He had what we would call a motive, David.
I agree that the text shows that he had motive.
Terry wrote:
He was more motivated to keep his head than he was to keep his wife.
This is where I start to part ways. I am not convinced that he ever expected to lose his wife.
Let me ask you this. The first time he found himself in this situation with Pharaoh, do you think he ever got on his face and asked God to get his wife back, or do you think he had resolved in his mind that he had lost his wife?
The second time he found himself in this situation, do you think he was more optimistic or less optimistic that he would get his wife back? Do you think he ever asked God to keep his wife safe and return her to him?
Also, note that in both of these situations, these were powerful men who took his wife. Isn't it possible that other men tried to ask for Sarah in marriage and were denied? Is there any possibility in your mind that Abraham attempted to forbid both Pharaoh and Abimelech from taking Sarah?
Tery wrote:
He was not anxious to give his wife away, but he was, under the perceived circumstances, willing.
I realize that I stand alone in this perspective, but I don't see that he was willing to share his wife in the text. I see him taking a position that probably worked well with most men in many situations, but with men powerful enough to take what they wanted, it got him into a jam. The thing is, if this was truly wrong, why didn't Abraham learn the first time? Why keep this thing going after the Pharaoh incident? Is it possible that God was using this to rebuke the lustful nations around him?
I don't know all the answers, but I am careful not to speak evil of a man favored by God. I think more information is needed to convict.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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