God healed Abimelech

“And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and women servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.”

Abimelech felt that he hadn’t done anything wrong because Abraham told him that Sarah wasn’t his wife and he took her to be another one of his wives. However, in the beginning, God had established the principle that one man should be joined to one woman and no more. This is because when a man is joined to a woman they are connected in their souls (1 Cor 6: 18). If someone tries to break this connection they will damage themselves. This damage includes damaging our ability to have meaningful relationships, including a meaningful relationship with God. If we damage that relationship then we become self indulgent instead of self denying in our relationships. This is the reason that Abimelech suffered so much. He already had wives but he lusted after another wife and so the Lord brought judgment on him. After all, Sarah was the women who God was using to preserve the godly line that would, one day, produce the promised deliverer. Notice too, that Abimelech’s restoration from the curse engendered by his own selfishness was entirely dependent on Abraham. Abraham had to pray to God before Abimelech was delivered from the curse that he had chosen for himself (compare Matt 5: 44). This is an important lesson for every Christian and is supported by the Lord’s word when He told us to pray for our enemies and those who hurt us.

Would you like to support this ministry? Please click this link: http://jamesmcnaught.blogspot.com/ and then click “Follow” and encourage all your friends to follow as well. You could also visit http://jamesmcnaught.com and consider buying Gulf or Reclaiming the Bible from the “Enlightened”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)