Sarah Was a Looker, and Abraham a Liar (Genesis 20)

The Bible never shies away from telling the truth about its heroes and heroines, of which Abraham and Sarah are most certainly two - - despite the somewhat disparaging title of this post.

Things were certainly very different in the human genome before the Great Flood, and still somewhat different 4000 years ago (the time of Abraham).  People lived longer.  They were able to procreate longer (somewhat) and they retained their vitality much longer (case in point - - Abraham was around 90 years old when he sallied forth to rescue Lot.)

Genesis 20 relates these facts, in the context of a strange tale.  Even at 90 years of age, Sarah was so beautiful the King of Gerar, Abimelech, sought her out to make her one of his wives.  This incident records the SECOND time Abraham "stretched the truth" about his relationship to Sarah.  (See also Genesis 12:12-20.)  Sarah WAS Abram's half-sister.  In those days, there was no biblical prohibition against marrying a close relative.  It was later, through God's Law, delivered through Moses and the Levites, that such prohibitions were issued. (See Leviticus 18:16-18 and 20:17-21.) Their mutual father was Terah.   \{Additionally, Nahor, Abraham's brother, married their niece.}  Technically, Terah was father of both Abram and Sarai, although they had different mothers.  (Genesis 20:12) 
These two incidents where Abram lied reveal a faltering, unsteady faith in God, His purposes, His will, His protection.  Y'all, Abram did not pop out of his mother's womb with this great, laudable faith.  It was forged in the furnace of hardship.

There are only two women mentioned by name in "the roll call of faith".  That is what I've often heard Hebrews 11 called.  Such a beautiful and heart-breaking chapter!  Guess who one of them was?  Guess whose husband was also commended?

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Here are some facts about this remarkable woman:

1.  She is first mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 11:29) living in a land called Ur, which most scholars place in southern Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates River.  This would be modern day southern Iraq or Kuwait.
2.  Ur was an incredibly wealthy city of that day; it is reasonable to conclude that Terah also was rather wealthy, as well as his sons.
3.  Abram and Sarai left Ur as relatively young people, at the urging of Terah.  Ur was also a highly pagan society, where the moon god was widely worshipped. Perhaps Terah wanted to move his family to more pure surroundings.  Abram was nine generations descended from Shem, Noah's son.  The fact that Abram knew and followed Jehovah God indicates that knowledge of Yahweh had flowed through that family line since the Great Flood. Other contemporaries of Abram (Job and Melchizedek {Gen. 14:18} ) indicate that true followers of Yahweh were scattered throughout the general region of the Middle East.
4.  (Gen. 11:13) Terah went with them on the first leg of this journey.  After about 650 miles they temporarily lived at Haran, until Terah's death. Speculation is that he was unable to journey farther.  It is not recorded exactly how long they stayed there.
5.  At age 65 (Abram was 75), Sarai again left all that she knew to follow her husband on the remainder of the 1000-mile journey across the desert to the land of Canaan.  They left because they both worshipped Yahweh, who had given them the command to go, along with a tremendous promise (Gen. 12:1-3).  Even considering that people lived much longer than we do, in those days, this was still quite a physical and emotional challenge for a woman of 65.  Yet, Sarai respected and obeyed her husband.

5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

1 Peter 3:5-6 (NIV)

See also Genesis 18:12, where we indeed find Sarah addressing Abraham as "lord".
6.  Despite her obvious beauty, her marriage to a prophet (Genesis 20:7) and being a woman of great wealth, Sarai/Sarah lived with a deep, all-consuming grief over her barrenness.  For approximately 60 years, she had tried to conceive with her husband, to no avail.  She had heard of God promising and reiterating His promise to Abram/Abraham no less than 3 times (Gen. 12:3, 13:16 and 15:1-6)!
7.  By the time Sarai/Sarah was 75, she had made a trip to Egypt, as mentioned above, and returned with her husband to the area of Bethel, a fertile land of many springs.  Sarai/Sarah, however, continued to be infertile.  She had heard from Abram the promise of God (Gen. 12:2-3)  to her husband ten years earlier (note that the promise was not to her, but to her husband); and, accordingly, she determined to step into the role of God.  Let's have a personal moment of silent reflection....
Can any of us women unequivocally declare that we would have done any different?  This foolhardy ploy was the greatest mistake of her life, one that she would regret for the rest of her days. (Don't miss, though, that Abram agreed to this ill-hatched {pardon the pun} plan!  Both had sagging faith.)

