Genesis 20 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Genesis 20

WHEN:

• Abram was born in approximately 1996 B.C. and died in 1821 B.C. at 175 years old (Gen 25:7).

• The events of Genesis 20 took place when Abram was 99 years old (approximately 1897 B.C.).

CHARACTERS:

• Abram – A man from Ur of the Chaldeans who moved to Canaan at God’s instruction. God promised to make his descendants a great nation and to give them the land of Canaan.

• Sarah – Abram’s wife. She was also his half-sister.

• Abimelech – The king of Gerar.  

WHERE:

• The events detailed in Genesis 20 took place in the land of Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur.

OUTLINE:

• ABRAHAM, SARAH, AND ABIMELECH (20:1-7):

  • After Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Abraham and Sarah went to live between Kadesh and Shur, in a region known as Gerar.

  • There they met Abimelech, the king of Gerar, and Abraham told him Sarah was his sister.

  • Abimelech took Sarah into his house, intending to make her either his wife or his concubine.

  • But God appeared to him in a dream and warned him he had taken a woman who belonged to another man.

  • Abimelech told the Lord he was unaware of his mistake. He said he took Sarah in innocence and integrity only after Abraham told him she was his sister.  

  • The Lord knew Abimelech’s heart was pure and He told him He had prevented him from having relations with Sarah.

  • He told Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham or else he would “surely die.”

• ABIMELECH RETURNS SARAH TO ABRAHAM (20:8-18):

  • In the morning, Abimelech summoned Abraham and asked him why he had deceived him about his relationship with Sarah.

  • Abraham told him he assumed Gerar was a godless place and he feared someone would try to kill him and take Sarah if they learned they were married.

  • Abraham’s deception contained a partial truth. Sarah was his half-sister, the daughter of his father.

  • Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, gifted him with sheep, oxen, and servants and told him he was free to live anywhere within the borders of his kingdom.

  • In addition, Abimelech gave Abraham 1,000 pieces of silver as a sign he had not touched Sarah while she was in his house.

  • Abraham prayed for Abimelech and the Lord healed him, his wife, and their female slaves.

  •  “For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife” (20:18).
    

APPLICATION:

• God guides those who are pure of heart in unseen ways.

• Because Abimelech’s motives were pure, God protected him from sinning with Sarah (20:6).

• Abimelech was completely unaware of God’s intervention until God told him.

• How exactly did the Lord keep Abimelech from having relations with Sarah? We don’t know. Perhaps he caused his chariot to break down on his way home, perhaps he got caught up at work, perhaps he had to make an unexpected trip to another city to help a friend.

• What we do know is that God protected a man with good intentions from making a mistake.  

• I see no reason to believe God doesn’t work this way today.

• God guides those who are pure of heart in ways that are not always observable.

• Therefore, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).