Genesis: AUTHORITY
God’s Glory In Abraham: Genesis 20:1-18
Pastor John Weathersby
Sunday April 30, 2023
Notes/Not a Transcript
Scripture is relentless for God’s glory.
It will not elevate man above God, and today’s passage is a perfect example not to miss out on.
In chapter 12, we see Abram:
Genesis 12:11–13 (ESV)
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
He was finding the easy way out, obscuring the truth yet recovering. God sees him through. Fast forward a bit:
Genesis 12:17–20 (ESV)
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
From this low water mark of Abram to becoming the man of faith who believed God.
Abraham would build alters, allow Lot to choose freely from the available land, rescued Lot from an invasion (forward-looking spoiler alert), he’ll receive Melchizedek’s blessing, and as we’ve seen, he believed the Lord’s promise for a son through his wife, Sarah.
Abraham will witness God’s covenant with him and become a man of faith.
The man of faith who left his country and by faith sought God (as referenced in Hebrews 11:8).
Hebrews 11:8 (ESV)
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
He waged war against the kings of the East (Genesis 14:1-16).
Genesis 14:1-16 (ESV)
Abram Rescues Lot
1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
2 these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness.
7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon-tamar.
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim
9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.
11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.
12 They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.
13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.
14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.
16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.
His faith is why he was righteous:
Genesis 15:6 (ESV)
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
We took a single chapter break from where we left Abraham, where God appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre and promised Issac a son through his wife, Sarah. Abraham negotiates for the city to NOT be destroyed if there are even ten righteous people in it, and verse 1 of chapter 20 picks up there with Abraham; Lot is hiding in a cave with two pregnant daughters, perhaps thinking the entire world is dead, Sodom is smoldering …
Genesis 20:1-18 (ESV)
Abraham and Abimelech
1 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.”
It is decades after Abraham used the “Sarah is my sister” line with Pharaoh in Egypt, who, by the way, should have left a mark on Abraham, having said,
Genesis 12:18–19 (ESV)
18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
A few decades later, he is now a man of faith, believing that God will deliver him offspring through His wife, who he is turning over to the King.
Let’s remember a few things:
1) Abraham doesn’t have the whole council of the Word that we do. He has a few encounters with God and his conscience.
2) He, like us, is marred by Original sin.
To the second point, look at Hebrews 12:1 and pin this scripture in your mind. Put a ribbon here. We’ll be back, and this is an important principle.
Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Abraham was perhaps focused not on God, His glory, and His will but on what he would view as a favorable outcome. He’d been in this situation before, and it “worked.”
Was he thinking about the promise of a son or the unilateral covenant guaranteed by God? We cannot know. But the question would be, is this approach God’s best? And that should be our question as we go through life.
Lives aren’t black and white, presenting us with easy situations, especially as elements of our broken pasts and sinful frame engage with the world. Remember what Hebrews 12 said, we need to lay aside “every weight, and the sin which clings so closely”…
Church, do you feel that?
Do you feel the weight of that statement?
The weight of Sin.
It can feel habitually right, but we, as redeemed, declared righteous believers, have a race to run. We have one to run that we train for and execute like we’re after a prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
So Abraham fears the situation running into Abimelech’s territory. He lies and declares Sarah as his sister. She didn’t jump up and declare. I’m your wife, Abe. God comes to Abimelech through a dream, saying: “, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
Not a dream I want.
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.”
Abimelech had not approached her. Meaning they didn’t sleep together. If she was part of Abimelech’s harim and a “wife,” they’d not codified the marriage, meaning the child promised through Sarah would come through Abraham still (and that is coming in a year from these events).
God tells Abimelech:
Genesis 20:7 (ESV)
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.”
This is the first mention in scripture of a prophet, and it comes from God’s declaration – it is the ONLY usage of the Hebrew Nabi in the book of Genesis and makes Abraham the first Prophet.
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.” ’ ”
The king, early in the morning, calls his servants and gives everyone a briefing on what is happening. Abimelech calls on Abraham and says, “What have you done to us.” We see some interesting potential impacts of Abraham’s lying that reach even beyond what we’re tracking, his wife, their promised child, God’s covenant, etc. He demonstrates that Abraham brought great sin to him and his entire kingdom. Abraham’s actions are a low light here – and they’re recorded for all human history. After having become pronounced a man of faith, allowing Lot to choose the best land, and entering into the covenant, he’ll return to a decades-old sin, thinking of only himself and not entire kingdoms nor God’s glory.
Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
We would do well to ask ourselves, where are we making decisions, maybe right now, where we should be citing in on running a race that brings God glory. Maybe even when it doesn’t seem like the easiest direction/path, we take it because the treasure of God is worth it.
Church, the concept of the fear of God has been erased from our vernaculars, and we need it back.
Scripture would tell us that the fear of god is the beginning of knowledge in Proverbs 1:7. Consider the following:
Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Luke 12:5 (ESV)
5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Hebrews 10:31 (ESV)
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Imagine having a healthy fear of God. How will that impact the running of your race? When we allow ourselves to become placated by this life, we mute the fear of God, and with a muted fear of God, the clinging sin that weighs so much is ready for us to succumb to it. Abraham, the great father of the faith, did, here in this story. For the second time AFTER entering into a covenant, what about you?
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.
God used this situation for God through His sovereignty. Abraham followed after his sinful desires, and God, for His glory and our benefit, allowed us to see this. We would be rightly curious if Abraham were placed on a pedestal as we should with any man. All are fallen short of the glory of God. If you find any environment that lifts any man Pastors like John N. or I, musicians, politicians, any man, you run fast and hard, that work is of the devil.
Abraham was no longer an alien in that land. He was a guest of the King in Gerar with a high bit of money and more I’ve stock – God shows Abraham grace as well as the king and his kingdom. They saw the grace and power of God. Look at verse 18:
18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
They are now without excuse of knowing God’s power, as he both opened and closed the wombs, over his Prophet (a new concept).
We see God close the wombs of the women of the kingdom under Abimelech because of the sin with Abraham and Sarah. He declares what will happen to them if they continue, then we see God restore the women – what happened?
Repentance.
Abimelech repented of his ways, turning back on them.
Imagine having a healthy fear of God. How will that impact the running of your race? When we allow ourselves to become placated by this life, we mute the fear of God, and with a muted fear of God, the clinging sin that weighs so much is ready for us to succumb to it. Abraham, the great father of the faith, did, here in this story. For the second time AFTER entering into a covenant, what about you?
James 2:23 (ESV)
23 , and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Hebrews 10:38 (ESV)
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Galatians 3:11 (ESV)
11 It is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Church, let’s run the race, informed by the word, for God’s glory, fearing him as if racing for a prize, sometimes encouraged, sometimes exhausted but always focused!
It’s all for God’s glory!
Pray, Observe, Apply.
