When Abraham and Sarah came to the border of Egypt, he said to her, "It shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive" (12:12). Fearing that the Egyptians would kill him and take his wife, Abraham prayed to Sarah, not to God saying, "Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee" (12:13). Abraham and Sarah agreed that she should lie about being his wife. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his wife in order to save his life. It seemed that he had no standard of morality. Among Christians, Abraham has been uplifted too highly. He was not that high. Many of us would not have done what Abraham did. But Abraham was so low that he was willing to sacrifice his wife, allowing her to be taken to be the wife of another man, in order to save his own life. How shameful that was! Do you believe that God's called one, the father of faith, could do such a thing? We see by this that Abraham was not higher than we are. At the most, he was the same as we are. For the sake of his stomach he was prepared to sell his wife, and Sarah submitted to this. She was certainly the best wife, the standard of all wives. She was submissive, took Abraham's counsel, and did not blame him.
In this matter Abraham was a good prophet, for things happened in Egypt exactly as he had predicted. The Egyptians took his wife away to Pharaoh's palace (12:14-15). In a sense, Abraham did sell his wife. Because of Sarah, Pharaoh gave Abraham many things—sheep, oxen, camels, menservants, and maidservants (12:16). Abraham became rich. I have been unable to understand how Abraham, seeing that his wife had been taken, could have had the peace to receive all of these things from Pharaoh. But he did receive them. He did not fast. He did not say, "Oh, I can't accept this. I want Sarah!" No, he let Sarah go. I believe that Abraham was certain that his wife was lost, that she was gone. According to his figuration, Sarah was gone. More or less, he received as the price of letting her go the cattle, oxen, and servants.
But God would not let Abraham go. God came in, not to deal with Abraham but to deal with Pharaoh. Verse 17 says, "And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife." The Bible says that great plagues came upon Pharaoh and his house. Although it is not confirmed by the word in the Bible, I believe that from the time Pharaoh took Sarah he became seriously ill, becoming sick to such an extent that he was about to die. We are told that great plagues were upon him and his house. What were these plagues? Did a fire burn the palace? I do not believe that. After much consideration, I strongly believe that the plagues were certain diseases that came over Pharaoh and over everyone in the house with the exception of Sarah. The whole palace might have talked about what was happening, wondering why everyone had become sick, why Pharaoh was dying, and why only Sarah had been spared. Perhaps they said, "Who is that woman? Why is she not sick?" They might have asked Sarah the reason. Sarah, seeing the whole situation, began to understand. Then she told Pharaoh that she was Abraham's wife. I believe that this is the way it might have happened. God's hand was on Pharaoh for Sarah. He came in to preserve Abraham and his wife.
When we, the believers, have faith in God, all of the surrounding people receive the benefits, but when we fail to have faith in God, we may bring harm to the people in our surroundings. God was sovereign and Pharaoh suffered. Although I do not say that God took things out of Pharaoh's hand and passed them on to Abraham, the real situation was somewhat like that. Eventually, Abraham did not lose his wife but instead gained great riches.
While he was in Egypt, Abraham experienced God's keeping grace. Without the keeping grace, none of us can remain on the high point of our experience. We all need the keeping grace. Do not trust in your experience—trust in His keeping grace. As far as God's keeping grace was concerned, Abraham was still on the high point even when he was selling his wife in Egypt. Whether he was on the top or on the bottom, he was always in God's keeping grace. In a very good sense Abraham never touched Egypt, for the keeping grace was under him all the time. Although he went down to Egypt, he was still in the keeping grace. Even if you have fallen, you are still in the keeping grace, and the keeping grace will bring you back to the high point. The keeping grace could say to Abraham, "Abraham, don't be naughty anymore. You gave me an opportunity to show you my sovereignty, but it is better for you to trust in me."