Sunday, June 9, 2013

Q7. Why did God Not Punish Abraham for Lying about his Wife?

Let's continue to look at events happening in the Bible which reflect the battle between good and evil following God's prophesy that an offspring of Eve will crush the devil's head, and use the "scarlet thread" to "connect those dots".  (See the blog entry entitled "Connecting the Dots Via the Scarlet Thread")

Let's recap the score so far, which is God 2, Satan 0.

Round 1:
Satan inspires 1st born Cain to kill 2nd born Abel.
God raises a 3rd born Seth to carry the line.
--> God wins Round 1.

Round 2:
Satan sends his followers to take on the form of men to marry human women, so that mankind is blemished.
God preserves the only unblemished man Noah and his family, keeping them safe in the Ark, while the others perish in the flood.
--> God wins Round 2.

Let's now move onto the story of Abraham (previously called Abram).

Abraham is considered to be a great man of faith, so much so that his name appears in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.

But did he consistently trust in the Lord? The answer is no. Let's examine three separate occasions when Abraham showed a lack of faith:
Abraham passing off Sarah to Abimelech as his sister
Source: http://bibleblender.com/main/wp-content/uploads/image6.png

In Gen 12:10-20 Here we read how Abraham and Sarah had to go to Egypt to avoid a famine. Fearing for his life, he asked Sarah to pretend to be his sister.

In Gen 16:1-5 Here we read how Sarah convinced Abraham to have relations with Hagar, from which came forth Ishmael. They took things into their own hands instead of believing that God would provide in His perfect time.

In Gen 20:1-18 Here we read (again) how Abraham feared for his life, so he (again) asked Sarah to pretend to be his sister.

Let's now see the events in the light of the battle between good and evil and the fulfillment of Gen 3:15.

Round 3:
Satan, having heard that Abraham would be the one to carry the line, caused a famine, put fear into Abraham's heart to the extent he was willing to give up his wife Sarah's dignity on two occasions -- with the Pharaoh of Egypt in Gen 12, and with King Abimelech in Gen 20.
God responded by preventing both the Pharoah and King Abimelech from defiling the one whom He had chosen to carry the offspring. Not only did these kings return Sarah untouched, they even gave Abraham their possessions so that he would keep away from them!
--> God wins Round 3

Round 4:
Satan, knowing that Sarah was the one to carry the line, closed her womb. He also instigated Abraham and Sarah to use their own self-efforts to create an Ishmael, instead of relying upon God.
God's timing is always perfect, and He blesses them with Isaac, from whom the patriarchs Jacob and Judah came forth.
--> God wins Round 4.

Round 5:
Satan was simultaneously adopting a parallel attack in getting mankind to go against the first commandment of man "being fruitful and multiplying" when he made the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to prefer their own gender.
To prevent this from becoming a bad influence on Abraham (who was to be a father of many nations), God had to destroy those cities with brimstone and fire.
--> God wins Round 5.

Score so far: God 5, Satan 0.

So why did God punish the heathen kings instead of Abraham?  That's because those kings were inspired by the evil one to corrupt the seed.  Abraham did wrong too, but God spared him because he was to be part of Jesus' genealogy.  Ultimately, all those wrongdoings of Abraham were imputed to Jesus, and Jesus paid the full price for them on the cross.

7 comments:

  1. Does not sound like God was winning. He knows everything 100% so he sets up the events in order to claim victory?!

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    1. He does everything for his name. Examples for us to see. He has a plan and Abraham is a big dummy who can't stick with it. God rights the wrongs to keep his plan, but does it in his perfect way.

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    2. God knows everything, but when Adam fell, the authority that was given to him by God was handed over to the devil.

      So in that sense, God did not "set up" the events. He countered every move that the devil came up with.

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  2. I always wondered. was the slavery of Israel have something to do with Abraham lying to Pharaoh. Could this be?

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    1. If we use the scarlet thread to connect the dots, a more likely explanation would be that the devil did not want the seed to emerge from the Israelites (by now, he knew the champion would come from them). So he did the following:

      - suppressed them by inspiring a pharaoh who did not remember how Joseph had helped Egypt in the past
      - placing giants in the promised land to prevent them from entering

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  3. Good exposition on this story relating to the lineage of our dear Messiah Jesus Christ. We all as Christians have so much lessons to learn from this story so that we stay on course to fulfil our destiny in Christ Jesus, our soon coming Lord and Messiah. We must never allow the schemes of Satan to divert our focus.

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  4. Sir - your Theology is WRONG -
    you said = "Round 4:
    Satan, knowing that Sarah was the one to carry the line, closed her womb."
    So in your understanding Satan closed the womb??

    Bible says in two places that God closed the womb not Satan

    Genesis 15:3 = " 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring"

    Genesis 16:2 = " And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children."

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