Genesis 20:1-21:7

Genesis 20:1-21:7

After seeing all that God had done for him and his nephew Lot, you would think that Abraham would be in full obedience at this point. You would think that he would not slip up again, forgetting how much God had taken care of him in the past. You would think this, but just like we do so many times, Abraham slipped. While he was traveling throughout the future Promised Land, Abraham met Abimelech. It was here that he repeated a previous mistake that he had made in Egypt. Afraid that he might once again lose his wife Sarah or that he might be killed, he told Abimelech that she was his sister. There are two major problems with this decision. One, he should have known that this would end badly just like the time before. But two, God’s promise of him having a son through Sarah had not happened yet. He should have known at this point that God was going to come through on that deal, therefore not letting him or Sarah die. But like we do so many times, Abraham neglected to trust God with even the smallest details of his life.

Abimelech may seem like the enemy in this passage. Abraham was in fear of his life in Egypt, and Genesis 20 later reveals that he felt the same way in the presence of Abimelech. So he lied about his relationship with Sarah, making the reader want to think of Abimelech as the enemy. But Abimelech was actually innocent in this passage, not knowing who Sarah was. So God stepped in not only to preserve the promise he had made to Abraham but also to keep Abimelech from making a great mistake. Abimelech then obeyed God’s commands without hesitation and returned Sarah to Abraham. Because of his obedience and Abraham’s repentance, the consequences of Abraham’s sin were reversed. Initially God made all of the women in Abimelech’s house barren, but with Abraham’s repentance, God allowed them to bear children again.

The beginning of Genesis 21 is the first step in God fulfilling the promise that He made to Abraham. Finally, years after initially promising that Abraham would be a great nation dwelling in the land he was living in, God gave Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac. Although this was the first step of the promise, Abraham would not see the promise fully come to pass. It would not be until the time of Joshua that his descendants (who would number over 2 million by that time) would finally reinhabit the Promised Land. I think that is why it was so easy for Abraham to forget all that God had done for him. He wanted the results of the promise to be immediate, for God to act quickly. So when God tarried for so long, Abraham began to lose his faith in God. But before we begin to condemn Abraham for his lack of faith, we must do a quick self-checkup. How many times have we lost patience with God because the timing in our life was not as we thought it should be? Abraham was only human, just like us. Although that does not excuse his lack of faith, we can definitely relate to it and learn from it. But the important thing is that God came through on His promise and gave Abraham a son at the old age of 100 (Sarah was 90).

Matt