Genesis 20
From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 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 by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Sermon quotes and references
This is an astonishing episode. It seems incredible that Abraham makes the same dreadful mistake again. If perhaps in ch 12 we may excuse him, because at that stage he had little experience of God’s providential care, now years older & much richer in experiences of deliverance from danger, it is amazing to find Abraham fearing for his life in Gerar. The righteous prophet who so boldly pleaded for the salvation of Sodom is now discovered to be less than perfect in his trust in God’s safekeeping. Indeed, when challenged by Abimelech, he resorts to lying. – Gordon Wenham, Genesis
Abraham’s lack of faith disturbed everything so far as he was concerned. Yet this is a glorious point – Abraham’s lack of faith disturbed nothing as far as God was concerned. Abraham may have doubted God’s ability to take care of him, but God’s ability to do so was not altered in the slightest. He may have doubted God’s grace,
but God remained as gracious as He had ever been. God was not indifferent to Abraham’s sin. He would deal with it as He had on the occasion of its appearance in Egypt. But the sin did not change God’s view of Abraham. Abraham was still ‘a prophet.’ He was still God’s man. In all the references to Abraham that we have in the remainder of the Bible, never once does God bring up this incident as if to highlight Abraham’s failure. Not once in all this great survey of Abraham’s progress in the life of faith does God refer to his past sin as if to shame him by a remembrance of it. It was forgiven & gone. Oh, it is good to serve a God like that, a God who remains sovereign even when we doubt His ability to care for us, a God who remains gracious even when we sin. To serve a God like that is this world’s greatest joy & opportunity. – James Boice, Notes on Genesis