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slavenamed Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years,Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

Gen. 16:1-3

{Polygamy was never God's design.  Genesis 16:3 is the first recorded instance of polygamy involving a righteous man.  It was a poor example that Abram set for his descendants, one which was later seen with Jacob (Leah and Rachel), David (Michal, Abigail, Bathsheba, etc.), Solomon (1000 wives/concubines!) and has carried on in the Ishmael branch of the Abrahamic line to this day.}

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.

Psalm 127:1

8.  In spite of this strategic error and gross lapse of faith Sarai/Sarah is mentioned in "the roll call of faith".   Why?  Because even after all the debacle with Hagar and Ishmael, Sarai/Sarah still judged God to be faithful in His promises.  It was only in this, the 4th reiteration of God's promise to the couple, that God specifically included Sarai/Sarah in the promise.  Prior to this....listen now....she was only taking Abram's word that "God said so".  Think about the implications of that!  I marvel at how she trusted her husband.
It was at this time, in Genesis 17, that God gave the couple their covenant names:  Abram ("exalted father") to Abraham ("father of many") and Sarai ("princess") to Sarah ("mother of nations").

9.  We find in Genesis 18:1-15 that El Shaddai (the new name Jehovah God revealed to Abraham in Gen. 17:1) appeared to Abraham a 5th time.  It was at this appearing He gave a timeline to the promise (18:10).  And, it seems He visited with the express purpose of allowing Sarah to hear this promise personally since He asked (rhetorically) where Sarah was.  Sarah was listening to the conversation, behind a fold of the tent.
What are we to make of the fact that Sarah laughed when she overheard El Shaddai (which means "all-sufficient, all-powerful God {El}"?)  Who can blame her?  I certainly do not.
Her laughter was replaced by fear as she realized that God Himself was sitting under her tree, eating her food.  How did she know this?  She had not laughed aloud, only to herself.  Yet, God had heard her, and said so (18:15).  This so terrified Sarah that she lied about having laughed to herself.

10.  Despite it all, we see that Sarah had a sense of humor about how God had dealt with her.  When Isaac was born, she obediently (and bemusedly, most likely) named him "Laughter".  That is what the name Isaac means, in Hebrew.

6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Genesis 21:6-7

11.  The last time we see Sarah mentioned in Genesis, she makes a demand of her husband that is rooted in her deep faith in God's promise to Isaac.  Sarah demands that Hagar and her son, Ishmael, who was at that time about 16 years old, be sent away.  Things had come to a head when the family was celebrating Isaac being weaned.  Isaac would have been a 2-3 year old toddler at this time. Ishmael made the serious error of ridiculing Isaac.  This action caused Sarah to realize that Ishmael's continued presence would continue to be a threat to God's purpose for Isaac.  God affirmed her actions in Gen. 21:12.  Furthermore, neither Ishmael nor Hagar was utterly abandoned by God. Some type of family ties did remain, as we discover both sons burying their father in Gen. 25:9-10.

So, we see both a great woman of faith and also of great flaws.  The hallmarks of her character were her submissive obedience to her husband, her faith in God's promises and her sense of humor.

Can you relate to Sarah's struggles of faith?  I can, and her story gives me hope.


Sources:

MacArthur, John. "Sarah: Hoping Against Hope." Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson, 2005. 27-50. Print.

http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ur_of_chaldees.html

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Sarah-Sarai-Sara

http://www.myredeemerlives.com/namesofgod/el-shaddai.html

Covered or Gone?

It's funny, the things we remember, isn't it?

I have a younger brother, three years younger.  One of our favorite things to do as children was to jump on the bed, trampoline-style.  It's a wonder we did not break an arm or leg.  The light fixtures were not so fortunate, I will add....
At any rate, one day when he was about 3 years old, he was jumping on the bed in my room.  I took the opportunity to tattle to my father about it.  (Brother knew I was running to rat him out.)  When Daddy and I returned to "the scene of the crime", we could not see my brother, although there was a suspicious lump under the bed covers.  Brent, my brother, thought that since he had covered himself, he was "gone".  In fact, when my father winked at me and called, "Brent....Brent, where are you?", Brent replied, "Brent gone!"

