Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abram's lie (Genesis 12:17)?

131 Where was his trust in God? where the integrity of his way? Bitter was that time to Abram, or sad the forgetfulness of an unrighteous heart. The he must have lain heavy on his heart, but he must receive his sheet) and the oxen; cutting as it might be, he had involved himself in the circumstances, he stood upon his own declaration that she was his sister. Had Abram intended this? No! it was an unlooked-for circumstance; it was unbelief, which continually produces in judgment the evil which it seeks to avoid. The sons of men would build a tower lest they should be scattered abroad, and the Lord scattered them because they built it. Abram, fearing lest Pharaoh should take his wife, says she is his sister (as if God would not preserve him), and therefore Pharaoh takes her into his house. But it was the first step that was wrong - Abram went down into Egypt. He went down without God out of the land of faith and promise, and he could not expect (for God could not bless unbelief, though He might judge sin that acted in it unrighteously) to meet God there; his heart knew Him not in power there; and as he must act on something, he acts on his own resources prudently; but as he had departed from faith in God, so was faithfulness in the position of his wife with her true husband departed from: and he was blessed in the world (yea, and by the prince of this world) for his unfaithfulness.

132 If Satan gets the church, in its state and condition, into his own house (however mercifully God may preserve it), he will bless the faithless instruments of the betrayal with the things of the world. Such, then, is the history (not of the calling, but) of the practical conduct of the church: not of the calling of God, which we saw in its sure infallibility before, together with Sarai and all he had, but of the acting of men in the place to which they are called - in their departure from it, not acting in faith; and such are the results. The end is not that Abram is honoured, but that the Lord vindicates Himself in plaguing Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abram's wife. He asserts and maintains the title, and Judges and will judge the world for thus taking another man's wife. The church is the King's daughter, and is taken in the lust of its own dominion by the world. And this the Lord would, and was entitled to, visit. But still the sin was Abram's, his blessings all this while were curses. And it is worthy of remark, that it was an Egyptian handmaid that typified the fleshly covenant of bondage: the world always genders unto bondage, for it is ever opposed to the Spirit of God; and whenever, therefore, the world comes in, it merely produces, and in result is identified with, bondage (where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty). For the world in its results is developed by bringing an expectation and an endeavour to procure the inheritance by a covenant of works. Such has been the actual fact in the church, and will be, because the Spirit is opposed to the world; and, that being grieved and absent, the other takes its place, with the indulgence of lusts, resting on works, and union with the world. But while this was an ultimate result, I would now rest merely upon the picture which is actually presented to us in this chapter, of the cause, character, and consequence of the working of the spirit of unbelief in the church, called out indeed, but looked at as in the hands of man. In the early part of the chapter we have its calling of God, and its results as well as character. The latter part shews its conduct in man, the shame, worldly comfort, unbelief, and sorrow; but also the merciful interposition of that God, who, when we have wearied Him with our sins, acts and delivers for His own name's sake, and vindicates., in righteous dealing toward the world, what the unrighteousness of man had plunged unfaithfully into its power.

The Lord nevertheless dealt in His own marvellous way; for He did not smite Abram, or even Abram's servants to thin them down, but "he plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues." How striking are the ways of the Lord, and how full of instruction for us! The righteous government of God was at work: for 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 issue is that, struck by the evident hand of God, Pharaoh calls Abram and finds out the truth. Now it was Abram's turn to feel. If Pharaoh was plagued, Abram was put to the blush: what a humiliation for him! The very world reproaches Abram. And what can he say? He came without God and he went without honour.

Abram quits Egypt. Pharaoh had learnt somewhat of God's righteous ways: what could he think of Abram? Were his riches to his credit? He had gravely compromised himself, and been rebuked by a heathen; but at least he is on the right road again. "He went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south," and afterwards goes to Bethel "unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah" (Gen. 13:4).

“And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.” What marvelous grace to Abraham! God, who ever delights to rebuke his people's fears as well as to answer their faith, covered His erring servant with the shield of His powerful protection. Abraham's life and Sarah's virtue were both preserved in safety behind that impenetrable shield, and the house of Egypt's monarch was made to feel the heavy stroke of Jehovah's righteous rod. “And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, she is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife.” Abraham had evidently exposed himself in all this matter. Hence, although God protects him, He yet allows Pharaoh to rebuke him.

It is well to see this. 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, and he need not marvel if they chastise him with an unsparing hand. Had Abraham remained in Canaan, he would not have been reproved by Pharaoh in Egypt. It is better far to starve, if it must be so, in the path of obedience than gain abundance by the sacrifice of faith and moral uprightness. May we have grace to remember this at all times! It is easy enough to put these things down on paper, but when the moment of temptation arises, it is another thing. Still we must remember that the Spirit of God has penned the history of Abraham for our profit, and it is well for us to ponder its holy lessons.

Yet, in spite of all failure, God is faithful to His own. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God does not give up His people when they break down. He acts on our behalf, though in His governmental ways we have to suffer for our folly. Thus it was that God acted on behalf of his failing servant. So we read, "the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife."

In result, when the deceit is discovered, Abraham is dismissed by the world, for, Pharaoh says, "Behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way." And Pharaoh takes care that he does go, for he "commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." Alas, when the world dismisses the people of God, not because of their faithful witness to God, but, because of their own shameful conduct!

The matter does not end with their falsifying their relationship. When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, learned of Sarai's beauty and understands that she is an unmarried woman, he has her taken into his own house (v. 15). Also he enriched Abram for Sarai' sake, giving him sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and servants (v. 16). A believer who mingles with the world and compromises his testimony for Christ in this way may often prosper materially; but ought not this to have greatly troubled Abram's conscience? Was he not also deeply disturbed by having his wife welcomed into the house of another man? Here were complications he had evidently not anticipated, and he found himself helpless to extricate himself.

But the Lord graciously intervened by sending great plagues on Pharaoh and his household (v. 17). We are not told whether Pharaoh enquired as to why the plagues came, but he did find out that Sarai was Abram's wife. Whether or not we are willing to confess the truth, God will certainly bring it out. This is a great mercy for the child of God.

Then Abram has to face Pharaoh about this matter (vv. 18-19), but he has nothing to say when Pharaoh charges him with treating Pharaoh in an unjust, unfair way. This is another result of his failure to walk in faith: he deals unfairly with an unbeliever. Therefore God uses the unbeliever to reprove him. How wonderfully wise is our God and Father. Rather than reproving Abram Himself, He left this in the hands of the unbeliever whom Abram had wronged. This kind of an experience would be humiliating for any believer. 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 honorably than a believer. There are many, though they do not accept Christianity, who do show respect for those who have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Pharaoh showed this respect for Abram in spite of his having to reprove him. On the other hand, while Pharaoh gives Sarai back to Abram, he does not expect Abram to remain there. He tells him to “take her and go” (v. 19), “and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had” (v. 20). By this time also, Abram would surely realize that Egypt was not the place for him. God had brought him to this point of realization, for it is only His working that brings about restoration.

The matter does not end with their falsifying their relationship. When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, learned of Sarai's beauty and understands that she is an unmarried woman, he has her taken into his own house (v.15). Also he enriched Abram for Sarai's sake, giving him sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and servants (v.16). A believer who mingles with the world and compromises his testimony for Christ in this way may often prosper materially; but ought not this to have greatly troubled Abram's conscience? Was he not also deeply disturbed by having his wife welcomed into the house of another man? Here were complications he had evidently not anticipated, and he found himself helpless to extricate himself.

But the Lord graciously intervened by sending great plagues on Pharaoh and his household (v.17). We are not told whether Pharaoh enquired as to why the plagues came, but he did find out that Sarai was Abram's wife. Whether or not we are willing to confess the truth, God will certainly bring it out. This is a great mercy for the child of God.

