1 And Abraham journeyed from there toward the south country, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and lived in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister:” and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Abraham repeats his deception and Sarah is taken into the king’s harem. She is rightly listed among the women of faith. Can you imagine your husband allowing you to be taken to another man’s harem? Yet when we trust God He protects us. God took care of Sarah to the point of miraculous intervention.
(There are some who believe this only happened once, the first account actually being written by Ishmael (thus the emphasis on the word “Egypt” since his mom and wife were Egyptian) and the use of Abraham and Sarah’s old names. The second account would have been written by Isaac who would have grown up knowing his parents by their new names. Abimelech would, then, be Lehabim, Mizraim’s son. The Bible does say that Mizraim’s sons were the founders of the Philistines. It is possible things were so messed up still at this time that Philistia and Egypt weren’t really different countries.)
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Behold, thou are but a dead man, because of the woman which thou have taken, ; because she is married.”
4 But Abimelech had not had sex with her. And he said, “Lord, will Thou kill also a righteous nation?
5 “Didn't he say to me, ‘She is my sister?’ and she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother:’ in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.”
This is one sample of someone in the Old Testament who was not a Jew and yet obviously believed in the true God and had a relationship with Him.
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that thou did this in the integrity of thy heart. That's why I stopped thee from sinning against Me. That's why I did not allow thee to touch her.
God even protected Abimelech from sinning. He takes care of His own, no matter what their bloodline.
7 “Now thern give the man back his wife, because he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou will live. If thou don't give her back, Thou will surely die, thou, and all that are thine.”
8 And so Abimelech got up early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things to them, and the men were very afraid.
There was a lot of the fear of God going on here.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have thou done to us? And what have I done to offend thee, that thou have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou have done things to me that should not to be done.”
Abimelech scolds Abraham, and rightly so. Abraham’s actions had not only put his wife in danger of adultery, but the king also. We should never be so selfish as to put our comfort and even our lives ahead of other’s salvation.
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have thou done this thing?”
11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one here fears God, and they will kill me for my wife's sake.’
12 “And yet she really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.
So it was a half-truth to say Sarah was his sister yet this deceived others putting them at risk of sin.
13 “And it happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, ‘Be kind to me and wherever we go, tell people I am your brother.’”
14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
The gifts were to insure that this man who was under special protection of God was not angry enough to call punishment down on Abimelech. They were not an acknowledgement of Abraham’s rightness, but more like fire insurance.
15 And Abimelech said, “Look, my country is before thee. Live wherever you want.”
At this point Abimelech is not going to put any restrictions on Abraham nor do anything to make him mad.
16 And to Sarah he said, “See, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor to all who are with you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared."
He also wanted to make sure Sarah was not angry (thus the money).
17 So Abraham prayed to God, and He healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants so they could have children again.
18 For the I AM had completly closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
This event appears, when we read it, to have taken a day or two, but it obviously took some time; long enough for the king’s household to realize they were barren (maybe six months or so?)
This is another sample of the womb being under God’s control. There are many places in the Bible where babies are given as rewards or denied as punishment. Without babies, any society will eventually die. This holds true today, too, where western society has such a low birth rate that we will soon face extinction if something is not changed. Italy, for example, has a mere 1.3 children per woman; a number far lower than the cut off point for survivability. Their culture will not last another generation.
America is at 1.8 children per woman, not much better. Immigration is causing our population to continue to grow, but this can't keep up without serious consequences.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister:” and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Abraham repeats his deception and Sarah is taken into the king’s harem. She is rightly listed among the women of faith. Can you imagine your husband allowing you to be taken to another man’s harem? Yet when we trust God He protects us. God took care of Sarah to the point of miraculous intervention.
(There are some who believe this only happened once, the first account actually being written by Ishmael (thus the emphasis on the word “Egypt” since his mom and wife were Egyptian) and the use of Abraham and Sarah’s old names. The second account would have been written by Isaac who would have grown up knowing his parents by their new names. Abimelech would, then, be Lehabim, Mizraim’s son. The Bible does say that Mizraim’s sons were the founders of the Philistines. It is possible things were so messed up still at this time that Philistia and Egypt weren’t really different countries.)
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Behold, thou are but a dead man, because of the woman which thou have taken, ; because she is married.”
4 But Abimelech had not had sex with her. And he said, “Lord, will Thou kill also a righteous nation?
5 “Didn't he say to me, ‘She is my sister?’ and she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother:’ in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.”
This is one sample of someone in the Old Testament who was not a Jew and yet obviously believed in the true God and had a relationship with Him.
6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that thou did this in the integrity of thy heart. That's why I stopped thee from sinning against Me. That's why I did not allow thee to touch her.
God even protected Abimelech from sinning. He takes care of His own, no matter what their bloodline.
7 “Now thern give the man back his wife, because he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou will live. If thou don't give her back, Thou will surely die, thou, and all that are thine.”
8 And so Abimelech got up early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things to them, and the men were very afraid.
There was a lot of the fear of God going on here.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have thou done to us? And what have I done to offend thee, that thou have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou have done things to me that should not to be done.”
Abimelech scolds Abraham, and rightly so. Abraham’s actions had not only put his wife in danger of adultery, but the king also. We should never be so selfish as to put our comfort and even our lives ahead of other’s salvation.
10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have thou done this thing?”
11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one here fears God, and they will kill me for my wife's sake.’
12 “And yet she really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.
So it was a half-truth to say Sarah was his sister yet this deceived others putting them at risk of sin.
13 “And it happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, ‘Be kind to me and wherever we go, tell people I am your brother.’”
14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
The gifts were to insure that this man who was under special protection of God was not angry enough to call punishment down on Abimelech. They were not an acknowledgement of Abraham’s rightness, but more like fire insurance.
15 And Abimelech said, “Look, my country is before thee. Live wherever you want.”
At this point Abimelech is not going to put any restrictions on Abraham nor do anything to make him mad.
16 And to Sarah he said, “See, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor to all who are with you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared."
He also wanted to make sure Sarah was not angry (thus the money).
17 So Abraham prayed to God, and He healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants so they could have children again.
18 For the I AM had completly closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
This event appears, when we read it, to have taken a day or two, but it obviously took some time; long enough for the king’s household to realize they were barren (maybe six months or so?)
This is another sample of the womb being under God’s control. There are many places in the Bible where babies are given as rewards or denied as punishment. Without babies, any society will eventually die. This holds true today, too, where western society has such a low birth rate that we will soon face extinction if something is not changed. Italy, for example, has a mere 1.3 children per woman; a number far lower than the cut off point for survivability. Their culture will not last another generation.
America is at 1.8 children per woman, not much better. Immigration is causing our population to continue to grow, but this can't keep up without serious consequences.