Lying is a form of trickery. When an individual is afraid of how someone will respond to something you did or said, words are crafted in such a manner to minimize the truth. This is the decision Abram made on his own when a famine postponed his journey to God’s promised land. Rather than walk in faith with the belief that God will do exactly what He said in Haran, Abram was fearful that a man married to a beautiful wife would be killed and his wife taken by Pharaoh.
And when he was about to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, I know that you are beautiful to behold. 12 So when the Egyptians see you, they will say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say, I beg of you, that you are [c]my sister, so that it may go well with me for your sake and my life will be spared because of you. 14 And when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s house [harem], Genesis 12:11-15.
The passage above is the opposite of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve listened to the tempter, convinced Adam that eating from the Tree of Knowledge would be beneficial and gave her husband a bite of the fig in her hand. Meanwhile, this new couple approached Egypt, Abram was the schemer who sold Sarai on the idea that “just say you’re my sister, no one will ever know but us.” Abram’s decision was more than just deception, the choice to lie was a reflection of his lack of faith in God.
You shall have no other gods before or besides Me. 4 You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, Exodus 20:3-5.
Moses is the author of the first five books of the Old Testament. Moses isn’t afraid to mince words in the passage above. While Moses is writing the Ten Commandments for the nation of Israel to follow, God’s character is unveiled. Human beings who place anyone or anything above the Lord as their top priority open the door for generational sins to be passed down to your children. Subsequently, Abram’s lying was adopted by Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, the next time you find yourself stretching the truth, may the consequence of generational sins convict you to stop this deception before it’s embraced by your future descendants.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 