Genesis 20

Genesis 20

2 And 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 of the night, and said to him, Behold thou art but a dead man, Because of the woman whom thou hast taken. For she is a man's wife. 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation? 5 Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.

So once again Abraham and Sarah come into a city and say that Sarah is Abraham's sister only getting the leader of that city into trouble for taking a man's wife.  The only trouble is that this time Abraham has condemned basically a man of integrity.  His lying has truly made another man stumble.  Sarah also goes along with this.

6 And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou has done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man's wife.

Of course Abimelech restores Abraham's wife to him but not before he asks him why.  You won't believe this response.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against 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.

Much like some christians today who judge people, especially when they start judging others are a believers themselves, Abraham just starts judging these people before he knows if they have a fear of God. This of course is a terrible practice and another example of what "not to do".

This next verse will blow you away if you've been following this blog from the beginning.

12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, 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 show unto me. At every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

WHAT!!! Abraham tells that his wife is ACTUALLY his half sister, *ooo!* and that he has ordered her to lie when they come to a city and that this is the kindness she WILL show him.  i.e. he hides behind Sarah because he is a huge coward.  It's amazing that this is the first time we hear this "she is indeed my sister" story ... where was this earlier.  The incest, the lies, causing others to stumble, causing your wife to sin with other men... I would say this is definately a case for my "what NOT to do" theory about Abraham.

Next we'll deal with Sarah throwing out her handmaid...