Daily devotion – Same old situation, once again.
Gen 20:9 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.”
Some thirty years before the events recorded in Genesis 20, Abraham had made an evil compact with Sarah his wife on entering into the Promised Land.
Gen 20:13 “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 has already carried out this pact when they had gone down to Egypt and Pharaoh himself had taken Sarah into his palace intending to make her one of his wives.
One would think that Abraham would have learnt the harsh lessons from that time. But somehow this ‘old nature’ raised its head again. This time it was not Pharaoh but the Philistines. Abraham feared once again for his life and he and Sarah again that Sarah would be presented as his sister, rather than his wife, for the same reasons that had occurred back in Egypt.
Surely one would think that by now Abraham and Sarah had learnt by their previous lessons , their previous sin, that God had taken care of them, and that He would do it now again.
But somehow the stress of the situation just blew all that out of the water!
Sarah, though 90 years of age, was still physically attractive to a heathen king.
God intervened again, as He does in all our lives and rescued Sarah once more. Before Abimelech had touched Sarah, God struck him with some kind of lethal infirmity – read verse 3 and 17.
In addition, God ‘closed up the wombs’ of the others in Abimelech’s harem and household and also warned of a possible plague about to be imposed on the entire nation.
God appears to this heathen king Abimelech in a dream to explain the significance of why and what was happening to him.
Gen 20:6 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.
Gen 20:7 “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.”
Amazingly, we find no indication in this passage that God Himself rebuked Abraham for repeating his foolish actions and placing Sarah in jeopardy. But He was not pleased with Abraham.
God allowed Abimelech’s rebuke, the second from a pagan king to Abraham, to be His means of discipline and rebuke.
Gen 20:9 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.”
Abimelech was told by God that Abraham was a prophet, not that Abraham might predict the future, but so that Abraham might pray for him.
This is the first occurrence of the word in the Bible and shows that “prophecy” is NOT primarily prediction, but rather speaking the words of God, as inspired by Him.
Abimelech also ‘reproved’ Sarah on this occasion unlike in Egypt.
Gen 20:16 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.
To stress to Sarah that, since Abraham was her husband and also God’s prophet, she had no need to fear the lustful attentions of other men!
That God Himself, was a sufficient ‘veil’ over her eyes to prevent other men from looking at her in this way.
Abraham finally learned the full lesson of faith. Never again do we read of him questioning God or His protection over them.
This week let us learn too from this lesson, that we have nothing to fear, that God almighty, is our Shield, our Buckler, our Defence, and that we can live knowing He is watching over us at all times!
Let us trust in Him as He leads and guides us as we ‘walk’ before Him.