1.  Abraham lapses into a 25 year old sin when he once again passes off Sarah as his sister, instead of as his wife.  In doing so he, humanly speaking, puts in jeopardy God’s promise of a son, the son of promise,  through Sarah (Gen 17:19).

2.  These incidents seem to be the basis for Peter’s praise of Sarah as an example of a woman of faith, who despite her husband’s unwise actions, trusts God with her fear. (1 Peter 3:1-6).

3.  As with Abraham, who earlier interceded for the righteous in Sodom (Gen 18:23), Abimelech (king of Gerar) intercedes for his innocent people.  Only in this instance, Abraham is the wicked one and Abimelech and his people are the innocents.  This is a rebuke from God to Abraham for his actions.  As a writer said: “He certainly stumbled in his walk of faith and caused God’s judgment to come on Abimelech.”

4.  Abraham who was to be a blessing to the nations, instead in this instance he is having a negative impact.  Instead of upholding righteousness, he is holding God up to ridicule.

5.  Based on Gen 20 we must: deal decisively with sin in our lives (especially with the world watching); deal with fear; affect the world positively, not just negatively.