Did Abraham Get Away with Lying?

“You reap what you sow,” or at least that’s what the Bible says. But do we always? Sometimes it might seem like we get away with sin, that we violate God’s commands and nobody knows or that nobody is hurt. Sometimes, if we read quickly and carelessly, we might even think that some of the characters of the Bible get away with sin. But do they ever really?

Take, for example, Abraham. Abraham lied on at least two occasions and perhaps more (Genesis 20:11-13) by claiming that Sarai/Sarah was his sister. While Abraham would perhaps argue that technically this isn’t a lie, since Sarah was his half-sister, it was deceptive. Abraham intentionally communicated that Sarah was only his sister. He left people with that impression to protect himself, even though this would result in Sarah being taken and the leader of the people who took her would find themselves in trouble with God. Abraham does this to Pharaoh, leader of Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20) and Abimelech, leader of Gerar (Genesis 20).

But both of these stories seem to work out. After all, in both stories Abraham gets his wife back, and even ends up a little richer than before. While Abraham is in Egypt, we read that he is given gifts (Genesis 12:16), and when Abimelech returns Sarah he gives a large sum of money to protest that he has done nothing wrong (Genesis 20:16). Nothing bad happens to Abraham, and the story seems to plod along as if nothing happened. So did Abraham get away with his sin? Did he make money off lying with zero consequences?

If we read the story of Abraham very carefully, we will find that no, no he did not get away with anything. While it is true nothing bad immediately happened to him, a careful study of this account will show that there was a price to Abraham’s sin. The seeds of his dishonesty took some time to grow, but grow they did, and they bore some pretty rotten fruit. Here are four ways that Abraham’s dishonesty cost him and those around him.

His sin failed to achieve God’s purpose

God told Abraham that he had been called to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Yet Abraham doesn’t do great when interacting with the nations. The first story of Abraham meeting a foreign leader involves the debacle in Egypt, where the Pharaoh angrily kicks him out at the end. Abraham’s actions lead to a curse on the nations, as they became either sick (Genesis 12:17) or were kept from having children (Genesis 20:17-18). Not exactly a blessing.

Fortunately, God is able to work through Abraham, in spite of Abraham’s failures, to accomplish His purpose. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the damage that Abraham did to the work God was trying to do. When we sin, even if we don’t feel the full sting of our choices, it’s often true that we pay the price of missing out on what God is trying to do through us.

His sin influenced Lot

Almost immediately after Abraham and Lot return to Canaan after being kicked out of Egypt, they run into a problem. Their hired helpers start fighting over resources because they are both so wealthy that they realize they will need to split up. Of course, people who know the story know that Abraham gave the choice to Lot, and Lot made the foolish decision to head toward Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, as if to remind us what a bad idea this will end up being, the text leaves this little side comment “This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah” (Genesis 13:10b), and just in case you were unsure whether this was the right or wrong decision, the passage also includes the detail that “the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the LORD” (Genesis 13:13).

But why did Lot head in that direction? We are once again given important information in this text. “Lot looked out and saw that the entire plain of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the LORD’s garden and the land of Egypt” (Genesis 13:10a). Did you catch that important detail? “Like… the land of Egypt.” In the chapter immediately after Lot and Abraham are kicked out of Egypt, Lot decides to head down to Sodom because it reminds him of Egypt. Where did he learn that?

Abraham modeled spiritual compromise for material security, and sadly that is the example that Lot followed. The result was disaster for Lot and his family. Now, Lot was responsible for his choices, and won’t be able to pull the “I was just copying my uncle” routine to escape the blame for the bad decisions he made. But Abraham will be responsible for the bad influence he had in his nephew’s life, and for the bad example he set of fear-filled living rather than faith-filled living. Abraham loved Lot, and I can’t help but wonder if Abraham felt partly responsible for Lot’s decision to prioritize security and comfort over spiritual principles.

His sin introduced conflict between Egypt and Israel

Two of the most famous characters in the Abraham saga are, of course, Hagar and her son Ishmael. The tension between Sarah and Hagar, however, is more than just two women who can’t get along. Genesis 16 says that Sarah “oppresses” her servant so badly that she runs away (Genesis 16:6). This is an interesting word choice, because in Genesis 15:13 Abraham is told that his descendants will be “oppressed” by another land. Sure enough, when Israel is in Egypt we read that they are “oppressed” by the Egyptians (Exodus 1:11-12). In all of these instances, the same Hebrew word is being used here (‘anah).

Don’t forget, Hagar was an Egyptian. There seems to be a back and forth here, where Sarah oppresses an Egyptian slave and then the Egyptian people oppress Sarah’s children. Where did Abraham get his Egyptian slave? Well, we don’t know for sure, but it makes sense that this happened during his stay in Egypt when Pharaoh gave him “female servants” (Genesis 12:16). Abraham’s stay in Egypt likely resulted in him getting a slave that would cause headaches for his family, and which would poetically foreshadow the conflict between Egypt and Israel.

His sin influenced his family

Abraham lied to get out of danger. We could even say that his half truth was a trick of sorts. This is important because his son Isaac will later attempt the same deceitful, tricking behavior. Yet while it appears to be true that Sarah really was Abraham’s half-sister, it most certainly was not true when Isaac told the lie (Genesis 26:7-11). So Abraham had a problem with lying, but he could rationalize it as a half-truth. His son saw that example and followed it, and by now we’re up to a complete lie.

But it doesn’t stop there. Isaac will have a son and his name will be Jacob, or “heel grabber.” The idea behind this name is a trickster, someone who deceives others to get what he wants. The story of Jacob will involve lots of tricking, deception, and outright lies. Where did Jacob learn his trickster ways? From his father, who learned it from his father. But it doesn’t stop there.

Jacob will have sons, and the tricking and deception will be taken to a whole new level. While Jacob was trying to trick people into getting what he wanted, it normally didn’t involve violence. But with Jacob’s sons we see tricking along with violence. All of the brothers (except Reuben) decide they will sell their brother into slavery and lie to their dad that he was killed by a wild animal. But that was child’s play compared to what happened when someone violated their sister Dinah. Levi and Simeon convince an entire city to have their men circumcised, and then when the men are sore they enter and murder them and take away the spoil of the city (Genesis 36). Where did they learn to use such wicked deception? From their father Jacob, who learned it from his father Isaac, who learned it from his father Abraham.

 

So did Abraham get away with lying? No, certainly not. First of all, his lying failed to bring God the glory that was due His name. It set an example of prioritizing material security over spiritual principle that would spell disaster for Lot and his family. It introduced a character that would set up a conflict between Israel and Egypt that would result in hundreds of years of slavery. And it sowed the seeds of dishonesty that would get worse with every generation until eventually his great-grandchildren are murdering cities and selling off their brother.

God’s grace and mercy are such that often we are spared the full weight of what our sin has earned us, but that doesn’t mean that sin is ever without consequences. Even when we don’t see the consequences, or at least see them right away, sin has a price tag. We should learn well the lesson that Abraham here teaches us. God can forgive us, yes, and He can even get us out of sticky situations that we get ourselves into. But sin always has a price. Abraham didn’t get away with his sin, and neither will you.

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Ben Hicks is the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis. This article originally appeared on his Substack.

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Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash