Good morning everyone and welcome to any who are visiting, who are new here or visiting.
! I noticed Laura, that sister, Laura and Zach up the back corner. So welcome. I look forward
! to chatting to you afterwards.
And yeah, hopefully anyone else who's new here will get to meet today.
Well, we are going to be, we're continuing our series through Genesis and we're actually
looking at Genesis chapter 20 today and it would be great if you could have your Bibles
open at Genesis chapter 20 because we will, over the course of this sermon, be reading
through the whole chapter bit by bit and following it closely. I want to start there by asking
you, I wonder if you were to do an audit of your life, in how many areas would you find
your life and things about your life not quite as they should be? Maybe think about your relationships.
relationships. How many of your relationships are not quite as they should be? You might
have relationships that are strained or distant or maybe where someone is just absent who should
be in your life. What about your house, your living arrangements? Is your house, is everything
about your house as it should be? I know when I asked that question I probably just set several
people in this room, started stressing immediately and this list of things, incomplete tasks about
your house have just started cycling through your mind, your endless to-do list of the things
that are breaking and falling apart that you can't quite get to. What about your finances?
Do your finances feel also cured? What about your health? Are there things about your health
that are not just as they should be? Maybe your work. Do you have not enough work or too much work?
Is your workplace toxic or does the work itself seem pointless? I wonder if you did an audit of your
life. I suspect that for many of us if we did that audit there would be many, many areas of our lives
where we just find things are a bit out of shape, a bit messy.
Now not many people become monks these days and especially not Protestants but I've been thinking
about it and I think that part of the appeal of becoming a monk and then like going and living in a
monastery, part of the appeal is that you can sort of closet yourself away from much of the world.
Like think about it, like let me try and sell this to you, actually I don't want you to become monks
but I'll try and sell it to you for a moment. If you were to become a monk and live in a monastery
or you would be reducing your life to like a very limited and clearly defined range of spaces
and possessions and relationships and routines. Doesn't that have at least some appeal, the simplicity
of that life, an escape from the chaos that much of our lives is, much of the time? I think the less
drastic secular equivalent of becoming a monk is downsizing, you know the sea change, the tree change,
going offline, going off grid, trying to kind of shrink life down to something that is more contained
and therefore less stressful, less ridden with anxieties and uncertainties. But real life is messy
and confusing. The more you engage with the world, the more messy it will be. It's full of ambiguities
and compromises and half-finished projects. And the account we're about to read in Genesis chapter 20,
I think it captures something of the messiness of life. We read through this chapter, it's an episode
in the life of Abraham and Sarah and it's a story in which very little is as it should be.
There's little we find, little in this chapter that is as we might expect it to be.
It's full of deception, confusion, ambiguity, unanswered questions and not a little irony.
Even God's actions here seem simultaneously explicable and yet strangely mysterious.
And for all that, this chapter will give us something solid and unshifting we can cling to.
So let's get into it. You can see on your outlines, if you have one, that I've given you a four-part
structure of sorts for the chapter. Verses 1 and 2 set the scene. Verses 3 to 7 give us a confrontation
at night. Verses 4 to 16 a confrontation in the morning. And verses 17 and 18 the aftermath.
But let's allow the narrative to unfold as we read through it together. So firstly,
verses 1 and 2 set the scene as Abraham is again on the move. So we read in verse 1,
from there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur
and he's sojourned in Gerah. Now there are three places that are mentioned there. First there's the
from there, right, from there. Where's he, he's traveling from somewhere. Where's he traveling
from? Now presumably the there in verse 1 is Hebron. And since Abraham and his nephew Lot chapters ago
and years ago had parted ways in Genesis chapter 13, Lot had been living in Sodom and Abraham had
settled, we're told in chapter 13 of Genesis, at Hebron by the oaks of Mamre. And they're mentioned
a couple of times, chapter 13, chapter 14, chapter 18, verse 1. And he'd been living there for probably
around 20 years or so. Maybe a little bit more. And while living at Hebron, Abraham had formed an
alliance with his neighbors, three Amorite brothers by the names of Mamre, Eschol and Anah. You can read
that in chapter 14, verse 13. So he'd been in a settled place for a couple of decades, maybe a little bit
more. With neighbors that he got on well with, had formed an alliance with. And you know, life had
been proceeding as well as it might. But now Lot had been forced to flee Sodom and Abraham had left
Hebron. Now why did he leave? Well it doesn't tell us why. Maybe there was some environmental
pressures. Maybe there was some social or political instability in the aftermath of Sodom's destruction.
