Gen 20:1-21:21

• Review:
• Sarah's laugh
• Outcry of sin reaching heaven
• Offspring of Lot
• "His legacy, Moab and Ammon (37f.), was destined to provide the worst carnal seduction in the history of Israel (that of Baal-Peor, Nu. 25) and the cruelest religious perversion (that of Molech, Lv. 18:21)."577
• From 2 Peter 2:6-9 we know that Lot was a righteous man. Yet he chose to live as, what the New Testament calls, a "carnal" believer (1 Cor. 3:3). First, he lifted up his eyes and saw Sodom (13:10). Then he chose for himself (13:11). Then he moved his tent as far as Sodom (13:12). Then he sat in the gate of Sodom as one of its judges (19:1, 9). Then he hesitated as Sodom's destruction loomed (19:16). Finally he ended up committing incest with his daughters in a cave (19:30-38). How far it is possible for a believer to depart from God's will when we keep making carnal decisions!


Genesis 20:1–18 (ESV) —
1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”



8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”



14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.


• There are a lot of questions and concerns that arise as a result of this story. It is another very serious crisis, why?
• At the very point of God's fulfilling his promise of an heir to Abraham, Sarah is taken into a harem again
• The danger is that the baby won't be Abraham's but will be Abimelech's
• Abraham lies again. The promise is in danger and is being traded away for personal safety (Heyler)
• Abimelech was a title rather than a proper name
• Abimelech is also an example of a person with a moral consciousness of right
• He is also open to divine revelation
• And like the people of Nineveh, he responds quickly and decisively to God's warning
• Like Jonah, Abraham is the reluctant prophet (vs 7)
• Previously, he boldly interceded for Lot
• Here, a pagan king rebukes (vss 9-10) Abraham (essentially for his lack of faith)
• God intervened. God does not always intervene. Why?
• Sometimes we are left with the results or consequences of our actions
• Sometimes God intervenes because the results will not fit with his "larger will"
• The only promise we can claim is that God can bring good out of evil circumstances
• Gen 20:1-18 (Abimelech and Sarah) & Gen 21:22-34 (Abimelech and the well at Beersheba) concern two conflicts. Interesting thing is that Abimelech is a righteous Gentile
• NOTE: We have an interesting contrast between, Abimelech, the righteous sojourner, and Lot, also righteous and the one who marries himself to the culture
• The first concerns the jeopardy of the seed
• The second, the jeopardy of the land


Gen 21:1-7 (ESV) The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.  4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."



• How old are Abraham and Sarah?
• 100 years old
• 90 years old
• What does Isaac's name mean?  Why?
• Laughter
• 3 laughs recorded, Abraham's (Gen 17:17, joy but possible unbelief), Sarah (Gen 18:12, sarcastic thought), Abraham & Sarah here (joy)
• Gen 17:15-19 (ESV) And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" 19 God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.
• Gen 18:10-15 (ESV) The Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12  So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14  Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."
• There seems to be a transition from unbelief to joy in the laughter (They probably had 7 months or so to think about their responses and to think about the gift of the baby)
• Which is interesting again in the requirement of faith -- it is not clear either believed God fully, and that only after time did their faith grow to the point of being fully convinced that God could provide
• Also, is the name laughter rather a remembrance of their transition in faith from unbelief to joy (much like Naomi calling herself Mara, meaning bitter. Naomi is anything but a bitter person, but she called herself bitter to remind herself of what it took for God to bring her back)
• After the birth of Isaac we see a much stronger faith in Abraham
• Previously he was scared of Abimelech
• Gen 21:25-26 (ESV)  When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today."
• APPLICATION:
1. Sometimes the very thing that was our downfall is the thing that reminds us most of the change that God brought about in our life
2. Are we letting God change us?  Part of the key is remembering what he is doing.  It is easy to forget.  The QT journal is a great way to remember, and to see God change us
• [OPTIONAL] Issue of the "Philistines" (Bible Criticism)
• ... perhaps the Philistines of 2000 B.C. were Minoan and peaceful whereas those of 1200 were Mycenean and warlike.607:Barker
• "I suggest that the Philistines of Genesis represent the first wave of Sea Peoples from the Aegean, and that the later Philistines represent the last wave (cf. 1200 B.C.)."608:Hamilton


[OPTIONAL]
Genesis 21:8–21 (ESV) —
8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.



• To a certain extent, this whole episode is really Sarah and Abraham's fault
• We could say, "well, this is what happened, and it is recorded, but it is not God's desire"
• EXCEPT, God tells Abraham to go along with Sarah's wishes
• Why does God tell Abraham to support Sarah in this situation?
• God knew he was going to take care of Ishmael
• Ishmael, like Isaac, would both have 12 sons
• In God's foreknowledge, this was the lesser of two evils
• NOTE Re: Gen 21:9-14 "But how could God ask Abraham to do evil if divorce is always a sin? The answer must be that divorce in this case is either not a sin or else is the lesser of two evils."(Sprinkle, Dec 97)
• God does not immediately help Hagar, why?
• God was teaching Hagar to trust
• We sometimes forget that God is working in every person's life, not just the heroes
• Another good example will be when Jacob and Esau meet again after 20 plus years. Esau was going to kill Jacob, and he greets him with tears