CHAPTER 20

(1898 B.C.)

ABRAHAM AND ABIMELECH

¹And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. (The sin and misery that resulted years before from journeying toward the south country should have taught him never again to move in that direction. But man, as such, never learns nor can learn spiritual lessons. We will find here that sin is just as hateful in a man of God as in a man of the world, and its guilt is greater. Abraham must have been deeply shocked at the power of unbelief in his nephew Lot, but was he equally shocked at the power of evil in himself, as this Chapter records?)

²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister (Abraham once more forsakes the path of Faith; and, in denying his wife, sinks to a depth of moral degradation that is contemptible in the extreme; we find here that an old sin is an easy sin): and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. (His fall on this occasion was deeper than the prior one; for he now had the Divine Promise that, within that very year, Sarah should become the mother of a miraculous child. So long as the Christian walks in the path of Faith, he is clothed with dignity and ennobled with courage. But, when directly he leaves that path, he falls lower than even the children of the Evil One.)

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, you are but a dead man, for the woman which you have taken; for she is a mans wife. (If God had not intervened, Abrahams sin would have been disastrous. If it is to be noticed, Sarah is again referred to by the Holy Spirit as Abrahams wife. The sister thing was mentioned only by Abraham, and not by the Lord. While she was Abrahams half-sister, still, Abrahams claim to Abimelech was a half-truth, therefore, looked at by God as a lie.)

⁴But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, will You slay also a righteous nation? (The Philistine Prince, already knowing of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, fears that he and his people are in the same destruction, unless the Lord is pacified quickly.)

⁵Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this (in fact, the man was innocent; it was Abraham and Sarah who had done wrong).

⁶And God said unto 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 suffered I you not to touch her.

⁷Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a Prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live: and if you restore her not, know you that you shall surely die, you, and all who are yours. (All of these facts reveal the unsparing truth, and make it plain, that Abraham, by natural disposition and character, was cowardly and false. He was only noble when energized by faith.)

⁸Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid (it is emphasized in this Chapter that natural goodness and integrity, as in the case of Abimelech, do not necessarily make a man a Child of God and, on the other hand, a temporary moral lapse through fear does not unmake the Believer a member of the household of faith).

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What have you done unto us? and what have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? you have done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. (It is interesting that this heathen king understood the word sin, which means that he had some knowledge of God, which was greatly increased after the dream which he had. On the path of Faith, Gods people are a blessing to the world; on the path of unbelief, they are a curse.)

¹⁰And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What did you see, that caused you to do this thing? (How guilty all of us are in this respect. We as Believers are recipients and projectors of His Light. But how so often what we in fact project is not entirely that which we have received.)

¹¹And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me for my wifes sake (once the path of faith is abandoned, the judgment of the Child of God becomes faulty).

¹²And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife (as stated, Abraham dwells on the fact that Sarah is indeed his half-sister, while the Holy Spirit emphasizes the fact of the lady being his wife [Vss. 2-3, 7]).

¹³And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my fathers house, that I said unto her, This is your kindness which you shall show unto me; at every place where we shall come, say of me, He is my brother (this scheme, formulated by Abraham at the very beginning, was not of God, but rather out of his own mind and, therefore, a work of the flesh, which direction always brings trouble, extreme trouble).

¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife (despite the wrongdoing on the part of Abraham, the Lord blessed the Patriarch; he does the same with us oftentimes).

¹⁵And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you: dwell where it pleases you (Abimelech had sense enough to realize that the Blessings of God were upon Abraham; consequently, he offers him a place in his land; he no doubt, experienced great Blessings from God because of this act, and so will anyone else who blesses Gods Children).

¹⁶And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver (by referring to Abraham as her brother, in effect, this heathen prince is telling her, Dont do that again; it doesnt become you): behold, he is to you a covering of the eyes, unto all who are with you, and with all other: thus she was reproved. (Abimelech, in effect, is saying, If you openly claim Abraham as your husband, this, to be sure, will be protection enough for you and, in fact, for the entirety of your clan. It is sad when we, as Believers, have to take reproof from the world. A Divine principle, however, shines forth in this sad Chapter. And that is that God, in His Amazing Grace, is not ashamed to be called the God of a poor, feeble, imperfect, and stumbling man, if there is, despite all the weakness, faith and love in the heart. The Patriarch, by his own faithlessness, has deeply degraded himself so as to be justly rebuked by the heathen prince, yet God, in His faithfulness, clothes him with dignity, and honors him in the presence of Abimelech.)

¹⁷So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bore children.

¹⁸For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abrahams wife. (The closing Verses of this Chapter contain a solemn lesson for all Believers. Because of Abrahams abandonment of the path of Faith, and for as long as he failed to walk in that path, there were no children born to Abimelech and to his household. This physical fact illustrates a spiritual reality in Christian experience. It is not unreasonable to learn from all this that the birth of spiritual children in the Gospel is hindered or delayed by the inconsistent conduct of Believers Williams.)