Adult leaders Lindsey Hines and Sara Molski discuss Genesis Ch 20
GCV Students Podcast
Genesis 20
[MUSIC] Welcome students to another episode of the Cheesy Feed Students podcast. Happy New Year! Happy New Year, Ms. Sarah Molsky. Happy New Year, Ms. Lindsey. Oh, excited to be here, excited to be here. 2025, right? Gosh, let's make it a great one. Oh, I'm excited though, I'm excited, let's hope it's a good year. Yes, right. Jesus has a store. Absolutely. So Ms. Sarah Molsky is joining me today. I am Lindsay Hines. We are adult leaders with GCV Student Ministries. We have Oliver here as our producer today, fresh off of his holiday. Appreciate all that Oliver does. Absolutely. Keeping us afloat. So today we're going to talk about Genesis chapter 20. So last time, before we go forward, I just want to go back a little bit because the very first thing I want to talk about is like, why does Abraham leave? Mamry. So the very last thing that happened was there was a massive earthquake. Balls of flaming brimstone fell on the five cities of the plane or four out of the five cities of the plane. So our was spared and at the very end of chapter 19, we see Abraham up on the mountain staring down over the destruction in that Jordan Rift Valley. And then he turns and he goes home. And then the next time we see Abraham is here at the beginning of chapter 20 where it says now Abraham moved on from there, meaning Mamry, into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shor. So he's heading towards the Mediterranean Sea, he's going west away from the Jordan Rift Valley. Why do you think he goes? Wow. Great question. Because like in chapter 15, do you remember when he went to Egypt? And he told the Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister. So like then he went to Egypt because there was a famine. So he needed food. But that does not, doesn't say that there was a famine or any trouble where he was. It doesn't say that the Lord told him to move. I'm thinking fear. Right. Yeah. Had to be fear. That's my thinking and reading this. Thinking if you were like if I were in Abraham's shoes and I have this household, this support, it seems like we're in a place where it's unstable and dangerous. Right. I just see these two. You sit, you know, you know, yeah, black smoke, black smoke rising to the heavens, sulfur writing down. I'm going to be probably terrified. I feel like I'm going, you know, here it is early January and central Ohio and they're the storm is coming tomorrow. I mean, how many of us are like, I should live in Florida. Yeah. Right. Right now, I feel like you're seeing the what's going on outside and it's just, it's terrifying. Right. And I try to remind myself, I'm like, okay, the Lord has, you know, this is the Lord's will. We're going to be fine. But it's so easy to get. You see things and you're hearing things and you're, yes, it's a blizzard, it's, you know, so I'm sure Abraham felt that I think that's just a natural part of being a human being. Mm hmm. Yep. Feeling fear. And that's what I think too. I think he's motivated by fear, not just to leave memory, but throughout this entire chapter. He's motivated by fear. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. I also love this juxtaposition of who fears what, who's fearing whom. Mm hmm. So I'm going to, so I'm going to read this, I think this time and I'm going to do it really quick and then let's chat about it. Yeah. And just one more comment. Yeah. I think to Abraham, this is why, you know, he's sad. He's such a great examples, even though he demonstrates fear, he's still God's chosen one, right? Right. And still, and you know, so I think it shows you that being, being fearful is just human, but you know, it's working with God that, you know, you know, Abraham does so. Yeah. Well, and we'll see how God handles Abraham's fear too. Yes. Which is so comforting. Yes. Exactly. Yes. Okay. So we are in chapter 28, verse one, now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev, and lived between Kadesh and sure for a while, he stayed in Garah, and there Abraham said of his wife, Sarah, she is my sister, then a Bimalak, king of Garah, sent for Sarah and took her a Bimalak. The word a Bimalak means my father is king, Abba is father in Hebrew, and Malak is king. So this is like a prince. It may not be the guy's actual name. It may be an honorific, like this is the prince. Just like Pharaoh is in a name, Pharaoh means great house. Okay. So this is like an honorific. Oh, okay. We're like a title or classification. Yeah. Yeah. So a Bimalak's father is king, and he sends for Sarah and takes her into his household. Again. Yeah. Okay. So now we're on verse three, but God came to a Bimalak in a dream one night and said to him, you're as good as dead because of the woman you have taken. She is a married woman. Now a Bimalak had knock on near her, near her. So he said, Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, she is my sister? And didn't she also say he is my brother? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands. Then God said to him in the dream, yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience. And so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die. Right? Right. Early the next morning, a Bimalak summoned all his officials and when he told them all what had happened, they were very much afraid. Then a Bimalak called Abraham in and said, what have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done. And a Bimalak asked Abraham, what was your reason for doing this? Abraham replied, I said to myself, there is surely no fear of God in this place and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not of my mother. And she came to be my wife. And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, this is how you can show your love to me. Everywhere we go, say of me, he is my brother. Then a Bimalak brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and he returned Sarah, his wife to him. And a Bimalak said, my land is before you, live wherever you like. To Sarah, he said, I'm giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you. You are completely vindicated. Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed of a Bimalak, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again for the Lord had kept all the women in a Bimalak's household from conceiving because of Abraham or because of Sarah, Abraham's wife. So so much happening here. So interesting. There's so much interesting stuff in this. First of all, I love that a Bimalak turns to Sarah and says to Sarah because like men did not do business dealings with women in this time. So that he respects Sarah enough to look her in the eye and say, you have been vindicated today. I, you know, like brought her in, yeah, he respects her more than Abraham does see it's right in this instance, just to your point, I mean, back then that yet to talk to a woman to directly look at her, yeah, that was that was not heard of. Well, and this is incredibly manipulative of Abraham and we did not talk about this whenever I did chapter 15. So let's talk about it here manipulation. That's a good word to describe this. Yes. So marriage was a contract in, in the ancient world. This was a contract between two families. You have to understand the worldview of the, the way that people saw society at this time is very different than the way we see society now. Today we see society as composed of a bunch of individuals, kind of like pixels on a television, they all make a whole, you know, each little pixel is its own little color. But when they're all together, they make a whole. That is not how people thought of society in the ancient world. They thought of society more as a fabric woven together that everyone was connected and intertwined. And so marriage contracts were for the good of the community. They were not for the good of the families or the individuals. They were for the good of the community. The job of the family was to produce and educate the next generation for success. Preservation. Yes. Preservation of your way of life, your culture, your assets, your family, you know, name, all of these things were what the ancients were focused on. They were focused on the future, not on today. So because marriage is a contract and a business arrangement at this time, when Abraham goes into Gararr and says, "This is my sister," he's positioning himself as a party with whom to negotiate. So he's saying, "I've got something you might like," you know, so this is incredibly manipulative. Not only is he fearing a bimalike, like there are so many things I want to say about this. It's all like all coming up to the front of my, I'm all stuttering, you know? Yeah, there is a lot going on. Yeah. And it's very transactional. Yeah. Abraham's being very transactional and he's strategic because he's worried about him. Correct. He says they're going to kill me because of you, they're going to kill me, you know, take into consideration. Sarah's feeling. And this is how you can show your love to me instead of this is how I show my love to you. I protect you. Yeah. This is Abraham. He's a father of... Right. I mean, sorry. It's not funny. It's true. You know, here he is. I mean, the stuff that he's doing. Well, and that's an excellent point because I think sometimes we tend to gloss over this stuff or we like do some mental gymnastics because Abraham is a major father of the faith. I mean, major. I mean, I mean... Abraham is huge. I mean, really. And so we don't want to ever say he was wrong for this or that. Right. But then that takes all the power out of this passage. The Torah, Torah does not mean law. It means teaching. Yeah. Oh! We are to be taught. Yeah. The Torah. I was just thinking. I mean, you look at the three major religions, you know, Christianity, Judeas, Judaism. I never say that word. I know, right? And then Islam. And they all... Abraham is there for him. Abraham. I mean, they all incorporate Abraham. Yes. So he's a prominent figure in... Very well respected. And we also respect him. And that is why we're not going to objectify him. We're going to let him be a whole human. Exactly. Warts an all. But yeah, he was so flawed. So flawed. And that's what makes him beautiful. You know? Mmm, yeah. His flaws are what make him beautiful. Because if he hadn't done this, you know, we wouldn't get the