Genesis 12:17-20–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

Posted by Seth on Jan 21, 2010 in Bible Study, Daily Devotions |

Genesis 12:17-20–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Genesis 12:17-20 wherein we see a bit of foolishness on the part of one of God’s faithful.

But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Throughout the Scriptures Abram is very much commended for his faith and not so much for being the perfect husband. Just previous to the verses we observe here, Abram and his family were on a journey into the land of Egypt because of a plague in the land. Sarai must have been quite the looker, for Abram feared that he would be killed just so the Egyptians could have her. Solution? Keep the marriage a secret and tell the Egyptians she was just a sister. Way to go, Abe.

But God was so very gracious. After Sarai had been taken in to the palace of Pharaoh, things went downhill for him, and apparently he was either filled in by God directly or by one of His servants as to who his new harem member actually was. Abram by this time was sitting pretty having already received many gifts from the Pharaoh before he was confronted by him. Now, it’s hard to know how things would have played out if Abram and Sarai would have simply been straightforward with the Egyptians, but it looks quite possible from the Pharaoh’s words that no harm would have come to them. I struggle a bit with the fact that Abram left Egypt better off than he was when he came, but that’s God, and that’s the kind of grace that He likes to give. But since this is grace that we see given and not reward for faithful labor, what do we have to learn from this incident? We are reminded that God doesn’t need our dishonest help in seeing to our protection. If Abram would have been in real danger at any point in this story, it probably would have been after he was found out for being a liar!

Are there areas in your life where you are trying to manufacture your own forms of insurance? Are there ways in which you are compromising the truth and forsaking integrity in the name of self-preservation? We make these choices on multiple levels of significance on a continual basis. We’ve certainly been advised by Jesus to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16); let us just never forget the innocent part as we daily entrust ourselves to the God who made, loves, and gives us truth to know and follow.

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