Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #11 of Genesis, chapter 20. I am going to read Genesis 20:8-13:

Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

We have been going through this chapter and we have seen this is an historical parable pointing to God’s salvation program; Sarah is a picture of the elect that had been taken captive by sin and by Satan; that is, we were children of wrath, even as others. This is the second time this happened to Sarah and Abraham. When they first came out of the land of Haran, they had gone down into Egypt and Sarai was taken by Pharaoh’s princes and taken into his house. God plagued Pharaoh’s house until he released Sarai.

Abraham and Sarah were traveling and sojourning in the land of the Philistines and the King of Gerar took Sarah. God had come to him and told him that he was “but a dead man” because of the man’s wife he had taken. Abimelech protested and said that he had done this in innocency and integrity. We spent some time looking at that. God had agreed with him because God had held him back from sinning against Him in that way. We talked about how God restrains sin in the lives of natural men.

Now God had commanded that Abimelech restore the man his wife because Abraham is a prophet. We saw that Abraham was a prophet, but it was pointing to “that Prophet” that God would raise up like unto Moses, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it says in Genesis 20:8:

Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

So, the situation is very dire. It is extremely grievous for the Abimelech and his people, not only because God said he was “but a dead man,” but if we read ahead, it says in Genesis 20:17-18:

So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For JEHOVAH had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

We were not told how long Sarah was in Abimelech’s house. We do know that it would seem she was expecting, because God had already told them (before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah) she would bear a child in the set time in the next year. It was the year 2068 B.C. and the next year would have been 2067 B.C. when Isaac was born. As a matter of fact, it says in Genesis 21:1:

And JEHOVAH visited Sarah as he had said, and JEHOVAH did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Then chapter 22 goes on to tell us about the birth of Isaac to the aged woman Sarah, so it is possible she was just a month pregnant when she was taken. Maybe she was in Abimelech’s house for a month (or two or three) and she may not have been “showing,” but she must have been there for some length of time because God shut up the wombs of Abimelech’s wife and all his maidservants. We will discuss that more when we get to those verses.

We can see why Abimelech and his men were so afraid. It is a terrible thing if the women cannot have children; if God has shut the wombs, it is an awful thing. Then it goes on to say in Genesis 20:9-10:

Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

Abimelech called Abraham because God had spoken to Abimelech. In that time, God did break the barrier of the supernatural, from time to time, to speak to people. He would even speak to unsaved men. At the time of Joseph, God came to the Pharaoh of Egypt and gave him dreams. God came to Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and gave him divine revelation in a dream. Of course, Daniel had to be called to interpret the dream, but God did give him the dreams. Here, God had come to Abimelech and told him that he was but a dead man and to restore the man’s wife. So, we can imagine that as soon as the night passed, Abimelech called his princes and discussed this, and everyone was afraid. Then he called Abraham and said to him, “What hast thou done unto us? And what have I offended thee, that though hast brought on me and on my kingdom of a great sin?”

We can understand this very well, historically, because Abraham had told a half-truth. When they asked him, he had said that Sarah was his sister and he left out the fact that she was only a half-sister and his wife. He did not tell Abimelech’s princes that came to take Sarah, saying, “She is my wife. Leave her alone.” I guess it was customary at that time for a king to take women into his house for concubines. What could a sojourner in his land do? It was probably done based on the strength and power of the king of that land, so who could resist? Abraham did have servants, but this was a king of a city state and he probably had a good-sized army, so the thing to do was not to resist.

However, Abraham had already planned for this and he had decided what he would do beforehand, as we read in Genesis 20:13:

And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

They agreed and Sarah would tell anyone that asked that he was her brother. So, once again, she was taken. Spiritually, we understand that the taking of Sarah the second time points to the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the Latter Rain when God stretched forth His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people. The Latter Rain occurred during the second part of the Great Tribulation and the time that God saved the great multitude outside of the churches in the world. Once we realize this points to the Latter Rain, we can also understand Abimelech’s complaint that Abraham had done something to him and his kingdom: “What hast thou done unto us? ” and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Abimelech is a picture of Satan and his kingdom is a representation of the kingdom of Satan or the nations of the world and the unsaved people of the world that are in the dark kingdom in bondage to sin and Satan. Now we can see why Abimelech said, “What have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” It says in the New Testament in John 15:22-24:

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

Jesus said that if He had not come and spoken to them, then they would have not sin. Then He pointed out, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,” and, of course, He did many miracles and good works, but when God speaks of the works of Christ, what is primarily in view is the salvation that He wrought, as it says in John 6:28-29:

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

It is the work of God that you believe and the meaning of “believing” here has to do with becoming saved. It is the work of God that people become saved, but not all people or just any people – it is the elect people of God. That is the “work of God,” the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work in view regarding a blind man that Christ healed, in John 9:3:

