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The Sovereign Shield: Grace for the Faltering Prophet (Genesis 20:8–18) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  I'm your host and I'm really glad you could join us.
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  It's great to be here. If you're a regular listener,
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  you already know the drill. We're not here to just, you
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  know, skim the surface of the Bible for a nice thought for the
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  day. We're doing something a bit more
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  rigorous. We're putting on a specific pair
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  of glasses, the lens of Reformed theology, the framework of the
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  Westminster Confession, to see how Scripture really interprets
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  the world. And how the world helps us see
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  the text more clearly. And that framework, I think, is
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  just vital. It is.
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  Without it, the Bible can sometimes feel like this random
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  collection of stories. But when you apply that lens of,
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  say, the covenant and God's sovereignty, you start to see
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  the architecture of the whole house.
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  That's a great way to put it. And today we are walking into a
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  room in that house that, frankly, most people try to
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  avoid. We are in Genesis chapter 20,
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  specifically looking at verses 8 through 18.
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  Oh yeah. This is the story of Abraham,
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  Sarah and Abimelech in Ghar. It is a text that makes a lot of
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  people squirm. It's uncomfortable.
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  It really is. I mean, here we have Abraham,
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  the father of the faith, the great patriarch, and he's acting
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  in a way that is well, it's cowardly.
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  He looks weak, he looks deceitful.
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  It's not a good look. It is certainly not on the
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  highlight reel of his life, but before we judge him too harshly
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  or, you know, just skip over the discomfort, we have to
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  understand the context. Context is everything here,
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  right? This isn't just some random
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  camping trip in Abraham's youth. This event takes place
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  immediately before Genesis 21. And Genesis 21 is the big one.
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  It is the big one. That's the birth of Isaac, the
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  child of promise, the 1:00 they have been waiting for for 25
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  years. 25 years, yeah. We are on the absolute eve of
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  the covenant being fulfilled. The stakes could not possibly be
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  higher. So if anything goes wrong here.
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  The whole promise fails, and right at this finish line,
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  Abraham decides to head South to Garar and tell everyone that his
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  wife is actually his sister again.
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  He's playing the same old song from Egypt years earlier.
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  He recycles an old deception, and I think the central tension
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  of this whole thing is this shocking role reversal.
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  You have Abraham, the prophet of God, acting with deceit and
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  fear, and then you have a good Malek, A Philistine king, a
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  Pagan who acts with integrity and really moral outrage.
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  It just flicks your expectations completely upside down.
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  You expect the prophet to be the moral compass and the Pagan to
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  be the villain. And Genesis 20 gives us the
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  exact opposite it does. So what's our mission for this
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  deep dive? If we can look past the, you
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  know, the sheer embarrassment of Abraham's behavior, what are we
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  supposed to see here? I think the theological goal
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  today is to examine the doctrine of Providence specifically to
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  see how God's Providence protects his promises even when
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  his people fail miserably. OK, we're going to need to look
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  at the distinction between the fear of man and the fear of God.
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  We have to talk about God's restraining Providence over the
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  nation's what we in theology call common grace.
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  And I know we've got some fascinating linguistic stuff to
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  get into later, specifically about that phrase covering the
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  eyes and how it connects to justification.
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  Yes, plus the fact that the first time the word prophet ever
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  lives in the Bible happens right here in this text.
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  It does, and it frames the whole trajectory toward Christ.
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  So yeah, we have a lot to unpack.
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  OK, let's jump in Section 1, the great reversal.
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  We're looking at verses 8 through 13.
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  The text calls it the morning after God has come to Abimelech
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  in a dream and warned him You're a dead man because you've taken
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  another man's wife. How does the king react?
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  The reaction is immediate. Verse 8 says Abimelech rose
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  early in the morning, and that's not a throwaway detail.
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  Right, that's a signal in the text.
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  It's a huge signal in Scripture. Rising early often signals moral
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  seriousness and immediate submission to a divine command.
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  Think of Abraham rising early to sacrifice Isaac.