 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^b she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool^c of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^d 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Genesis 3:6-11 (ESV)

In both these scenarios the response to a transgression was to hide it.  This is the direct result of sin's deleterious effect: not only does a sin or the general sin condition separate us from a holy God, the situation is usually compounded by our running/hiding from Him.

In both these scenarios the covering was insufficient to take care of the sin.  My earthly father laughingly revealed my brother and dealt with his comparatively minor transgression.  My Heavenly Father dealt with Adam and Eve's transgression as well.  I now want to skip over some verses here and focus on Genesis 3:21 (ESV) - -

21And the LORDGod made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

This act of God involved Him killing animals and making for Adam and Eve clothing from the animals' skins.  Blood from the animals was spilled in order to cover them.  The lives of the animals were required in order to do this.  This is the first Bible mention of blood being shed to address sins.

The word "atonement" means "to cover".  It is a word used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the sacrificial system instituted by God for the covering of mankind's sins.  In the book of Leviticus alone the word appears 40 times.  However, it never appears in the New Testament in connection with the finished work of Jesus Christ.1

Interestingly, the first time the actual word "atone" appears in the Bible is in connection with the building of Noah's ark.2  In Genesis 6:14, Noah was instructed by God to cover the inside and outside of the wood structure with "a covering".  The word translated "pitch", actually means "to atone", or "to cover".  The pitch on the ark protected the structure by covering the wood, so that the waters of judgment could not seep in or overwhelm, during the months-long journey to safety. Similarly, the Old Testament animal sacrifices protected sinners from the wrath of holy God.  The sins were not removed; they were covered.  Best example in Scripture of this is Psalm 32:1-2, where David exclaimed:

  1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

The finished work of Jesus Christ, to whom the Old Testament sacrifices pointed, is radically different.  His spilled blood does not merely COVER sin; it goes beyond to obliterate the sins as if they had never been committed.  Once again, as foreshadowed in Genesis 3:21, God spilled blood to address sin.  This time, however....by spilling the blood of His Son, this once-for-all time, He dealt sin a death blow.  He provided complete eradication, complete justification to the sinner who, by faith, accepts Jesus' perfect sacrifice.  My pastor explains the meaning of "justification" as "just as if I had never sinned".  So beautiful!

You see...atonement was temporary, fleeting and (ultimately) ineffective at reconciling man to God.  Although it was God's idea, atonement was something man did to approach God, an act to temporarily appease God's anger at sin.  It was "as good as it gets" for that epoch of time.  But, in the end and even back then in the OT, it was still faith that reconciled men and women to God.  Even then (see Hebrews 11), it was impossible to please God through any other method than by faith.

God gave His first hint of the true gospel of Messiah Jesus Christ in Genesis 3:15, a verse commonly referred to as "the protoevangelium"3, or "the first gospel".

15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring^e and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

This is no mere "covering" described here.  A more accurate rendering of "bruise" in "he shall bruise your head" is a decisive crushing.  The perfectly-delivered work of Jesus Christ has decisively crushed the rule of sin and satan forever.  The eternal, spiritual death that is the legacy of unrepentant, uncured sin no longer is merely "covered" from God's anger.  Through Christ, that sin is GONE.

The verbiage used in the New Testament is radically different from the Old in this regard.  Atonement is nowhere near propitiation, a word used in the New Testament to describe the final appeasement of God's anger over our sin, appeasement provided through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. The New speaks of Christ's eternal sacrifice - - the emphasis is on its completeness and permanence.  Read through the book of Hebrews, for instance, and you will see this language used throughout.  I love Hebrews 10:1-18, where the writer states that the Old Testament sacrificial system was a "shadow" of the perfect work of Messiah, which was, under the pre-Christ system of animal sacrifices, a future promise, still to come.  Read it and rejoice in your salvation, Christian!

1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

6with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

7Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—

I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”^a

8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

16“This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”^b

17Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.”^c

18And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Hebrews 10:1-18 (NIV)

Hallelujah!  All praise to the Ever-Loving One, who immediately provided a remedy for man's sin condition in Genesis, Who did not leave man to languish in separation from Him.  He is The WayMaker!  And, then, through Jesus Christ His Son, He provided a perfect, eternal path to Him!  Behold, how GOOD God is!


