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Mid-Week with Christ
March 4, 2020
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Genesis 12:10-20
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. 17 But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Prayer for the Day
Gracious Father, prepare us for our encounters with Pharaoh, to bring glory to your name by our good works. Cause us to be good witnesses to Christ Jesus and his salvation in all circumstances. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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If you think of the Old Testament as the biographies of moral heroes, today’s account should make you think again. Not for the first time, Abram (later to be Abraham), lies about his wife and passes her off as his sister. He does this, not to protect her, but to protect himself: “say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared." Behold Abram, chosen of God, throwing his wife under the bus.
If this Word of the Lord is not meant to hold up Abram as a moral example, then what is it meant to teach us? For one, it reminds us that interactions between the people of God and those outside the household of faith are fraught with risk. The people of this world do not play by God’s rules. What else would we expect? We ought to think through how we will handle certain situations before they arise. That way we will, Lord willing, be more courageous than Abram when the time arises.
Second, it is often impossible to avoid difficult moral situations. We have been called by our Lord to be in the world but not of it (John 17:15-16). As individual Christians, and as the church, we cannot avoid Pharaoh and his ilk. They do not have the mind of Christ as we do. It is up to us to provide a good moral witness. In the words of pseudo-Dionysius, we share a common table but not a common bed.
Most importantly, we ought to trust that the Lord will work will good and gracious will in all circumstances. Who knows how he will afflict Pharaoh and give us an opportunity to share the Good News of reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ? We too fail to keep God’s law. But our righteousness is not found in our morality but in Jesus’ sacrificial death at the cross.
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