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  Later in chapter 22, Abimelech doesn't hit the snooze button on
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  God's warning. He summons all his servants and
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  tells them everything and what's their.
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  Reaction, the text says. The men were very much afraid.
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  And that's the irony that should just stop us in our tracks.
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  The only people described as fearing God in this entire
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  chapter are the pagans. Not the Prophet.
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  Not the prophet Abraham, The man of the covenant is sleeping in a
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  bed of his own lies. The Philistine court is wide
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  awake and trembling before the Word of God.
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  OK, so that brings up a massive theological point.
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  We talk a lot about total depravity.
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  If these men are unregenerate pagans, how can they have this
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  kind of moral reaction? How can they fear God?
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  This is a nuance we often miss. Total depravity means that every
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  part of a human being, mind, will, emotions is corrupted by
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  sin, right? It means we cannot save
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  ourselves or please God in the flesh.
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  But, and this is crucial, total depravity does not mean absolute
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  depravity. Meaning people aren't always as
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  bad as they could possibly be. Precisely if humans were
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  absolutely depraved, society would collapse instantly or just
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  be chaos. Total anarchy.
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  Total anarchy. God in his sovereignty exerts a
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  restraining influence on the world.
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  He writes his law on the conscience like Paul says in
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  Romans 2.15. So that's common grace in
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  action. That is common grace in action.
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  In Gerard we are seeing a play out.
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  Abimelech and his servants possessed a basic, reverential
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  dread of judgment. They had a fear the Hebrew words
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  year that Abraham arrogantly assumed they didn't have.
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  So Abraham's assumption was that because they didn't know the
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  specific covenant name of Yahweh, they must just be
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  savages with no moral compass. Exactly.
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  And that is a very dangerous assumption for a believer to
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  make. It's a form of spiritual pride
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  for sure, Abraham thought. I have the special revelation,
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  so I had the integrity. But Dodd shows that he can
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  terrify A heathen conscience to accomplish his purposes just as
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  easily as he can speak to a prophet.
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  So then we get to the confrontation.
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  Abimelech calls Abraham in, and it really feels like a courtroom
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  scene. Doesn't.
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  It it is a prosecution, yeah. Abimelech is a prosecutor and
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  Abraham is in the dock, and the questions are just withering.
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  What have you done to us? How have I sinned against what?
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  Have you done to us that that line hits hard?
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  It implies that Abraham's personal sin wasn't really
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  personal at all. It had collateral damage.
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  Sin never stays in a private silo.
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  Abraham's lie threatened to bring guilt and death upon an
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  entire innocent household, and Abimelech even labels the
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  potential adultery a great sin. Hata Gadola.
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  Wait, so the Pagan king is lecturing the prophet on the
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  sanctity of marriage? Yes, it's a moment of absolute
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  shame. The world is lecturing the
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  church on the definition of sin. Abimelech recognizes that taking
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  another man's wife is a violation of the moral order.
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  He tells Abraham. You have done to me deeds that
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  ought not to be done. The moral law is binding on all
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  men, and often the unregenerates see it very, very clearly.
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  This is what we call a failure of witness, isn't it?
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  I mean, Abraham was called to be a blessing to the nations back
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  in Genesis 12 and. Instead, he became a stumbling
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  block. He became a curse when the
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  people of God act out of fear rather than faith.
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  When we lie to protect our reputation or cover up thin to
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  protect the ministry, we confirm the world suspicion that
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  religion is just hypocrisy. And Abraham's silence here is
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  just deafening. He has nothing to say.
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  He has nothing because the prosecutor's right.
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  Well, he eventually does speak, and that brings us to Section 2,
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  the anatomy of compromise. Abraham finally offers his
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  defense in verses 11 through 13, but it doesn't sound like a
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  confession. It sounds like a press release
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  explaining away the problem. It's rationalization, plain and
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  simple. Notice that he doesn't say I
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  have sinned. He starts explaining why it was
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  necessary. He says.
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  I thought, surely there's No Fear of God in this place.
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  And this brings us to the root cause, the fear of man.
