For the LORD had kept all the women in Abimelech's household from conceiving because of Abraham's wife Sarah. The barrenness theme running through the patriarchal narrative surfaces here in unexpected form — not only Sarah but all the women of Gerar were barren during this episode. The same God who controls the opening and closing of wombs expressed his protective judgment over the covenant matriarch through the bodies of those around her. The application: the covenantal protection of those closest to God's purposes has effects extending beyond the individual to the community around them.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse