God strikes Pharaoh and his household with serious diseases because of Abram's wife Sarai. God intervenes to protect the covenant promise when Abram has failed to. The diseases fall on Pharaoh — who is, by the standards of this narrative, the least culpable party. He received Sarai in good faith, deceived by the brother story. Yet God moves to protect Sarai, and through her the covenant promise, even when Abram does not. Psalm 105:14–15 celebrates God's protection of the patriarchs, warning kings not to touch his anointed ones — this episode is the backstory of that psalm's claim. The application: God's protection of his covenant purposes does not always depend on the faithfulness of his covenant people. His grace is sometimes most evident precisely when his people's failure has created the crisis from which he rescues them. That is remarkable grace — and it is not a license for faithlessness but a reason for astonished gratitude.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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