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  Abraham's statement is an admission of what we might call
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  practical atheism. Practical atheism before
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  Abraham, the friend of God. In that moment, yes, he believed
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  in God's existence theologically, but he denied
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  God's power to protect him in gerar practically.
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  So he saw the culture, the Philistines, and just projected
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  his own lack of faith onto them. Yeah, that's.
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  It exactly. He decided that because they
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  were godless, he was released from the obligation to tell the
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  truth. It's the old.
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  The end justifies the means, he thought.
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  I need to survive to fulfill the promise, so I'll lie to stay
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  alive. It's pragmatism.
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  And then he pulls out the technicality in verse 12.
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  He says. Besides, she is indeed my
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  sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of
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  my mother. So wait, was she actually his
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  sister? She was his half sister.
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  In the patriarchal age, before the laws of Leviticus 18 and 20,
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  this was permitted. So technically, biologically,
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  Abraham was stating a fact. But the Westminster Confession
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  and just basic honesty would say that truth isn't just about
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  verbal accuracy, right? It's about intent.
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  Correct. The Westminster perspective is
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  that truth is about intent. If you use a fact to sell a lie,
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  you are deceiving. Abraham used the biological half
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  truth to hide the marital whole truth.
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  It just shows the sophistication of indwelling sin.
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  It really does. We all have this internal lawyer
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  who drafts briefs to prove that our sin is technically
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  permissible. Oh yeah, I didn't actually lie.
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  I just, I didn't tell the whole story.
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  The internal lawyer, I think I've hired him a few Times Now.
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  There is something really strange in Abraham's defense.
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  In verse 13 he says when God caused me to wander from my
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  Father house. You flagged this in our prep
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  notes. There's a grammatical issue
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  here. Yeah, this is one of those deep
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  dive Nuggets that you just miss in English.
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  In the Hebrew, the verb cause to wander is hit you.
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  It's a plural verb. But God Elohim is usually
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  singular when referring to the One True.
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  God almost exclusively. When Elohim is the subject, the
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  verb is singular. Here Abraham uses a plural verb.
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  So why would he do that? Is he trying to sound like a
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  Pagan for Abimelech? Like when the gods move me.
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  That's one possibility He's accommodating his language to
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  polytheism, but there's a darker possibility it might reveal his
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  own spiritual confusion in this moment of fear.
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  OK, to him God has become this distant, confusing force of fate
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  rather than the personal covenant Lord Yahweh.
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  And the word wonder. The verb taha it means to stray,
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  to stagger like a drunkard, or to be a lost sheet.
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  That is not how Genesis 12 described his calling.
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  That was a go, a purposeful mission.
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  Correct. Abraham is reframing his
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  election. He's painting himself as a
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  victim of a chaotic Providence. He's saying God sent me out to
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  wander aimlessly, so I had to come up with his lie to survive.
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  So he's subtly making God the author of his predicament.
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  He is, and that violates James 1.13 right?
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  God tempts no one. It does.
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  It's the ultimate deflection. I wouldn't have had to lie if
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  God hadn't put me in this dangerous situation.
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  It's blaming provenance for our own sin.
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  Yep. Which is a perfect segue to
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  Section 3 restraining Providence.
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  Because while Abraham is blaming Providence, Providence is
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  actually saving the day. This is the hero moment for God
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  in the story. Verse 18 tells us the Lord had
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  closed all the wombs of the House of Abimelech.
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  And the timeline here is important.
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  This happened before the confrontation.
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  Yes, the Hebrew indicates a past perfect action.
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  God had already struck the household with infertility,
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  likely a sudden inability to conceive or perhaps even to give
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  birth, a physical shutting down as a warning sign.
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  This connects right back to the Westminster Confessions view on
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  Providence, doesn't it? God isn't just reacting, he's
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  actively governing. That's right, WCF chapter 5
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  speaks of God's governing all creatures, actions and things.
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  Here we see restraining Providence.
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  God didn't just fix the mistake after the fact.
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  He actively restrained the sin from reaching consummation.
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  He stopped Abimelech from touching Sarah.
