Did God Overlook a Lie?
Not all accounts are settled immediately.
December, 2017
Reading passages such as the one featured in this month's newsletter (Genesis 12:10–20), it's possible to wonder about God's justice. A quick scan of those verses suggests that Abraham lied, God ignored the lie, and Abraham got off scot-free. In fact, he gained by being given goods and servants from the man he lied to! Did God just overlook that sin, and if so, how can we call God "just" in such a case?
Questions such as this turn heavily on how we define our terms. In this case, the two words we need to be careful about are "overlook" and "just." In short, God did not ignore Abraham's sin in the sense that He pretended it did not happen. And God's reasons behind how, were, and when He deals with sin cannot be considered "unfair," at least from a human perspective.
If the question is whether God spared Abraham from direct, divine retribution for his sin, the answer is "yes." God did not, so far as Scripture records, directly punish Abraham for this incident. However, this does not mean God "overlooked" it in the sense of pretending it never happened. The details given in Genesis are fairly light, but running theme of Abraham's story is learning to trust in God. If God had simply struck him down, there wouldn't have been much room for trust. Or for learning.
Also, consider that Abraham did suffer consequences for his actions, in some ways. While he was able to leave Egypt with more wealth than when he entered, he was also forced to leave that region (Genesis 12:20). Scripture says that Pharaoh gave his men "orders" concerning Abraham, suggesting that he was formally banished from the country. He'd gone there to flee a famine, and was now being ejected for his own behavior. Also, in the remaining accounts of Abraham's life, we hear nothing of future relationships with Egypt. He speaks and trades with other kings and rulers, but not Pharaoh. More than likely, what Abraham did in this incident "burned his bridges" with Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
Consider also that God's "justice" is hard to measure from one incident. It's also dangerous for us to judge God's character from a human perspective. Given all we don't know, and all we fail to do in terms of morality, it's not hard to imagine that God might be right, even when we can't understand.
Further, we need to recognize that God will punish sin—all sin—including that of Abraham. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for all sins past, present, and future. This means nobody "gets away" with anything. Either those sins are punished through the cross, or hell. There are no incidents where sinners get off penalty-free, even Abraham.
-- Editor
