Genesis 20: 1- 18
Didn’t I hear this before?
20 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.
Does it sometimes seem like the people around you take target practice to get better at shooting themselves in the foot? (Or that you do?)
We’re all capable of making the same mistakes over and over, because, under stress, we tend to retreat to habits of emotion regulation formed early in life. Habits rule under stress.
Negative emotional states are especially susceptible to a person’s recall, due to their more urgent survival importance. For example, do you know anyone who goes into a closet for protection during a thunder and lightning storm? A soon as they hear the distant rumble they kick into gear their survival technique. So the information is "filed" under fight-or-flight arousal and recalled only during similar arousal
Recall is generally an efficient mode of information processing. But the emotional state that leads to most self-defeating behavior – fear – is processed in milliseconds (thousandths of a second) and cannot be selective in recall. We tend to feel the urgency of attack every time something happens to stimulate this emotion.
Traumatic recall keeps us in whatever part of the brain we’re in at the moment, simply because we’re accessing only those memories associated with the current emotional state. When feeling helpless in a person’s brain, it seems to them that they have always been helpless.
The negative feelings that lead to repeating mistakes over and over last a long time only when we try to justify violations of our deeper values. For instance, the act that I did was not my fault; I just walked into the situation. We see this possibly happening to Abraham. He is just taking his livestock to a new grazing area where he is not familiar. He tries to cover all possible situations but winds up coming under a new and unique problem.
It seems to me that Satan uses the same old playbook. If a trial has been successful then he will in the future expose us to it again. As children of The Lord Most High, our Holy God wants us to learn from past mistakes, grow from them, and soar above them. How well do you do? Let’s take a look at how Abraham did.
20 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar.
Abraham had been established many years by the Oaks of Mamre but now he moves on, although he would later return to the area. Perhaps the events that had taken place had shaken him and he wanted to remove far from them.
We do not know why Abraham moved on. Perhaps the area of Mamre was suffering from a period of drought, or the arrival of larger groups made it wiser to do so. Or it may be that the catastrophe of the cities of the Plain constrained him to such a move, giving him a feeling that he no longer wanted to be near so terrible a place. It may even be that the catastrophe had rendered the animal feedstuff around unpalatable. Whatever may be the case he now returns to the Negev, spending time there between Kadesh and Shur in the far South, before settling for a time in Gerar, which was probably about 10 miles South East of Gaza.
The movements show that he was seeking a new place to settle and may suggest he was finding it difficult. Not everyone wanted such a family tribe on their doorsteps. ‘He sojourned in Gerar’. He feels this is the right place but is probably wary of what the local reaction will be. He had previously had a treaty arrangement with the King of Salem.
2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
Now back in chapter 17 our Precious Holy Spirit has informed us that Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90. Now something is happening here. What it is it seems to me somewhat clear? I do not have anything but normal reasoning in describing to you what I think has happened. If you do not agree then that is okay. I just want you to think about my point.
Our Holy Magnificent Creator God has just reminded us about the ages of Sarah and Abraham. Has He not? Now I know that certain older women age gracefully. In fact they still are attractive. However, I do not think that anyone would look at a 90 some year old lady and lust after her beauty and want her in his harem? Would you agree with me on this point? So what am I trying to say? It is this. I believe that our Holy Lord God reversed Abram and Sarah’s physical make-up. I believe that they were brought back by our Creator God to being young adults. This is why in my opinion Sarah was so desired physically.
Now you probably are saying to yourself, ‘Wow Tom you really are out there suggesting something really crazy’. Oh really, well are you aware that our Holy God has allowed modern scientists to be close to completion of this very condition. You and I both know that scientist have been able to clone other living organism. They tell us that they haven’t cloned humans. Let me tell you that if you believe this then I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn NY I can sell you cheap.
New research suggests it is possible to slow or even reverse aging, at least in mice, by undoing changes in gene activity—the same kinds of changes that are caused by decades of life in humans.
By tweaking genes that turn adult cells back into embryonic like ones, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies reversed the aging of mouse and human cells in vitro, extended the life of a mouse with an accelerated-aging condition and successfully promoted recovery from an injury in a middle-aged mouse, according to a study published just recently.
The study adds weight to the scientific argument that aging is largely a process of so-called epigenetic changes, alterations that make genes more active or less so. Over the course of life cell-activity regulators get added to or removed from genes. In humans those changes can be caused by smoking, pollution or other environmental factors—which dial the genes’ activities up or down. As these changes accumulate, our muscles weaken, our minds slow down and we become more vulnerable to diseases.
The new study suggests the possibility of reversing at least some of these changes, a process researchers think they may eventually get to work in living humans. “Aging is something plastic that we can manipulate,” a leading scientist from the Salk institute stated. In their study they have all ready rejuvenated cells by turning on, for a short period of time, four genes that have the capacity to convert adult cells back into an embryonic like state.
Now if we humans are on the threshold of doing this don’t you think that our Great and Mighty God has the Power, Knowledge, and Ability to have done this same way back in time for Abraham and 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.”
The use of ‘God’ in this passage rather than YHWH is noteworthy. It arises from the fact that the main action between God and Abimelech is personal, and to Abimelech YHWH is not God. Nor would God approach Abimelech as ‘YHWH’, the covenant God. But Abimelech accepts that his dream comes from a divine being
Please take note of the statement ‘In a dream of the night’. This a fairly common method by which God communicates with outsiders. When outsiders receive dreams from God it is always as God and not as YHWH. Only his prophets receive dreams from YHWH (Numbers 12.6).
Abimelech’s real crime is that he has taken a woman for the purpose of making her his wife without due enquiry. It is true that he was misled, but his peremptory action prevented him from learning the truth. And unfortunately for him the woman in question was under the direct protection of YHWH. But no man of ancient times would fail to see that what he had done, however accidentally, was a crime.
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.”
He addresses God as ‘Lord’, an address of deference, not as YHWH. ‘. The king equates himself with his people - Even a righteous nation’ [what did the nation have to do with him taking Sarah]. However there may be in this a reference to the fact, brought out in verse 19, that the conception of children had mysteriously dried up, which if it continued would certainly destroy the ‘nation’. But he considers the grounds for these things are unfair for they are ‘righteous’ (i.e. blameless in this case). He claims he has acted in all innocence. He did not view his peremptory action as anything but his right.
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.”
Our Holy Master revealed to us back in chapter 15 that Abraham was a prophet. As a prophet his prayer will be effective. Our Holy Father God does not see Abimelech as totally innocent. He needs to be prayed for by the one who has been offended against. And that Abraham is a ‘prophet’ would give Abimelech pause for thought. Prophets were highly regarded and feared.
Powerful prayer was the evidence of a true prophet who, in special circumstances, alone could prevail with God (Number 12.13). We gather from the passage that God Is seeking to impress on Abimelech the importance of treating Abraham rightly. It may be that the atmosphere of the time is making it difficult for Abraham with his fearsome band to find somewhere to finally settle. Thus God is preparing the way for their permanent acceptance.
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.
That Abimelech is deeply moved by his dream comes out in his reaction. He immediately speaks to his advisers. And they too are afraid, for the intervention of the supernatural in quite this way was contrary to the tenor of their lives. Especially when they learn that they are dealing with an acknowledged ‘prophet’.
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?”
Abimelech’s fear stands out clearly. He feels that this great prophet is finding occasion against them. ‘What have you done to us? --- What did you see?’ In his conscience stricken state, moved by his unearthly dream, he believes that this has all happened because of some prior plan and he wants to find out what failure in them has brought it about - ‘in what way have I sinned against you?’ This is beyond just an angry man wanting to know why someone has lied to him. He is deeply concerned, almost terrified.
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.”’”
Abraham is slightly bewildered, but he seeks to explain the situation. He had thought there was no fear of God here, but as events have proved he was totally wrong, and he has the grace to admit it. The fact was that because his wife was so appealing to men he had used a smoke screen in order to protect himself.
This verse explains a permanent plan not a onetime situation. Wherever he went he had said that Sarah was his sister. It had only failed once and that because he had been dealing with an unusual country in Egypt. Now, of course it had brought trouble on him again. The narrative seems to suggest that he was at the least unwise.
Abimelech is totally relieved to find that there is no supernatural plot against him and immediately agrees to enter into an agreement with Abraham. He is still shaken and will do anything to appease this prophet of God. So God uses this failure of Abraham’s to ensure his future well being.
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.
There are three factors here. The two prices to be paid to remedy the sin that has been committed, and the promise of permanent land for them to dwell in.
1. The first is dealt with by the gift to Abraham as the offended party of cattle and slaves.
2. The second by a gift on behalf of Sarah to ‘her brother’ of a thousand silver pieces. This gift is seen as evidence before men that Sarah is blameless and still pure. Had she been soiled she would not have had this value. It was an ancient custom that the acceptance of a gift demonstrated the vindication of the giver.
3. The third aspect is the guarantee of land to Abraham and his family, together with their herds and flocks, wherever they choose (on free land, of course). They are welcomed and guaranteed that they will not be driven away.
Please observe that the inclusion of the fact that Abraham is Sarah’s brother. This may be because the compensation has to be given to a close blood relative. But the stated acceptance of the fact may also have been considered necessary in order to stress to all who read the covenant that Abraham’s integrity has been accepted by the king. That Abimelech was ‘innocent’ has also previously been made clear. So both parties are vindicated. This is a necessary part of the agreement.
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 now fulfils his part of the agreement. He uses his powers as a prophet to remove the ‘curse’ that is on Abimelech’s house.
