Now that we've finished our study of Abraham's nephew Lot, the author of Genesis rejoins Abraham to tell us what's going on in his life. What happens in Chapter 20 is going to remind us of something that happened in Chapter 12.
"Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her." (Genesis 20:1-2) Sarah is about ninety years old now but is still beautiful enough to catch the eye of a king who could have any woman he wants. She didn't look like a ninety-year-old person looks today. She's going to live to be a hundred and twenty, so she's past middle age but she is not elderly.
We don't know why Abraham didn't learn anything from lying about Sarah when they were in Egypt, but he uses the same lie again for fear that a man in the Negev will kill him in order to take Sarah away. But if he claims to be her brother, any man interested in Sarah will have to treat him with respect as the head of the household and as the one in authority over her.
This might have worked in a society where kings aren't used to taking what they want. King Abimelek simply takes Sarah into his harem until a convenient time to make her into one of his wives. The same thing happened in Egypt with Pharaoh back in Chapter 12. You would think Abraham wouldn't make the same mistake again, but before we judge him too harshly, haven't we made some mistakes more than once? Because Abraham makes the same mistake a second time, the Lord is going to have to rescue Sarah just as He rescued her in Egypt.
"But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, 'You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.' Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, 'Lord, will You destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother.' I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.'" (Genesis 20:3-5) We don't know whether Abimelek knew the Lord prior to this event, but he is wise enough to recognize the word of the Lord and to take it seriously. He's shocked by what he's told. He knows the Lord is fully capable of destroying his city; the Lord has already destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But Sodom and Gomorrah deserved their fate, so Abimelek points out that he was deceived into believing Sarah was a single woman eligible for marriage. It's not his fault or his people's fault that the wife of another man is currently housed in his harem.
"Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and let you live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.'" (Genesis 20:6-7) Why hasn't Abimelek officially taken Sarah as his wife yet? Because the Lord has prevented him from having a convenient time to do so. We don't know what He's kept Abimelek busy with, but the Lord shows so much mercy in our passage today. He's merciful not only to Abraham and Sarah, but also to this king by not allowing him to unwittingly commit the sin of adultery.
Sarah is either already pregnant by her husband or is about to become pregnant by him as soon as she is released from the harem. Some time has already passed since the angels said in Genesis 18, "By this time next year, Sarah will have a son." She's going to need nine months out of that year for the child to grow in her womb, and she may have gotten pregnant right before the king took her or else she must become pregnant right after he gives her back to Abraham. Either way, it was imperative that no other man be able to touch her, for Abraham would never have known for certain if the child was his. He would have always doubted whether the child was the one promised to him by God and he might not have wanted the child to be his heir for fear that he was the son of the king. He might not have even wanted to be married to Sarah anymore because he would have thought about the other man every time he looked at her, even though it would have been Abraham's own fault if the king had slept with Sarah. The Lord is doing for Sarah what her husband failed to do: He is protecting her and showing her honor and respect. She won't have to worry about having her virtue besmirched. She won't have to worry about being cast aside. She is still going to be the mother of a nation, just as God promised her, and this is going to be accomplished inside of her marriage---not outside of it.
The Lord protects Abraham too, in spite of Abraham's foolishness. Thank God that He so often protects us in our foolishness! I've made some foolish choices in my life that might have been disastrous if the Lord hadn't stepped in. The Lord tells Abimelek that Abraham is a prophet and that Abraham will pray for him not to die. The king will be afraid to lay a finger on Abraham after hearing this. Abraham has to be alive in order to pray for him. If Abraham is a prophet of the God who spoke to Abimelek in the night, then Abimelek would be crazy to do any harm to him. Instead he's going to take action first thing in the morning to resolve this situation in a way that will please the Lord.
Sometimes God lets us reap the consequences of our actions because it's the only way we are going to learn to obey Him. Other times He steps in and takes charge because our foolish mistake is going to change the course of our life or someone else's life in such a drastic way that He has to step in and protect us from the consequences of the choice we've made. In Chapter 20 we find a situation where God has to step in. Does Abraham deserve to bear the grief of having another man sleep with his wife? It would serve him right if that had happened. But this situation is not Sarah's fault and it's not the other man's fault. It's not the fault of the unborn child either. The Lord protects everyone involved---even Abraham---because it's the right thing to do and because not stepping in would change the course of the world. The promised son is going to come from Abraham and Sarah, and a great nation will be born, and the Lord's own Son will come from this line. There must never be any doubt who is the father of the son Sarah will bear. Too much is at stake here and the Lord has to take action.
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