Dr. Dean Alley PhD: All right, Chaplain Dean Alley, I had a moment. Happy Friday. And I am doing some live streaming here, so I don't know why Twitter's not working. Let's try again. I'll try to load that one in. But you may see me on live, you may see me on the recording later. That's okay. Doesn't want to load Twitter. Take it out. Anyways, all right. So I hope you're doing well. Happy Friday. And I hope that everything's going well for you. And I know yesterday we talked about chapter nineteen, if you remember. And are in the study of Genesis. And what we're learning is we just this pastor talked about Sodom and Gomorrah, and there was other cities that were destroyed. And it it it it it was Remember everything in the Bible was written to you or for you, excuse me, not to you, but for you to understand. So if it's in the Bible, it's something God wanted us to know. So he does a good job, and there's you know, John talks about there's many things that never made the Bible. there was so much to write, he couldn't write it all down. So what I would say is at this point. going into chapter 20, and again, this series is through Genesis, and my goal is to kind of get us through that, build that foundation, get into Exodus a little bit, and then my my goal is to get us right into looking at Romans and bringing you into Paul's writings and what is what's actually written to you. So as always I do due diligence on the study. studied I r I I put up something yesterday or yesterday evening. I read Revelations twice and I read it in different versions of the Bible. And simply came out with a Facebook post that talked about how many people were were going to be killed ⁓ in Revelations when Jesus comes back. it's not people were like just attacking me, which is okay. I'm used to it, trust me. But I engaged in every single one in their conversation. As long as it's not profanity, I will respond. And I responded in kind to every single one of Especially if you have Instagram or that the other part that goes with I don't know. But there was a lot of traffic over that and I find is people don't want to hear the truth. They don't want the truth and if they don't like what they hear, you're the problem. That kind of sounds like how they made us feel during COVID. You didn't get the shot, you're the problem. You had movie stars and newscasts, all these people. But so I do due diligence. I've read the the Torah today and I'll try to put a couple of things in here from what I read. But my authority is the Bible, period. End of sentence. So when we look at this Genesis, it has a character all by itself, folks. Its own beginning of scripture, it contains a gem almost in every great principle later developed in God's dealing with mankind. Creation, the fall, the promise, the call, the judgment, the redemption, the covenants are all discussed and sojourning in the seed of promise, the blessed nations. I could go on and on and on, but these principles appear with a freshness all of the rel our relationship that later in history often loses. I sometimes we forget that. We are living. I mean, obviously you you've heard the sayings of last days, all that. I'm not here to scare you, folks. I'm here to provide the Bible as it is written and provide it as the mouthpiece, if you will. And I simply do that and I take very good care of exactly how I'm going to read that. And I am not going to waste anybody's time. pray for God's wisdom and direction and that I don't leave anything out. And hope it I hope it's a blessing and and maybe even help you in something that you may be dealing with or you might be struggling with. So let's just jump into this one. Short, short little chapter. We've got eight verses I mean 18 verses immediately after Sodom. ⁓ Abraham travels south to to Gerer, where fear again leads him to present his sister, or his Sarah, his wife, as his sister, and he he's afraid. I mean, you're talking about Abraham now. God is protecting you, and you have a relationship, and he's afraid, and he's thinking, well, I'm gonna get killed selfishly. My if but I be but if I say that's my sister, I should be okay. Now let me give you a fact check. Sarah was Abraham's brother's wife, and he had passed. So, in context, you you could kind of look at that from a relative standpoint, but she he she absolutely was his wife. And that stuff went on back in those days. you know, so he presents her as his sister, and Amalek, who ⁓ the king of Guerrero where this this fear that A ⁓ Abraham has he starts to he's gonna make some things up here and God confronts the king in the dream because he was gonna he was gonna go take his wife take his sister he thought was his sister make her his wife and God intercedes and he comes to a g in he comes to him in a dream and he basically says it it exposes the Patriarch's moral compromise while God Himself protects the promised seed and the pagan king. So thus the incident displays some tension. And these next two chapters, 20 and 21, we find that the heir of the promised verses and the heir of according to the flesh. And God fulfills Sarah, so nothing happened to her. the covenant despite Abraham's belief and the call walked by grace rather than by the device of fear. So I would say this, I do not think that Abraham lost his countenance with with God 'cause he gets restored. So let's just look at the historical context here. You kinda gotta go back to chapter nineteen here and look at it. So we know he immediately leaves Sodom from the destruction. Abraham he he he leaves Mamre or Hebron and travels south to Negiv and essentially in Ka Kadesh and Shur and settles in Gir, which is the city state of southern Canaan. there's a lot questions on why he why did he leave? Why was he leaving? And It could be Southern Canaan, it could be the the Tel it could be the Tel Hera era. And as pa and during the patriarch period is what we're talking about here with Abraham. Traditionally is the second millennium BC, which would be the middle of the bronze bronze age for my doubters out there. Sarah is ninety, ⁓ Isaac's birth is imminent. That was promised in where? Chapter eighteen, remember? And then we're gonna see this in the next chapter where he's born. Emelech a throne title and it basically means in Hebrew, my father is king. It's not a personal name or anything like that, but DR ruler had typically royal prerogative to take women into his household. I mean they that happened a lot in in antiquity and gotta remember this is we're we're we're way back here now. We're talking second millennia and we're talking about what they did in those time frames ⁓ and Philistines here they refers to the Asian creation ⁓ creating related to the inhabitants or later into the region of the people. And they were called the sea people later in twelve twelve hundred BC. And his sister, as I mentioned, the s Mar his sister's marriage, same father, but different mothers, was cultural culturally known. And Abraham repeats the half truth. That's a half truth. And he says that and used it in a he used it in Egypt as well. So from a doctrinal standpoint, God's sovereignty protects the covenant line in the promised seed through Sarah. And human failure again, it cannot abort the plan. So God protects that. He intercedes. First over time, I mean a Old Testament of prophet is used in this chapter. Abraham is God's design ⁓ designator intercessor, and God restrains sin before it is completed. He says, I also withhold you from sinning against me. Verse six. We're gonna read these verses in a moment. So integrity and truth telling versus the fear driven with a half truth. So Amalek, who's a pagan, right, shows you're a pagan, you're a Gentile, if you're not part of the Israel Jewish nations. they're not even there yet, they haven't even been called out yet. But it's immediate and moral integrity than Abraham in this episode. So marriage is invocable inviolable. Taking another man's wife. Is a capital offense before God, but not in these pagan countries. God, God basically blesses the nations of Israel or Abraham blesses nations through Abraham. He becomes that seed, even rebuking him. And prayer brings the healing and the So I'm going to say something about his prayer, and I'm going to liken it to something that is it's important. But before I do that, let me give you a snapshot of the area. Let's share the window. And you should be able to see that. Alright, you should be able to see that. So what did we say? Is Girar. This is the city. And it really comes all the way down here to sure. He leaves Nageb, which we saw earlier. It's Karn ⁓ Kadesh Barnia, so that we know that that's the holy place, ⁓ which is southwest of Beersheba. And these are important places down the road. But Paren is here, and ⁓ and let me just go over here a little bit so you can see ⁓ this is the Red Sea right here, ⁓ you're gonna see up here. ⁓ The mountain you can see the mountain range here, but you can see the Dead Sea. Here's the Dead Sea. And let's see if I can pick up Euphrates. Yeah. Let me try to pick up your free anyways. I'm probably too far gone out here. But anyways, so I'm just trying to show you is Dead Sea Parent. ⁓ This is the Red Sea because he crosses here and he ends up over here in Mount Sinai. Anyways, so I just wanted to bring into your bel your view, ⁓ this is Egypt and Shur and Harem, you can see it all back in this time was was considered part of the Egyptian or the ⁓ pagan king ⁓ era so that's that's something there that we see so let me ⁓ pop out of this and we'll get into some reading and let's see if I can stop boom okay you got it so let's let's let's read some scripture right Lord don't let me leave anything out let me cover everything that you want me to cover And ⁓ may it be a blessing. May it open the minds of the people that are listening or will listen at a later stage, but open up open open the minds of the people that they understand how important you you and your your word is to them. All right, so starting in 20. This is the Abraham and Amalek. And Abraham journey journeyed from thence. So we know that he's coming from where? He's coming from where he said he was leaving, which was the Oaks of Mary, Mammary. We know that that that area is where he's leaving. We we really don't know why he's leaving. there's some there's some outliers out there that put out some different things that say. Yeah, that's the reason why you left, but I I don't find anything credible there. So he heads towards the southern country, which we know is Egypt, and he dwells in K Kadesh, Shur and Shur and sojourn. Sojourn means he stays in Gower. So Garir is long I thought I had put up let me just see something real quick. I had a really good Took a picture. I took a picture and let me see if I can Took a picture to show you better layout of you know, gear and all that stuff. So let's see here. Take up too much time here 'cause Here it is, I found it. There we go. We are opening this bad boy up. Open it with Gallery. I'm hoping to open this up so you can see it a little bit better. Okay, that didn't work. Really hoping this picture would clean up. Anyways, too blurry, my bad. Alright, so Alright, so anyway, so let's get into it. So anyway, sorry to take up your time there. I thought I had a better picture. Obviously I do not. And let's just pick up the pace. So Abraham, so he's so journey, we know that We know that he's sojourning and then Abraham said to his wife, She is my sister. And Amalek, the king of Garir, sent and he took her. So he just takes her. But God came to Emelech in a dream by night, and he said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man. So he's getting threatened by God. You are a dead man. Dead man for the woman which you has taken or have taken, and she is a man's wife. So this is talking about a married husband, which was Abraham. But Amalek said, Amalek had not come near her, so he hadn't touched her. he said to the Lord, Wilt thou slay also the righteous nation? And then verse 5 says, That's a question. Saith he not unto me, she is my sister. So he's pleading with God and he sa and in the stream. And she is even she herself said, He is my brother, and in the integrity of my heart, or my innocence of my hands, have I done this. So hey, I'm not guilty. I was told by this lady that she was a sister. You know, when he talks about the innocence, he says, I'm innocent here. And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity, integrity meaning innocent, in this this context, of thy heart, for I also withheld thee sinning against me. Therefore suffered I thee not though to touch her. So God said, I I made sure you didn't touch her. I was making sure because that's the future scene. Now therefore, restore the man's wife, bring her back. And he is a prophet. That's the first time we see the word prophet. And very first prophet is who? Abraham. And shall pray for you. And thou shalt live, and thou restore her not. Know that thou shalt surely die, thou or you, and all that thine. So everything that is yours is gonna die. Anything you're related to is gonna die. Therefore, Amalek rose early in the morning and he called his servants and he told them these things in their ears, and the men were sore afraid. So they were very afraid. That's what's going on here. And Amalek called Abraham, and he said unto What hast thou done unto us? And then he says, And what have I offended you? In other words, How have I sinned against you? Is what he's saying. that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin, that thou hast done deeds unto me that ⁓ not be done. So I'm gonna go slip over to the Torah. Torah says that they got that God sowed up all the bodily extremities to take in, take in and take out of the body. That's what the Torah say, that's what the sages say. think it was Rashi that said it, but the Bible doesn't say that, but I'm just saying that's what they would say. That ⁓ he sewed up all the openings and exits and the mouth, you know. And he did it to everybody. he goes on to say in eleven, Abraham said, Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place, and that they will slay me for my wife's sake. But just because on the of my wife you're gonna I was thinking you're gonna slay me. So he's he's pretty concerned at this point. And The same thing happened in Egypt when we were in chapter twelve. Remember that? Now it occurs to Gere in Amalek. God appears to him in that dream and reveals to Abraham this destruction, this ⁓ deception, and he expressed his sovereignty of withholding thee from sinning against me. So he made sure he wasn't going to sin against me. ⁓ in this situation, because the seed's gonna come through ⁓ this and he's protecting it. For the sake of the seed. Abraham had forgotten that got what God had said in 15.1. Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes. Literally, it's the covering of the eyes, apparently a method of diverting or forestalling a suspicion. So he's already forgot that. The phrase, thus she was reproved, it conveys the idea that she was vindicated. Several times. Passages convey this idea similarly with the discipline and the con conation, condonation, connotion, and it's in twenty one and thirty-one. Amelec, large gift, thousand piece silver, gives it to him. And since there's no coins existed at that time, it was the pieces is not accurate. So there was no none of that at the time. So they weighed a lot of that stuff and Going on in verse in the scripture. And yet, indeed, she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt. Show unto me at every place whether we shall come, say of me he he is my brother. So he convinced her to say I that's my brother. And Amalek took sheep and oxen and men's servants and men women or woman servants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored Sarah to Abraham, gave him back, and then he gave him some livestock just to kind of, you know, make ends meet there, or to or to just give the credibility back. And Amalek said, Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell where you please thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. So behold, or look, he he or vindicated you before all a covering of the eyes unto all are with and with all others, thus she was reproved or Justified. So the fact that she stays in the or in his realm, because people would people talk, is a good indicator that he did defile it. So verse 17 says, So Abraham prayed unto God. This is this is important. So Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed. Okay, he healed Amalek and his wife. And his maid servants and they bare children. Remember he closed everything up according to the the Torah. So they were suffering. You know, they couldn't relieve themselves, they couldn't they they just he closed everything up. You mean they couldn't use the bathroom, couldn't could couldn't get anything to drink, couldn't get nothing to eat. But this is what I don't want you, I want you not to miss. So Abraham prayed to God. And then verse 18, and for the Lord had fast closed up the wombs of the house of Amalek because of Sarah's Abraham's wife. Sarah Abraham's wife. Because of that, you closed all that up. Not just the womb, but all of the orphans or or or orphices of a human body. All right. So let's scoot over and walk through a little bit here and we will finish up. It's not gonna be as long as my last video went, fifteen minutes, but the verses were very, very, very long. Okay. So we find out that Abraham sins. What does he do? How does he sin? Abraham forsook the promise of the land, right? Moved to Gere, which he shouldn't have. I don't know why. He was given the promised land. So that's a sin. God gave him something, but he left. Abraham deceived and lied to others. So when people probably said, Hey, why are we moving here? Abraham lied, had to lie to him, and come up with a story. So there's false act. Actions there. God secured Abraham through the miracle of the intervention. I say that because God warned that the king of judgment and he was in of dying if he committed, he's talking about Amalek, the king, any of this adultery. So if you do this, Amalek, it's not gonna be good on you. He's gonna kill him. And the king appeals to him, and this is what's amazing. We we are getting imagery in this prayer that this prayer is taking place of this pagan person through dreams. So he's getting that interaction and communication and he appeals. He says the Lord who has power over all persons and is just Lord who is just and righteous and who does not punish the unjust? Who doesn't? And then he said the Lord who knows the king Is innocent. So Lord acknowledges Amalek and says, Hey, yeah, I know you're you are not you're innocent in this situation. I know. Then it goes on to say that God, the the true God, he basically reveals to himself, he says, his knowledge of all. That's he's all knowing because he knows that he knows he didn't touch him, so that's omn omniscient. Omni omniscient, all-knowing of all, and he knew the king was innocent. And then his power over all, he did not allow that king to touch Sarah, because that was the seed that was coming that way through her. His expectation and demand that the king not commit that adultery and not commit or defile Sarah. And return them back to Abraham. That's kind of what he's saying. So God secures Abraham through a re human rebuke. He rebukes Abraham. He rebukes them of shame and embarrassment. Because what happens? The rebuke causes others to sin. So therefore, pick it up and eight. Therefore, Amalek rose early in the morning and called out his servants, and he went to them and told them in the ear, Sore for Amalek called Abraham. And he says, What asked? Done hast thou done. That means past tense. You've done something to me, unto, and what have I offended thee that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? This is what you've done to me. Look, what are you doing? the D, and then he basically says that's a great sin. Then thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. You should not have should have done that. Abraham and Amalek said unto Abraham, What sawest thou that hast done this thing? So he's just trying to find out why'd you do this to me? And Abraham said, Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place. So he didn't think that this king w would fear in any form or fashion. So he thought if he made up this story that he would get out of that. So For his wife's sake. So he he indeed