lesson out of this, you know. I love that. And that's... You know, sometimes we wonder... The education. The teaching. Yeah. And sometimes I think we wonder, like, why God is this happening to me? Yes. Yes. That's a really hard lesson for your pride when the Lord teaches you. Sometimes it's not about you. Sometimes this is happening to you so someone else can watch it. Yeah. You know? Right. Everything isn't about us. And that's a good... I think that's a good... And you know, even going back to Jesus, right? How he uses parables, right? To teach. It is a lot about learning and teaching. Yes. Teaching and learning. Yeah. Yeah. And we're going to see how the Lord handles this. Okay. So where was I? First point is Abraham's being pretty manipulative and in an effort to preserve himself in it... So fear is self-centered. Fear is the emotion that you feel when you perceive that some harm or danger may come to you. So it is a very self-centered emotion. And because he has decided that fear is going to make the decisions today, in an effort to preserve his own self, he has put not just his wife, his wife. This is your own flesh. You know? A man leaves his wife or leaves his family and clings to his wife and that is why they are one flesh. You know? This is your own flesh. You put her in danger. And a bimelach. This is a huge... And not just a bimelach and Sarai, but remember, in chapter 18, the Lord came to Abraham and said, "Next year I will come back and you will have a son." And so with Sarah, so this is the promise is in her womb and he has sent that womb to another man's bed. Oh my, this is terrible, this is a big problem, this is an eternal salvation problem because this is the family that Jesus is going to come from. This is the man that the Lord chose to be his ancestor. You know? So this is not a small thing that he has done here. This is a huge, huge, huge deal, so not to overstate it. Yeah. So I think that this is interesting, the juxtaposition because Abraham walks into this... He tells Sarah, "They don't have any fear of God here. They don't fear God." Who doesn't fear God? Right. I mean, he's... Yeah. I picked up on that, too, when I read it. You're blaming this on them, but you're the one here who's afraid. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think last time we talked a little bit about what fear of the Lord really means. Correct. Yep. And there's a difference between worldly fear and the fear, the kingdom fear. Worldly fear is like terror, anxiety, afraid, but a kingdom fear is an assurance. You can rest in the knowledge that God is going to take care of you. No matter what happens, God is going to take care of you. That is what fear of the Lord means. You don't have to worry about this, whatever's going on. You don't have to worry about this. God's got it. And I think it's recognizing that God is sovereign, that he has control over. Yes. That even if Abimalak doesn't... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that even though Abimalak doesn't fear God, that does not mean that God is not sovereign over Abimalak. Correct. Right. Right. Because we see. Right. I mean... Right. God comes to him in a dream. Yeah. So... And I think it's interesting because like what's Abimalak... Okay. So Abraham has been walking with God for many years at this point. Right. They have a relationship. They have sat down and had a meal together. He's made promises. They've been through some things. They have a relationship. Yeah. Abimalak may not have ever even heard of Yahweh. Yeah. Right. Right. But who fears God? Yeah. Because God comes to Abimalak in a dream and immediately, immediately he makes moves to rectify the situation. And then over and above tries to compensate Sarah and Abraham. Right. And I think just knowing a little bit about like ancient court behavior, I really think that this is from Abimalak's perspective, this could be Abraham baiting him into a war. Yeah. Because nobody else around really knows what's happening between Abraham. So Abraham could leave this place, go all over the place and say, "Abimalak took my wife, took him and took her into his court." You know, Abimalak doesn't know Abraham. Literally the only thing Abraham or Abimalak knows about Abraham is that he's lied to him. Yeah. Right. Right. He tricked him. And he never even questions the Lord either when he comes to him in his dream. I mean, he just... He just pleases in his sense. He just is like, "Oh my gosh." He didn't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He pleases in his sense. He doesn't. There's no pride. There's no nothing. All he says is, "The Lord I didn't know." Yeah. And the Lord says, "I know you didn't know." Right. That's why I protected everybody. Right. You know, but Abraham had this actual relationship with the Lord and he didn't even... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And not only is the Lord protecting Abimalak and Sarah, but he's protecting the promise because what is the plague that hits Abimalak's family, shuts up everybody's womb. No one can conceive. No chil... Yeah. No offspring. Right? No future generation. No future generations here. No one's conceiving. Yeah. While this womb is in this house. Yeah. Which was... I mean, a huge... I mean, that's a huge... Yeah. I mean, that's a... Yeah. Yeah. It is the most important thing that's ever happened. I mean, you want to continue... Yeah. Yeah. Don't mess it up. Yeah. Yeah. You're... So it's like, yeah, to not... I mean, I'm sure they were just fre... Yeah. So freaked out. Yeah. Yeah. So I just think it's so interesting. And then I also think it's interesting when the Lord is talking to Abimalak in his dream. He says in verse 7, "Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live." So I think this is interesting because as big as Abraham has blown it today, you know, like as big of a mess as he has made, does that change God's opinion of him even a little bit? Yeah. No. I mean, the Lord calls him a prophet. Yeah. He says... He's been asking Abraham to do all this. He's been asking Abraham to pray for you. And he's gonna... Yeah. He says, "Have them ask me, because I'm gonna still give him whatever he asks me for. And if you ask me for something for you, you're gonna get it." Mm-hmm. Right? Right. Right. That's amazing. I just thought that was so interesting. And that was so comforting to me. Because boy, do I blow it. Yeah. Right? Somebody died. Right. Right. Right. Right. You know, like here we are, like Abraham again. Like how many times have I done the same thing? Exactly. Over. You know. I know Pastor Christian has talked about this, like with your... with sinning. Right? I mean, if you continue to engage in the same sin. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and sometimes we think, "Oh, well, circumstances are ever so slightly different this time." Right. So maybe the same thing will work. No. No. No. So comforting to me that the Lord, even after Abraham, makes this huge error in judgment. And really sins against not just the Lord, but he sins against his own wife, his future children, a bimolec in his entire kingdom, you know, when we act out of fear to preserve ourselves, we oftentimes aren't considering that we may be inadvertently causing danger for other people. And in an effort to keep ourselves out of danger, we're putting others in danger. Mm-hmm. I cannot think of an example, but I know I've felt that or thought that at one point. Right. That's what I'm showing. That's an example. War. Right. That's an example. Yeah. Exactly. I'm afraid you're going to hurt me, so I'm going to hurt you first. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Or like when you say something, when you say something really hurtful or mean to someone, because you just, you know, you're worried about what's going to happen to you or how you're going to be judged and, yeah, yeah, so you lash out. Right. Yeah. Or like, you know, something like what happened with, uh, for Garrison's not here. We don't win. But he was so brave last week until I heard that last week. It was actually several weeks ago, but he was so brave and talking about his story with mango. And so, you know, that's a great, you know, thank you, Garrison, for giving us that great example. I think it was a great example. Because he was just a little bit afraid, you know, and so he was trying to protect himself and in doing so. He didn't know that that would cause problems for mango and grape, you know, he didn't do it on purpose. He didn't try to hurt them. He tried to protect himself. I do the same thing all the time. We all do. Yeah. You know, and studying counseling, we talk about how the brain is, it's there to protect you. I mean, that's what your brain is, is, is always doing, like, how is this going to, it's always valuing what thread am I in and how do I protect myself from this threat, right? You know? But I think what's interesting is that the Lord does not, I don't think that's how the Lord designed us. I don't think that was what the Lord intended for us to constantly be evaluating threats and then trying to calculate how to present it. And you know what a great way to end up, a huge part of our sin nature. Yeah. Well, and a good way to know whether or not you're supposed to be doing it, what is it due to your body? Fear tears your body up. Oh, yeah. Cortisol tears about your insides. Yes. You know, give your heart disease, I mean, you know, liver problems, they're seeing such a huge correlation now between your mental and your physical health because they're very much, you know, you were designed to operate in a certain way. And if you are not operating in that way, right, you're going to break your machine. Yeah. We weren't designed for these stress and near and anxiety. No, we're, what does Jesus say? And to me, all who are burdened, I will give you exact, exactly, exactly, exactly. We had everything in the garden of Eden. We wanted for nothing. We had no predators, you know, so was fear built in? Did your original design? Oh, no. When did we start feeling fear and shame and blaming each other was after the fruit. After the fruit. Yeah. After they ate that fruit. Yeah. But they disobeyed the Lord. And that was. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So instead of notes this time, I really just wrote like a list of questions because this is a pretty cut and dry chapter. There wasn't like a whole lot of like weird background stuff or things that we really needed to know. So, but I didn't want to talk about fear. I know we've been talking about fear the whole time, but let's just like maybe drill down into it. So in this chapter, what is it that Abraham fears? I think he's fearing the same thing that he was kind of fearing in chapter 15 with Pharaoh that he would be killed so that a bimlet can marry, say, right? That was how I, yes, that was how I took this chapter is that he's fear, he's fearing death. Yeah. In this. It's a self-preservation. Yeah. But I'm also wondering if there's a, if there's a pride, like if he's fearing, I don't know, maybe somewhat of his authority to, I don't know, I can't, I haven't fully, it hasn't fully developed. Developed. Developed. Yeah. But I thought he's afraid of looking stupid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's afraid of looking stupid or maybe it's almost fear of being worthless, right? So like, he has to be a brother because that makes him more valuable. He has to be bringing something valuable and needs to be bringing something valuable. And I just wonder if that might be part of his, his psyche as well. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Like maybe, maybe a bimlet wouldn't accept him just by himself. And so he's thinking I got to come in with something. Yeah. And again, I haven't ever met Abraham. So I don't know. Oh, I can't. I would love to meet Abraham. I know. But just from what you read of him, there just seems to be a bit of a, you know, I have to be in charge. I need to be the one to, I don't know, maybe a little, yeah, yeah, some like an ego, maybe, you know, just this like, I don't know. So absolutely. Absolutely. And any, any human would have one by this time. That's what I mean. I mean, that's a, yeah. This isn't cool. Yeah. I'm not judging him. Absolutely not. How could you be this great of a man and not have a little bit of an ego? Well, if you're having, you know, meals with the Lord and you're talking to the Lord and there has to be a sense of like, well, yeah, you literally just conquered the world like 10 years ago, you know, so I do wonder for it. And just the way that how Abraham does treat Sarah, I think it suggests they're just not a, there's a sort of superiority complex there into a certain, yeah. Yeah. But again, I don't know, I've never met him, you know, I don't know, but I, I just thinking about human behavior and human, yeah, in general, and again, it's a very general thing because every person is unique based on their neurobiology, but there does, I don't know. We do tend as human beings to, we can be very prideful. So I don't know if this is a reach, but I was thinking whenever you were talking that he may, that maybe we objectify ourselves a little bit, not just each other, but even our own selves, right, where he's not seeing himself as a human being with, with weaknesses and fragility, but he's seeing himself as a leader. Yeah, and I think it's, it's the, a core nature of our humanity to want to, are worth to be known and to be illustrated. And I feel like with Abraham, here he is just wandering, right, per the Lord's instruction, but here he is coming to talk to our prince and I'm wondering if Abraham has this sense of who am I? Of course he becomes the father of all nations, right? But I think sometimes it's hard, we, since we can't know the future and we don't know what the legacy is, it's hard, again, not having faith, you know, not being able to see the long term, you know, just going, oh, you know, and here I am and then this other now new city, they don't know who I am or what I contribute. Yeah, they don't know that I'm God's favorite, you know, yeah, yeah, I think that's, I think that's really, but that's a good thought. Yeah, it just, yeah, something that kind of was, I was also thinking through too, as I read the chapter. Yeah. Well, and he's, he's also of maybe a little bit afraid of the Lord because he moves away from Mamrie. Right. I mean, that's the other thing too. I mean, as you said, Abraham has this pretty, this is a substantial relationship with the Lord. He has to be thinking about what the Lord, you know, is thinking too, and he knows what the Lord has promised him and the conversations he's has with the Lord, but he's still engaging in, in this behavior. So it's, it's, yeah, like what is his thoughts about, right, with, you know, yeah, the Lord as well. Yeah. I wonder if Abraham, you know, I don't know, I want, you know, and this is. A lot of conjecture. This is a ton of conjecture, right. But I really think it's a good exercise to, to think about what these, these are actual people. Abraham lived. He was an, he, this is not a character like Aslan. This is an actual man who lived who was a whole person. Yeah. Human being. Yeah. And like Pastor Christian was saying this morning, you know, like sometimes we let the worries of life, crowd out what we know that we know about God, right. Exactly. So when he's watching this black smoke rise up from this entire Jordan Valley, you know, I don't know that might make me a little nervous