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  Why such an aggressive intervention?
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  I mean, God closes every single womb in the palace.
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  That seems intense. Well, we have to look at the
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  stakes. This is the dispensational
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  context. Isaac is born in the very next
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  chapter. Right.
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  The promised son. The one they've waited for.
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  If Sarah had been taken into Abimelech harem even for just a
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  few weeks and then became pregnant with Isaac.
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  Oh, I see it. The paternity would be in
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  question. Forever.
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  Who's the father? Is it Abraham or is the
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  Philistine King the seed of the woman promised back in Genesis
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  3.5 the line that leads to Jesus?
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  It had to be biologically unquestionable.
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  So God protected the biological integrity of the line.
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  To ensure the theological certainty of the gospel, he
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  closed the wombs of Gerard to protect the womb of Sarah.
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  It's an incredible move. That is huge.
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  It's not just about saving a marriage, it's about saving the
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  entire messianic lineage. Precisely.
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  OK, let's move to Section 4, Covenantal restoration.
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  The crisis is averted, largely thanks to God.
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  Now we have the cleanup, and this is another shocker.
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  The Sinner blesses the Saint. Abimelech just heaps gifts on
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  Abraham, sheep, oxen, servants. Martin Luther had a great
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  observation on this. He said God often shames the
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  Saint by the kindness of the Sinner.
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  It is like a coal of fire on Abraham's head.
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  He lies to this guy and now the guy is making him rich.
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  It feels backwards. It does, but theologically, this
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  proves that God's election is irrevocable.
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  Romans 11.29 The gifts are not a reward for Abraham's clever
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  lying. No, they're a testament that God
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  is for this man. And God compels the nation's to
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  bless His people, even when His people fail.
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  Now Abimelech says something very specific to Sarah.
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  He says I have given your brother 1000 pieces of silver.
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  First of all, calling Abraham your brother.
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  That's a bit of a dig. Oh, it's a stinging rebuke.
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  He's reminding them of their lie, but he continues.
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  It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all.
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  The Hebrew phrase is kiss it and I am.
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  Covering of the. Eyes.
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  A literal translation? Yeah, a covering of the eyes.
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  It's a legal metaphor. What does that mean in that
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  culture? It means a public declaration
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  that renders the accuser blind to any shame.
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  The thousand pieces of silver, which is a fortune, was a public
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  payout. That said, Sarah is untouched.
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  Sarah is vindicated. No one can look at her and see
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  scandal. This sounds like it has a
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  massive doctrinal connection to justification.
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  It absolutely does. You can connect this right to
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  Westminster Confession, Chapter 11.
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  Justification is a forensic act. It's legal.
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  Just as the silver covered the eyes of the public regarding
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  Sarah's potential shame, Christ's righteousness provides
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  a covering for the Sinner before the law of God.
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  So when the judge looks at us. He sees the covering.
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  He sees the righteousness of Christ.
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  The shame is hidden. The accusation is silenced.
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  Sarah's treated as a Princess, which is what her name means,
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  despite the mess you was just dragged into.
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  That's a beautiful picture. Even in this messy Old Testament
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  narrative about a lie, we see the mechanics of grace.
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  It's everywhere if you have the eyes to.
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  See it? OK, so now we get to Section 5,
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  the Office of the Intercessor. We mentioned earlier that this
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  text has a first. Yes, verse 7 God tells Abimelech
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  restore the man's wife for he is a prophet.
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  This is the first time the word Nobby prophet appears in the
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  Bible. And usually when we hear
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  prophet, we think of someone predicting the future.
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  Right foretelling. But here the definition isn't
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  about predicting, it's about interceding.
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  God says he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you shall
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  live. So that defines the office.
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  A prophet speaks to God on behalf of men just as much as he
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  speaks to men on behalf of God. And look at the irony again.
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  Who is the one praying Abraham? Man who brought the curse is the
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  only one who can pray for the cure.
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  That must have been incredibly humbling for Abraham.
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  He has to stand there and pray for the healing of the man he
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  just defrauded. Absolutely.