she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. So here you go. That's the She d she is the father. I said the brother, didn't I? I think it's the father. is the father. In Torah it said brother. All right. Well anyways, we'll go with what the King James tells me. Yeah, so so he's saying he's trying to say like this is like a half troop, right truth. And he says he thought the sin and the was not trusting in God. That's what he wasn't he so Abraham wasn't secure. He wasn't he didn't feel secure in the situation, so this is what it is. He comes up comes up with this thing. Sin is lying of tristing twisting the truth and the half truths all the things, partial, all that stuff. It's a lie, right? Good lie doesn't last long. And the sin is misusing the exploiting of people. So he he embellished a little bit and didn't say everything, and he gave it a half-truth when he said that she is my sister, she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And it came to pass when God cause me to wander from my father's house that I said unto her, This is thy kindness, which thou shalt show unto me at every place, whether we come, say of me, he is my brother. So he convinced her, essentially. So God secures Abraham in working all things out for the good. I think of I think of the great Romans 828, that he, God's son, might be obviously the firstborn, the preeminent of the honored one among the nations. And he sees he and that's that's 29, but 28 says, and we know all things work together for those or for them that love God, to though to them who are called according to his purpose, for whom he, God, did foreknow and he did predestined to conform to the image of the Son. So we learned this, and this is a good example. even though this was a bad situation, could have went really bad, God was in the midst and he was there. I'm I'm enamored over the fact that we are able to see the prayer and God answers the prayer. That's the first time in the Bible we see prayer used, and was healed. That's that's important. so the family was reunited and and the gifts were given, he gave them money. And Sarah back, and a repentant bul believer, Abraham, he was repenting himself and was given the new land and the new place of his ministry and place to worship. And the sinning companion, Sarah, was saved from the shame and the embarrassment. So the backslider is Abraham. He's the one that had to pray and then God heard him. The unsaved king, most likely, people might say he was saved. He had a relationship with God. So he believed, I guess. So I would I would venture to say that he could have been. And then the the convert they the convert king and his household, they were blessed. So God not only restored them, allowed them to be They were blessed. So let's look in the inspirational context and then the practical, and we'll close it up. So part of the unified Abram cycle of Genesis, inspired again by what I read in the Torah, the sisters episodes we learn. The narrative heightens the suspense before Isaac. it's a literary purpose, it's a contrast to Sodom's wickedness. The righteous Gentile king is contrast. It's a It's a dichotomy, it's a difference. It's a it's a different point. So it flips from nineteen, chapter nineteen to chapter twenty. Abraham is flawed and see that, yet God God's prophet, he calls him a prophet and a channel of blessings. And re it reveals God's speaking in dreams to pagans, judging and healing and preserving his promise through the patriarchal. consistency. So we learn that that that is happening. So if it's happening in chapter 20 of Genesis, it can happen today. So sets a pattern for the later prophetic intercessions of God. Faithful the faithfulness despised the human unfaithfulness. Second Timothy 213. And from a context, we need to look at it from the fear of man produces a compromise And un endangers others. Trust God's protection, folks. The other is half truths. Half truths. They're half lies. Are still deceptive and they can bring shame. You get caught in a lie. You're you you do I I don't I would imagine that you I don't know about today's generation, but they should sh feel a shame. Shame on you if you're lying. a recurring sin required humility and it wasn't not it was not the excuse and God often retains restrains actually us from the worst sin than we realize and we need to thank him for the mercies are you thanking god today did you get up this morning and thank god for anything today were you grateful today for something did you did you tell somebody about the gospel today so he intercedes for both the outside the covenant And God's imperfect people as instruments of the blessings and healings. And He's he lives to sojourn and the integrity among believers. So you should be integrated. You should have s strong integrity. And God's purpose stands even when we fail. So when we fail, God's still going to stand in integrity. So we shouldn't and we should not compromise that. And that's a big, big deal. So anyways, that's chapter twenty, folks. This is Chaplain Dean Alley. I had a moment. Take care. Have a great weekend. God bless. If you need anything, let me know.