as much experience as I have with the Lord, you know. Well, I'm just going back to the neurobiology. That's what I was saying. I mean, our brains, when you think about the primitive formation of our brain, right, the brainstem into the, like the Olympic system, that, that whole part of your brain is designed to protect you. I mean, that's what the brain is doing. So it isn't, you know, I think what's exciting about human beings is we have the potential for rationality and logic. And I think that is where we do experience the Lord in your intelligence, get out of that primitive stage in your intelligence, yeah, yeah, because you're not just a body, you know, you're not just a brain, you've got a higher being. You have a higher being, you have a, you've got a soul and a spirit and a spirit, yeah. Those are way stronger than your body, right, right. What do you think Sarah fears? Oh, that's a great question because I didn't really, hmm, right, because you don't hear much about her. She's just kind of alone in this, isn't she? You don't. But that's a great question, well, I'm, I would think one of her initial fears is death as well. I mean, here Abraham and Sarah are in a foreign, foreign place. I'm sure their lives. I mean, I'm sure they were both very concerned for their lives, right? Do you think she may be a bit more concerned for Abraham's life, Abraham's life, than even her own, because she agrees to go into the household. That puts her a lot closer to Abimalak and his execution squad than it does. Abraham. Oh, that's interesting. I never, you know, I do think about it from that perspective, because she does do it. I mean, I don't, I mean, I mean, I don't know how much of a choice she really had. Yeah. That's my point. Abraham, I mean, but he did have to, he did have to tell her this is how you show your love to me. He didn't command her. He manipulated her too. This is how you can show me if you love me, if you love me, you would, if you love me, you would go into Abimalak's bed. Yeah. Yeah. What a weird thing to say to your wife. Very weird. I mean, yeah. What a weird thing to say. Yeah. If my, yeah, in today's just culture, I would know if my husband told me that I'd say, and I'm staying there. Yeah. Right. I'd be like, bye bye. You can leave. That's right. Yeah. I'm just kidding. I never read that. I'm just kidding. I never really thought about, to, back to your point, oh, this is going to go over, back to your point though about marriages and being contractual and transactional, but you do kind of wonder about Abraham and Sarah and what, if how much love they had for each other. Right. Because you're right. Abraham does say to her, this is how you show your love for me. Well, was love even? Right. And then where does that put her? Where does that put her? If I don't go, then I don't love you. Okay. Right. Exactly. Like it. I'm only, you kind of do wonder like, was Sarah somewhat afraid of Abraham? Like, was she kind of anxious of like, oh, I don't want to say no because then, I don't want to say no because my husband, but, but then she may not have been afraid that Abraham would hurt her, but she may have been afraid that she would be cast out because she does not have children. Right. You know, she's getting older. Women didn't have. He's got Hagar now. I mean, he got Hagar and Ishmael now. Right. So what does he need her for? Which, right, which is, we saw Sarah back, you know, previously she, that's why she sent Hagar away because she got jealous. She got jealous. So she probably had a lot of fears about her, and she may have been, but more just sort of standing. Right. Well, if something happens to Abraham, if Abraham is executed, she has no one because as far as she knows, what got burned up in song? Right. Right. She's got no one. And, you know, women were, they didn't have money. They weren't able to go and get ways to take them out themselves. Right. And she doesn't even have the air. Hagar has the air. Hagar has the air. So she's got nothing. She has nothing. Yeah. Yeah. She's in a bad situation. So maybe it isn't. Everything. She's sort of fearing everything. And to your point, it's more like destitution. Mm-hmm. Like, she would just be desperation. Yeah. She's desperate. Yeah. She would have nothing. How would she even survive? Mm-hmm. Yeah. She probably feels like she has no choice. She has no choice. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it does, I mean, it almost does seem, I mean, he does end up sort of fearing the Lord. Exactly. Right. He's the only one in the story that fears God and he's a stranger to him. He's the only one who really does demonstrate a acceptance of the Lord's sovereignty. Yes. You know, I mean, he is. This is the first time we see this trope. This is going to be a trope in the Bible, the righteous Gentile trope, where the Gentile, the perd, the stranger to God, ends up being more faithful than God's own family. Think of the centurion in the New Testament, where he says, "Lord, I'm not worthy that you should even come under my roof. Just say the word of my servant will be healed. I am a man with a people under me. I say to this one, go and he goes. This one, come and he comes. Just say the word. Yeah. And Jesus, that amazed him because faith like that was to be found nowhere in Israel. So here, Abraham has no faith, but a Bimmelach has all the faith in the world. Yes. He believes God. He's more faith here than people can be. When God says, "You're going to die if you don't do this," he believes him. He's got more faith than Adam and more faith than Sarah, right? I mean, here's Abraham and Sarah, God's chosen people and they're demonstrating less faith. