Abraham's 'Safe' Lying Policy

 Abraham's 'Safe' Lying Policy

Abraham had a lying policy.

We see it in Egypt and now we see it in Genesis 20 when Abraham goes through Gerar. Gerar was a nation whose king was Abimelech. It seems that the nation wasn’t all that good.

Though Abraham’s fears came from unbelief in God, they must have had some grounds in the morality of the nation.

Abraham’s policy was as follows:


[Gen 20:13 NKJV] – 13 "And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This [is] your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, "He [is] my brother." ' "


Sarah was a beautiful woman and Abraham knew that. And to make sure people wouldn’t kill him for his wife he lied about her. They would say she was her sister. 

Technically this was true:


[Gen 20:12 NKJV] – 12 "But indeed [she is] truly my sister. She [is] the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.


But of course, this wasn’t the issue. A lie can technically be true while it still warps reality. It is still a lie. 

The fact that this was morally wrong for Abraham to do is both shown by the consequences and by the fact that Sarah was rebuked for going along with it:


[Gen 20:16 NKJV] – 16 Then to Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand [pieces] of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who [are] with you and before everybody." Thus she was rebuked.


The first time this lie was used Abraham lost his wife to Pharaoh in Egypt. Now he lost her again.


[Gen 20:1-2 NKJV] – 1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She [is] my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.


Why, then, did Abraham lie?
He feared. And he may well have feared for good reasons. That would explain why God wasn’t too hard on Abraham while he spoke quite hard to Pharaoh and Abimelech.

Either way, what Abraham did was wrong. He should have known after Egypt that God was there to protect him and that he didn’t have to lie. God had promised He would give Abraham a son through Sarah. There was no way that until then Abraham would be killed or Sarah taken away.

And yet, Abraham feared because of the circumstances. He didn’t just take reasonable precautions, it wasn’t just him not being presumptuous, but there was actual unbelief and lying involved.


[Gen 20:10-11 NKJV] – 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?" 11 And Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely the fear of God [is] not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.


Thus Abraham had established a lying policy that had terrible consequences.

And these white lies that were technically true came from fear.
And this fear came from unbelief in God’s word and protection.

Often our tendency to lie will be the same. We are scared of the consequences to tell the truth and we do not trust in God. The circumstances may make it incredibly reasonable and easy to lie, but it is still a lie born out of fear and unbelief.

We are no to warp reality and flatter ourselves that it is ‘technically the truth’ either. It is the same fear, the same unbelieving spirit that seems to be self-preserving and safe, but rather has terrible consequences. 

It is human psychology to be liars, especially in these circumstances. But it should not be so.


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