We're not really told why he left. But whatever the case, he's leaving behind this place which had
become familiar and neighbors with whom he enjoyed friendly relations. And from Hebron, Abraham journeyed
toward the territory of the Negev. Now that's the southernmost territory of the land of Canaan,
the southernmost region, the Negev, the south. And it's further specified he lived between Kadesh and
Shur, which are like south and southwest boundaries of the Negev. So he's traveled something like 80 to 100
kilometers southwest from Hebron and settles in this region on the very southernmost part of the
promised land, or the land of Canaan. If he goes any further, he's on his way to Egypt.
And then verse 1 also tells us he's sojourned in Gerar. Now Gerar is a bit further north.
Northwest, it's on the edge of what we would call sort of Philistine territory in the Bible. It's
towards the Mediterranean Sea. And this might represent another move. So first he goes south and
then he stays there for a while. Then he moves north and stays there. But note there's different
verbs used in verse 1. He lived in the Negev. He sojourned in Gerar. So I think probably more likely
while he's living down south, he still moves around grazing his flocks here and there. And in the course
of that moving around, he spent some time near Gerar. Now whichever of those two it is, whether, you know,
whichever, have a way to understand his movements in verse 1, clearly some time has passed.
It takes time to do all that travelling and moving around.
So when he came to Gerar, in the course of these wanderings, Abraham resorted, verse 2 tells
us, to a ruse. Verse 2, and Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister. He passed off
Sarah as his sister. Now why did he do this? Well we know Abraham had done this on at least
one other occasion in Genesis chapter 12 when he'd recently arrived in Canaan. There was a famine,
so he went down to Egypt and sojourned there. And while he was in Egypt, he said Sarah was his
sister. And now there are some similarities. It's that time in Egypt in chapter 12, like this time
in chapter 20, Abraham might have felt particularly vulnerable compared to those years he'd spent in
Hebron where there was at least some stability. Now he is once again a stranger entirely at the mercy
of others. In that earlier time, 25 years earlier in Egypt, Abraham resorted to this ruse particularly
because of Sarah's beauty. He reasoned if he were her husband, then the Egyptians might kill him so that
they could take Sarah and marry her. On the other hand, if Abraham were Sarah's brother, then her beauty
is actually an asset to him because rather than kill Abraham to get Sarah, they'll try to butter Abraham
up so they can get Sarah, which is exactly what happened. Like Pharaoh gave Abraham lots of sheep
and oxen and donkeys and servants and so on. So Abraham profited quite nicely from his deception
when he was in Egypt. One suspects it was a less pleasant experience for Sarah, whom Pharaoh took.
Well now Abraham resorts to the same ruse. And lo and behold, there's the same outcome.
Verse 2 again, Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, she is my sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerah,
sent and took Sarah. Once again, the king of the land where Abraham is sojourning takes Abraham's wife
into his harem or takes her to be his own wife. Now what was Abimelech's motive? The text doesn't tell us.
Perhaps Sarah was still desirable. I mean, she was a great beauty 25 years ago when she was 65.
Does she still turn heads at 90? I guess it's possible, but the text doesn't say that.
But there might have been other motives. I mean, maybe Abimelech was seeking a marriage alliance.
Abraham didn't have a daughter. Maybe he's seeking a marriage alliance. Abraham's a wealthy man and
Abimelech might want to sort of marry into that wealth. Maybe this is sort of an airbrushed hostage
situation. So Abraham wouldn't cause him any trouble. I don't know. The motive, we're not told
the motive. Whatever the case, in the scheme of Genesis, let me suggest this is a catastrophic
development. Now, of course, what Abraham did was morally reprehensible. You know, it's actually not
all that different to Lot in chapter 19, offering his two daughters to a depraved mob of men. Well,
here, you know, again, we have Abraham, a man, treating a woman as an object to be given away,
exchanged, used for his own sake. But there's another reason, too, why another man taking Sarah
at this time is a calamity? Because you remember those things that God had said to Abraham and Sarah
very, very recently. We've seen these in the last few chapters. Chapter 17, verse 21, God said to Abraham,
18, verse 10, I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.
18, verse 14, at the appointed time, I'll return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have
a son. Can you see the problem? Sarah's supposed to have a son in what? Well, when God was making
those promises, in 12 months. 12 months minus whatever time it's taken Abraham to travel to
Hebron and from Hebron to the Negev and then to Gerar and then Abimelech. I mean, what's left?
What does that leave us? 11 months? 10 months? Nine months? This wasn't the time for Sarah to be
passing her evenings in the company of another man. I mean, think of the potential ramifications
for Abraham's line. Think of the potential ramifications for the covenant. The entire
divine arrangement placed in jeopardy because of Abraham's ruse. And Abraham just lets it happen.
No worse, he doesn't just allow it to happen. He sets things up so that it could happen.
He perhaps even expects it to happen. I mean, after all, if he didn't anticipate other men's
interest in Sarah, why would he even bother with the ruse?
Where's the Abraham of Genesis 18 who showed extravagant hospitality to angels?
Where's the Abraham of Genesis 18 who boldly pleaded with the Lord on behalf of Sodom?
Who is this man we see here whose lack of faith not only compromises his own marriage covenant,
but even more seriously, it places in jeopardy the covenant of God.
But God had no intention of letting everything unravel so easily.
Which brings us to the second part of the chapter, a confrontation at night. Look at verse 3.
Verse 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.
God speaks. But not to Abraham, mind you. God speaks to Abimelech, this pagan idolatrous king.
And he gives Abimelech a stark and unapologetic warning.
Notice that God holds Abimelech to the biblical standard of the inviolability of marriage.
And you must not take another man's wife, as would later be articulated in the Ten Commandments,
you shall not commit adultery.
God holds Abimelech to that.
And the penalty hovering over Abimelech is the same that hung over disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
You are a dead man because of what you've done.
Now, throughout history, there have been countless men who have taken another man's wife.
And the vast majority of those have not received a dream from God warning them of the consequences.
But Abimelech did.
And as is always the case, God's word of warning, his threat of judgment,
when he says to Abimelech, you're a dead man, that creates a pause.
God's word of warning is a temporary reprieve.
It creates space and time in which the one who receives the warning may respond
before the threatened punishment falls.
It was the same with Nineveh.
When we looked at Jonah earlier in the year,
when Jonah preached 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,
well, that gave space for Nineveh to repent,
even though Jonah didn't want them to.
That's what God's word does today.
When any today hear of the reality of hell and the wrath of God,
it creates space in which they may repent.
That's what it did for Abimelech at this very moment.
Every warning from God comes draped in the patience of God.
And we hear Abimelech's response in verses 4 to 5.
But first, the narrator drops in an important detail,
the start of verse 4,
now Abimelech had not approached her.
See, Abimelech had taken Sarah to be his wife,
but he'd not yet consummated the marriage.
That's an important detail if we're keeping track of the promise of God.
It's also important if we're trying to gauge the precise level
of Abimelech's culpability at this moment.
So verse 4, Abimelech mounts a defence before God.
So he said,
Abimelech said,
I just accepted what they told me.
