Abraham and Abimelech
20
📚And Abraham journeyed from there toward the south country, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed for a while in Gerar.20:1 Gerar was in the land of the Philistines toward the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.⚜
2 📚And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister”, and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
20:2 Abraham repeats his former sin (Gen 12:13). An event like this shows that when Satan knows our weakness he will bring the same temptations again and again.⚜
3 📚But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “Now you are the same as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife”.
20:3 Once again God had to intervene to protect Sarah. This is the first use of the word “dream” in the Bible. But see Gen 15:12.⚜
4 📚But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, “Lord, will you destroy righteous people? 5 📚Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister?’ And she also, she herself, said, ‘He is my brother’. I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands”.
6 📚And God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, for I also kept you from sinning 📖 against me 📖. For this reason I did not permit you to touch her. 7 📚So now return the man’s wife to him, for he is a prophet 📖, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know for a certainty that you will die, you, and all who are yours”.
8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing. And the men were very afraid. 9 📚Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? In what have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that ought not to be done”.
20:9 It is a sad day when outsiders must rebuke the prophets and servants of God for their wrongdoing.⚜
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see 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.’
20:11 The first reference in the Bible to the “fear of God”. This fear is not a fear to come to God, or to pray to God. It is not the kind of fear a criminal may have for jails and police. It is a healthy awe and respect for God, a fear of offending Him by sinning. It is exceedingly important for people to have the fear of God.
It is the beginning of wisdom (Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). It results in God’s great blessings (Deut 6:24; Ps 25:14; 33:18-19; 34:7-9; 85:9; 103:11, 13, 17; 115:13; Prov 14:27; 19:23; Isa 33:6).
It is the duty of all mankind (Ps 33:8), and without it men fall into great evil (Rom 3:18 with preceding verses). We should all pray for it (Ps 86:11).
It is something we may choose to have or not have (Prov 1:29).
12 📚And yet she really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 📚And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, it came about that I said to her, ‘You shall show me this kindness: wherever we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’ ”
14 📚And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and male servants, and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. 15 📚And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Live where it pleases you”.
16 📚And he said to Sarah, “See, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver 📖. See, it is to cover the offense against you in the eyes of all who are with you; to everyone this is your vindication 📖”.
17 📚So Abraham prayed to God 📖, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, and they gave birth to children. 18 📚For the LORD had closed up 📖 all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.