of our Lord.