Genesis 20:1-7
1.) Why did God tell Abimelech that he was a dead man for taking Sarah when for all he knew she was just Abraham’s sister?
Abimelech was a pagan. He would not be convicted over moral right and wrong. God knew the language that Abimelech would understand. Physical affliction and death are powerful motivators.
Abimelech sounds innocent enough. However, we don’t know that he took Sarah without any objection from Abraham. I have to believe that Abraham raised some objection, even if just pretending to be a concerned brother, over Sarah being taken away – obviously against her will.
In any case, it appears that the threat of death was needed for Abimelech to give her back.
2.) God intervened to stop a bad situation from getting out of control. Why didn’t God just let Abraham and Sarah suffer the consequences of their sin?
God made a covenant with Abraham. If you remember, only God passed through the animal carcass to consummate the covenant. It was God’s promise and covenant to keep, regardless of Abraham’s sin.
God promised a nation through Abraham and Sarah. He was going to make sure His promise was fulfilled.
3.) Has God ever bailed you rather than let you suffer for a sinful choice?
Hopefully get the class to share. We all have mistakes we’ve made in the past that could have turned out much worse than they did. I can look back and some of the decisions and choices I’ve made and I’m just amazed. How am I here today with the wife and family I have today?
Think about how God has bailed you out. Obviously he has a purpose for us in this life. Fortunately he gives us plenty of do-overs. However, unless you have a covenant promise from God on some great blessing he has in store for you, don’t expect to get a do-over next time.
Genesis 20:8-13
4.) Why did Abimelch and his men have fear over a dream?
Dreams are one of God’s ways of reaching out to non-believers. There are many testimonies of Muslims being saved after experiencing dream with Jesus talking to them.
Other examples in the bible:
Pharaoh – Genesis 41
Nebuchadnezzar – Daniel 2 and 4
In all of these cases, these dreams were vivid enough for these men to be afraid. I’ve not had God talk to me in a dream. My guess is that it is pretty clear that you’re not having a normal dream.
5.) What was Abraham’s sin?
Abraham tries to excuse himself by explaining it as a little white lie. She was his half-sister. He just left out the part about her being his wife.
Are little white lie’s like this a sin? Should you never tell one and just live a policy of brutal honesty, regardless of the consequences?
Besides the sin of the lie there was the sin at the root of the lie. Despite everything God had promised Abraham and in spite of his personal relationship with God, Abraham lost faith, if only for a moment. He let fear convince him that if he did not lie, he would die. His fear led him to not trust that God could or would protect him.
6.) What were the consequences of his sin?
Abimelech almost lost his life.
Abimelech had some type of illness and his wife and female servants were made barren.
Abraham’s credibility was damaged, at least for the time being.
7.) What are some consequences in our lives when we sin that are similar?
Sin usually hurts others. God’s commandment right after loving Him is to love our neighbors. All of sins occur when we violate these commandments and whenever we fail to love our neighbor we hurt our neighbor.
When we sin, particularly against others, we lose our credibility as witnesses to that person.
8.) How is it that Abraham lost his faith and sinned? Why do believers sin?
Abraham was justified by faith (Genesis 15:6) but that did not change his old nature. We all face this battle every day (1 John 1:8).
9.) Are we destined to sin over and over even when we don’t want to because of our old nature?
We do have victory over sin because Christ died for us (Romans 6). However, we must live by the Spirit within us (Galatians 5:16) if we are to realize that victory. Often we choose the flesh over the Spirit.
So while we fail, we must look forward with the expectation to win each battle, not lose.
Genesis 20:14-18
10.) Why do you suppose Abimelech did more than just return Sarah and ask Abraham to pray for him? He gave him sheep, oxen, servants, silver and freedom to live anywhere in the land he chose.
Abimelech was afraid. He literally had the fear of God in him. That must have been one powerful dream.
If only we could be as obedient and live our lives as if God had commanded us in a dream.
Why don’t we live with the fear of God in our lives?
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by Tony
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Genesis 19:10-11 (ESV)
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
1.) Review - How have we gotten to this part of the story?
2.) Once blinded, the mend still tried to find the door. At first sin is easy, but once we’ve given ourselves over to it completely, we go to extreme measures to fulfill our lusts. What are some examples where we might sin, even when we have to work especially hard at it?
Genesis 19:12-16 (ESV)
12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.
13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
3.) What importance does God place on family?
4.) What role or responsibility do you have in the salvation of your family?
5.) Will your family members be saved because of your faith or their own?
6.) Why did Lot linger when he knew the city was about to be destroyed?
7.) How do we linger when it comes to doing God’s will?
Genesis 19:17-22 (ESV)
17 And as they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away."
18 And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords.
19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!"
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
8.) Why did Lot not want to flee to the hills but to a small city instead?
Genesis 19:23-29 (ESV)
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
9.) Doesn’t it seem like a harsh punishment for Lot’s wife to be killed just for looking back? After all, there was quite a commotion happening behind her and she had already made it to their safe harbor.
Genesis 19:30-38 (ESV)
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."
33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father."
35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
10.) Originally, Lot begged to be allowed to run to Zoar instead of the mountains. However, after the actual destruction of Sodom he decides to leave this city to go live a cave. What changed Lot’s attitude?
11.) Why didn’t Lot seek out Abraham?
12.) How did the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah affect Lot’s daughters?
13.) What had a bigger influence on Lot’s daughters, their Father, witnessing God’s wrath, or the culture in which they were raised?
14.) What warning should we heed from this?
15.) How many generations can be affected by our sins today?
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by Tony
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Genesis 18:9-15
1.) Why did Sarah laugh when she over heard God telling Abraham that she would bear a child the following year?
The obvious answer is that she was well beyond the child bearing years and she knew it. However, this promise was so far out there that it caused her to actually laugh at the idea.
We all tend to put God in a box. We think we have faith and we say we understand that God can do anything. But most of us draw the line somewhere. Maybe we don’t say that God can’t do it. We usually mask our lack of faith by saying God could do it if he wanted but he probably has other plans.
The problem is that we live in a box. God can do more wonderful things in our life than we can even think to ask about.
Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)
3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Genesis 18:16-33
2.) Why did God tell Abraham what he was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah?
God saw Abraham as a partner in his redemptive plan. Abraham was more than an unwilling participant but a partner. How great to be a partner is God’s plans as opposed to just a bit player or by-stander. God is going to carry out his ultimate plans. However, he blesses us by allowing us to play a part.
3.) In what ways can you be sure to actively participate in God’s plans? What did Abraham do in order for God to consider him an “insider” with His plans?
Abraham believed and obeyed God.
4.) Why was God sending his angels to check out Sodom and Gomorrah in person? God knows all, so God knew what it was really like there. Why the personal visit?
If God had just wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah without talking to Abraham about it, Abraham would not have had the chance to intercede on behalf of the inhabitants of the city. Part of the reason for God’s personal visit was to talk to Abraham about it, not that Abraham was going to change His mind but that Abraham would have the opportunity to give an interceding request. God also knew that it would take His angels visiting Lot in person to get him to leave the city and God was intent on sparring Lot.
5.) God promised not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he found ten righteous people in the city. Did Abraham talk God into this decision? If not, what was going on with this dialog between Abraham and God?
God could have told Abraham that he knew there were none righteous in Sodom and that he would give Lot and his family the opportunity to get out. After all, God knows all so he knew he would not find any righteous there.
You’ll also notice that Abraham probably knew that God knew how many were righteous there yet he still pleaded with God for mercy for any righteous God may find. Again, we should take our petitions and intercessions to God and not assume they are not important because God is going to do what He’s going to do anyway.
Genesis 19:1-11
6.) How did Lot end up living in Sodom?
Lot chose to live near Sodom and Gomorrah back when he and Abraham split up and Abraham gave Lot his choice of where to raise his herds. Lot looked around and picked the land that looked the best rather than offering the best to his elder who had taken care of him since his father’s death.
It appears Lot went from living near Sodom to living in the city itself. Lot has some authority in this city as the city gate is where the important men hung out to conduct business. The men of Sodom also had some respect for Lot in that they asked him for the two strangers rather than immediately storming his house.
7.) Why do you suppose Lot was able to live in relatively peace in this evil town that it ready to rape strangers that wander into it?
Lot was enticed by what Sodom had to offer, in spite of immorality all around him. He knew it was so immoral that strangers should not walk the streets at night alone.
Lot was able to fit in somehow. We don’t know for sure why. However, we can make some good guesses by thinking of our own lives. How do we usually manage to fit-in with a lost world? If we are “fitting in” in most cases this is because we are either joining in with their evil deeds or condoning their actions with our silence.
Do you ever condone sin with your silence?
8.) What kind of man was Lot to offer up his daughters so that these two strangers would not be taken by the men of Sodom?
Lot had crossed from condoning evil actions with silence to offering his own daughters to appease the evil men of the city. This is the slippery slope of turning a blind eye to evil around you.
James 4:4 (ESV)
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Open-ended questions for class discussion:
9.) What compromises do we make with our lives and with the lives of our families because of what we are enticed into by the world?
10.) How do we as Christians live in the world but not fall into the trappings of the world? Do we move to the mountains and the desert? How do we separate ourselves but still reach out to a fallen world?
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Abraham,
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Sodom and Gomorrah
by Tony
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