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So a Bimmelach, our first righteous Gentile, which I love the righteous Gentile trope, being a Gentile myself. It is really. But I think it also, because like, what a dream this must have been. Oh, yeah. But I also do you think, as you mentioned earlier, it goes back to your choice, right? It's the individual. It's that individual's choice to recognize God's sovereignty and say, "Ooh, I recognize the Lord's power, therefore I fear it in a sense." Yeah. I'm going to do what this guy says. He says, "Because I know, if I don't, it will be not good." Because he's got power over me. He has power over me. It's recognizing that. That power. Yeah. So here, a Bimmelach, my father is king, is his name. And he's recognizing that this God that he does not know as authority over him, that's a level of humility that would be hard to reach if you were especially a Philistine at this time. Yeah. The Philistines are widely believed to have been the sea peoples that were torturing everybody that were like, and we talked about the sea peoples, I think, and when we did the Chapter 11 episode or Chapter 10, maybe the Table of Nations, but they come from Greece. Yeah. So they are, they, they like war. They're violent. They're violent folks. I'm trying to look up exactly where is the region of Negeve. I was trying to get a where? Oh, the Negeve. Negeve. It's the... Negeve. No, it's fine. You may be pronouncing it right. It's basically the desert. Okay. So if you're looking at, there's Africa and there's that little triangle bit, then there's the Middle East, that little triangle bit, the middle of that is all desert and that's basically the Negeve, I think. So it's that very close to what is that sort of promised land, the whole region. Yeah, it's the desert just south of it. Yeah. I was reading more about that the other night. So it's just so cool by the Lord chose that area, right? It's connecting Egypt or now what we call the continent of Africa with the Middle East, which is the continent of Asia. And Europe. Yeah. And yeah. So how it just... It's a place of connector. It's the center of the world. And I just love that, that's where God chose, you know, Abraham to go. So anyway, yeah. Okay. So it is right by that place because I was trying to figure out maybe just a race or ethnicity of, yeah, I think they are descended from the Greeks. They are sons of J. Feth. Remember Shem Ham and J. Feth? Oh. These are J. Feths, children. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I believe. So. Okay. So then the last… the last thing I have, the last question I have here is what does God do in this chapter, which is a big, and I feel like too vague question. So maybe let's narrow it down. What does God do for Abraham? I feel like ultimately he's teaching him a lesson. Right. And protecting him. And protecting him. Yeah. But he surely doesn't punish him and he sure doesn't revoke. Rebuke him. Yeah. Talk to you. Yeah. I mean, which he had, I mean, every, I mean Abraham was disobeying the law. I mean, he had no faith here, but yeah, yeah. Yeah. The Lord comes in. Does he even? Yeah. I mean, like the Lord doesn't even say you shouldn't have done that. Right. He doesn't even scold. No. Abraham. None of it. I think he does. I think he's fascinating. Yeah. I know. So loving. Doesn't make the household of a bimilek sick. He just shuts everyone's wounds because there's a lot riding on this. So a lot riding on Sarah. And here's another little fun fact. Back in chapter 18, when the Lord asks, yeah, chapter 18 verse nine, where is your wife Sarah? They asked him. There in the tent. He said. In the tent was a euphemism for menstruation at this time, because women were considered unclean if they were menstruating, so they would be sent to a separate tent and you had to like stay in that tent until your cycle was done and you went through whatever ritual washing or whatever. Yeah. It's in Leviticus. I don't know exactly what it is. Yeah. But whatever you had to do. So if you were in the tent, you were, you know, what do we say these days on ant flows and ant flows? Yeah. We have euphemisms. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they also had euphemisms. And in the tent is a euphemism for starting your period. And so here is Sarah at an advanced age in her 80s postmenopausal and all of a sudden her womb is opened up again. So her womb is already opened when Abraham gives her to a bimilek. And so the Lord, instead of, you know, raining down, burning brimstone like he did in the last chapter, is so gentle, so gentle. Yeah. He just keeps everybody from conceiving. He goes to a bimilek in a dream and he says, bro, you got to hit, give her back. Yeah. Yeah. And, and even says, even in the dream, he isn't like, you know, until Abraham never to do that again, you know, he's like, ask him to pray for you. Because he's a prophet, he's still given him this elevated position. He's not demoted him. He's not changed his, he didn't change his destiny. He didn't say, this may not be the guy, he doesn't have enough faith. Nope. Yeah. Well, and then, you know, to Abraham's credit, all the, I mean, he does at the end, you know, verse 17, then Abraham prayed to God. So, you know, Abraham continues to be faithful to, I mean, he does show faith here in the end by praying to, to the Lord. Yeah. I just love how gentle the Lord was through this entire chapter. And then at the end, you know, Abraham is even blessed because here, a bimilek is in public. Again, remember, this could be seen by a bimilek as Abraham baiting him into a war. So he publicly, you know, it says he's got witnesses. So he publicly says to Abraham, I am returning your sister, untouched. I have not touched her, you know, and I'm giving you the, the, in the ancient world, the bride price would move from the, it was essentially a dowry. Okay. So like what a dowry is, is an insurance policy for a woman. The family of the woman would send a dowry with her. And this was in the event that she would be cast out by her husband or he died. She would have something to sustain her. So in the New Testament, we see that woman with the alabaster jar of perfume, that very expensive perfume that she breaks and it starts washing Jesus, the anointing him with it. I think some scholars believe that that could have been her dowry because it was it very expensive. She could have sold it and got money to eat and live. So traditionally the dowry moves from the bride's family to the husband, the household of the husband. In this case now, the dowry is moving the opposite direction. So a bimilek is essentially sending Sarah back to Abraham with these expensive gifts. Yeah. Like a dowry. Yeah. So I didn't think this is so interesting because like it seems like a bimilek is really a pretty cool dude. He does. Exactly. I mean, not only does he, you know, for, you know, essentially kind of forgive them for what the deceiving, but then he gives them gifts. Right. He's so gracious. Yeah. And he's not like angry. He's just like, what did I ever do to you? What did I do to you? What did I do to you? I'm just about it too. My, I do appreciate how he's just says, you know, what, you know, verse 10 or verse, yeah, verse 10. And, you know, he asked, what was your reasoning for doing this? I just love. What on earth? Did you do this? Come out and ask him, you know, instead of getting angry and just, I think he's suspicious. I think he's suspicious. I think he's like, you tell me the reason that you did this because I think you're setting me up. But then I think this all kind of goes, because then you kind of wonder what happens like we don't, do we, we don't really hear from a bimolek and his, his lady meet him again. We do meet him again. I don't. Yeah. But not with Abraham again, this time Isaac and Rebecca are going to pull the same little stunt. Okay. But it's much later. Um, I shouldn't say much later. It's like two chapters from now, but you just kind of wonder too, what see this might plant in bimolek about the Lord and who is this Lord? Right. And that, you know, that was the little, that was the good thing that came out of the chapter 15 was that now Pharaoh has met and fears God. Exactly. Exactly. And so now here, a bimolek has met and fears God. Yeah. And he met a prophet of God who is going to pray for him to be blessed. Yeah. So these are all good things. Right. Right. And this is like that beauty for ashes. You know, the Lord, it's not like the Lord needs us to mess up so that he can make good out of it. But when we do mess up, he is able to make good out of it. And that is ultimately my, I would say probably my favorite thing from the Lord is that you're exactly right. He doesn't, he doesn't mess up, but I love how we do because we will. He always brings something good out of it. He's able to all three of these people end up willing to bring something good out of it. And I just, that to me is why he's gone because he can just always bring something good out of it. Right. Right. Yes. Well, all right. I think that is all that I have for chapter 20, next time we're going to go into chapter 21. And that is the birth of Isaac. So we are going to get to, Isaac story, we're going to get to meet Isaac. Yeah. And we're going to hear what happens with Sarah and Hagar also. Do you have any other questions or comments? Oliver, what do you think Oliver is like, I don't have a mic. I don't think. All right. Well, I think we're all good. Thank you so much, Sarah for coming and joining with me and braving the weather. We have a winter storm happening here in central Ohio. So tonight goes, but have a great week, students and look forward to next time. Right. Absolutely. All of your hard work. And thank you listeners for your time today, and we will see you next time. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]