Genesis 20: Abraham's poor judgment

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Genesis 20: Abraham's poor judgment

Reading Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

I'm determined to find some meaning in this chapter, dammit!

So far in Genesis, we've seen scant evidence that Abraham and Sarah are what would normally be called moral or ethical people. This story about King Abimelech is reminiscent of Abraham's dealings with Pharoah, but with a twist.

In both cases, Abraham feared a powerful ruler and used deceit to protect himself even if it meant handing over his wife Sarah to be a bride of the ruler. And this time, it was even after Abraham seemed to believe the LORD's promises about being the father of a great nation, even after he had so much faith that he had all his men undergo genital mutilation. Even after having so much faith as to change names (from Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah).

Instead of keeping his faith in the LORD, Abraham caved into fear, an irrational fear. Both Pharaoh and Abimelech would have left Sarah alone if they had known she was his wife. But Abraham's fear and deceit led to a series of unfortunate events for Pharaoh and then for Abimelech.

Pharaoh's resolution to the problems Abraham created was to kick him out of Egypt. Abimelech, however, believed the LORD in a dream that Abraham was a prophet and let him stay, making Abraham even wealthier in the process.

We've barely seen anything from Abraham or the LORD indicating they have a conscience. But one takeaway I get from this story is that fear and deceit can cause problems for other people, in ways you may not realize. 

Also, it seems that when Abraham does stuff like this, he's only delaying the inevitable. It seems God is willing to keep his promises to Abraham, but Abraham keeps doing his own thing. If the LORD represents intuition, Abraham's actions represent doubt.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: TyshkunVictor)