The Barren Kingdom
With Questions and Proposed Answers
Background and Printed Text: Genesis 20
Genesis 20:1 And Avraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev. And he dwelt between Kadesh and between Shur. And he sojourned in Gerar.
2And Avraham said unto Princess his woman, “She is my sister!” And My-Father-The-King, king of Sojourning, sent. And he took Princess.
3And Elohim came unto My-Father-The-King in a dream of the night. And He said to him, “Behold thee dead concerning the woman whom thou took! And she is the wife of a husband!” 4And My-Father-The-King did not approach unto her. And he said, “My Lords! Thou wilt slay also a righteous race? 5Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister!’ And she, also she said, ‘He is my brother!’ In perfection of my heart and in innocence of my palms I did this!”
6And the Elohim said unto him in a dream, “Also I, I knew that thou did this in the perfection of thy heart! And I restrained thee, also I thee, from sinning to me! Therefore, I did not give thee to touch unto her! 7And now return the woman of the man, because he is a prophet. And he has rolled-himself-out for thy sake. And live! And if thou art not returning, know that dying thou shalt die—thou and all who is to thee!”
8And My-Father-The-King early-rose in the morning. And he called to all his servants. And he spoke all these words in their ears. And the men very much feared.
9And My-Father-The-King called to Avraham. And he said to him, “What hast thou done to us? And what did I sin to thee that thou brought upon me and upon my kingdom a big sin? Thou hast done with me doings that they did not do!” 10And My-Father-The-King said unto Avraham, “What didst thou see that thou did this thing?” 11And Avraham said, “Because I said, ‘Only the fear of Elohim is not in this place! And they shall slay me concerning the matter of my woman!’ 12And also faith, he is my sister the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became to me for a woman. 13And he was just as Elohim wandered me from the house of my father. And I said to her, ‘This is thy grace that thou wilt do with me unto every place that we will come there. Say to me, “He is my brother!” ’ ”
14And My-Father-The-King took flock and herd and slaves and female-slaves. And he gave to Avraham. And he returned to him Princess his woman.
15And My-Father-The-King said, “Behold, my land is to thy faces. Dwell in good to thine eyes.”
16And he said to Princess, “Behold, I gave a thousand silver to thy brother. Behold, he is to thee to cover eyes to all who are with thee, and all. And thou shalt proceed-straight!”
17And Avraham rolled-himself unto the Elohim. And Elohim healed My-Father-The-King and his woman and his slave-women. And they childed. 18For treasuring, Yehovah treasured for the sake of every womb to the house of My-Father-The-King concerning the matter of Princess, woman of Avraham.
I. The Move (verse 1)
Avraham had seen the plain and its cities destroyed. The text does not say whether he knew at this time that Lot still lived, but it is my guess that he soon knew that.
This verse does not say why he moved his large herds to the south. Cattle and sheepherders do what they do for the sake of their herds and flocks, looking for grass and water. He came to the wild and dangerous city of Gerar, a city whose reputation he knew well. I suspect that a drought brought him to come to this violent place.
Questions
1. How many other persons depended on Avraham and his decisions? Many depended on him! He was the head of many cowboys and shepherds. They kept together for protection. They also had families with them.
2. What does Gerar mean? It means Sojourning, a word meaning traveling for a longer time, including temporary stays on the way.
II. The Transaction (verse 2)
Avraham knew that his own life was in danger. Sarah and he had already agreed that they would declare their relationship to be brother and sister (see the whole text of this chapter). Abimelech saw that Sarah is a beautiful woman. She would be a good second wife. Avraham did not resist, and none of his men said a word.
Questions
1. Describe the scene so that the sentence, “And Avraham said unto Princess his woman, ‘She is my sister!’” makes sense. Avraham, Princess and at least one of My-Father-The-King’s men are talking together. The representative is asking Avraham who Princess is. Avraham looks straight at Princess (Sarah) and says, “She is my sister!”
2. Was Avraham’s declaring Sarah to be his sister a lie? Absolutely!
3. If it was a lie, was it wrong before Yehovah? No, it was not wrong; it was right. Avraham knew that the men were violent. He knew they would kill him for Sarah. He also knew that his cowboys and shepherds would avenge his death, and much bloodshed would take place. Avraham also knew that Yehovah had promised him a son, and Yehovah would slaughter Abimelech’s (My-Father-The King’s) people to keep that promise, if He saw fit. In other words, many lives were at stake. Lying to save the innocent from the hands of violent folks is always right. Refusing to lie under such circumstances is willingly participating with the violent folks. Avraham only did right.
4. Did Abimelech do wrong by taking Sarah? No. He didn’t do wrong by taking her. He did wrong by not first inquiring of his own gods! (See the next few verses.) Anyone who relies on false gods will make stupid errors.
5. Why did Sarah go along with this plan? Yehovah gave a promise of a child through Sarah, and that she would be the heir. There was no life-threatening danger to her. Sarah did not say a word. She was confident that her husband was right.
III. The ‘Love of God’ for Abimelech and His People (verses 3-7)
Yehovah came to Abimelech in a dream. When Yehovah comes in a dream, no experience which one has while awake is more real. A dream from Yehovah is so clear that it can bring terror that lasts through all the waking hours.
Yehovah’s message was simple and brief: “Behold thee dead concerning the woman whom thou took! And she is the wife of a husband!” Abimelech needed to know why Yehovah was about to kill him. There was no invitation for repentance, and there was no offer of hope.
Abimelech had not yet approached Sarah.
Abimelech appealed to Yehovah’s justice by asking, “My Lords! Thou wilt slay also a righteous race?” He knew that his entire race was in danger of slaughter from this God!
Abimelech protested, “Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister!’ And she, also she said, ‘He is my brother!’ In perfection of my heart and in innocence of my palms I did this!” Yehovah’s reply is cool and frightening: “Also I, I knew that thou did this in the perfection of thy heart!” Yehovah does not disagree with Abimelech. Yet He was still quite prepared to kill him.
Yehovah then told Abimelech: “And I restrained thee, also I thee, from sinning to me! Therefore, I did not give thee to touch unto her!”
Yehovah next gave Abimelech the command: “And now return the woman of the man.” His reason was interesting: “For he is a prophet. And he has rolled-himself-out for thy sake. And live!”
If Abimelech tried any ‘funny stuff,’ Yehovah told him what would happen: “And if thou art not returning, know that dying thou shalt die—thou and all who is to thee!”
Questions
1. Was it fair for Yehovah to threaten Abimelech without first (in the dream) telling him of his error, and lovingly telling him to do right? Most things in life are not matters of fairness. Fair is used when something must be equal. Do not confuse fairness with justice. Justice is usually not fair, and fairness is usually not justice!
Suppose that a teacher leaves a classroom at the school for a few minutes. Suppose that two of the thirty students begin to throw things, to make a mess, to make noise, to act up. When the teacher returns, suppose that she will be angry. She will ask, “Who did this?” Suppose that no one in the classroom will identify the culprits. So, suppose that the teacher states that the entire class must write sentences instead of going outside during recess. Is that fair? No. Is that justice? It is, according to the Bible. Yehovah held the entire people of Israel responsible when just one person sinned! That was justice, and what the teacher did was also justice. The entire class could have pressured the wrongdoing students to stop, but they instead did nothing. Thus, the entire class participated in the wrongdoing. Holding the entire class responsible was justice.
It was justice for Yehovah to threaten Abimelech. He didn’t need to first tell him his error since Abimelech relied on his own fortune tellers and gods. They should have told him what was about to occur! Yehovah had no reason to ‘lovingly’ telling him to do right. Abimelech’s citizens would have done violence to get Sarah for Abimelech. Yehovah instead used terror on this man; that was justice!
2. Why didn’t Yehovah at least offer Abimelech a chance to repent and give Sarah back? Yehovah later did threaten him to give her back, but He first did what would make this king and his people fear to do what they normally had done before: take women from their men by violence. Avraham was a prophet; he knew what the people of Gerar were like.
3. Since Abimelech had not yet approached or touched Sarah, wasn’t he innocent? When a person plots to do wrong, that person has already done wrong! Even in the United States, threatening to kill the president of the United States is a crime. A person doesn’t have to do the crime to be guilty; plotting it makes the person guilty.
4. Was Abimelech’s race truly righteous (verse 4)? Yehovah never answered this point. The race wasn’t righteous (in general). It was a violent race.
5. Would Yehovah have slain a righteous race? Yehovah never slays the righteous with the culpable (with the guilty). He will slay folks who see violence around them and who do nothing to help the innocent when they could help; He considers them part of the plotters!
6. Had Abimelech truly done this “in perfection of my heart and in innocence of my palms” (verse 5)? Yehovah agreed with the first part: Abimelech did this in the perfection of his heart (his mind). He did not speak about the innocence of his palms (of his hands). Abimelech was ‘holding’ Sarah (thus, his palms of his hands held a hostage). The man’s mind was perfect regarding this matter, but he and his people were far from innocent, holding another man’s woman! Again, he relied on false gods and on soothsayers, occult practitioners (folks who use demons and witchcraft to get information), astrologers (folks who claim to be able to read the constellations to tell fortunes and the future), etc. He should have known that Sarah was another man’s woman! Thus, his palms were not innocent. Yehovah judges by the actions of a person, not by the person’s motives. (Think very carefully about this.)
