Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the 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 come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.””
(Genesis 20:3-7)

Not every dream is merely the musings of our consciousness. Almost all the time we are merely processing what’s in our heads. But God has consistently communicated with humanity through dreams and sometimes, that’s what He does.

God has reached out to Abimelech to prevent him from sinning. God is taking steps to protect this pagan monarch and his whole household. Abimelech had integrity. He never would have taken Sarah if he’d known she was Abraham’s wife. He was godly (from his own point of view – God never says what he is or isn’t) in his intentions in that he would have been hospitable and not allowed harm to come to Abraham on account of having a beautiful wife. God is honouring those intentions by not only intervening on behalf of Abraham and Sarah, but also on behalf of Abimelech. God truly does love EVERYONE, not just those who are honestly following Him. God so firmly wanted to protect everyone, He gave Abimelech a choice that wasn’t much of a choice – but it was still a choice. God was making sure Abimelech was motivated to obey God, not come up with his own solution to the issue.

For all of Abraham’s good points, there were times he really missed it. Here he does something dishonest – and he didn’t even have to! God’s conversation with Abimelech shows that if Abraham was willing to trust in God about this (instead of lying and doing things his own way) there wouldn’t have been a problem. We can’t see how easy or hard things are going to be heading into them. We need to trust God regardless of what we see. When there is no real issue behind the smoke, we’re fine. When there is a real issue, God is MORE THAN ENOUGH to bring us through it. In BOTH instances, trusting in God solves the ‘problem’ we think is there.

We see here that even though Sarah was trusting God for protection once she was taken into Abimelech’s house, she still lied along with Abraham. Maybe because she was scared going in. Maybe because she was being a wife who supported her husband’s choices – even if she may have advised against them ahead of time. Maybe there was another reason. Our reasons don’t really matter. Only God’s opinions matter. What HE says is how we should act, speak, and think. He is GOD. He is the ONLY objective point of view that exists. We need to trust in Him ALL the time and do what He says is right and good.

None of us are perfect. None of us are truly qualified. We ALL make mistakes. God still loves us and God still uses us. Jew and Gentile. Godly and pagan. God is looking out for all of us and presenting us with opportunity after opportunity to obey Him.

God made Abraham part of the solution for Abimelech, even though Abraham was the cause of the situation. God uses us to bless even when we don’t deserve to be used.

The sage Ibn Ezra writes: ‘The angel appeared to Abimelech in a dream because of God’s regard for Abraham’s honor. Scripture tells us that both Abimelech and Pharaoh took Sarah; nevertheless, God brought upon Pharaoh and his house great plagues, while the plagues brought on Abimelech and his house were of a lesser nature. The reason for this is that Abimelech was more righteous than Pharaoh. [LORD, WILT THOU SLAY EVEN A RIGHTEOUS NATION?] The term nation includes Abimelech, his household and his kingdom. That this is so can be seen from Scripture. Pay no attention to the dreamer who changes the terms used in Scripture. The latter explains goy (nation) to mean ish (a person). I will elaborate a bit upon this in my comments on the verse to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power (Ex. 21:8). TO TOUCH. Li-nego’a (to touch) means the same as la-ga’at. The same is true with li-neto’a (to plant) and la-ta’at. All of the above are infinitives.’

The sage Rashi writes: ‘לא קרב אליה HE HAD NOT COME NEAR HER — The Angel prevented him, as it is said (v. 6) “I have not permitted thee to touch her” (cf. Genesis Rabbah 52). הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג WILT THOU SLAY ALSO A RIGHTEOUS NATION? — Even though it be righteous will you slay it? Is such perhaps Your usual way— to destroy nations without cause? That is what you did to the generation of the Flood and to the generation of the Dispersal. I may indeed say that you slew them without proper cause, just as you think to kill me without cause (Genesis Rabbah 52:6). גם הוא ALSO SHE HERSELF — The word “also” presupposes that others also said the same: it serves to include her servants, cameldrivers and assdrivers — all these I asked and they told me, “He is her brother” (Genesis Rabbah 52:6). בתם לבבי IN THE INTEGRITY OF MY HEART —I did not intend to sin. ובנקיון כפי AND IN THE INNOCENCY OF MY HANDS —I am innocent of this sin because I have not touched her. ידעתי כי בתם לבבך וגו I KNOW THAT IN THE INTEGRITY OF THY HEART etc. — It is true that at first you had no intention of sinning, but you cannot claim innocency of hands (Genesis Rabbah 52:6) — because לא נתתיך I PERMITTED THEE NOT — It was not of your own will that you did not touch her, but it was “I” who withheld you from sinning, and “I” did not permit you the possibility to touch her (Genesis Rabbah 52:7). Similar examples of נתן in sense of permitting are, (31:7) “God permitted him not (לא נתנו)” and (Judges 15:1) “But her father did not permit him (ולא נתנו) to go in”. השב אשת האיש RESTORE THE MAN’S WIFE and do not think that she will be repulsive in his eyes and that he will not take her back or that he will hate you and will not pray for you כי נביא הוא FOR HE IS A PROPHET and he knows that you have not touched her (Genesis Rabbah 52:8); therefore—ויתפלל בעדך HE WILL PRAY FOR THEE.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘But this word of God to Abimelech is of the highest importance for all future times. It is the first time that God brought the meaning and importance of Abraham directly to the consciousness of the strangers amongst whom he stayed. For Abimelech and his people formed the circle in whose midst Isaac was to be born and spend the greater part of his life, and indeed they were to be the permanent direct neighbours of the future People of Abraham. This occurrence was the warning cry to them: תגעו במשיחי ובנביאי אל תרעו אל!’