And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Abram lied about his wife to save his own life. Now the king of Egypt questions him about it, and the rebuke comes from the man Abram wronged rather than from God.
Pharaoh's question lands on the lie. But the lie was not where the trouble began.
Did Abram intend this? No! It was an unexpected turn of events. It was unbelief, which always produces in judgment the very evil it tries to avoid. Abram, afraid that Pharaoh would take his wife, says she is his sister — as if God would not protect him — and so Pharaoh takes her into his house. But it was the first step that was wrong: Abram went down into Egypt.
Pharaoh names the hidden marriage. Abram hid the one bond he should have guarded, and he hid it out of fear for himself.
Let us not forget that if nature rules us, it will also expose us. We see in all this that Abraham is thinking only of himself. He is not trying to protect Sarai. He is ready to sacrifice her to save himself. Where was the jealous care that Sarai should stay true to her relationship, and to the faithful confession of it? … The way to get the world's admiration is to deny your relationship to Christ.
God had already acted before Pharaoh spoke. Two things are true at once: God shields Abram, and Pharaoh shames him.
What marvellous grace to Abraham! God always delights to rebuke His people's fears as well as to answer their faith. He covered His failing servant with the shield of His powerful protection. Behind that unbreakable shield, Abraham's life and Sarah's virtue were both safe. And God's righteous rod struck the house of Egypt's king hard… Abraham had clearly exposed himself in all this matter. So although God protects him, He still allows Pharaoh to rebuke him. When the man of God steps off the path of faith and honest living, he at once exposes himself to the men of this world… If Abraham had stayed in Canaan, Pharaoh would never have reproved him in Egypt.
Pharaoh had a real grievance, and Abram has no reply.
The righteous government of God was at work. Pharaoh knew well enough that he had no right to take the woman, even if she were Abram's sister. He was taking advantage of his position to claim what did not belong to him. The result is that, struck by the clear hand of God, Pharaoh calls Abram and finds out the truth. Now it was Abram's turn to feel it. If Pharaoh was plagued, Abram was put to shame — what a humiliation for him! The world itself reproaches Abram. And what can he say? He came without God and he went without honour.
The rebuke carries a second surprise. The danger Abram feared was never there.
This is another result of his failure to walk in faith: he deals unfairly with an unbeliever. So God uses the unbeliever to reprove him. How wonderfully wise our God and Father is. He did not reprove Abram Himself. He left this in the hands of the unbeliever whom Abram had wronged… Abram also finds that his fears were groundless. Pharaoh had a proper respect for the marriage bond, as many unsaved people do today. This is a case of an unbeliever acting more honourably than a believer.
Egypt made Abram rich. His worship, meanwhile, stopped.
Through this whole period, until he returned to the place he had started from, he had no altar. When he left Egypt and returned to his life as a stranger in Canaan, he had what he had before. But he must first go back to the same place and find his altar again.
The way back is God's work as much as Abram's.
This beautiful chapter shows us the man of faith recovering himself. He recovers through the faithfulness and loving-kindness of God, who never lets such a man wander far or stay away long. The gold and silver, the flocks and herds of Egypt could not long satisfy Abram while he was without his tent and his altar. So once more, in the renewed energy of faith, he rises out of the dust of Egypt. He retraces his steps to the land of promise. Happy recovery!
- Step — The lie was not the first mistake. Going down to Egypt was, and unbelief brought about the very danger it was trying to dodge.
- Silence — Abram denied the bond he was meant to guard. He thought only of himself, and had no answer when the truth came out.
- Shield — God protected Sarai and Abram anyway. Failure did not cancel His care — but it did not cancel the consequences either.
- Shame — God handed the rebuke to the man Abram had wronged. Pharaoh proved more honourable than the man of faith.
- Return — Egypt gave riches but no altar. The way home led back to the exact place where Abram left his worship behind.
Why didst thou say, She is my sister, so that I took her as my wife. And now, behold, there is thy wife take [her], and go away.
