We are studying the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis, and this account in Genesis 20 is the twelfth of nineteen sections we find in Abraham’s life in Genesis 11-25. We follow along with Abraham as he continues his nomadic life, traveling south and west and settling for a while in a place called Gerar, near Gaza. This is Philistine territory, and according to the last verse of the next chapter, Abraham lived there for some time (Gen 21:34).

What happens in this chapter reminds us of what happened  in Genesis 12 when Abraham went to Egypt to escape a famine. Abraham, afraid for his own life, lies about his relationship with Sarah, calling her his sister rather than his wife. Sarah is taken by the foreign king. God afflicts the king for doing so, and he returns Sarah to Abraham. And Abraham seems to benefit from the whole thing.

What are we to make of all that? Why is this story from Abraham’s life recorded for us in Scripture? What is the narrator wanting us to see?

Like the other narrative stories we’ve seen so far, the way this story is put together gives us a hint at the message of this story. The story is arranged in a way that puts the spotlight on verse 8.[1] “So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.” So fear is the dominant theme of the chapter, and it is no coincidence that in this story we also encounter for the first time in the Bible a very important biblical concept, mentioned in verse 11: “the fear of God.” The fear of God is the key to living fearlessly in a fearful world. And God’s people are called to live in the fear of God. When they don’t—this story shows us—when God’s people do not fear him, the world suffers.

Let’s see how this works as we notice in this story the impact of fear, the exposure of fear, and the healing from fear.

The Impact of Fear

First, notice the impact of fear in the first seven verses.

The World at Risk

Verse 2 tells us that Abraham and Sarah resort to the same ruse they used in Egypt, but this story is a bit different because, in verses 3-7, we find this lengthy dialogue (in a dream) between God and this pagan king, Abimelech. It is surprising to Abimelech, no doubt, that he has this encounter. But it is also surprising to us the readers of the story—why doesn’t God appear to Abraham and rebuke him instead? After all, the whole thing is Abraham’s fault. We sympathize with Abimelech in verse 5 when he says, “In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Why is God after him?

This is the kind of story that makes sense only when we keep the bigger Abrahamic story in view. God has made a covenant with Abraham in which he has vowed blessings to Abraham and also blessings to the world through Abraham. And these blessings are not small things; the Abrahamic blessing is all about the salvation of the world, what the New Testament calls “the gospel” (Gal 3:8). Abraham’s role in all that is to believe—to exercise faith in what God has promised. Fear is a threat to that faith.

So, when Abraham acts out of fear rather than faith it’s not just a problem for his personal life. It literally puts the whole world at risk.

As Good as Dead

Abimelech’s encounter with God highlights this point. God’s word to him is this, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” Adultery in the ancient world was widely viewed as taboo. When Abimelech confronts Abraham, he calls it “a great sin” in verse 9, a phrase that appears to be something of a legal term in the ancient Near East for adultery.[2] To take another man’s wife was perhaps the greatest of crimes in the ancient world and readily accepted as an act that merited the death penalty.

But notice also that Abimelech is not so much concerned for his own life. He says to God in verse 4, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?” He says to Abraham in verse 9 that Abraham has brought on him and on his kingdom this great sin. Abraham, who was supposed to be a blessing to the world, has become the cause of a great curse upon it.

All of this is a stark contrast to our previous story in the last two chapters. Remember how Abraham, concerned that God was going to find it necessary to bring the death penalty upon Sodom and Gomorrah pleads with God to spare the whole city on behalf of just 10 righteous people found there? Here we find him doing the exact opposite. His actions threaten to wipe off the map an innocent people because of the wickedness of its king. Because of Abraham’s fear—his lack of faith in God—the world (represented by this king and his kingdom) is as good as dead.

God Intervenes

But there is still a glimmer of hope here, only because the Abrahamic promise is not entirely dependent on Abraham. We remember the covenant ceremony in chapter 15 in which God has sworn, at the sake of his own life, to carry out this plan of salvation through Abraham. So, when Abimelech protests in verse 4, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?” we hear the same desperate cry as Abraham just two chapters earlier, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Gen 18:23). The issue is not whether or not there is a just cause for God’s judgment—the issue is whether or not there is any hope for salvation.

Yes, there is, but only because God intervenes as he has promised, and as he did in Sodom when he had mercy on Lot and his family. Here God says that he knows that Abimelech acted in ignorance, “Therefore,” he says to Abimelech in verse 6, “I did not let you touch her.” God has shown mercy to Abimelech and to the world, in spite of Abraham’s fear and lack of faith.

Verse 7 demonstrates that though God has shown mercy, the story is in need of resolution. Action is required by both Abraham and Abimelech for hope to be realized, but we need to stop and take in the point that applies to us today. As the church of Jesus Christ, we are the Abrahamic family and heirs of his promises. Living by faith and not by fear is not simply a matter for your own quality of life. It has far wider implications than that.

