And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and
see.".
— John 1:46
Today we continue our study of Question 144 of the Larger Catechism, which asks, “What
are the duties required in the Ninth Commandment?” The second part of the answer
states, “The duties required in the Ninth Commandment are… a charitable esteem of our
neighbors; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of
their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency;
a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning
them.” Last time we looked at our duty to promote the truth. Today we consider our
obligation to protect the names and reputations of our neighbors.
Previously, we saw how Abraham’s scheme to hide the true nature of his relationship to
Sarah—by proclaiming that they were brother and sister (a half-truth) when they were
actually husband and wife—was not “freely, clearly, and fully speaking the truth and only
the truth.” In fact Abraham developed this ploy for the specific purpose of concealing the
fact that Sarah was his wife. He knew that if he and Sarah introduced themselves as
brother and sister, people would assume they were not at the same time husband and
wife, which was the errant conclusion at which he aimed. It was a sophisticated way of
prejudicing the truth and promoting falsehood without speaking an outright lie.
Additionally, his ill-advised plan failed to promote the truth in another way: it did not frame
“a charitable esteem of our neighbors,” nor was it a way of “defending their innocency…
and unwillingness to admit of an evil report concerning them.” When king Abimelech
discovered how Abraham had deceived him as to the true nature of his relationship to
Sarah, he was understandably upset. He had Abraham brought before him and basically
demanded of him, “Why have your wronged me? Explain yourself!” Abraham’s reply is not
very flattering: “And Abraham said, ‘Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this
place; and they will kill me on account of my wife,’” (Gen. 20:11). What a sad answer! So
unworthy of the father of the faithful. Abraham justified his intentional misrepresentation
and suppressing of the truth out of his fears over what the people of Gerar might be
thinking and what they might do.
We do not know why Abraham thought this. Perhaps he heard reports of evil behavior by
the people of Gerar, or maybe he saw things as he traveled in the region. No doubt he had
his reasons for concluding that there was no fear of God in the land. And it is possible that
he had some real justification for believing that someone might kill him in order to take
Sarah into a harem. Be that as it may, Abraham’s response was not an action based on his
faith in God and his love of his neighbor (or even enemy). In his own words, his actions
flowed from his fear of man and a love of his own skin. Ironically it was Abraham, who, in
employing this ruse, did not fear God, nor did he seek to protect the reputations of the
people of the land, nor even to protect his wife from being taken into a harem, for she was
taken, precisely because of his dissembling. The only thing Abraham was protecting was
his own life, and this is not what a man of God is called to promote first and foremost. The
bottom line is that he was willing to sacrifice the truth and put others at risk because he
thought it would increase his odds of staying alive.
At this point perhaps someone might object that Abraham did not have the full obligation
to these people as neighbors since he was merely passing through their land. Here is
where we have to keep in mind the context of Abraham’s actions. The Bible says he had
moved south and now he “dwelt” and “stayed in Gerar,” which was Abimelech’s kingdom
(Gen. 20:1). Clearly, Abraham was not merely passing through; he was planning on
remaining in and living in this region for some time. What a terrible way to introduce
himself to the community! These people were and would be Abraham’s neighbors. If they
were too wicked to be that, then he should not have moved in, but if was going to live
there then he owed them the love of a neighbor. May God grant that you and I think well
of our neighbors and do what we can to protect their reputations.