Genesis 20

Genesis 20:1-18

Genesis 20:1-18; Genesis 21:33 Fourth Episode-Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 20:1-18; Genesis 21:1-33) This is the story of a great sin after a great victory. Ofttimes our greatest temptations come after our greatest blessings. It was after Jesus was baptized that He was rushed into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Here is the repetition of a former sin and an illustration of the truth that what I have written I shall write again. Sin is a repeater. Each sin we commit makes the next sin easier, more necessary, and certain. It would be easier to find a perfectly innocent and sinless man than to find one that had sinned but once. One would have thought that the similar experience in Genesis 13:1-18 would have taught Abraham a lesson. Twenty years had passed since the experience in Egypt, and probably the impression of the sinfulness of the act had become deadened. How could Abraham repeat such a sin? The question may be answered by asking ourselves how we can do again the things which we know are wrong. God’ s restraint of sin is emphasized in this narrative in withholding Abimelech from doing wrong. God restrains sin in the wicked when their actions would interfere with His redemptive purposes. It would not do for Sarah’ s child to be the offspring of Abimelech. He must be Abraham’ s seed. God makes the wrath of men to praise Him; the remainder He restrains. Romans 1:21-32 is an illustration of what happens when God withdraws His grace. Pharaoh, also, is a case in point (Romans 9:17-23). God restrains sin in the Christian by His preventing and restraining grace. In the denial of Peter, with his cursing and swearing, we see an illustration of a life from which the hand of God has been temporarily withdrawn. Abraham’ s example was exceedingly bad in its effect. A child of God was chided by a heathen for his disloyalty and lack of trust in God. “ For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you” (Romans 2:24). Think of a professing Christian leading a man of the world into temptation and sin! One wonders whether this incident of Abraham and Abimelech is not another attempt of Satan to neutralize the promise with regard to the coming Messianic seed as set forth in Genesis 3:15 (cf. Exodus 1:16-22; Matthew 2:16-18).