But it's Abimelech's question in verse 4 that really captures our attention.
Did you notice that?
Verse 4,
Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
Does it remind you of anything?
I heard a yes.
What's it remind you of?
Abraham's pleading for Sodom.
That's right.
It's almost, it's uncanny.
It's almost the same, right?
Back in chapter 18, verse 23.
18, verse 23.
Then Abraham drew near and said, this is to the Lord,
will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Verse 25, far be it from you to do such a thing,
to put the righteous to death with the wicked,
so that the righteous fare is the wicked.
Abimelech's asking God the same question that Abraham asked God.
In fact, the word's the same too.
It's translated as innocent in chapter 20, verse 4,
but it's the same Hebrew word, the word righteous, the word tzaddik.
There's another parallel with the intercession,
with Abraham's intercession for Sodom,
which it can be easy to overlook.
But listen to Abimelech's words again in verse 4.
Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
The word is nation.
Abimelech is pleading not only on his own behalf,
but on behalf of his people.
He recognises that his actions as king of Gerah
would have consequence for the entire Philistine nation.
But Abimelech says, Lord, we're innocent, we're righteous.
I acted in ignorance, I acted in integrity of heart.
Lord, will you kill a righteous people?
And God replies in verse 6.
Verse 6.
Then God said to him in the dream,
Yes, I know that you've 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.
So I don't think we need to imagine any kind of saintly
or heroic self-control on Abimelech's part.
The true agent restraining Abimelech's sin
was the sovereign hand of God.
It was I who kept you from sinning against me.
I mean, to the extent that any of us have any progress in godliness
or victory over sin, we can say the same thing, can't we?
It's always God's restraining hand.
Well, by his restraining hand, God had kept Abimelech from sinning further
and had protected his covenant at this precarious time.
At the same time, God acknowledges the essential truth of Abimelech's defense.
Yes, you did act in the integrity of your heart.
You didn't know what you were doing.
But now Abimelech was no longer ignorant.
A change, of course, was required.
Verse 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.
Now, I want you to think about this verse.
Really think about verse 7 here.
What's going on here?
What's expected in this verse and what's surprising in God's answer?
I think what's expected is the beginning and the end of the verse.
Now then, return the man's wife and you shall live.
But if you do not return her,
then you shall know that you shall surely die,
you and all who are yours.
I mean, that fits.
That makes sense.
That follows naturally out of verses 2 to 6.
You took Sarah in the integrity of your heart.
You didn't know she was Abraham's wife.
But now you do know that if you keep her, you're sinning.
So there's no excuse.
So take her back.
Send her back.
And if you don't, the penalty of sin remains on you.
You shall surely die.
There are echoes of Genesis 2.17 there.
You and all who are yours.
Again, we see the sin of the king of Gerar would be borne by his people.
But that kind of all makes sense.
But what about the bit in the middle?
Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,
so that he will pray for you and you shall live.
What's that doing there?
I mean, what's going on here?
I mean, isn't it enough that Abimelech's sin was unintentional
and that he repented and that he gave Sarah back?
Well, apparently that's not enough.
Abimelech and his people need Abraham's prayer.
We're going to return to that thought later.
But for now, I want you to notice some of the irony in these words.
God says, notice he, two things about Abraham.
He's a prophet and he'll pray.
Now, what's a prophet?
Well, incidentally, this is the first and only time the word prophet
appears in the book of Genesis.
What's a prophet?
A prophet is someone who receives God's word
and declares it to others, right?
That's a prophet.
We know Abraham had heard God speak multiple times in the past,
so I guess he kind of qualifies.
But in chapter 20, it's not Abraham that hears God's word,
it's Abimelech.
And in chapter 20, it's not Abraham who declares God's word.
We're going to see in verse 7, it's Abimelech.
He goes and tells all his servants what God had said.
So if anyone's performing the function of a prophet in chapter 20,
it's Abimelech, not Abraham, and yet God says that Abraham's a prophet.