Then Abram has to face Pharaoh about this matter (vs.18-19), but he has nothing to say when Pharaoh charges him with treating Pharaoh in an unjust, unfair way. This is another result of his failure to walk in faith: he deals unfairly with an unbeliever. Therefore God uses the unbeliever to reprove him. How wonderfully wise is our God and Father. Rather than reproving Abram Himself, He left this in the hands of the unbeliever whom Abram had wronged. This kind of experience would be humiliating for any believer. 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 honorably than a believer. There are many, though they do not accept Christianity, who do show respect for those who have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Pharaoh showed this respect for Abram in spite of his having to reprove him.

On the other hand, while Pharaoh gives Sarai back to Abram, he does not expect Abram to remain there. He tells him to "take her and go" (v.19), "and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had" (v.20). By this time also, Abram would surely realize that Egypt was not the place for him. God had brought him to this point of realization, for it is only His working that brings about restoration.

The cases of Pharaoh and Abimelech only confirm the remarks we have made. Moreover, in the parallel part of the passage, Jehovah is used in both cases. Jehovah plagued Pharaoh with great plagues. Jehovah had fast closed up the wombs of the house of Abimelech. Only there is added in Abimelech's case, God having known Abimelech's integrity in the matter, that He (Elohim) warned Abimelech in a dream. Now here Jehovah the God of Israel would have been quite out of place; for Abimelech was a Philistine, and Abraham already distinctively called. Yet, as a gracious God in nature and character, Elohim could chastise Abimelech temporarily for his error, and warn him, though He would preserve the integrity of the family He had chosen.

Here let me remark, that undoubtedly Abraham was to blame. In the day when God judges the secrets of men's hearts, all this will have its place between God and Abraham; but in His government of the world, all having fallen into idolatry, God was shewing His special care over one called out in grace to bear His name, and walk under His protection. Hence that special care of him and his descendants, till there was no remedy, because they respected the name of Jehovah less than a heathen, as was shewn in Zedekiah's conduct with Nebuchadnezzar. He that touched them Jehovah's called ones, touched Jehovah Himself, who declared He would protect them as El-Shaddaï, the Almighty, such a one touched the apple of His own eye. Jehovah's power as Almighty had to be made good against the apostate and guilty heathen, for the sustaining the faith of His called ones, and the knowledge that there was a God of the earth.

Then we have another thing, — not mere infirmity but alas! failure — open and serious failure. He who had come out to God's call, the stranger in the land that was given him of God, fearing the pressure of circumstances, goes down into the granary of the earth, the land which boasts of exhaustless resources. Abram went there of his own motion, without God or His word. Not only is no altar there, but he is without the guidance and guard of divine power morally. Abram fails miserably. Say not that this is to disparage the blessed man of God; it is rather to feel and to confess what we are, which is as much a part (however low) of our Christian duty as to adore what God is in His own excellency to our own souls. Flesh is no better in an Abram than in any other. It is the same ruinous quagmire wherever trusted, in every person and in any circumstances. And there it is that Abram (who had already failed in the unbelief which induced him to seek Egypt, away from the land into which God had called him) denies his wife, exposing her to the most imminent danger of defilement, and bringing not a blessing on the families of the earth, but a plague from Jehovah on Pharaoh and his house. Thus Abram proves the utter hopelessness either of blessing to others or preservation even for ourselves when straying from the place into which God calls us.

When Abraham went down into Egypt, he entered into a compact with Sarah his wife to conceal part of the truth, "Say, I pray thee," said he, "thou art my sister." (Gen. 12:13) One evil ever leads to another. Abraham was moving in the wrong direction when he went down into Egypt for help, and therefore did not exhibit that refinement of conscience which would have told him of the moral unsoundness of this mental reservation. "Speak every man truth with his neighbour," being a divine principle, would always exercise an influence upon one walking in communion with God; but Abraham's desire to get out of present trial was an evidence of failure in communion, and hence "his moral sense," as a recent writer has termed it, was not as keen or as elevated as it should have been. However, although the Lord plagued Pharaoh's house because of his having taken Sarah into it, and further, although Pharaoh rebukes Abraham for his acting in the matter, yet the latter says nothing whatever about the deliberate compact into which he had entered with his wife, to keep back part of the truth; he silently takes the rebuke and goes on his way, but the root of the evil remained still in his heart, ready to show itself at any time if circumstances should arise to draw it out.