Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/151

Rh need carefully to watch against the least evil thought of this kind, lest Satan get an advantage.

2. Lot himself, by his own folly and unwariness, was wretchedly overcome, and suffered himself so far to be imposed upon by his own children, as, two nights together, to be drunk, and to commit incest, v. 33, ''&c. Lord, what is man!'' What are the best of men, when God leaves them to themselves! See here, (1.) The peril of security; Lot, who not only kept himself sober and chaste in Sodom, but was a constant mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness against it, is yet, in the mountain, where he was alone, and, as he thought, quite out of the way of temptation, thus shamefully overtaken: let him therefore that thinks he stands, stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall. No mountain, on this side the holy hill above, can set us out of the reach of Satan's fiery darts. (2.) The peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself, but it is the inlet of many sins; it may prove the inlet of the worst and most unnatural sins, which may be a perpetual wound and dishonour. Excellently does Mr. Herbert describe it, "He that is drunken, may his Mother kill "Big with his Sister."————————— A man may do that without reluctance, when he is drunken, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror. (3.) The peril of temptation from our dearest relations and friends, whom we love and esteem, and expect kindness from. Lot, whose temperance and chastity were impregnable against the batteries of foreign force, was surprised into sin and shame by the base treachery of his own daughters; we must dread a snare wherever we are, and be always upon our guard.

In the close, we have an account of the birth of the two sons, or grandsons, (call them which you will,) of Lot—Moab and Ammon, the fathers of two nations, neighbours to Israel, and which we often read of in the Old Testament; both together are called the children of Lot, Ps. 83. 8. Note, Though prosperous births may attend incestuous conceptions, yet they are so far from justifying them, that they rather perpetuate the reproach of them, and entail infamy upon posterity; yet the tribe of Judah, of which our Lord sprang, descended from such a birth, and Ruth, a Moabitess, has a name in his genealogy, Matth. 1. 3, 5.

Lastly, Observe that, after this, we never read any more of Lot, nor what became of him: no doubt he repented of his sin; and was pardoned; but from the silence of the scripture concerning him henceforward, we may learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them forgotten; and many a name, which otherwise might have been remembered with respect, is buried by it in contempt and oblivion.

CHAP. XX. We are here returning to the story of Abraham; yet that part of it which is here recorded, is not to his honour. The fairest marbles have their flaws, and while there are spots in the sun, we must not expect any thing spotless under it. The scripture, it should be remarked, is impartial in relating the blemishes even of its most celebrated characters. We have here, I. Abraham's sin in denying his wife, and Abimelech's sin thereupon in taking her, v. 1, 2. II. God's discourse with Abimelech in a dream, upon this occasion, wherein he shows him his error, v. 3, accepts his plea, v. 4..6, and directs him to make restitution, v. 7. III. Abimelech's discourse with Abraham, wherein he chides him for the cheat he had put upon him, v. 8..10, and Abraham excuses it as well as he can, v. 11..13. IV The good issue of the story, in which Abimelech restores Abraham his wife, v. 14..16, and Abraham, by prayer, prevails with God for he removal of the judgment Abimelech was under, v. 17, 18.

ND Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

Here is,

1. Abraham's remove from Mamre, where he had lived near twenty years, into the country of the Philistines, v. 1, He sojourned in Gerar. "We are not told upon what occasion he removed, whethier terrified by the destruction of Sodom; or, because the country round was, for the present, prejudiced by it; or as some of the Jewish writers say, because he was grieved at Lot's incest with his daughters, and the reproach which the Canaanites cast upon him and his religion, for his kinsman's sake: doubtless, there was some good cause for his removal. Note, (1.) In a world where we are strangers and pilgrims, we cannot expect to be always in the same place. (2.) Wherever we are, we must look upon ourselves but as sojourners.

2. His sin in denying his wife; as before, ch. 12, 13, which was not only in itself such an equivocation as bordered upon a lie, and which, if admitted as lawful, would be the ruin of human converse, and an inlet to all falsehood; but was also an exposing of the chastity and honour of his wife, which he ought to have been the protector of. But beside this, it had here a two-fold aggravation, (1.) That he had been guilty of the same sin before, and had been reproved for it, and convinced of the folly of the suggestion which induced him to it; yet he returns to it. Note, It is possible that a good man may not only fall into sin, but relapse into the same sin, through the surprize and strength of temptation, and the infirmity of the flesh. Let backsliders repent then, but not despair, Jer. 3. 22. (2.) That Sarah, as it should seem, was now thewith - checked with an earlier and a later edition [sic] child of the promised seed, or, at least, in expectation of being so quickly, according to the word of God; he ought therefore to have taken particular care of her now, as Judg. 13. 4.

3. The peril that Sarah was brought into by this means; The king of Gerar sent, and took her to his house, in order to take her to his bed. Note, The sin of one often occasions the sin of others; he that breaks the hedge of God's commandments, opens a gap to he knows not how many; the beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water.

3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said,, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5. Said he not unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself, said, He is my brother: In the integrity of my heart, and innocency of my hands, have I done this. 6. And God said unto him in a dream, 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. 7. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou