When God’s grace overrides sinful choices (Genesis 20)
Gen 20:1-18
A dear friend of mine is notorious for standing me up on occasion. We agree on a time and place, I duly turn up and wait and wait with my friend nowhere in sight. Apparently, it only happens with me, and it is not about forgetfulness or being disorganised. She sometimes admitted that she knew perfectly well that we were to meet but somehow, she ended up not coming. I used to be really hurt and upset about these incidents and at one point it almost cost us our friendship. In one conversation we threshed out the reasons for it and now that I understand, I have come to accept that this may happen from time to time. We are a work in progress and certain behaviours and deep-seated feelings are so ingrained in us that we make the same mistakes over and over again.
Abraham falls off the pedestal
After several high points in Abraham’s story demonstrating his trust in God, his obedience, and his intercession for Sodom (and Lot), we are brought down to earth again. The story of Abraham lying about Sarah and Abimelech taking her as a wife is eerily familiar that echoes the patriarch’s visit to Egypt years earlier (Gen 12:10-20). Abraham, who could trust God about so many things, still struggled to believe that God could keep him safe in a foreign land even though he experienced that protection in Egypt and later defeated four kings with the Lord’s help (Gen 14:14-16). This time, however, even more is at stake because Sarah is to have a son by Abraham and the incident may cast doubt on Isaac’s parentage. Sadly, Abraham is willing to jeopardise the promise of God in exchange for safety.[1] His fear that in a godless environment anything can happen turns out to be unfounded and his excuses justifying himself to Abimelech sound lame (Gen 20:11-13). In modern Western culture, adultery is seen as a private affair, but in the ancient world it was a public offence considered to undermine the structure of society and was ‘a great sin’ (Gen 20:9) that deserved the death penalty. Abraham as a righteous person should have had a beneficial influence on others, yet his actions here almost brought destruction on an innocent people by embroiling their king in sin (Gen 20:4, 9).[2]
God’s overriding grace
Ironically, Abimelech proves himself more of a God-fearer than Abraham. Not only is the king innocent, which God confirms, but his servants are frightened (Gen 20:4-6, 8) knowing that the king’s actions inadvertently offended God. While Pharaoh gave gifts to Abraham before taking Sarah (almost as a bride-price), but then expelled the couple when their ruse was discovered (Gen 12:15-16, 19-20), Abimelech gives Abraham a generous gift (a thousand shekel was a stupendous sum) after the truth comes to light and offers free choice of land for the couple to settle in (Gen 20:15-16).[3] Even more importantly, God’s grace overrides Abraham’s sin. Scripture goes out of its way to emphasise that the Lord prevented the king from going near her (Gen 20:4, 6), so that the promise of a son by Abraham might be safeguarded. He even restored the wayward patriarch to his God-given purpose to have a beneficial influence by giving him the task to pray for Abimelech’s household so that the women there may be able to conceive again (Gen 20:17-18).[4]
The God we serve
Although we cannot claim that God always overrides our sinful choices, it is important to recognise His generous character in this incident and His utter faithfulness to bring about the promise and plan He has made. This is particularly true when it relates to His larger purposes to save the world. Knowing this should never become an excuse for us to tolerate ingrained sinful habits and patterns of thought. However, when we feel dejected that we have done it again (whatever ‘it’ might be), we can seek the Lord to restore us to His purposes. Ultimately, we can rejoice that His plans to save us through Jesus Christ could not be thwarted by human sin, betrayal by a disciple, or rejection by His people, nor by Satan’s machinations. May we take courage that we serve a generous and faithful God.
[1] Derek Kidner, Genesis, TOTC (Leicester: IVP, 1976), 137.
[2] John H. Walton, Genesis, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 499.
[3] In comparison, Gordon Wenham notes that ‘Fifty shekels was the maximum ever asked for in bride money (Deut 22:29); the typical old Babylonian laborer received a wage of about half a shekel a month.’ Genesis 16-50, WBC 2 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 74.
[4] Walton, Genesis, 499.
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