In verses 1,2 we are told that Abraham journeyed south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur in a place called Gerar. The king of Gerar was Abimelech. Abraham again lied about Sarah, telling people she was his sister. He did this before in Egypt with near-catastrophic consequences (Genesis 12) and once again, the king took a liking to her and sent for her.
We think that Lot was sinful but once again Abraham was not perfect, he failed to trust God and tried his own methods to protect himself. Surely, he had learned his lesson but apparently not (re-read what we said in chapter 12 when they went to Egypt). I’m not sure if it was her attractive looks but one writer says she was related to influential and rich people, whatever it was it was wrong for Abraham to lie, and danger signals should have been flashing.
God came to Abimelech in a dream (v3-7) and gave him some bad news. How gracious God was to warn the king even in some strong words – “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” We have several instances of unbelievers having dreams, sometimes from God – Pharaoh later in this book, Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar in Daniel, etc. Fortunately, the deed had not been done. Abimelech had not come near to Sarah. He pleaded his innocence and that he had been led astray by Abraham. God answered him in a dream and accepted his innocence but showed His care by not allowing him to sin. God knew all about him. However, he had to restore her to Abraham otherwise he would die along with all that was his. This shows God’s protection even over an unbeliever. What a great God we have!
Despite Abraham’s sin, he was still a prophet of God. We can be assured of God’s presence with us, His children, even when we fail. He wants to pick us up again and renew us. Abimelech, a pagan king, had to rebuke Abraham for his lie. The king told all his servants, and the men were very much afraid (v8-10). He asked Abraham why he had done it and put himself (the king) in danger.
Sometimes God uses unbelievers to rebuke us and when that is so, it is sad that they have had to. Abraham answered Abimelech (v11-13), that he thought the place was a godless place and that if he said Sarah was his wife, they would kill him to get her. He explained that his wife, Sarah, really was his sister, same father but different mother. When they left their home in Ur, Abraham had told Sarah to say that he was her brother. As we said in chapter 12 and earlier in this chapter, it was customary to ask a father’s permission to take a woman, and where there was no father, her brother. It was to protect Abraham but not Sarah. It is never right to try to justify a lie, even if a half-truth. Sad that he thought it was right to do this because the place was godless. We should, as believers, be consistent in our testimony wherever we are. Abraham seemed to have forgotten that God had said that He would be his shield and great reward (15:1). He could have trusted in God for everything but, more than once, he made his own plans and tried to give God a helping hand when things didn’t seem to be working out.
I believe that the word which Abraham used was ‘wander’ – ‘God called me to wander from my father’s house,’ was really saying that God caused him to go astray, blaming God for the situation. It was a poor witness to Abimelech.
In verses 14-18 Abimelech gave gifts of sheep, oxen and male and female servants to Abraham and restored Sarah to her him. He also offered his land to dwell wherever he wanted. Not only that e told Sarah that he had given ‘her brother’ a thousand pieces of silver. One wonders why the king gave gifts to Abraham who had deceived him, and Abimelech was the victim. He had refused gifts earlier in chapter 14 from a pagan king. Maybe it was because Abraham had prayed for the king’s healing together with his wife and female servants. The LORD had closed up their wombs because of Abraham’s deception over Sarah but now they had borne children.