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Having “sight” after being blind is a figure of God’s work in salvation. Then Jesus went on to say in John 9:4:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Again, this “work” that Christ must work while it was day is the work of salvation. And, of course, the Bible speaks of a “day of salvation” in which the work of granting saving faith or belief (to those predestinated to receive it before the foundation of the world) would be carried out. In John 11, Jesus asked, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” The Bible speaks of the daytime period as 12 hours. There is another parable that Christ spoke about sending laborers into a vineyard to do work. The work in the vineyard points to the work of carrying the Gospel to accomplish the salvation of God. It is the work Christ was sent to do, but He only did this during his short time of ministry on this earth, but once He was taken up to heaven, He gave this task to His people to perform: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” We know it also says of Christ in the Bible: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.” This is the “work” Christ must do in “twelve hours,” or the “day of salvation.”

Also, in the parable of the twelve-hour work day, there was a distinction made when the eleventh hour came. The laborers were hired at three-hour intervals, but then came the eleventh hour, the last hour of the day, and God changed His pattern and hired laborers that had been idle all day. It pointed to the “one hour” of the Great Tribulation. You see, that is very significant because it lets us know that from the eleventh to the twelfth hour of the overall work day of twelve hours identifies with the “hour” of the Great Tribulation, which would bring the “day of salvation” to an end. And the “day” that the Father sent Christ to work has ended. And then comes the evening. The work day went from 6:00 a. m. to 6:00 p. m. and then the evening or the night would come “when no man can work.” Christ would no longer perform the work of salvation because the day of salvation was ended. Now the season has changed. “To every thing there is a season,” according to the Bible. There is a time when God saved, the day of salvation; and there is a time when God brings judgment, the Day of Judgment. We have entered the spiritual “night” when God is judging the world.

This is all just additional information that is somewhat related to our study, but it is not really the focus in Genesis 20. I mentioned “works” because in John 15 Christ said, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin.” And that is significant because it says in our verse in Genesis 20:9: “What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.” He is speaking to Abraham, a type of God or Christ and saying that Abraham has done “deeds” unto him that ought not to be done. The Greek word for “work” is “er-gon,” which can be translated as “work” or “deed.” Likewise, the Hebrew word translated here as “deed” can also be translated as “work” or “works.” It is a word found in the Psalms describing the “work” of God.

So, here, Abimelech has said that Abraham has done works unto him that ought not to be done. Of course, we must consider this statement, spiritually, as being made by Satan. Obviously, the devil thinks that Christ ought not to have done such works of salvation in his kingdom, the world. He would feel that Christ should not have bound him and ransacked his house and taken certain captives and released them. In Ephesians it says that Christ “led captivity captive,” because once a sinner is loosed from spiritual captivity he becomes a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes captive to serve Christ.

You know, the whole idea that man is a “free agent” and can do as he pleases is a deceitful and foolish thought. It has no relationship to any kind of truth. It is never true, even for a fraction of a second, in this life. No matter what our spiritual condition, we are not a “free agent” that is not a servant to someone or something. We are slaves and bondservants. We can be servants to sin and to Satan, which is the typical condition of mankind from his conception to his death. Or, we can be those that God has freed from that captivity to bondage to sin and Satan, and we become bondservants to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been “bought with a price,” the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are duty-bound to serve Him. We may often fail in that duty, but it does not change the fact that we are His bondservants.

Again, we see Abimelech is saying, “Thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin.” By the way, this also goes along with John 16:7-8:

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

The word “reprove” can also be translated as “convict” or “convicted.” It is the same Greek word found in John, chapter 8 when the Jewish leaders brought the woman caught in the act of adultery before Jesus. Then they said that Moses said that such a one ought to be stoned to death, and they asked Jesus what should be done to her. Then Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground and then rose and said to them that the person without sin should cast the first stone; then they went away, one by one. They were “convicted” or “reproved” of their sin. That is what this word “reprove” means regarding the Comforter or Holy Spirit coming. The Holy Spirit came two times, did He not? First, He came when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost in 33 A.D. He came the second time in 1994 during another Jubilee Year when the Holy Spirit was poured out the second time during the Latter Rain period. Regarding the Latter Rain period, it is interesting because then the Gospel was going to the nations of the world, and they are the ones in view in this historical parable because it was the second time that Sarah had been taken captive.

So, Abimelech was really being convicted: “thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin.” He is being reproved by God as God came to him and revealed the truth about Sarah’s captivity and how she belonged to another and, therefore, she must be set free. This served to convict this king and his people and they feared because of their sin in relationship to Sarah. This is all related to the work of the Holy Spirit at these special points in God’s salvation program.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will continue to look at this interesting historical parable in the Book of Genesis.