The Exposure of Fear

Second, notice the exposure of fear. Now that the wide-ranging impact of Abraham’s fear has come to light, it is necessary for the story to take us deeper, to see some of the root causes of Abraham’s fear. In verses 9-10, Abimelech probes Abraham’s heart with three questions. In verses 11-13, Abraham gives three answers, three excuses rather, that expose the root of his fearful actions, and often ours as well.

What Did You See?

Abimelech’s three questions carry a tone of the exasperation he must have felt. “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you?” he asks in verse 9. But his question in verse 10 is the real probe. “What did you see, that you did this thing?” This is a literal translation of the question, but the verb “to see” is to be understood as a reference to Abraham’s hope for personal gain.[3] Was Abraham’s fear simply that he would be killed? Did he act out of concern for self-preservation, or did he have something more sinister in mind? Did Abraham see an opportunity that he might miss if he didn’t trick Abimelech by saying that Sarah was his sister? That’s what he is being asked here.

I find it helpful to consider what both Abimelech and Abraham were thinking about Sarah. Back in chapter 12, Abraham reckons that Sarah’s physical beauty is what will prompt the Pharaoh to take her from him. But that event happened some 25 years earlier, and Sarah is now 90 years old. Abraham does not say that is his concern here. It is true that Sarah will live to be 127 (Gen 23:1), so it’s probably not helpful for us to make assumptions about what Sarah looked like. All we know is that she is post-menopausal (Gen 18:11); we know nothing else about her outward appearance.

It is at least equally informative to our understanding to remember that intermarriage was customary for the purpose of forming political alliances, and that may be what has motivated Abimelech to take Sarah into his harem.[4] Abraham at this point is a wealthy and powerful person, a kingdom in his own right. Perhaps Abimelech has heard about his victories over powerful kings (Gen 14). Perhaps what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah was being attributed to Abraham’s superior might. It would be in Abimelech’s interests to make an alliance with Abraham. Taking his sister into his harem would be the customary way of doing that.

So, what about Abraham? If the taking of Sarah into Abimelech’s harem was more about forging a political alliance, what was his motive? What did he “see” he would get out of this move? What was his fear? It seems that his fear was not so much losing his life but losing an opportunity. God had promised Abraham land, but so far he’s only been a sojourner. Perhaps he sees here an opportunity to lay claim on a piece of land. Just as he saw an opportunity with Hagar to finally have the son he was promised, so perhaps now he sees the opportunity with Abimelech to have the land he was promised.

What’s In Your Heart?

If that’s right, then we have to say that his desire is not wrong though his methods obviously were. His actions betray his lack of faith and show that his strategy in this story is based on fear.

Look at Abraham’s excuses. He says in verse 11 that he thought to himself, “There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” What he means is that he was worried that he had come into a place that had no moral consciousness.[5] Living among people who had no sense of right or wrong, no reason for self-restraint, Abraham was obviously afraid that he would fall victim to the evil people around him. They would take his blessing, rob him of his power.

But he has here raised for the first time in the Bible this important issue of the “fear of God.” The Proverbs especially highlights this virtue as central to wisdom. It is the one who fears the Lord who turns away from evil (Prov 16:6). The irony is, in this story, if there is anyone here who lacks the fear of God it would be Abraham himself.[6]

Indeed, Abraham has miscalculated the situation and so has resorted to his own use of deceitful tactics and schemes. He says in verse 12, “Technically,” you can hear him saying,“ I did tell the truth.” After all, Sarah was his sister, his half-sister anyway. But you know how it is when someone capitalizes on a loophole to justify their own immoral act. Sure, Sarah may have been his sister, but the important piece of information was that she was also his wife.

The Heart of the Problem

Abraham is afraid he will miss out on the great promises of God if he lives by faith, afraid that the nations around him will sack him and take from him the blessings of God’s grace he has accumulated so far, so he compromises and enters into an alliance with them instead.

In the excuses he makes, he betrays the incipient prejudice that lurks in his own heart. He thought to himself, those people do not fear God. Brothers and sisters, let us never demonize other people like that. It just may be that the one you think has no conscience has more of a conscience than you do. If anyone in this story fears God, it is Abimelech, the pagan! The prejudice in Abraham’s heart leads him to justify his own deceitful schemes. Abraham is content with half-truths, but God’s way is always one of integrity—and the only one in this story who shows integrity is Abimelech, the pagan!

It is the pagan king Abimelech who is the voice of divine rebuke to Abraham, and that is an important lesson in the story as well. Sometimes we Christians think that if the unbelieving world affirms something, God’s position must be on the exact opposite end of the matter. But as Victor Hamilton says in his commentary on Genesis, God’s people need to learn that they “do not have a monopoly on revelation” from God, that “the revelation of his will to all people is possible.”[7]

We might summarize it this way: When the people of God lose their fear of God, we shouldn’t be surprised if God speaks to us—rebukes us even—in the moral outrage of the unbelieving world around us.

