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NASB | Genesis 20:12 "Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 20:12 "Besides, she actually is my [half] sister; she is the daughter of my father [Terah], but not of my mother; and she became my wife. |
Bible Question: in genesis when abraham told the second lie about sarah being his sister was he being serious??? |
Bible Answer: It is a difficult task we have, to determine whether a prophet is serious and yet, at the same time, lying. The fact is, we do not know whether Abraham was lying when he said for the second time that Sarah was his sister. He was saying that he had married his half-sister, and we do not have enough information to say whether that was a lie. The first mention of Abraham and Sarah, in Genesis 11, also gives information about his brother. We know from Genesis 11:29 that Nahor married his brother’s daughter. We are not told of a familial relationship between Abraham and his wife. In fact, we are not told anything about Sarah’s family. Was she a half sister, as Abraham claimed? We do not know, and it seems unnecessary to conclude that she was not, or that Abraham was persisting in his lie. We might hope that Abraham was not continuing to lie, since the Lord had owned him as his prophet (Genesis 20:7). God had said that Abraham would pray and that his prayer would be heard (Genesis 20:7). But other scriptures tell us that sin is a hindrance to prayer (See Psalm 66:18;Isaiah 59:2). This might lead us to conclude that Abraham was not continuing in the sin of lying. Abraham may well have felt that he had not lied the time before (in Genesis 20:2) or the time before that (Genesis 12:13,19). He may have chosen, for his purposes, to highlight one part of the truth. And many a Christian man today may feel that he is not lying if he says his wife is his sister, for in a sense, she is. We may think that he is not serious if he refers in that way to their spiritual relationship. But a man may do that if he wants to turn the conversation somehow to spiritual matters. He may say it to an unsaved person, hoping they would question it, hoping for an opportunity to give the Gospel to them. Abraham was motivated by fear, but we may have another reason to shift the conversation to another matter that we may judge to be more useful. Doing this, we may have to admit that we have some sinful tendencies. But then, Christ died for our sins. If we have repented and trusted in him, then we have forgiveness for our sins, and we are saved. The means we use to get these opportunities may seem questionable, but we have an urge to give the message. In researching this question I have read some terrible indictments of Abraham. But is it not interesting that God does not condemn him? (See Hebrews 11:8-17; Romans 4: 16). Abraham was justified in God’s eyes, because of his faith. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Gen 20:12 | Author | ||
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0451 | ||
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Aixen7z4 | ||
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godchild36 | ||
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KJCook | ||
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Getting2KnowGod |