[For the next month or so, most of my blog posts will be at least loosely related to the biblical prophets.  There is a practical reason for this.

I was wondering this morning how on earth I would keep up with my goal of posting a musing every day while I will be teaching a course on the Old Testament Prophets.  Then I said to myself, why not blog about the prophets?  My self could find no reason why this was a bad idea, so here goes!

Don’t worry, however.  The prophets are a very varied bunch.  This shouldn’t be boring—unless, of course, I make it so.]

The First Prophet Who Messed Up

The first Old Testament prophet to mess up was the first prophet.  (A transliteration of the Hebrew word for prophet would look something like this: näbî.)  The name of this prophet was “Abraham.”

Thus, the first explicit mention of a prophet comes very near the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 20:7.  Here is the verse:

“Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.” (New Living Translation)

So, Abraham is a prophet.  Yet, he does not come across as looking very good in this chapter of the Bible or in this chapter of Abraham’s life.  The entire immediate context of this verse is the whole of chapter 20.  Some of you may not have a Bible handy, so here is the whole chapter.  Fear not!  It is not a long chapter.

“Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner,

2 Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.

3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”

4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?

5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”

6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.

7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”

8 Abimelech got up early the next morning and quickly called all his servants together. When he told them what had happened, his men were terrified.

9 Then Abimelech called for Abraham. “What have you done to us?” he demanded. “What crime have I committed that deserves treatment like this, making me and my kingdom guilty of this great sin? No one should ever do what you have done!

10 Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?”

11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’

12 And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her.

13 When God called me to leave my father’s home and to travel from place to place, I told her, ‘Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.'”

14 Then Abimelech took some of his sheep and goats, cattle, and male and female servants, and he presented them to Abraham. He also returned his wife, Sarah, to him.

15 Then Abimelech said, “Look over my land and choose any place where you would like to live.”

16 And he said to Sarah, “Look, I am giving your ‘brother’ 1,000 pieces of silver in the presence of all these witnesses. This is to compensate you for any wrong I may have done to you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared.”

17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children.

18 For the LORD had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.” (New Living Translation)

So, who is the hero here?  As I read it, Abimelech is!  He was king of the city of Gerar, which would later be classified as a Philistine city.  Abimelech was, in short, not “one of us” in relation to the father of Israel, Abraham.

And yet, Abraham lied and Abimelech had acted innocently, with integrity.  If there is one thing that the Bible shows us about human beings and institutions, it is this: It is impossible to say in advance who is in and who is out, who is righteous and who is not.  Everyone and every institution is pretty badly messed up.

Still, Abraham is called by God “a prophet” (verse 20).  Yes, he lied, but he is still a prophet.

But did you notice what Abraham was supposed to do as a prophet?  He was supposed to pray for Abimelech.  We don’t always think of prophets as people of prayer, but the Bible clearly indicates that they are.  (See, for example, 1 Samuel 7:5; 12:23; 1 Kings 13:6; James 5:17-18.)

One of my favorite people in the world—the one who helped me fall even more in love with the Old Testament than I already was—Victor P. Hamilton, wrote concerning Genesis 20:7, “This is the first use of prophet in the Bible.  The role of the prophet here is that of intercessor: he will pray for you.  Abraham has already done that for Sodom, but he was not styled there as a näbî.  Abraham’s duplicity apparently did not disqualify him from functioning as an interceding näbî.”[1]

Two things come to mind.  The first is that one of the tasks for the Israelite prophet is to pray for healing, even (especially?) for outsiders.  Prayer is one way in which the insider goes outside to bring the outsider inside.

The second thing that comes to mind is that even (especially?) flawed people, people who have blown it, people who have lied, people who have caused real harm and pain to others, can still be used by God to help others.

It’s a good thing.  We’re all pretty flawed.

[1] Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, NICOT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 64.