I offer you just one consideration on this point. Surely Christians must say that abortion can never be the will of God, that all human life, including unborn human life, is sacred. But the moral outrage of the world on this point should make us Christians pay attention. Our call to affirm the sanctity of human life can never be complete until we get to the place where no one—starting with the pregnant woman herself—would ever even have to think about abortion as a necessity. The world around us would have us know that being pro-life cannot mean being only anti-abortion. If that is our reputation, then perhaps the outrage of the world has exposed our fear and our willingness to compromise with evil in order to get the life we want rather than the life God wants for everyone.

The Healing from Fear

Lastly, we see in this story, in verses 14-18, the healing from fear that comes when we fear the Lord.

Abimelech’s Repentance

It is still the pagan king, Abimelech, who is carrying forward the message of God. After Abraham’s lame but revealing excuses, Abimelech does not complain to God. He doesn’t excuse his own sin in light of Abraham’s. He just obeys what God told him to do back in verse 7. He repents.

His repentance is genuine and costly. God only commanded him to return Sarah to Abraham, but Abimelech goes further, paying out a handsome sum to Abraham and even telling him, in verse 15, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” The Egyptian Pharaoh in chapter 12 expelled Abraham from his land in a similar situation. But here we see Abimelech doing the opposite, no doubt because he is in fact one who genuinely fears the God of Abraham. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost, Abimelech wanted in on the promise made to Abraham.

Abimelech here demonstrates for us the truth of one of the 4Gs, one of the truths about God that will set us free from the sin that enslaves us. God is glorious, so we don’t have to fear anyone or anything else. The weightiness of what God has promised to us is simply infinitely more than what we could get from anyone or anything else. What other God has promised to us the salvation of all creation and our own bodily resurrection from the dead to inherit everything for all eternity? And now that we see how it is all coming true through Jesus, why would you want anything else?

Healing from fear begins when we repent of our sin of letting anything or anyone else carry more weight in our lives than God and his great promises to us in Jesus.

Sarah’s Vindication

Next, in verse 16, Abimelech speaks to Sarah, telling her of the “thousand pieces of silver” he gave to Abraham as a “sign of innocence” before everyone that demonstrates her vindication. This is a further aspect of Abimelech’s repentance, but what does it teach us?

The vindication of Sarah is important because of the great promise made to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son together, a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. But it is about to be, in the very next episode. There can be no question, then, as to the legitimacy of the child she will bear in chapter 21 if the promise of God is going to be fulfilled.

This is the meaning of Sarah’s vindication: Abimelech, the one who fears God in this story, shows us that the fear of the Lord requires us to find our way through God’s fulfillment of his promise. Abimelech genuinely wants to be in on the Abrahamic covenant, in on the kingdom of God. And he apparently knows that the legitimacy of Sarah’s pregnancy is not incidental to that reality. All eyes are on the legitimacy of a child born to a woman we would not expect to be pregnant. Sound familiar, Christians? Are we willing to put our hopes on the promised child born to Mary, that he is indeed bringing to fulfillment the great Abrahamic covenant?

Abraham’s Prayer

If so, then what can we do with the fear that tempts us to compromise, to settle for less, to disbelieve Jesus and the way in which his kingdom advances in the world today?

We pray. That’s what Abraham does in verse 17, and healing is the result.

Prayer remains a mystery for the people of God. We don’t know how it works; we don’t even know most of the time if it works. Why does God command us to pray? He doesn’t need us to do it; surely, God could have healed Abimelech and his family apart from Abraham’s intercession. Right?

But that’s not how the story goes.

God had told Abimelech, back in verse 7, to give Abraham his wife back and then Abraham would pray for him and he would live. If that didn’t happen, he would die.

I wonder if Abimelech had to ask Abraham to pray for him. After all, Abraham doesn’t exactly appear to be in a spiritually strong state at the moment.

We are so regularly plagued by fear and the guilt and shame it brings that prayer is difficult to be considered our primary weapon for healing and salvation and flourishing in a world that thrives on aggression and threats and death.

And yet, as James tells us, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (Jas 5:16).

Abraham prayed for Abimelech because, as God said, Abraham was a prophet. I don’t think Abraham was eager to play that role in this story. But as the story ends, we find Abraham interceding for God on behalf of a nation and healing is the result.

Perhaps, it was Abraham’s prayer that healed his own soul, too, reminding him that God is glorious, that his covenant promises will stand forever, and that the greatest gift we could ever be given is to be counted among his people who are called to partner with him in bringing blessing to the whole world.

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[1] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Books, 1994), 67-68.

[2] John D. Currid, A Study Commentary on Genesis, vol 1: Genesis 1:1–25:18 (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2003), 364.

[3] William David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 454.

[4] Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, The New American Commentary, vol. 1b, ed. E. Ray Clendenen (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 251-52.

[5] Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, 256–57.

[6] Tremper Longman III, Genesis, The Story of God Bible Commentary, ed. Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 263.

[7] Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18–50, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 60.