Theological Commentary: Click Here
The judgment
of a righteous man can sometimes be flawed.
This is important to remember, because it helps to keep us humble. Every
single one of us is one tense moment away from making a bad decision.
Check out
Abraham in this passage. Once more Abraham
goes into a foreign land and says that Sarah is his sister. At the end of this passage, we learn that
this isn’t actually a lie as Sarah is his half-sister. But the reality is that he is saying this to
avoid disclosing the truth that Sarah is his wife. Intentionally not disclosing the truth is
just as bad as lying.
However,
this isn’t the worst of it in my opinion.
Look at what Abraham gives as the motivation for this act. He does this act because he decides that
there is no fear of God in the land. Who
is Abraham to make that determination, especially since Abimelech does seem to
have some kind of relationship with God!
Abraham’s eyes are blind to the relationships with God that surround
him.
These are
both incredibly easy mistakes to make – mistakes that I have made rather
often. It is easy to avoid disclosing
the truth to save face, protect oneself, or simply avoid a necessary
conversation. It is easy to feel like
there is no love for God in a place when we truly are not in a position to make
such a determination. But these are
mistakes.
If there is
any consolation in this, we need to remember that Abraham was a righteous
man. He wasn’t perfect, but He was
righteous. God knows that we will make
mistakes. He cares more about our
ability to repent and follow Him than our ability to live up to His perfection.
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