Fear No Fear

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

“Abraham prayed to God. So God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.”
(Genesis 20:17-18)

Abraham was the one most at fault. Why was Abraham the one praying for other people’s cleansing of this deed? Because Abraham was the one with the covenant with God. He was God’s anointed and God’s blessing flowed through him. It wasn’t about him being better than Abimelech (in this instance he wasn’t). It wasn’t about him being perfect or qualified (in this instance he wasn’t). It was about his relationship with God based on his covenant with God. God keeps covenant. He treats us according to covenant. Our blessing and our prosperity is based on the covenant we are in with God, not our performance (Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

God brought this barrenness on Abimelech’s household so that they would not in any way avoid listening to Him. It was a judgment on the sinful act of taking another man’s wife. They had no covenant with God, so they had to right to the blessing of mercy. If we are not in covenant with God, we are cursed. That’s what sin did when we rebelled against God. It is ONLY in covenant with God that we get mercy and grace. Sarah was as guilty as Abraham in this (Genesis 20:5), but she was part of that covenant so God delivered her. It is ONLY in covenant with God that we are secure.

The sage Ibn Ezra writes: ‘AND THEY BORE CHILDREN. That is, Abimelech’s wife and maidservants. It does not refer to Abimelech. The following are similar: and shed the blood of war in peace (I Kings 2:5); He spoke unto them in the pillar of cloud (Ps. 99:7); These are the sons of Adah (Gen. 36:12); for whom I have served thee (Gen. 30:26), and the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods (Josh. 24:2). That and they bore children does not apply to Abimelech is obvious from the fact that Abimelech per se is omitted from the verse which follows, For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife (v. 18). I dwell on this point because there are commentators who insist that Abimelech’s bowels were closed up and he could not eliminate. However, the presence of the phrase all the wombs (v. 18) clearly refutes their interpretation. The term va-yeledu (and they bore children) is used when referring to women even though it is a masculine form. Compare, va-yechemu ha-tzon (and the flocks conceived) (Gen. 30:39).’

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Sarah— not Abraham—is God’s primary concern.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ואת אשתו ואמהותיו, the ones who had been supposed to give birth but had been unable to due to this affliction. Even though, generally speaking, we cannot determine precisely when a baby that is due to be born will be born, the women who had entered labour at the time the affliction struck could not give birth so that it was clear what the affliction was connected to. After Avimelech had dreamt the dream which the Torah described in detail, he called together both his servants as well as Avraham early in the morning. If so, when did they experience the impediment to delivering the babies due? Perhaps they experienced labour pains which were not relieved for even brief periods in between. Or, perhaps, Avraham took his time before he appealed to G’d in prayer to relieve the situation. We know that when women are in labour there are a number of ways in which their husbands can alleviate their pains and bring on the birth. All of these attempts had failed so that it became clear that some supernatural power had its hand in what was happening. כי עצר עצר בעד כל רחם, among the women, and possibly also among the animals which were meant to give birth at that time. (as we quoted our sages as saying). In fact the Talmud says that even hens which lay eggs instead of producing live chicks from their bodies were equally affected.’