Genesis 20 — Thougths

Abraham Judged This Guy All Wrong…

My ESV Study Bible gives a surprising assessment of this story about Abraham, Sarah, and Abimelech. It says that Abraham misjudged Abimelech, assuming he was godless when he was actually God-fearing.

This surprised me because I thought only Abraham was God-fearing at this point. But then I realized that this is actually the second time Abraham has met someone who also follows God. First, it was Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Now, it's Abimelech. We aren't told that either of these men had the same covenant relationship with God that Abraham had. And yet, both are shown to be God-fearing.

Abraham had a positive relationship with Melchizedek, but he really wasn't fair to Abimelech. Instead, Abraham made the baseless assumption that the king had no fear of God. In reality, however, God cared for Abimelech — we can see it in the way God warned him about who Sarah was. And Abimelech had a soft heart toward God — we can see it in the way the king responded to God's words with humility.

Abraham's unfair assumption about Abimelech is a warning to all of us. How often do we write someone off because we think they're too sinful to be dealt with? How often do we refrain from sharing the Gospel with someone because we assume that they'll reject it?

This story shows us that people can surprise us. They can be soft-hearted toward God when we least expect it, and they can receive the message of His saving love with counterintuitive humility. We truly can't judge a book by its cover.

Rather than trusting our own limited perceptions or fallible instincts about people, we have to remember that God created every person, loves them, and died for them.

"Preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15) because you never know how God is already working on someone's heart.

(Originally written June 28, 2020)