SARAH AND ABIMELECH When Abraham moved to Gerar, he said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ And Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah to take her as his wife; but God forbade him to come near her: 1- Abimelech and Sarah 1-7. 2- Abimelech sends for Abraham 8-13. 3- Abimelech honors Abraham 14-18. 1- ABIMELECH AND SARAH After about 23 years, Abraham departed from the terebinth trees of Mamre, and went to Gerar, probably because he was so troubled by what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, that he wanted to leave the whole region; or because his herd of cattle and sheep grew larger, so he had to look for another pasture; or because of some famine that could have happened in his area. Whatever was the motive, he moved, and claimed that Sarah was his sister; so Abimelech sent to take her as his wife. By that time, she was 90 years old. God “Elohim” came to Abimelech in a dream by night to rebuke him: “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, ‘Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister /’ And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.’ And God said to him in a dream, ‘Yes I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her.’ Now, therefore restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours’” (Gen. 20:3-7). The word ‘Abimelech’ means ‘Father of the king.’ He had been a king of the Philistines. Although he was heathen, yet he was privileged with beautiful characters and incredible decency in his conversation with God - who came to him in a dream, and in his dealings with Abraham and with Sarah. Because Abimelech did what he did in integrity of heart and innocence of hands, God withheld him from sinning against Him, and did not let him touch her. God probably struck him with some disease that prevented him from coming near her, that disease was surely not a divine wrath upon him, but a kind of care for him, to withhold him from doing wrong with Sarah, the wife of God’s friend, Abraham. Abraham previously had some arrangement with his wife to hide her relationship from him as his wife; as what happened a long time ago during their visit to Egypt, when Pharaoh took Sarah for himself (Gen. 12:14-20), then punished severely by God, to stop him from touching her. Although Pharaoh rebuked Abram because he hid the true nature of his relationship to Sarah, yet Abram remained on his weakness, to repeat it again, in his old age with Abimelech. It is as though God is warning us, that even if we remained a long time not doing a certain weakness, yet, probably in our old age we come to fall in what we have once fell before! If Abraham, the man of God, after all these dealings with God fell, is it not appropriate for us to beware of ourselves?! Abraham, who saw God’s salvation and care, clearly demonstrated in the incident between Sarah and Pharaoh, and who was granted the grace of saving his nephew Lot from the hands of the kings (Gen. 14); who got a divine promise to have a son from Sarah, who would enjoy inheritance and blessing, after entertaining God and 4 his two angels. After all that, he should have not hidden his marital relationship with Sarah! Anyhow, the Scripture did not hide his weakness, despite presenting his life as the father of all believers. Now, going back to Abimelech, king of Gerar; the word ‘Gerar’ means a ‘jar1.’ It was an old city near the southern frontier of Palestine, 5 or 6 miles far from ‘Gaza;’ inhabited by the Philistines in early times (Gen. 26:1). It is probably located where the place called ‘Kherbet-Om-Gerar’ is now. It is located 13 miles south-west of ‘Kadesh,’ according to some, or 19 miles south-west of ‘Bet-Gebrin (Elitropolis), and 14.5 miles far from ‘Tel-Gomaa.’ It seems likely that the word ‘Abimelech’ was not the name of a particular king, but most probably was a title of the majority of the kings of Gerar, the same way ‘Pharaoh’ was in Egypt. Origen presents us with an allegoric interpretation of this incident, in connection with the previous one with the Pharaoh of Egypt. He believes Sarah to symbolize spiritual virtue or divine wisdom, acquired by Abraham as a wife, that neither Pharaoh nor Abimelech could acquire: the first because of his lack of integrity of heart, and the second because her husband was still alive. So, if Abraham represented the Law, nobody could acquire spiritual wisdom, as long as the Law was still alive. And as the apostle Paul says: “The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband” (Romans 7:1-2). Of the words of Origen in this concern: [I believe that Sarah represents the spiritual virtue. The wise and honest man is bound to this virtue; that wise man of whom the Book of Wisdom says: “I wish I acquire her as a wife” (Wisdom 8:2). So also God says to Abraham: “Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice” (Gen. 21:12)... When we have spiritual virtue in us (as a wife and bride), and become perfect, we would be in a position to teach others, and would introduce her as a sister to be sought after by others to have in marriage; those to whom is said: “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister’” (Wisdom 7:4). That is why Abraham said of Sarah that she was his sister, as though he represents the perfect man, who presents virtue to the one who seeks it. In the old days, Pharaoh wanted to have Sarah, yet with no “integrity of heart” (Gen. 20:5); which is no way to acquire virtue; That is why the Scripture says that God struck him and his house with great plagues (Gen. 12:7). As to Abimelech, if he sought the virtue with “integrity of heart’ as a wife, why then does the Book say that God did not let him touch her? It seems to me that Abimelech represents the wise people of this world, and the philosophy lovers, without p1ety. Abraham wished he could give the divine virtue (Sarah) to the Gentile wise (Abimelech), but the time was not yet ripe to have that divine grace. So virtue remained with Abraham, remained with people of circumcision, until the time comes, when absolute and consummated virtue cross over to the Church of the Gentiles2.] 2- ABIMELECH SENDS FOR ABRAHAM Despite the fact that Abimelech and his men were heathens, yet their hearts were ready to hear the word of God. So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing, and “the men were very afraid” (Gen. 20:8). If God raised Abraham’s dignity in the eyes of Abimelech, saying to him: “He 1 New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, p. 324. 2 In Gen. hom 6. 5 is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live” (Gen. 20:7, yet He allowed the heathen Abimelech to rebuke and admonish his prophet, saying: “What have you done to us? How have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done” (Gen. 20:9); as though he is saying to him: ‘I have not done you any wrong; so why did you deceive me, and bring on me that divine wrath?! If you had said the truth, that she is your wife, she would have stayed with you, and you would have spared us all that trouble.’ It is strange, that Abraham, instead of admitting that he did wrong, he presented, as an excuse for his deed, another offense, saying: “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me on account of my wife” (Gen. 20:11). He accused the people of the place, of having no fear of God for sure, and assumed that they would kill him. Thus. he fell to the sin of judgment and haste, despite what those people demonstrated otherwise. The second excuse was that she was actually his sister, the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, then became his wife. That, however, did not justify hiding their real relationship as husband and wife, as long as that behavior would cause others to err with her. 3- ABIMELECH HONORS ABRAHAM Abimelech intensively honored Abraham, not only through material gifts, but also through proclaiming his great love and respect toward him, saying: “See, my land is before you, dwell where it pleases you” (Gen. 20:15). If he had rebuked Abraham because he put his life and his kingdom at risk, yet he showed great generosity, when he gave him back his wife, offering him both his heart and his land. He responded to Abraham’s offense with practical love, something that some believers could not easily do. In an amiable admonishment he said to Sarah: “‘Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before others.’” (Gen. 20: 16) He called Abraham ‘her brother’ in amiable reproof, but gave him generously for her sake, as a sort of vindication before everyone. Some believe that saying, “this vindicates you before all,” does not mean the silver, but Abraham himself, who would protect her against everyone who may have evil intentions toward her. Finally, Abraham prayed to God, who healed Abimelech, his wife and his maidservants; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah.
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