7. When evil is done, when disasters happen, when men sin, did Yehovah allow these things to happen? There are three words you should not use regarding Yehovah/Yeshua: allow, permit, let. They are words that confuse. The following will explain why.
Suppose that a woman is watching her young son, and he wants to go outside to play. He has a basketball. The yard is fenced. She tells him, “Now, if the ball bounces outside the fence, do not go after it. The street is very dangerous. Come and tell me, and I will get the ball. Do you hear me?” The child heard. A little later, the ball bounces outside the fence, rolls, and comes to rest near the fence. The child looks back at the house to see if she is watching, and the child doesn’t see her. She is watching, however, and she sees what occurred. She waits. The child then goes to the gait, opens it, looks back, and still seeing nothing, runs, gets the ball, runs back into the gait, closes it, and continues to play. Did the woman permit the child to get the ball? She didn’t stop him; did she allow the child to get the ball? Did she let the child get the ball? If you answer, “Yes, she did,” you are wrong. But you are also right. If you answer, “No!” you are right. But you are also wrong. Therefore, those words, allow, permit and let, have no real meaning. She didn’t allow, permit or let the child do it, but it seems like she did! Therefore, don’t use these words regarding God unless the Bible uses them. You will be wrong!
Now, our question is this: “When evil is done, when disasters happen, when men sin, did Yehovah allow these things to happen?” Well, He didn’t stop them. Does that mean that He allowed them? No, it doesn’t!
8. Does Yehovah always restrain a person from sinning? He rarely does, but He sometimes does. Most folks sin without feeling any restraints.
9. What does “I did not give thee to touch unto her” mean? Yehovah did not give him to touch unto her means that Yehovah set up a protection, a barrier, so that Abimelech could not touch her (and therefore could not have sexual intercourse with her).
Abimelech thought that he was alone in his decision to touch Sarah or not. Yehovah told him that He (not Abimelech) had set the circumstances by which Abimelech couldn’t touch Sarah.
10. What does rolled himself out for thy sake mean? This is the Hebrew expression for prayer! It is when a person gives details of a situation to God in order for Him to judge the situation and to respond to the person. (Be sure to pray in detail when you ask Yehovah for something. Explain why you see it the way you do. The only time you don’t want to do that is in an emergency when you have no time to explain the details.)
11. What does “And live!” imply? It implies that Yehovah would kill Abimelech if he didn’t obey!
12. Yehovah threatened not only Abimelech, but his entire house, including the maidservants. Yet they took orders from Abimelech. Was this fair for Yehovah to threaten to kill them too? Again, fairness is not the issue. Abimelech and his people were in this together! Therefore, Yehovah threatened them all! He already destroyed four cities for the same reason! You are part of the city in which you live! Don’t forget that.
13. Was Avraham a prophet? Yes! Avraham is not usually known for being a prophet, but Yehovah had given him this ministerial gift and responsibility just as much as He later would give it to Isaiah. This is how Avraham knew what would happen when he went to Gerar!
14. Why did Yehovah tell Abimelech that Avraham “has rolled himself out” for Abimelech’s sake? Yehovah put the king in a position of need for the prayers of Avraham! By so doing, Abimelech was humbled and Avraham and Sarah were protected!
IV. Abimelech is a Believer (verse 8)
Abimelech rose early! He called his servants, and he told them what he had dreamed. They were terrified!
Questions
1. Did Abimelech become a believer in Yehovah? Abimelech believed, but that doesn’t mean that he was born of God and that he had Salvation. He believed that Avraham’s God would kill him if he didn’t do what he had been told. He believed in Yehovah in the same way that one who believes the Bible believes in Satan (that is, believes that Satan exists, but doesn’t turn to him as a god). Abimelech was not about to turn from his other gods. They were useful to him and to his people.
V. The Truth of the Matter (verses 9-13)
Abimelech was frightened, angry and curious. He called Avraham and appealed to Avraham’s sense of justice: “What hast thou done to us?”
He then appealed to Avraham religiously: “And what did I sin to thee that thou brought upon me and upon my kingdom a big sin?” He didn’t wait for the answer before protesting, “Thou hast done with me doings that they did not do!”
The Bible doesn’t record whether Avraham answered at this point. It is as if Abimelech is pacing, walking away, then returning back to Avraham to continue with his interrogation: “What did thou see that thou did this thing?”
Avraham’s reply and defense was this: “Because I said, ‘Only the fear of Elohim is not in this place! And they shall slay me concerning the matter of my woman!’” His thought was the truth.
Then Avraham stated the facts: “And also faith, he is my sister the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became to me for a woman.”
