Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There ..

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Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
Genesis 20:11 ESV

Most of Abraham’s experience in Canaan was near Sodom, and we know from the story of Dinah two generations later that the people of this region truly were wicked and were prone to treating people, especially visitors, as property to be taken, used, and traded at will.

Abimelech was probably looking for an alliance with Abraham, just as Shechem was with Jacob. If he had thought Sarah was Abraham’s wife, then there is a much better chance that he would have killed Abraham and taken his wife as a hostile takeover of Abraham’s domain, not simply as an act of sexual desire and violence.

Abraham trusted God that Sarah would be restored to him, but I think this still showed a lack of trust that God would also preserve his life. He couldn't become the father of nations if he was dead, but God had promised, so God would not have allowed Pharaoh or Abimelech to kill him.

Comment

This is such an interesting subject to me. The thought that I have is whether bearing false witness and lying is the same thing.

We see Abraham lying twice, Isaac doing the same and then Rachel lying about the spies that she hid. There is a common denominator in here as every time someone's life was in jeopardy which makes me wonder whether it is permitted to ly in such circumstances; even if it is just perceived danger. 🤔

But coming back to my thought, are we correct in thinking that bearing false witness (which has an impact on someone else's life) is the same a lying which normally has an impact on us directly?

Do you maybe have a thought on this?

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Wow, You guys broach a whole lot of subjects in this. 1 Kings 22:22, "And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ " A lie or even a partial truth when used for the purpose of promoting our own thoughts or our own agenda may not always be a sin depending on the reason, for instance a lie to protect innocent life (usually other than our own). As for the other subjects, that is something that I think would better be discussed in a round table discussion setting rather than in a written thread. Rhy, I don't currently know of a good way to host a meeting room for something like that other than zoom. If there is enough interest and we could find a good time to meet together would anyone be interested? Maybe we could have a TNN round table where ideas could be discussed and maybe the video posted on TNN Tube? Just a thought.

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I don't use the 1 Kings verse to show that YHWH lies, I use it to shoe that He will allow someone to lie to achieve His plan. And as pointed out, that lie was ingenious because even though it was discovered it worked. I have used the analogy of willing and unwilling participants in His ultimate plan. Yeshua was certainly a wiling participant and the Roman soldier who nailed him to the cross I describe as an unwilling participant because although it was necessary for that to be done, the soldier had no idea that by following his orders he would be instrumental in a process he knew nothing about. When Rahab hid the spies on the roof she lied to the king's men, she may have thought all she was doing was protecting innocent life and hoping to gain some favor for her family. She had no idea she was a willing participant in His plan.
The bottom line with the information I currently have is honesty is the best policy and there may be times when we should be prayerfully and constructively artistic when being honest. I hope that makes sense.

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Rhy Bezuidenhout

Jerry Mitchell

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