Abimilech

Abraham and his wife Sarah moved into the region of Gerar in which Abimilech was king when Abraham was about 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.

Abraham judged the people of the area as having no respect for God and worried that they would kill him to possess Sarah. So, worried for his own life, he asked Sarah to present herself as his sister. Sarah was indeed his sister (and wife) as they both had the same father (different mothers).

Abimilech, King of Gerar, sees Sarah and is apparently smitten by her great beauty and takes her. In those days and times Kings had all kinds of power and could take any single woman they wanted.

God prevents King Abimilech from having sex with Sarah because he knows Abimilech has a clear conscious and doesn’t want Abimilech to sin ignorantly. However, as punishment for this sin of ignorance, he prevents Abimilech’s wives and concubines from conceiving. Abimilech is in total ignorance of any of this until God visits him in a dream.

In this dream God tells Abimilech he is “as good as dead” because he had taken a married woman with the intent to have sex with her (commit adultery). God also identifies Abraham as being a Prophet with the ability to pray for Abimilech to keep God from killing him (he has a way out).

The penitent Abimilech, restores Sarah to Abraham. He tells Sarah, I am giving your “brother” 1000 Shekels of silver to cover the offense.

Abraham prays to God for Abimilech and God “heals” him.

Here are a few take aways…

God interacts in the affairs of mankind. He certainly did in this case and I see nothing in the scriptures to show that he has stopped.

You can be punished for sins that you are ignorant of. Be careful with your actions, someone may be manipulating you but you are still responsible to God for them.

The punishment can include a negative affect on the quality of your life and even death. If your life isn’t very good right now it may be due to some sin against God that he is punishing you for.

Abraham’s faith had not fully matured (even though he was a prophet). He was still afraid of what others could do to him. Your faith may not be very strong right now but don’t give up… it can get better.

Abraham was selfish, he was willing to sacrifice Sarah’s honor to protect himself. That’s pride… serving self and not others.

Abraham manipulated Sarah by asking her to do something wrong to demonstrate her love for him. A lot of men manipulate women by prefacing a request with “if you love me”.

Sarah allowed herself to be manipulated and her weakness almost caused an innocent man to be killed.

Abraham mis-judged people, he told half truths and concealed the other half, he manipulated his wife into a deception and he lacked faith in God.

God still loved and cared for him.

I suppose God revealed all of Abraham’s weaknesses as a message to you and me. God isn’t looking to punish his faithful people when we occasionally make bad decisions. It’s not a deal breaker for Him. What is a deal breaker is open rebellion against Him. When we make mistakes and sin we should recognize it, repent and strive to do better and not despair and give up. Have confidence in God… he is our Father.