Abraham Intercedes for Abimelech (Gen 20.7, 17)
Now then, return the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live.
Genesis 20.7, 17
Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
In our journey through the prayers of the Bible, we draw a distinction between the meaning of a “petition” and an “intercession.” As noted in the Introduction, many people use the terms as synonyms, but we will emphasize subtle distinctions in the goal of enriching our prayers.
Background
This is the first instance of an “intercessory” prayer in the Bible, though they are common throughout. It is an intercession by Abraham on behalf of a man named Abimelech and his family. The context teaches us a lot. Abraham and Sarah had entered a new land, and Abraham was worried that the men would kill him and take Sarah for themselves. Though Abraham showed great faith when he did as God asked and left his home (Gen 12.1), other stories show his lack of faith. He did not trust God to fulfill the promise of a child, so he took matters into his own hands in the story in Gen 16. In fact, the current situation had happened before! In Genesis 12.12–13, Abraham was afraid local men would kill him and take his wife. Here, it is as if he had forgotten that God had protected him before. He had still not learned his lesson.1
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