What God had said to Abraham (15:1), he now says to his son Isaac. The life of faith involves fearing God rather than people, recognising that he is powerful enough to overcome every obstacle to the fulfilment of his promises.

When faith falters we fear people, just as both Abraham and Isaac feared Abimelech and what he might do to either them or their wives. But is Abimelech really able to overturn the promises of God? Faith faltered, and they gave in to fear. And because they feared Abimelech, they then deceived him.

Fear bears the ugly fruit of deceit. However, when Isaac’s son Jacob later follows his mother’s clever ruse, he first deceives his brother Esau and then flees in fear. Either fear leads to deceit, or deceit leads to fear. Both feed off each other, and together they rend relationships and create misery.

The serpent’s bite has left its mark in Adam’s children. What sort of blessing to the nations can come from people who deceive their nearest neighbours and their closest kin?

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