Genesis 20:1 Commentary and Bible Study

We learn now about the terms of blessing for the church. We remember that Abraham and his family are the typical church of those days. Although, as the family grew and grew, not all were truly the Lord's, many were. Nevertheless it was a typical church, and the Lord so ordered things that in all the events that took place, in their experience, there are spiritual lessons for the New Testament church, for as Paul says, these things were written for our learning upon whom the end of the age has come. So Abraham and his movements represent us. And that's why we look for pastoral applications for the present day. We're not only interested in the history, interesting as it is, but in the various lessons about how God rewards faith, and punishes unbelief and sin, and everything is unfolded before us.After years in the plains of Mamre, and following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain, it is time for Abraham to move on, and head down to the very bottom of Canaan. You would think he would be somewhat fearful of going anywhere near Egypt, because although probably up to 20 years have elapsed, he had a very bad experience when he tried to protect Sarai there in an entirely human way and instead of by faith (Genesis 12:11-20), and so there was a lapse on his part with frightening results. It was to the south also that Lot, his nephew, had been taken, and he had needed to rescue him and his family, from the consequences of his venturing into Sodom. But now he heads south. It was God's command to him that through his life that he should be traversing the country; he should be walking through it – ‘Arise, walk through the land [which had been promised] in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee’ (Genesis 13:17). Some people think that God had spoken to him to go south, and guided him in some way; it is not recorded, but it is very likely. It is certainly equally likely that he would have been very concerned about staying in the plains of Mamre, because there had been the shocking, harrowing destruction of the cities of the plain, and Sodom and Gomorrah, in particular. There had been the moral loss of his nephew Lot and terrible things in that region. Now he has the promise of Isaac the heir, the son, and perhaps that would be enough, even naturally to spur him to find new territories with his extensive flocks and his large company of servants and workers, so he moved down into the south. Amazingly, though he didn't know it, God had provided for him there. God had already prepared a safe environment. He thought that all the Philistines – if they were at that early-stage Philistines, but the dwellers in Philistia in that area to which he went in the south – he thought that they were all violent; they were all rank heathens and that their behaviour would be appalling. He suspected that once he got down into that area, there would be some local king, some warlord who would want to take Sarah to himself and would kill Abraham in order to do that. We going to learn in this chapter that before they left Ur of the Chaldees, when God called them, Abraham had said to Sarah, ‘If we are in dangerous territory and it is likely that I am to be taken on your account and lose my life, then I will say you are my sister not my wife. That will expose you of course, to be taken into the harem of some local king or warlord. Are you ready for that?’ And Sarah said, ‘I am ready for that’, and so they agreed that this would be the statement they would make. Well, it was wrong. It had been wrong when it happened previously, when they fled from famine and went down to Egypt and it led to dire consequences, and it would be repeated again now. But the point is that here was Abraham in fear. What a strange thing: that God should say leave Ur; come out of Ur; go wherever I tell you, because from you I am going to make a great nation. You are going to have descendants, ultimately a great descendant, through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed. That part of it was not stated to him in Ur, but the great nation was, and how amazing that Abraham, in true and good faith would leave Ur of the Chaldees, according to the promise of God, and yet on the way would be alarmed and terrified that someone may take his life. He believes the promise of God that it is going to be fulfilled, and yet he fears that his own life may be taken. But it is not that Abraham preserves his own life at the expense of Sarah just for his personal safety; he does it in order to preserve the life of the seed royal, the Messiah, the special seed that is promised to him. But does he not think God can take care of that too? Wouldn’t God who promised him descendants, preserve him in order to fulfil that promise? Anyway, he journeys towards the south expecting difficulty and trouble.