Notes and Sources:

1    Some would argue Romans 3:25 uses "atonement", but other translations use "propitiation". When you view the original Greek, "hilasterion"{"propitiation"}, is the more accurate rendering. There are a handful of other NT scriptures where the authors quote the OT uses of atonement to prove the insufficiency of that man-initiated act.  Examples: Romans 4:7, 1 Peter 4:8, James 5:20.

2    http://www.judev3.co.uk/1SinsCoveredOrGone.htm

3    https://www.gotquestions.org/protoevangelium.html

Seeing is Not Believing

You have probably had an experience similar to this one.  You are out with a friend and the friend sees something amazing.  "Look over there!"  Perhaps the stupendous sight is in the woods.  You hurriedly scan the area with your eyes, but are unable to see what your friend sees.  Instead your eyes and brain are processing, focusing on other distracting things.  And.....you miss it.  Too late.  It's gone.  Sigh!

A similar thing occurs with skeptics of faith.  They focus on the wrong things, namely, "proving" the truths of God.  The whole point is that, even though powerful evidences exist to verify them, God never designed "fact" to take the place of "faith".  He never intended for "seeing" to be the basis of "believing".  You don't need faith when you have all the facts.  You don't need God when you have all the answers.

My last post was about the mark of the Christian: a faith that perseveres.  This echoed the last verse in chapter 10, verse 39.  The writer of Hebrews goes on from there, then, in chapter 11, to list various people from the Old Testament who evidenced that type of faith.  All along, God has proclaimed that it is faith which makes a person right with God - - nothing more, nothing less.  Hebrews 11:2 is just one verse affirming that truth.

2For by it the men of old gained approval.

(NASB)

Whole books have been written on the persons mentioned in Hebrews 11.  I won't attempt that, lol, for which I'm sure you are grateful!  This chapter has been called "the roll call of faith", but I want to mention "the preface" to the roll call, verses 1-3.

Verses 1 and 3 contain one of the best definitions of faith in the Bible.  Let's look at vs. 3 first, because it expounds on verse 1.

3By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (ESV)

What a wonderful model God gave us!  He created our entire "reality" out of nothing, out of things not "visible".  In other words, the very foundations of our world cannot be seen.  Such is the relative unimportance of our powers of "sight".

Unbelieving scientists rely completely on their senses, their "powers of observation" in order to make their scientific findings, which has led, in the past, to some truly bone-headed theories (later enshrined as "facts").

Faith is God's way, the superior way.  Faith is not ignorance; rather, it is a reasoned belief/trust based on the revelations given to us in God's Word.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

(ESV and NASB)

We can trust that what God's Word, the Bible, tells us is true, because it is grounded in the very character of God Himself.  Godly faith is tethered securely and irrevocably to the One and Only, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

To claim we understand all of the Bible's revelation would be, not only foolish, but also contrary to the ways of God.  He desires we NOT understand it all.  If we did, we would misplace some or most of our faith - - putting it in ourselves, rather than in Him.

Faith is the calm assurance, the rock-solid certainty that God will do as He promised.  Whether we can "see" it....is irrelevant.  To Christians, faith is the firm foundation that undergirds our every area of life.  The Message version of Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as "our handle on what we cannot see."

How powerful is godly faith?  Well, it ....

• makes the unrighteous, the sordid and soiled, clean and in perfect relationship with a holy God (vs. 4)
• cheats death completely (vs. 5-6)
• saves entire families....and through the Great Flood, saved the entire human race. (vs. 7)
• creates missionaries, takes faithful ones to new lands in order to fulfill God's calling on their lives (vs. 8-10)
• brings about physical miracles in our bodies, supernatural healings (vs. 11-12)
• creates entire people groups (vs. 11-12)
• conquers governments (vs. 23-30)
• makes a harlot a princess (vs. 31), because Rahab married into the royal Messianic line
• can change the topography of the Earth (Matthew 17:20)

I'll take faith over sight, any day.

In closing, let's meditate on these verses from The Message Translation (vs. 32-28 and 13-16), and follow the examples of those who have gone before us, our exemplary examples.

Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. 

How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

Hallelujah!