Brentwood Church of Christ

Our text tells the intriguing story and Abraham and Sarah going into Egypt to escape a famine in the land of Canaan. Sarah was so beautiful that Abraham feared that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take her. So he asks Sarah to hide the fact that they were married and only say that they are brother and sister. Of course, the result of this decision was disastrous. While Pharaoh rewarded Abraham handsomely, Pharaoh also took Sarah to be his wife. There are some interesting and compelling lessons from this incident.

1. Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran and came to Canaan and Sarah was ten years younger than Abraham (Gen. 17:17). Therefore, Sarah was over 65 years old when the king of Egypt found her so beautiful that he took her to be his wife. Ages were certainly a little longer then, but still, for her age, she must have been an incredibly beautiful woman.
2. Abraham lied. Yes, the father of the Israel nation and the spiritual father of all Christians fell prey to fear and thought the best way to save his life was to lie. It was a sin of weakness. Abraham was never rebellious, but he had similar weaknesses that all men and women suffer. However, as Genesis 15:6 states, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted him for righteousness.” Salvation was not and is not based on perfection. It is based on trusting the Lord for forgiveness. Indeed, we must obey Him, but no one will see heaven based on perfect obedience.
3. This story has many similarities to a future conflict between the offspring of Abraham and another Pharaoh. The Pharaoh of Abraham’s time had taken one of God’s own to be his just as the future Pharaoh took God’s “firstborn” nation to be his. In both cases, God plagued the Pharaohs and commanded that they release that which was not theirs to own. But the Pharaoh of Abraham’s time was different from the Pharaoh of Moses’ time. This Pharaoh feared God, released Sarah, and rebuked Abraham for putting him in such a precarious situation with God. The scripture is filled with these kinds of repeating scenes. Ultimately, the Son of God would flee to Egypt to escape another wicked king. And again, God would call His own out of Egypt, this time to the salvation of all mankind.
4. Scripture typically treats Egypt as a place of bondage and sin. But it was not always so. In these early years, the Egyptians at least to some degree feared Jehovah. Later, 200 years before Christ, the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) was translated in Egypt. And in the first few hundred years after Christ, Christianity flourished in Egypt. Since about the seventh century, Islam has been predominant. But the gospel of Christ knows no boundaries. Who knows, maybe the knowledge of God will again flourish among the Egyptians.