The saying that “The more you know God the more you desire to know him more” holds true for me as I try to come to terms with a Biblical character whose story and that of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, is told in Genesis chapter 20. The man’s name is Abimelech, the king of Gerar where Abraham, in answer to his call by God, journeyed from the Ur of the Chaldeans to and dwelled.
Both the Bible and the Koran teach us that lying is a sin and that liars are among a set of sinners that are destined straight for hell fire. In Gerar, Abraham immediately took a look at his environment and came to the conclusion that the people here did not fear God and that because of this, they could kill him and take his wife because she was a very beautiful woman that many men would desire. I suspect that it was God who inspired Abraham to come to the conclusion that he should lie to the people that Sarah was his sister in order to save his neck from a people who could easily find an excuse to do away with this stranger in order to have access to his pretty wife.
Abraham was right about these people. As soon as the false words from his mouth about the status of Sarah came out, Abimelech, the very king of the land himself, was the one who sent forthwith for Sarah to be brought to him so he can ravish her. It was as if this man was waiting for just any green light so that his desire could be met. But God did not allow him to do as he wished or desired. He came to him in a dream by night that he must stay off Sarah because she was the wife of a prophet.
The self-righteous king Abimelech was aghast at Abraham and Sarah, claiming that he acted in the “integrity of his heart and the innocency of his hands” because it was Sarah herself who had said that Abraham was her brother and not her husband.
As stated in the preceding second paragraph, it must have been God who inspired Abraham to lie this lie. And if it wasn’t, he did not appear to rebuke Abraham for lying because he went ahead to punish Abimelech and his household, vowing to deal further blows on them if Abimelech did not immediately restore Abraham his wife. Abimelech restored Sarah to Abraham with heavy reparations for the attempted dishonour to a prophet of God.
This story has been troubling me in the past few days. What are we seeing here? Can God forgive or tolerate a social lie designed to save a man his life or can he, in fact, inspire you in some circumstances to lie to protect yourself or is he so intolerant of lies, any lie, that all liars will be condemned to hell fire?
I know that God is all-knowing and must have known the situation in Gerar. He knew the heart of Abimelech and his people. He knew Abimelech was not an honest and innocent dealer nor did he possess any integrity of heart as he claimed. What manner of honest man will not do due diligence before taking possession of any woman he fancies, be her a stranger or an indigene? Even if a foreign woman is in your territory, are there no protocols to follow before partaking yourself of her? Do they not have protocols for such things in her place that you need to respect?
A man comes to your territory with a woman he claims is his sister who is nevertheless acting as a companion, do you just take her for yourself without bothering to wonder who will act as companion to the strange man with her sudden and ‘’protocoless’’ exit? Is this how things are done in your country? Must you take possession of every fine woman you see just because you are the king and can have whoever and whatever catches your fancy?
The self- defense put up by Abimelech is left for lawyers to jaw-jaw on but he has certainly not met up with the conduct expected of a king, a child of God and a member of a civilized society. Abimelech did not even show love or respect for the woman Sarah.
No love entreaties, no wooing, no show of regard for a woman that caught your eye. And when she ‘’ordered’’ her into his house, no love protocol was about to be extended to her. Abimelech was ready to pounce on her if God in his might, power and authority had not intervened to stop him on his sinning track.
Yet the man had the nerve to plead that he had integrity of his heart and the innocence of his hands to do what he had planned to do. What a nerve!
