Day 17 – Abraham & Sarah

• In today’s passages we continue to get to know Abraham and are introduced to his wife, Sarah (or Sarai – just a different spelling of the same name).
• What did Abraham do in both of the two Genesis passages (regarding where he went)? Thinking specifically about Genesis 12:10, do you think Abraham went to Egypt because he didn’t trust that God would see him through the famine, or was Abraham just making wise choices?
• In both passages, we see Abraham have a problem. He knows that his wife was very beautiful, and if people thought that they were married, they might kill Abraham in order to marry Sarah. What plan did they come up with instead?
• In pretending to be brother and sister – something that Genesis 20:13 suggests happened on a regular basis –  was Abraham trusting in God? Does it make a difference that Sarah actually was his half-sister?
• How did Sarah honour Abraham? The 1 Peter passage will help, plus your own thoughts in the Genesis passages. According to the bible texts we’ve read today and so far, should a wife always follow her husband and do what he says? What about if he might be making an unwise choice?
• Abraham didn’t do the right thing even after being rebuked in Genesis 12. He repeated the same error of judgement in chapter 20! What does this show about God’s grace and patience?
• Did the Pharaoh (chapter 12) and King Abimelech (chapter 20) act properly when they found out that Sarah was married to Abraham? Was God in control here? Were you impressed with Abimelech’s actions, and how did they contrast Abraham’s?
• It’s worth pointing out that Abraham was a very wealthy man. The number of animals and people he had with him were astonishingly high – in fact he may have been on of the wealthiest people in the entire world at the time, according to some. Do you think this wealth would have made it harder for him to trust God, and make the journeys he was asked to make?
• Does the 1 Peter passage forbid women to do their hair nicely, and wear jewellery? If not, what is the point that Peter is making?
• Think about Abraham at this point. He has been promised (in Genesis 1:1-3 that we read yesterday) a family, but he has no child. He has been promised a land, but he’s wandering through foreign areas he doesn’t know, let alone own. He has been promised blessing, but suffered through a famine. He’s living with a promise, but experiencing hardship and (from a human perspective) uncertainty. Picking up the theme of yesterday’s passages, Abraham was completely trusting in God. He’s living by faith – even though that faith wavered such as in the stories we read today. Can you think of a time in your life when you’ve just not known where to turn, or how you’re going to get somewhere, and trusted in God that He can work in your life? How did the situation work out?

A further note on 1 Peter passage might be helpful. A wife is called in the Bible to honour her husband, and Peter credits Sarah for doing so. A wife is not called to put her husband before God though, so if she knew he was asking her to do something sinful, she would be right to honour God by going against her husband.

This passage makes some people uneasy, especially in today’s culture. Does this passage concern you? If so, do talk with someone, such as me, Mel, Chris or your parents. It’s important to realise that men and women are both called to play sacrificial roles in marriage, but they are slightly different.