Week 1 Genesis
Genesis twenty is a stand-alone story, the story of Abimelech king of Gerar.
When Abraham’s company arrived in his territory Abimelech: went and took Sarah.
Just like that.
I’m not sure how Bronze-Age guys negotiated these kinds of arrangements but you get the feeling that Abimelech had the power to get whatever he wanted.
So the Lord used the medium of a dream and told Abimelech: you are a dead man because of the woman you have taken.
Abimelech must have sensed what he was up against because he started back-tracking immediately – I’m innocent! I’m blameless! I didn’t have sexual intercourse yet!
And the Lord tells him: I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
Which meant two things were happening at once. One, for some reason Abimelech had decided not to have sexual intercourse with Sarah, and two, the Lord had intervened to prevent the king from having sexual intercourse with Sarah.
So who decided? It’s a bit of a mystery how that works. Doesn’t seem compatible with regular decision-making.
In this story Abimelech made – as far as he was concerned – a personal sexual decision, but as free as it seemed it wasn’t independent of the Lord, who acted as a kind of prevention-ensuring intervener.
Note: quotes from Genesis 20:2, 3, 6 (NASB)