Avraham did not stop with this. He explained the agreement that he had with Sarah: “And he was just as Elohim wandered me from the house of my father. And I said to her, ‘This is thy grace that thou wilt do with me unto every place that we will come there. Say to me, “He is my brother!” ’ ”
Abimelech now knew the whole story. He wisely did not defend himself or harm Avraham.
Questions
1. What had Avraham done to Abimelech’s people? Avraham had brought Yehovah and Yehovah’s fear to Abimelech and his people! This threatened their existence! Yet, Avraham had not done anything to them; they had taken a woman without asking questions.
2. Had Avraham brought a big sin upon Abimelech and upon his kingdom? No. But this is a normal part of many accusations. State what isn’t true as if it is true as part of the accusation! It is like one child angrily stating to a parent, “He hit me for no reason at all!” when there had been a reason. The fault was with Abimelech, his people and his gods, not with Avraham.
3. Who are they in “Thou hast done with me doings that they did not do”? They refer to enemies of the king.
4. What did Abimelech mean by “What did thou see?” Abimelech remembered that Yehovah had said that Avraham was a prophet when he said, “What did thou see?”
5. According to Avraham, what one factor, being missing, sets the stage for evil and violence? If there is no fear of the Gods, violence freely occurs!
6. Have you ever been to a place where the fear of Elohim isn’t there? That is true in most places in this world, including inside of churches! The fear of Elohim is very rare in this world. Most places have no fear. That is why violence occurs as if it is normal. If the fear of Elohim were present, violence would be very rare!
7. Why didn’t Abimelech defend himself when Avraham said, “And they shall slay me concerning the matter of my woman”? Abimelech never defended against this because he knew it was true.
8. Define grace in “This is thy grace that thou wilt do with me unto every place that we will come there”: This word means a fervent (very strong), burning zeal (something for which one is willing to stand even at great cost) by which one is moved to take action for or against another or a group. Avraham asked Sarah to show her grace, her burning zeal for her man by stating that her man is her brother.
9. Did Avraham do wrong by asking Sarah to show that grace by lying? No! Avraham determined to save innocent folks, including himself, from the hands of violent folks. Lying to save lives in this way is always right!
VI. Abimelech Makes Amends (verses 14-16)
Abimelech did not want to deal any more with this man or with his woman. He gave him very valuable gifts including a flock, a herd, and male and female slaves. He also gave back his woman.
He now behaved as a cordial host, telling him to select any part of his land to settle.
He had words for Sarah. He told her that he had well-paid Avraham. Then he said, “Behold, he is to thee to cover eyes to all who are with thee, and all.” He also told her, “Thou shalt proceed straight!”
Questions
1. If Abimelech felt he had been so wronged, why did he give very expensive things to Avraham? He feared the man, and he feared his Gods! He determined to give the items to appease Avraham’s Gods.
2. Why did he invite Avraham to stay if he feared the man? He didn’t dare tell him to leave! If he stayed, perhaps his Gods would benefit the place for his hospitality.
3. Explain “Behold, he is to thee to cover eyes to all who are with thee, and all”: Avraham belongs to Sarah to cover all eyes who might want her and anything that Avraham and his cowhands and sheephands might own. Everyone will look the other way, and not at their stuff.
4. What does “Thou shalt proceed straight” mean? She no longer has to use deceit or any other means to go where she desires to go; no one will touch her. And she is no longer to play the part of a sister when she is a married woman.
VII. The Restoration and Explanation (verses 17-18)
Avraham willingly did his service, behaving as a priest by ‘rolling himself’ to the Elohim. Elohim healed Abimelech, his woman and his slavewomen. Now they could again give birth.
During the time that Sarah had been in Abimelech’s possession, every womb had treasured children inside.
Questions
1. Was it right for Yehovah to wait for Avraham to pray for Abimelech and his house? What if Avraham had refused? It was right. That way, Avraham would become a good guy rather than a threat to Abimelech and his people. They would protect him instead of hating him.
Avraham would not have refused. He didn’t desire harm to these idolatrous pagans. They benefited him when he needed to graze cattle there.
2. What is a priest in the Bible? A priest is one who is a go-between between a god/God and humans. The priest explains the god/God to humans, and tells what the god/God desires, and the priest gives the words of the humans to the god/God.
3. Explain what “treasured for the sake of every womb” means: While women got pregnant during the time that Sarah was in Abimelech’s possession, they could not give birth. It was as if their wombs were locked shut. Babies didn’t come out. They just stayed. That would put the women into terrible pain and in danger of a terrible death along with the children. Therefore, they had to act fast to get this dilemma reversed!
4. Were the women able to give birth after carrying the children for so long? They were. Yehovah made sure that no one was harmed over this. The story had a happy ending.