1 Abraham Sojourns in Gerar
1 Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.
Without being told why Abraham leaves Mamre, where he has been for almost twenty years, we are told that he leaves from there. He goes back to the land of the Negev, that is to the south. What Abraham is doing now reminds us of Genesis 12, where he also travels south and ends up in Egypt (Gen 12:10-20). Here he doesn’t go as far as that. He comes to Gerar, the border area. It was not a way of faith at that time, nor is it a way of faith at this time. At that time he had to learn a humbling lesson. Now he has to learn that again.
We too sometimes have to learn the same lesson a few times. This teaches us what slow learners we are. God allows these histories of great believers to be recorded to show that they too are ordinary, fallible people.
Abraham comes to Gerar, which is in the land of the Philistines. Egypt is a picture of the world. The Philistines are a picture of nominal Christians, people who confess that they are Christians, but do not take God into account (2Tim 3:5a). They do live in the land God promised His people and even claim it – as can be seen from the name Palestine derived from Philistia – but they have no right to it. Nominal Christians claim to know and do God’s will, but distort the Scriptures and give them their own interpretation. Spiritually speaking, Abraham ends up with them.
2 Abraham Loses Sarah
2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
The result of his stay there is that he denies his true relationship with Sarah and loses her. From Galatians 4 we know that Sarah is a picture of grace (Gal 4:23-24a). Abraham represents here a believer who, through his dealings with nominal Christians, loses the sense of grace. The nominal Christian knows nothing about this. He abuses grace for his own pleasure and turns it into licentiousness (Jude 1:4). Abraham’s failure here is worse than in Genesis 12. Here he denies his relationship to the mother of the heir. It is a low point in the life of the believing Abraham.
3 - 7 God Speaks to Abimelech
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “LORD, will You slay a nation, even [though] blameless? 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 in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept 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 will live. But if you do not restore [her], know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
God intervenes in grace for His failing servant and appears in a dream to Abimelech. God will always speak up for His own against their enemies (Zec 2:8) and maintain them against the world (Num 23:7-10,18-23; 24:2-9). In the dream he rebukes Abimelech for his actions (1Chr 16:22; Psa 105:15). Nevertheless, the whole history is humbling for Abraham, as the sequel shows.
With Abimelech there is a certain respect for what God says, but in any case no confession of guilt. He justifies himself. Certainly, Abraham is much more responsible than Abimelech, but that does not acquit Abimelech. His talking about innocence and purity of hands is recognized by God in this case. But although he is before God, it does not bring him to acknowledge other sins which he has abundantly in his life.
God tells him that He has prevented him from sinning in this case. It would also have been a serious sin, for the woman he took is married. She belongs to a man. Taking her as a wife means adultery, but God prevents it. Sin is sometimes planned and intended in the heart of people that never is committed because God prevents people from committing that sin.
The same goes for those who belong to Him, as we see in the history of David, if he wants to punish Nabal for the treatment he has received from this man. To prevent this, God uses Abigail, but He gets the honor: “Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand” (1Sam 25:32-33).
Abimelech’s wrong-doing is also evident from the punishment God imposes on the people of Abimelech (verse 18). There can only be liberation from this punishment when Abraham prays for him. He is not such a good guy. This is the nominal Christian, who will always maintain himself against God and men. He doesn’t know about bowing down. The mistakes of others are blown up by him, those of himself are reasoned away by him. That is how we can be.
The word “prophet” appears here for the first time in the Old Testament. With ‘prophet’ we should not only think about predicting the future. It is not even the main idea. A prophet passes on the words from someone else (Exo 7:1), here from God. God uses a prophet to communicate to His people, or even to those who do not belong to His people, something that He considers necessary for the addressed person to know.
8 - 16 Abimelech and Abraham
8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. 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 on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; 13 and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”‘“ 14 Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. 15 Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.”
Abimelech calls Abraham come to him. That already indicates in what dependent position the great man of God has come against this man of the world. The reproaches from Abimelech to Abraham are right. Abraham’s defense is weak. He has thought within himself, but has not thought to consult with God. He has noticed that there is no fear of God in that place, and out of pure self-preservation, i.e. selfishness, he has denied his relationship with Sarah.
In so doing, he has resorted to half a truth, which is often worse than a whole lie. Here he gives an excuse for his insincerity. This insincerity also lies in what he says about God, that He “caused him to wander from my father’s house” (verse 13). It is not God who has made him wander; he himself has started wandering. Here, the language of faith is completely lacking.
Abimelech taught him a lesson and ends the conversation with words indicating that Abraham is free to leave. In another translation, the end of verse 16 reads: “And be taught.” Let us also learn from it.
17 - 18 Abraham Prays for Abimelech
17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore [children]. 18 For the LORD had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Abraham prays for Abimelech, after which the plague God had laid on the house of Abimelech is removed. Thus God healed Miriam as Moses prayed for her, after God punished her with leprosy for evil speaking against Moses (Num 12:13). The same is true of Job who has to pray for his friends because they have not spoken of God what is right (Job 42:8b-9).
After Abraham has been brought back into the right relationship with God and the wrong that has come between him and Abimelech through his fault has been cleared up, he can again be used as a blessing for others. In a way, he was the cause of this plague being imposed on the people of Abimelech. When believers become unfaithful to the Lord, they are no longer a blessing to their surroundings, but rather a curse. If they clean up the wrong, they can be used again as a blessing to their surroundings.