There's this jarring disconnect, right?
God also says of Abraham and he'll pray.
Well, again, so far in chapter 20, who's praying?
It's Abimelech that's talking to God, that's praying,
and praying the same kind of prayer that Abraham prayed about Sodom.
Lord, will you kill a righteous people?
But again, God says to Abimelech, your prayers, Abimelech, will not do.
You need the prayers of Abraham.
Now just hold that thought.
We're going to come back to it.
Let's see how Abimelech reacts to this startling dream
when he wakes up the next morning.
Verse 8.
So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants
and told them all these things, or literally all these words.
It's the words of God.
And the men were very much afraid.
You know, Abimelech did what we might expect Abraham to do, right?
He declared the words of God to his people.
In doing, in this disclosure, this immediate and full disclosure,
you've got to say Abimelechs are quite different to most kings and princes
and presidents and politicians alive today.
I mean, just think about it.
Whenever any kind of prince or president or someone or a politician
does something shady or crooked or downright despicable,
how often do they come out immediately with a full and frank disclosure
of their crimes to all and sundry?
Right?
Oh, look, this is what I did.
You know, you won't hear a word about it until they're publicly exposed
and then they'll probably deny it.
Anyway.
But Abimelech urgently summons his servants to tell them what he did,
what God had said, and the grave danger they were all in.
And what's the outcome?
They heard God's words and immediately the men were very much afraid.
They feared God.
This is the one to whom I'll look, God would say later in the Bible.
He who is humble and contrite and trembles at my word.
Well, they tremble at the word of God.
There was nothing they could do but for Abimelech to try to set things right
with Abraham.
But while they feared God, Abimelech also understandably feels aggrieved
by Abraham and so he confronts, as he calls Abraham to him,
he confronts Abraham about what he's done.
Verse 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.
And Abimelech said to Abraham, what did you see that you did this thing?
Now, Abimelech, you notice he doesn't deny his own wrongdoing.
He admits that he and his kingdom are guilty of a great sin in taking Abraham's wife.
But he also lays the blame for that, or at least some of the blame for that,
at Abraham's feet.
He says it was Abraham who brought this sin upon them.
When he asked in verse 10, what did you see that you did this?
He might just be saying to Abraham, can you help me understand your perspective here?
I mean, how did you see things?
What was your perception of the situation that led you to do this?
Or maybe he's picking up on God's description of Abraham as a prophet
and saying, look, Abraham, if you received some revelation from God
that led to you treating me this way, like, what?
Why did you do it?
Well, in verses 11 to 13, Abraham offers his defence.
Look at Abraham's defence with me, verse 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.
Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father,
though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
And when God caused me to wander from my father's house,
I said to her, this is the kindness you must do to me,
you must do me at every place to which we come,
say of me, he is my brother.
Now, what do you make of Abraham's defence?
I think these must be some of the most slippery, unedifying, weasel words in all of Scripture.
I mean, it seems to start okay.
I did it, he says.
Actually, that's not even there in the Hebrew.
He doesn't say I did it.
He can't quite bring himself to say I did it.
He just starts because, right?
Okay, he just launches into excuses.
Excuse one, because I thought, literally because I said,
notice what follow Abraham's words, he's not God's words,
not some vision he's seen, this is just what Abraham's come up with.
Because I said, there's no fear of God at all in this place
and they'll kill me because of my wife.
I mean, Abraham's words, they're dripping with unintended irony, aren't they?
Because we know, having just read verse 8,
that as soon as Abimelech's men heard God's words,
the men were very much afraid.
Not just afraid, but very much afraid.
Perhaps if Abraham the prophet had tried to speak God's words to Abimelech
and the Philistines, he would have discovered that for himself.
As it turns out, the land of Gerah was full of the fear of God.
In fact, the only one who doesn't seem to fear God in chapter 20
is Abraham himself.
You know, having received all God's promises,
yet Abraham acts not in fear of God, but out of fear of men,
afraid that they will kill him to take his wife.
And so he gives up his wife to save his own skin.
That's excuse one.
Excuse two.
Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my...
I mean, literally, indeed is truly.
She is truly my sister, the daughter of my father,
though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
Now, this is just legal casuistry, isn't it?
It's just looking for the loophole to evade responsibility.
I mean, these are weasel words that kind of remind me of Bill Clinton's infamous denial,
which I won't repeat here, right?
I mean, technically it wasn't a lie,
but it was absolutely intended to deceive.
She really is my sister, my half-sister.
I mean, as if that were relevant in this situation.
Actually, we have here another instance of the masterful storytelling in Genesis,
because there's a deliberate ambiguity here.
This account has been told in such a way as to leave us reading it in the same position as Abimelech,
where all we can do is kind of take Abraham's word for it.
Because back in chapter 11, when Abraham and Abraham's family,
or Abram's family, were first introduced,
nothing is said about who Sarah's parents were.
We're told Abraham's father had three sons,
Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
There's no mention of him having a daughter.
There's no mention of him having two wives.
We're told that Abraham's first brother, Nahor, married Milcah,
the daughter of his second brother, Haran.
So that is, Abraham's first brother married his niece.
So it's happy, Genesis 11 is happy to explain a family connection in a marriage,
but again, no mention of Sarah.
In fact, of Sarah, in Genesis chapter 11, verse 31,
it explicitly says, calls Sarah Terah's daughter-in-law,
the wife of Abram, not his daughter.
So the narrator of Genesis has had ample opportunity to kind of tell us this earlier,
if it's true that Sarah is Abraham's half-sister.
And when Abraham says it in verse 12, we're left wondering,
like, I mean, is she?
I mean, maybe.
Maybe Abraham's kind of telling the truth now,
or maybe he's still lying.
I don't know.
Is she his half-sister?
Possibly.
Not that it matters,
because even if it's technically true at some level,
it's still a deception because she's his wife.
And I don't actually know which one's better.
Like, is it better that he's, like, lying now still
and she's not actually his half-sister,
or that he's telling the truth now
and that he married his half-sister?
I don't know which is better.
I mean, he doesn't come out looking so good either way, right?
Right?
That's excuse two.
Excuse three,
and when God caused me to wander from my father's house,
so maybe it's God's fault,
I said to her,
this is the kindness you must do to me
at every place to which we come.
Save me, he is my brother.
That word kindness is the Hebrew word hesed,
which is, some of you will be aware,
is a weighty word in the Old Testament.
It's often used of God's kindness,
of his covenant love,
of his steadfast love.
It first appears in the Bible in the previous chapter
where Lot is speaking about the Lord's kindness
in saving him,
in saving his life.
And here's Abraham saying,
when Sarah lied,
it was actually kindness to her husband.
In verse 12,
he tried to pass off his deception as true,
truly she's my sister.
In verse 13,
he tried to pass it off as kindness,
as steadfast love,
truth and love,
together,
you know,
two core attributes of God himself.
And these are the sum total of
the prophet Abraham's words in this chapter.
I mean,
what a dismal performance it is.
Abraham could hardly have done any worse
in Gerah
than if he had set out intentionally
to sully the name of God,
which only accentuates how remarkable
is Abimelech's response,
which is clearly prompted
by what God had said
and not by what Abraham had said.
Look at verse 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.
And Abimelech said,
behold,
my land is before you,
dwell,
or live in it,
where it pleases you.
To Sarah he said,
behold,
I've given your brother
a thousand pieces of silver.
It's a sign of your innocence
in the eyes of all
who are with you
and before everyone
you are vindicated.
He showers Abraham with gifts.
You know,
similar to the gifts
that Pharaoh gave Abraham
in chapter 12
was a bride price,
but these are just gifts, right?
He returns Sarah,
he invites Sarah to dwell
wherever he likes
in Abimelech's land,
that is not to sojourn,
but to live.
To settle down there
if he wants to.
He gives a specific gift
of a thousand pieces of silver,
a very large sum,
as a sign that nothing untoward
had happened between
Abimelech and Sarah.
You may notice the,
I've given your brother
a thousand,
maybe a little pointed jab
at the pair for their deception.
But in all of this,
you've got to say,
Abimelech displays
remarkable magnanimity
to someone who's just
deceived him
and brought great sin
on his people
and brought the entire people
into danger.
Of the two,
Abimelech's conduct
is by far
the more commendable
and Abraham's
in this chapter
is by far
the more blameworthy.
Which just makes it
all the more noteworthy
when we remember
God's words
in verse 7.
which is not that Abraham
needed the prayers
of Abimelech,
but Abimelech
needed the prayers
of Abraham.
And so we come
to the aftermath
in verse 17.
Then Abraham
prayed to God
and God healed Abimelech
and also healed
his wife
and female slaves
so that they
bore children.
for the Lord
had closed
all the wombs
of the house
of Abimelech
because of Sarah,
Abraham's wife.
We see Abraham's
intercession
for Abimelech
which is
immediately effective.
God heals
Abimelech
and his entire
household.
God had brought
on his whole
household
an inability
to conceive
because of Sarah,
Abraham's wife.
it's kind of
part punishment
for Abimelech's
inadvertent sin.
It's also part
protection
of Sarah
and God's promise.
God decreed
that none
in Abimelech's
house could conceive
so long as Sarah
was among them
but now he lifts
that,
he heals them,
he restores life
to Abimelech,
his household,
his people.
There's a final
irony here though,
isn't there?
If we've been
following Abraham's
life and story.
If Abraham's
prayer could so
quickly heal
Abimelech's
wife and servants
and open
all the wombs
of the house
of Abimelech,
what of Sarah
herself
whose womb
had been closed
these many
decades past?
Let's leave
that question
in closing
I want to draw
together some
threads from
chapter 20
as a whole.
I mean what is
this chapter doing
here in the book
of Genesis?
Why do we have
it, this funny
little chapter?
For one thing
it shows us
the persistence
of sin.
We've seen
this kind of
thing before.
Here Abraham
makes the same
mistake in
chapter 20
that he'd made
way back in
chapter 12.
The same mistake
at age 100
that he made
at age 75.
25 years
had passed.
25 years
of God's
steady work
in Abraham's
life.
Is he a
changed man?
Well,
perhaps,
somewhat.
But it
didn't take
much for
the old
fears
to resurface.
It didn't
take much
for the old
sins
to reappear.
isn't it
the same
for each
of us?
God
changes
us,
but old
habits die
hard.
I was
speaking with
someone recently
who was well
aware of the
sins of his
youth and
how quickly
he would just
fall into any
temptation.
He said
whatever temptation
came he would
just run after
it.
And he
said to me,
he feels like a
new man
now,
but he
prays every
day that
the old
man will
not reassert
itself.
Let anyone
who thinks
he stands
take heed
lest he
fall.
But I
don't think
that's the
main function
of Genesis
20,
as helpful
it might
be to
see the
persistence
of sin,
potential
persistence
of sin
in our
lives.
The main
function of
this chapter
and of this
episode in
the life of
Abraham is
to demonstrate
God's
absolute
commitment
to the
promise of
Genesis 12
verse 3.
So have a
look at
Genesis 12
verse 3
with me.
Genesis 12
verse 3.
Genesis 12
verse 3.
Part of
those initial
promises God
made to
Abraham when
he sent
him out
toward the
promised land,
toward the
land of
Canaan.
Genesis 12
verse 3.
God promised,
I will bless
those who
bless you
and him
who dishonours
you I will
curse and
in you all
the families
of the earth
shall be
blessed.
In part that
promise of
Genesis 12
verse 3 is a
promise of
protection.
