The story of Abraham (5)

Gen 12:11  When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,

Gen 12:12  and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Gen 12:13  Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."

Here, we see that Abraham seems to have little faith. “Although Sarai truly his sister is (Gen 20:12), does not this kind of statement belong to a lie?” “Why did not Abraham believe that God will help him when he came down to Egypt?”

First, the purpose of this statement “Sarai is my sister” is to save Abraham’s life (v13). Indeed, the Bible teaches us not to tell a lie, while there are several examples in the Bible indicate that it may be allowed to “lie” in order to save lives. The two midwives lie Pharaoh to save Hebrew boy babies (Ex 1:15-20); Rahab lies to save the two spies of Joshua (Jos 2:1-6); David lies to get foods for himself and his followers (1Sa 21:1-3). Even Jesus Christ seems to lie in order to avoid being killed (Jn 7:1, 8-10). If a lie is resulted from evil hearts, personal interests and hatred, the lie is coming from the source of evil, the Satan (Jn 8:44; 1Jn 3:8). However, in some circumstances for lives saving, telling a “lie” cannot be atttributed to the source of evil, especially when facing pressures from dark powers (Ex 1:15-20; Jos 2:1-6; 1Sa 21:1-3).

Second, we should not judge him in our perspective because we know too much knowledge about God. Today, we know that God is love, light and truth; we read many psalms written by David that God will save those who trust in him; we also know that God comes to earth to save our lives by sacrificing his own life. However, Abraham did not know these! 

We cannot force God helping us and wants him to save us at an exact time of need. He is God! He has his own plan and will! We are just man made by dust and should be humble before him. Therefore, we need to do our best. Remember what the three friends of Daniel said: If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up (Dan 3:17-18). They believe God is able to save them but they do not force God to save them at the specific time. Likewise, Abraham did the same thing.

As Abraham predicted, the Egyptians saw Sarai as a very beautiful woman (Gen 12:14)…

Index:

The story of Abraham (1)

The story of Abraham (2)

The story of Abraham (3)

The story of Abraham (4)