Genesis 26:6-8 reports: "So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, 'She is my sister,' because he was afraid to say, 'She is my wife.' He thought, 'The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.'
"When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, 'She is really your wife! Why did you say, "She is my sister"?'
"Isaac answered him, 'Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.'"
If my count is correct, then this is the third biblical "wife-as-sister" ruse. Abraham used it twice and was found out both times. Here Isaac uses it and is discovered. In each case the non-Hebrew people prove more honest and trustworthy than the patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith. Yet God continues to keep covenant with them and to favor them.
It is right there in the Bible for me: If I begin to think highly of myself as a man of faith, then the scriptures remind me of other men's forthrightness and justice. I fail God and fail often, but God never fails to keep promises made to me.
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