26/1/12
S: Genesis 26:6-11 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.”
He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me to get
Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
After Isaac
had been there a long time,
Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed
Isaac caressing
his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really
your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”
Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us?
One of the men
might easily have had sexual relations with
your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches
this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
O: Abimelech, probably the son of the Abimelech in Genesis 20, evidently learned from the experience with Abraham in the previous generation, so this time he made no move at all for Rebekah, unlike his father who had believed Abraham and taken Sarah as a wife.
On the other hand, Isaac didn't learn the lesson from Abraham's mistake.
In mitigation, it can be argued that this shows that the practice of killing someone to steal their wife was widespread and commonplace at that time. Abimelech had to issue a specific edict to protect Isaac. If such things were generally not tolerated, he would not have needed to issue such an edict.
A: Sometimes we can even learn from the example of people who don't follow God. As Christians, we can get into the mindset that because we follow God, we're right and non-Christians are wrong. But sometimes non-Christians can show us a thing or two.
God can use non-Christians as well to teach us His ways. So we must be careful not to be arrogant and condescending.
P: Father, teach me to see Your truth, even in people who do not believe in You like we do. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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