Dream Setting/Backstory 

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King Abimelek’s dream came fourteen years after Abraham’s Covenant Dream.  In the meantime Abraham made a couple of really big blunders.  Firstly, instead of patiently waiting for God’s promised heir he listened to Sarah and tried to help bring about God’s promises by sleeping with Sarah’s maid, Hagar.  

This resulted, not in the promised child but in a problem child called Ishmael who became the spiritual father of all the Islamic nations still hell bent on destroying Israel.   

Later, when Abraham was a hundred years old, God again appeared and affirmed His covenant.  God emphasised it would be His plans and purpose that would come to pass and not Sarah’s worldly scheme. God’s sovereign intention was that His Messianic purpose would flow through Isaac’s seed line and not Ishmael’s seed line.  God said,  

Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and
you will call him Isaac. I will establish
my covenant with him as an everlasting
covenant for his descendants after
him. [1]

Abraham’s second blunder also involved his beautiful wife Sarah. In Genesis 12 Abraham and Sarah were in Egypt due to a famine in Canaan.  Abraham was afraid Pharaoh might kill him and steal his lovely wife.  Eastern princes often exercised their right of collecting the beautiful women of their dominions into their harem.    

In order to protect himself Abraham asked Sarah to say she was his sister (a half truth) and not his wife so Pharaoh might treat him favourably.  This deception worked for a time.   

Pharaoh gave Abraham a substantial amount of property, including sheep, oxen, assess, male and female slaves, she-asses, and camels.  He also took Sarah into his harem and was very close to innocently committing adultery.   

Then Pharaoh realised something was badly wrong when he and his household began to suffer various plagues.   Afterwards when Pharaoh discovered Sarah was Abraham’s wife he rebuked Abraham for his deception and expelled him and Sarah out of Egypt but he allowed them to keep their possessions.  

There were three of these brother-sister subterfuges in Genesis. The one with Pharaoh, this one with Abimelek and a similar one involving Isaac and Rebecca in Genesis 26.  Sins of the fathers?  

Each time the powerful rulers rebuked the powerless nomads for telling lies but perhaps Abraham’s and Isaac’s fears are not without foundation because powerful royalty can be very treacherous.  Queen Jezebel murdered Naboth in order to steal his vineyard and King David killed righteous Uriah in an effort to hide his sin and steal Bathsheba for himself. 

Just before King Abimelek’s dream Abraham and Sarah are up to their old tricks of telling half-truths and this has put a whole nation under God’s judgment.  

God had promised Isaac would be born within the year and now Sarah was in King Abimelek’s harem awaiting adultery.  Abraham’s fear of telling the whole truth had put both Sarah and Abimelek in the dangerous position of derailing God’s covenant plans.  

The Dream Scripture 

Genesis 20:1-18 

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Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 

But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”  Now Abimelek had not gone 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.” 

Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.  Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.”  And Abimelek 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 became 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 Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”  To Sarah he said, “I am 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 Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah. 

The Problem 

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God’s plans and purpose for the seedline of the Messiah is under imminent threat. Abimelek is innocently sitting on a ticking time bomb totally unaware God is about to kill him and his entire household.   So God mercifully makes all the women of Abimelek’s household barren and sends a dream to get his attention.  

The Dreamer’s Metron  

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Abimelek was the king of Gerar when Abraham travelled through the Philistine territory of Kadesh and Shur. He  was in the powerful position of being able to bless or destroy Abraham and his household.  God used Abimelek’s influential metron to keep His covenantal promises to Abraham on track.  

The Message 

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The dream’s plain message needs no interpretation. Basically God said, Abimelek, 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.   

God’s Purpose 

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God’s primary purpose was to advance His covenantal promises to Abraham concerning his descendants and the Messiah.  It was God’s intention Isaac should be born to Abraham and Sarah in order to inherit the Abrahamic Covenant.  

God also used Abimelek to financially prosper Abraham just as He’d previously used Pharaoh. God was merciful to Abimelek. He was both firm but loving.  Firm was, I’m going to kill you.  Loving was, I know you didn’t do it on purpose so repent and you’ll live and everyone gets healed.  

Satan’s Purpose 

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Satan’s purpose was to have Sarah commit adultery with Abimelek and thereby derail God’s plans and promises.  

Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened 

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Abimelek responded brilliantly!  He immediately understood and received the dream’s revelation and successfully interceded with God for his life and the lives of his people.   

Abimelek showed himself to be an able and diplomatic leader. Even though he was not to blame he made amends and saved Sarah’s reputation.   His quick response saved numerous lives including the unborn.  Had he not obeyed God’s dream he and his people would have perished. 

Dreamer’s Response and Application 

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Abimelek believed God and wasted no time in appropriately responding.  He successfully defended himself with God on the basis of the revelation and next morning put God’s instructions into immediate effect.   

He called his leaders together and contrary to Abraham’s fearful assertion they really did fear God.   Like a lot of modern Christians, Abraham made the classic mistake of wrongly judging non-followers of Yahweh as not being God fearing.   

Abimelek rebuked Abraham but was also warm and generous to him and Sarah.  He was very sensitive to Sarah’s dilemma and graciously restored her honour before all the people. Abimelek’s quick and decisive leadership turned a disastrous situation around and saved his nation.  He was a worthy leader.  

Know God Better 

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Sovereign God was decisive. He also kept His word to Abraham.  The dream shows God has the power of life and death and will use it when He needs to.   Yet He is gracious  because He personally visited Abimelek in the dream instead of sending a man or an angel.   

Through a dream God can prevent us from sinning against Him and incurring judgment upon our families.  God in His mercy can stop pagan leaders from sinning and bringing a curse upon themselves and death to their people.   

We see God knows all things and is just.  There is judgment.  There is mercy.  He can bless, He can curse. He responds to repentance and brings reconciliation and healing. But He is always a promise keeper, always working His purpose for Jesus out.  

God also showed He honours the delegated authority He gives to His ministers. He told Abimelek, Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live.  It was Abraham’s anointed prayers that God used to heal Abimelek’s household and to avert His wrath.  

The Dream Process 

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This is a literal dream in which God dialogues with the dreamer. It’s a warning dream with corrective instructions. It’s without symbolism and requires no interpretation but it does require a quick response. It was of personal, national and international importance. 

Takeaways 

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God’s prophet’s fear and half truths endangered God’s plans and purpose and brought a whole nation under the judgement of God.  A pagan leader’s wise response and obedience to God brought blessing while a wrong response would have brought death.   

Proper responses to God’s dreams gain God’s blessing.  God speaks both to his followers and non-followers in dreams.   

We can’t use a modern Christian term non-believer to describe folk like Abimelek and other non-followers of Yahweh like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar.  

These leaders totally believed in the supernatural. They just didn’t have the revelation of the true God before they had their dreams.  Although only God’s people experience God’s visions, God speaks to all mankind through dreams.   

That’s what makes them such a great vehicle for revelation and instruction.  

1 Genesis 17:19