Genesis 20 relates a story from the life of Abraham which is not only peculiar but (presumably) incestuous; as well as being one example of how Abraham was, presumably, accursed under Moses' law [Deuteronomy 27:22] (which law Moses says he received of the LORD). Moses, in Genesis 20, tells us that, after the destruction of Sodom, Abraham "sojourned in Gerar [Genesis 20:1c]." Mischief follows.
While in Gerar, Abraham and Sarah went as brother and sister– not as husband and wife, which in fact they were. According to the text of Genesis 20, this conspiracy to defraud was a longstanding covenant between Abe and Sarah. Verse 13 has Abe telling Abimelech, the king of Gerar, "And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto [Sarah], This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother."
However, when Abimelech asked Abraham why they had so done, "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 [Genesis 20:11]." Abraham goes on to say, "...yet indeed [Sarah] is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife [Genesis 20:12]."
This is, perhaps, beside the point, but if this last word from Abraham is true, Moses– through Joshua and the people who entered with him into the promised land– cursed Abe (and, by extension, all of his children, themselves and Christians [Romans 4:16] included) from mount Ebal with the words, "Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people [presumably said], Amen [Deuteronomy 27:22]." This cursing is recorded in Joshua 8:30 - 35. In light of Genesis 12:3a & b ["I will… curse him that curseth thee"]: does the cursing from mount Ebal imply Abraham was cursed for cursing himself? and that before the LORD ever made any covenant with him? Perhaps one must be accursed to make a covenant with the LORD.
At any rate, inasmuch as he knew not that Abe and Sarah were married, "Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah [Genesis 20:2c & d]", whom he found attractive enough to take, even though (presumably) Sarah was already an old maid [Genesis 17:17] and perhaps past any thought of being able to enjoy sex [Genesis 18:11]. Nonetheless, Abimelech "took" Sarah, and this abduction as it were expedited a nighttime visit and death threat from "God" to Abimelech, according to Moses who wrote Genesis.
Moses says God told Abimelech, "restore [Abraham] his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine [Genesis 20:7]." Any place Moses refers to God, in any of his writings, is of singular interest: inasmuch as Moses more generally refers to "the LORD," or "the LORD God." The thing which may immediately be observed about this Mosaic reference to God therefore is that the one speaking as God to Abimelech refers to a deceiver (Abraham, by name) as "a prophet."
The upshot of this scandalous controversy, as Moses records it, is that Abraham is enriched by virtue of shakedown for deceiving Abimelech, and Abimelech is coerced into participating in the shakedown by the "God" who tells Abimelech "[Abe] shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live [v. 7, above]." Abimelech's 'participation' in this shakedown is recorded in verses 14 & 15, thus: "14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee."
In return for Abimelech's cooperation, "17 Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife [Genesis 20:17 & 18]." Notice how "God" heals the damage done to Abimelech by "the LORD," according to this passage.
All the forgoing, from Genesis 20, is naught but precipitating action in regards to the lie here under examination, and is only included that you might understand the lie presently illucidated, which comes to us in succeeding chapters.
In chapter 21 of Genesis– allegedly after the birth of Abraham's second son, Isaac, and about the time Abraham's firstborn son, Ishmael, was married– Moses says, "...that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: 23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned [Genesis 21:22b - 23]." This, Abe presumably swears to, indemnifying himself and, by extension, his children to "not deal falsely" with the Philistines of Gerar unto Abimelech's third generation.
In Genesis 26, (after the death of Abraham, chapter 25) Moses writes that Abraham's second son, Isaac, after marrying his cousin Rebekah and the resultant birth of their twins, Esau and Jacob– like his father Abraham– at the behest of the LORD, sojourned in Gerar. "And the men of the place asked [Isaac] of his wife; and he [like Abe] said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon [Genesis 26:7]." Like father like son.
"Abimelech king of the Philistines [v. 8]" subsequently discerns Isaac's Abrahamic deception and calls him out on it. After rebuking Isaac for his deceptive foolishness, "Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death [Genesis 26:11]." The text says nothing of the LORD (or God) saying anything to Abimelech about Rebekah or Isaac either before or after their deception is found out, but it does say, "the LORD blessed [Isaac (Genesis 26:12c)]" after these things.
What's more, the text says Isaac "...waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him [Genesis 26:13 & 14]." Though Moses doesn't directly credit Abimelech for any of Isaac's wealth, as in Abe's earlier shakedown he did.
Nor does Moses mention the simple fact that Isaac and Rebekah's deception amounts to nothing less than a breach of the covenant Abraham made with Abimelech in chapter 21. Neither does Moses indicate whether or not the Abimelech in Gerar in chapter 26 is the same Abimelech Abraham swore to in chapter 21. The reader is led to assume, however, that it's the same Abimelech in both cases. After all, the name of the latter Abimelech's "chief captain of his army" is– as the former Abimelech's was– Phicol. Assuming both Abimelechs are the same, it's reasonable to assume Abimelech was older than Isaac, but quite a bit younger than Abe.
The insidious element of the foregoing lie is that it was the LORD– who, throughout the canon (especially in the books of the prophets), rails on the Jews as covenant- breakers, adulterers, truce breakers, etc.-- who 'taught' Isaac to break the covenants made by his father Abraham: as the Sanhedrin "taught" the Romans to lie about the body of Jesus [Matthew 28:15]. Why is it assumed that when the LORD lies (by teaching and commanding his children to lie on his behalf, in some cases) the lie was necessary and righteous? Does conspiracy wash the hands of the wicked? I thought it was the filth thereof.
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