Famine drove Abram down to Egypt, where he asked Sarai to say she was his sister. Here the cover story collapses: a pagan king summons the man God had called, hands back his wife, and tells him to leave.
What God did to Pharaoh's household forced this question out of him. God struck the king, not the man at fault.
The Lord dealt in His own wonderful way. He did not strike Abram, or even reduce the number of Abram's servants. Instead, "He plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues." How striking the ways of the Lord are, and how full of instruction for us! The righteous government of God was at work. Pharaoh knew well that he had no right to take the woman, even if she had been Abram's sister. He was using his position to claim what did not belong to him. The result is that Pharaoh, struck by the clear hand of God, calls Abram and finds out the truth. Now it was Abram's turn to feel. … He came without God, and he went without honour.
The half-truth was meant to keep Sarai safe. It did the opposite, and that pattern is not unique to Abram.
Unbelief carries its own judgment. It constantly leads into the very evil a person is trying to avoid. As it has been said, "The sons of men would build a tower so that they would not be scattered abroad, and the Lord scattered them because they built it. Abram, fearing that Pharaoh would take his wife, says she is his sister — as if God would not preserve him. So Pharaoh takes her into his house."
Pharaoh's own words show how needless the whole scheme was.
He also finds that his fears were groundless: Pharaoh had a proper respect for the marriage bond, as many unsaved people do today. This is a case of an unbeliever acting more honourably than a believer.
God did not deliver the reproof Himself. He let the injured party do it, and that carries its own sting.
The Lord intervened so drastically in the plaguing of Pharaoh's house that even that heathen monarch woke up to the facts of the situation and acted rightly. And not only that, he also rebuked Abram. Now it is a sorry situation when a man of the world can rightly rebuke a man of faith. But so it was here, and so, sadly, it has too often been since. Let us all be concerned that we do not find ourselves in such a situation.
The exposure traces back to a decision made long before the interview with Pharaoh.
When the man of God steps off the path of faith and Christian integrity, he at once exposes himself to the men of this world. He need not be surprised if they punish him with an unsparing hand. Had Abraham remained in Canaan, he would not have been reproved by Pharaoh in Egypt. It is far better to starve, if it must be so, in the path of obedience than to gain plenty by sacrificing faith and moral uprightness.
Pharaoh says he took Sarai as his wife. Yet two things happen at once here: her honour stays safe, and Abram walks away humiliated.
What marvellous grace to Abraham! God always delights to rebuke His people's fears as well as to answer their faith. He covered His failing servant with the shield of His powerful protection. Abraham's life and Sarah's virtue were both kept safe behind that impenetrable shield. … Abraham had clearly exposed himself in all this matter. So although God protects him, He still allows Pharaoh to rebuke him.
The command that ends the verse is a dismissal. Abram leaves Egypt not as a witness but as an embarrassment.
When the deceit comes out, the world dismisses Abraham. Pharaoh says, "Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go." And Pharaoh makes sure that he does go. How sad, when the world dismisses the people of God — not because of their faithful witness to God, but because of their own shameful conduct!
Yet the expulsion serves God's purpose. Leaving Egypt puts Abram back on the road home.
The king sends him away from the place he should never have gone to… The world sends him back to his true place. So God often uses the world today to rebuke the unfaithfulness of His own people. … As a result, Abram gets back "to the place of the altar which he had made there at the first; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah." He is restored to worship. In Egypt he did not call on the name of Jehovah, for he had no altar there.
- Downward — the rebuke began with a step: leaving Canaan for Egypt uninvited. Stay in the place of obedience and there is no Pharaoh to answer to.
- Backfired — unbelief walks into the danger it plans to escape. The story invented to keep Sarai safe is what put her in the king's house.
- Reversed — a pagan king respected marriage more than the man of faith did. The rebuke came from the man Abram had wronged.
- Shielded — God guarded Sarai's honour and Abram's life. He still let Pharaoh shame him in front of the world.
- Homeward — being thrown out of Egypt was mercy in disguise. Abram had no altar there. Back in Canaan, he called on the name of the Lord again.