And we
see God's
protection of
Abraham and
God's protection
of Sarah in
Genesis 20.
We see God
protect them
from Abimelech's
power, protect
them from their
own folly.
We see God
judge Abimelech
for his
mistreatment
of them.
Him who
dishonours you I
will curse as
God had promised
in chapter 12
verse 3.
God is
safeguarding his
own promise
that at the
proper time
Sarah would
bear Abraham
a son.
God remains
just as committed
to his people
to the present
day.
God is
God
I will
not fear.
What can
man do
to me?
What can
anyone do
to us
who have
the promises
of God?
God?
But actually
the promise
of Genesis
12 verse 3
which is so
aptly illustrated
in chapter 20
isn't just a
promise of
protection.
It's also a
declaration of
God's plan of
salvation.
I will bless
those who
bless you
and him who
dishonours you
I will curse
and in you
all the
families of
the earth
shall be
blessed.
Why did
Abimelech need
the prayers of
Abraham?
Abraham
because there
is no
blessing for
the families
of the
earth
except through
Abraham
and God
has determined
to bring the
nations that
blessing.
Abimelech
needed the
prayers of
Abraham
because he
needed the
blessings of
God and
there was no
other way.
So in
Genesis chapter
20 in
this kind
of convoluted
roundabout
way God
brings about
through Abraham's
sin and
failure exactly
the same
outcome he
would have
brought about
if Abraham
the prophet
had been
faithful.
That is
Abimelech
hears the
word of
God,
he fears
God,
he blesses
Abraham and
he's healed
of his
great sin.
I will
bless those
who bless
you,
God had
promised.
Of course
the promise
to Abraham
that in you
all the
families of
the earth
shall be
blessed
isn't really
about Abraham
at all.
It's about
the promised
son of
Abraham,
the seed
of Abraham,
a better
prophet and
a better
mediator.
Abraham
tried to
pass off
his
deception
as
kindness,
grace and
truth.
But the
son came
from the
father full
of grace
and truth.
Abraham
feared men
rather than
trusting God.
The son
entrusted
himself to
God even
as men
did their
worst.
Abraham
gave up
his wife
to save
himself.
The son
gave up
himself to
save you
and me.
If Abimelech
needed Abraham's
intercession
and if
despite
Abraham's
shortcomings
His
intercession
sufficed,
how much
more is
Jesus Christ
a full
and sufficient
mediator
for us?
The
Holy
One,
the
righteous
one,
who died,
who was
raised,
who always
lives to
intercede
for us.
Our
experience of
life is
often as
Genesis
20.
It's
full of
ambiguities
and
slippery
words,
shabby
behaviour
and lurking
fears.
things
even
the best
of men
in our
experience
have feet
of clay.
In our
lives
things rarely
add up
and the
equation
never
balances.
But the
messiness
of our
lives does
not nullify
the promise
of God.
Rather the
messiness
of our
lives is
the backdrop
for the
promise of
God.
God
and
especially
this
promise.
God
gave us
eternal
life and
this life
is in
his
son.
Whoever
has the
son has
life.
Whoever
does not
have the
son of
God
does not
have
life.
Kiss
the son
lest he
be angry
and you
perish
in your
way for
his wrath
is quickly
kindled.
But
blessed
are all
who take
refuge in
him.
Will you
pray with
me?
Heavenly
Father we
thank you
for our
better
prophet and
our better
mediator
Jesus
Christ who
gave himself
for us and
who always
lives to
intercede
for us.
Thank you
that through
his redeeming
work all
our great
sins are
forgiven and
taken away
and we
are healed.
Thank you
that in
him we
are blessed
and we
are protected
by your
sovereign hand
and your
spirit.
And in
the midst
of our
messy
lives where
so little
often makes
sense,
we thank you
for the
firm and
secure promise
that you've
given us in
your son,
in whose
name we
pray.
Amen.
Thank you.