Genesis 20:12 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.
Just Tell the Truth
Isn’t it amazing that the same problems seem to snare us over and again? Sometimes, it’s not as if the devil needs an entire arsenal of traps to trip us up. He just sends the same problem over and over again. Even a great man like Abraham, a man of faith, fell to the same sin on more than one occasion. He lied about his wife and said she was his sister for fear that she would be taken by some king, and he would be killed.
In Genesis 20, Abimelech had been told by Abraham that Sarah was his sister. So, he took Sarah into his harem. God had sent Abimelech a vision and told Abimelech he was a dead man because he had another man’s wife. Abimelech responds in verse 5, “In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.” God says in verse 6, “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” Because this man’s heart was mainly right in this matter, God actually protected him from sinning against God and making it worse.
In contrast to this pagan king who had integrity of heart and innocence of hands, you have Abraham. Abraham protested when confronted with his lie and said in verse 12, “Indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.” Now, that is not simple. That is not clear. That is not whole.
There is a difference between the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Abraham hadn’t told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Sister was not the relationship that characterized his relationship with Sarah. It would have been much more honest to say, “She’s my wife. She is also my half-sister.” He didn’t do that. He said, “She is my sister. Of course, she also happens to be my wife.” That was a lie because it was misleading. It was not whole, complete, and simple. A half-truth is a complete lie.
Generally, the truth is simpler than deceit. The fact is that the more of the truth I tell, the less explanation I will need. What God wants from me is integrity of heart and innocence of hands.