Patriarchs, Pericopes, and Providence

In preparation for preaching through the Torah, I am reading through Genesis and also using this as an opportunity to practice my Hebrew reading skills. I begin by maladroitly working my way through part of a chapter in Hebrew and then I switch over to English when I see that I am running out of time. The reason I mention this reading routine is that some of the most fascinating things I find in the text come from being so poor at reading the original languages. When you are forced to read a text at the same pace a drunken sloth climbs up to bed you tend to see knots on the tree you had previously passed by with little or no interest.

The passage for this morning was Genesis 20. This story comes after the debacle with Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah and the unspeakable foolishness of Lot's daughters in Genesis 19 (no doubt that horrific tale holds numerous applications for the necessity of catechizing our children in hopes that they will trust the Lord rather than their own strength). Genesis 20 provides a new setting with Abraham journeying from there and arriving in Gerar to sojourn. 

Upon arriving in Gerar Abraham tells king Abimelech that Sarah is his sister - a half truth (or cutting through the more political parlance - a whole lie). Since she is allegedly unattached, Abimelech takes Sarah home with him. 

My initial thought on reading this was shock over what a complete wuss Abraham is portrayed to be. What kind of man lets another man take his wife away from him? Remember this is the famed Patriarch of Israel, and he had previously shown at least some bravery in his opposition of the armies of the four kings back in chapter 14. However, now he is reduced to a weaselly old man who would gladly let his wife be taken by another man rather than risk his own neck. How the mighty have fallen indeed. 

Though before badgering Abe too much we need to acknowledge that his greatness was never a matter of his achievements. The greatness of Abraham was always bound up with the God who called him. Abraham is rightly heralded as the father of the faithful not because he was perfect in faithfulness, after all if that were the standard there would be no sons of Abraham. 

In other words, while we must not idolize Abraham we also must not demonize him. He was a sinner who required the life giving grace of God. He remained, as the Reformers put it, simul justus et peccator - at the same time righteous and a sinner. 

The story continues with God coming to Abimelech in a dream: 

“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.” Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 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.” 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.” (Gen. 20:3–6)

First, notice the contrast, Abimelech is “innocent” because he acted in “integrity.” One of the dark scars on the church is the repeated claim to moral superiority over nonbelievers which, in time, proves to be false. Make no mistake, in the flow of the narrative Abraham most certainly is chosen by God while the text gives us no reason to believe Abimelech is a true believer. Yet, there is also no mistaking the clarity with which this pericope paints the lying of Abraham in contrast with the honesty of Abimelech. Once again, what makes Abraham great is not his morality but the God who justifies the ungodly. 

The second thing to notice from these verses is God’s response to Abimelech: 

“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.” 

God does not seem to have received the memo from Bruce Almighty that He is not allowed to do anything to contradict the allegedly all-powerful human free will. God was the one who kept Abimelech from sinning, which means that even Abimelech’s claim of “innocence” and “integrity” are bound up with God’s providence. 

The Heidelberg Catechism Question 28 explains why God’s people should know and rejoice in His providence:

Q. What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by his providence?

A. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from his love; for all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move.

“For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move” is precisely what God was explaining to Abimelech in Genesis 20.

In the flow of the overarching narrative of Genesis, both the actions of the patriarch in this pericope and God’s protecting Abimelech from sin serve a greater providential purpose. Just as God opens up the wombs of Abimelech’s house at the end of this chapter (Gen. 20:17-18), in the next chapter God opens up Sarah’s womb so that she will bear a son – Isaac. 

God kept Abimelech from touching Sarah so that unlike Lot’s daughters who decided to solve their prenatal problems in their own wicked way (Gen. 19:30-38), the son of Promise would be a son of Providence.