“And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.”
My Notes
What Does Genesis 20:11 Mean?
Abraham explains his deception: "I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake." He assumed the worst about Abimelech's people. He assumed that a place without visible Yahweh-worship was a place without moral restraint. He was wrong.
The assumption reveals Abraham's prejudice: people who don't know God must be dangerous. A society without his religion must be lawless. The land of the Philistines (or whatever people Abimelech ruled) was assumed to be a godless wasteland where anything goes.
But Abimelech was more righteous than Abraham assumed — and more righteous than Abraham acted. The patriarch's fear-based assumption led to deceptive behavior that was worse than anything the people he feared would have done. Abraham's prejudice didn't just misjudge them. It produced the very evil he expected from them.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where have you assumed 'no fear of God' about people you don't know — and were you wrong?
- 2.How does Abraham's prejudice (producing the evil he feared from others) mirror patterns in your own thinking?
- 3.Does this passage challenge the assumption that people outside your faith lack moral restraint?
- 4.What would change if you assumed the best about people's character rather than the worst?
Devotional
"I thought: surely there's no fear of God here." Abraham assumed the worst about people he didn't know. And he was spectacularly wrong.
Abraham's reasoning: these people don't know my God. Therefore they have no moral restraint. Therefore they'll kill me and take my wife. Therefore I need to lie to protect myself. Every step of the logic was based on one assumption: no faith = no morality.
The assumption was wrong. Abimelech feared God more than Abraham feared God in this moment. The pagan acted with integrity. The patriarch acted with deception. The person Abraham assumed was dangerous turned out to be righteous. And the person who should have been righteous turned out to be dangerous — to Abimelech.
This is the anatomy of prejudice: you assume the worst about people based on their group identity, and then you act in ways that are worse than anything they would have done. Abraham's fear of them produced behavior that endangered them. His prejudice didn't protect him. It exposed his own character.
"The fear of God is not in this place" — Abraham decided this without evidence. He wrote off an entire population based on his assumption about their religion. And the population turned out to be more God-fearing than he was.
Before you assume the worst about someone who doesn't share your faith — before you decide that a secular person, a person of another religion, or a person from a different culture has "no fear of God" — remember Abraham. He was wrong. And his wrongness produced the very evil he attributed to them.
The fear of God shows up in unexpected places. Don't be so sure you know where it isn't.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And Abraham said,.... In defence of himself, as well as he could:
because I thought; within himself, concluding from…
- Abraham in Gerar 2. אבימלך .2 'ǎbı̂ymelek, Abimelekh, “father of the king.” 7. נביא nābı̂y' “prophet,” he who speaks…
And Abraham said - The best excuse he could make for his conduct, which in this instance is far from defensible.
Abimelech, being thus warned of God in a dream, takes the warning, and, as one truly afraid of sin and its consequences,…
Because I thought Lit. "I said": see note on Gen 18:17.
Surely the fear of God Abraham's defence is that he assumed a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture