| Subject: Gen. 20 vss. 8-18 Post # 107 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 20:49:13 05/29/09 Fri
Genesis 20:8-18 Therefore 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. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 12 And 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. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
It is a sad state of affairs when the idol worshipper is more righteous that the child of God. If one were to examine this episode in the life of Abraham and Abimelech one would more than likely come to the conclusion Abimelech was the worshiper of God instead of Abraham. It is a story that all too often has been repeated through the ages. If one looked a David taking Bathsheba would he think that he was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22)? Would you think that Elijah running from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-3) was a staunch servant of God and prophet of God? Doubtful isn't it. Look at the wisest man who lived apart from Jesus Christ. Solomon was a woman chaser of the 1st order and let these women turn his heart from God and through his acceptance of their gods in Israel he wound up turning Israel's heart from God. (I Kings 11).
When Abimelech gets his message from God he goes to Abraham and asks him what he has done to him that he would bring such a sin on him and his kingdom. Abimelech rightly could have driven Abraham from his land in shame but instead he heaps honor and goods on Abraham and then tells him he is welcome to dwell anywhere in his kingdom he chooses. "And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee."
Who in this case would you say was the better man? Abraham or Abimelech? Abimelech is no ordinary man. He heaps blessings on his guests who have deceived him and by doing so shames them as it is they who should have been paying restitution for their wrong to him. Granted, a visit from God in the middle of the night in the form of a vision or dream can affect your attitude but all indications are that Abimelech was a man of upright thinking and moral character within the customs of the people at that time.
The time element over which this episode took place is not given but it must at minimum have been several months because God had shut all the wombs of the wives in Gerar. In order for them to have known it there would necessarily had to have been at minimum three to four months but I would guess it would have been closer to at least 6 to 9 months or possibly a year.
In verse 7 God had told Abimelech to restore Sarah to Abraham and Abraham would pray for him as an intercessor and he would live. The prayer for Abimelech brought forth life from the women in the kingdom for now their wombs were again opened to conceive children.
It is a strange episode indeed but it is an event which happened. We are so far removed from the culture of the early Old Testament years that we can't relate to marrying a half sister much less giving her to someone else on the possibility it might save your life. It is also hard for us to understand how Sarah would agree to this arrangement as Abraham and Sarah had agreed to this when they left Ur for their journey to the land of Canaan. The words of Abraham to Abimelech must have been accepted and understood by Abimelech when Abraham said these words: "And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother." Thus we see from reading that this was an agreement between Abraham and Sarah. She was a willing accomplice to this deception and so must share in his shame.. "And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved." The word "reproved" here means to correct or rebuke so you can see that the heaping of goods on Abraham as restitution was in fact a means of shaming Abraham and Sarah for their deed.
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