SPIRITUAL AMNESIA – Genesis 20

Sound familiar? The circumstances recorded in Genesis 20 involving Abimelech, King of Gerar are virtually identical to the situation in Egypt when Abraham and Sarah encountered Pharaoh (12:10-20). There was a routine strategy that Abraham would use to protect himself in foreign lands. He would claim, with Sarah, that they were brother and sister (she was in fact his step sister). This deception was meant to discourage hostile rulers from killing Abraham to steal his beautiful wife. You might assume one spectacular failure of this strategy (like that in Egypt) would be enough to convince the patriarch to abandon this scheme – but you would be wrong. Fear of man is an irrational thing. And if two near catastrophes were enough to convince Abraham to repent of this foolishness, his father's experiences were not enough to convince Isaac. Gen 26:6-11 records the scenario yet again. Same place, and another king named Abimelech! At this time in our text, Sarah is quite advanced in years yet Abraham was a wealthy and impressive presence in the land though he remained a sojourner. Perhaps Abimelech sought to forge an alliance with Abraham with this marriage. This was a common practice/policy of the time. Whatever the motive, the seed of the Messiah was threatened by the arrangement and God Himself steps in to act according to His sovereign will. Abimelech's life and kingdom are spared in spite of Abraham, and the covenant line of Jesus Christ is spared in spite of Abimelech.