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  God is using means. That is a key reformed concept.
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  God could have just snapped his fingers and healed Abimelech
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  directly. Of course.
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  But he appointed Abraham's prayer as the means of
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  restoration. It humbles Abraham and it
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  restores his dignity as God's servant in the eyes of the
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  court. And the text says God healed
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  Abimelech. The word is Rafa.
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  It's the first recorded healing in Scripture.
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  And notice verse 18 again, for the Lord had closed all the
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  wounds. This just crushes the idea of
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  open theism. Open theism being the idea that
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  God is sort of learning as he goes, reacting to human choices.
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  Right, the idea that the future is open.
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  But here the text uses the pluperfect tense.
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  God had closed the wombs, He ordained the sickness, and he
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  ordained the prayer as the mechanism for the cure.
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  He didn't change his mind. He executed his plan.
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  And this also pushes back against some modern faith healer
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  theology, doesn't it? It does.
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  Abraham didn't heal because he had a special anointing of
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  personal holding that on that moment, remember, he had just
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  been lying. Right at a low point.
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  A very low point. He healed because of his office
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  and God's covenant that the power wasn't in the man, it was
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  in the God who hears the man. OK, let's look at the bigger
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  picture now. Section 6, the Christ word
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  trajectory. We always want to find the path
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  to the cross. How is Abraham a type of Christ
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  here? Well, look at the action.
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  Abraham prays for the life of his enemies, the Gentiles who
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  rebuked him. That sounds very familiar.
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  It should. It echoes the greater prophet
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  Jesus on the cross praying Father, forgive them.
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  Jesus prays for the world that rejected him, but.
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  There is a contrast to Abraham isn't a perfect type.
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  No, he's a flawed type. Yeah, and this is the better
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  mediator argument. Abraham was a mediator who
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  needed to repent himself. He endangered others to save
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  himself. Whereas Christ.
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  Christ is the perfect mediator with no sin.
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  He didn't sacrifice others to save himself, He sacrificed
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  himself to save others. So Abraham's intercession was
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  effective because God appointed it.
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  Exactly. Christ's intercession is
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  effective because of his own own intrinsic righteousness.
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  It's the gospel pattern right there.
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  Restoration comes through mediation.
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  Abimelech was wealthy, powerful, a king, but he was spiritually
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  barren and dead without the intercession of God's elect.
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  And that opening of the wombs points to the God who brings
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  life from death. Ultimately, that points to the
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  resurrection. The God who opens the dead womb
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  of Sarah and the closed wombs of Abimelech's house is the God who
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  opens the grave. It's amazing how a story about a
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  lie turns into a story about resurrection.
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  That is the power of redemptive history.
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  God recycles our mess into His message.
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  So as we wrap up, let's just summarize the key takeaways.
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  What should the listener walk away with from this this very
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  messy chapter? OK.
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  First, God's fidelity to the covenant does not rest on your
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  performance. If it depended on Abraham being
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  brave, the covenant would have failed right there in Gerard.
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  It rests on God's promise. Yeah, it's huge.
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  Second, Providence is active, It restrains sin, and it protects
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  the promise. And sometimes God uses the
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  rebuke of the world, your boss, your neighbor, the culture to
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  discipline the church. We have to be humble enough to
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  hear it. Exactly.
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  And 3rd, the necessity of integrity.
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  We cannot walk in the fear of man and expect to be a credible
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  witness to the world. That brings us to our final
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  provocative thought. I want to leave you with this
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  reflect on the silence of Abraham and the dock.
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  When Abimelech asked what have you done, Abraham had no good
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  answer. So you have to ask yourself,
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  where are you currently relying on safety lies?
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  Where are you telling half truths because you don't
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  actually believe God is sovereign over your specific
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  crisis? Where are you playing the
• 19:13
  practical atheist? Abraham failed as a witness in
• 19:16
  Gerar, but the good news is that Christ succeeded as the faithful
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  witness. He is the covering for our eyes
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  and the intercessor for our souls.
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  Amen to that. Until next time, keep thinking.