19. Abraham up to his old tricks

on Aug14 2019

So Abraham takes Sarah and goes North, toward the land of Negev, and sojourns in Gerar. Then “Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.”

What? The founder of Judaism, who walks in favoritism with God and the angels, denying his wife to save his skin again? He hands over his wife; Lot is willing to hand over his daughters…

Here’s the thing. If I’m writing this a thousand years or so after it happened, I’d say something like “Abraham, suspecting the king might kill him and take Sarah as his concubine, asked her to pretend she was his sister, though it grievously pained his heart to do this, because he loved her deeply.”

None of that in the bible. Women are evidently bargaining chips first and wives or daughters second. However, it seems there are some pretty clear property rights where women are concerned. Witness what happens next with Abraham and Sarah.

God comes to the king in a dream and chastises him for taking a married woman, and “closes the wombs” of all the women in his household.” The dialogue is extremely interesting and thought provoking.

God says “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”

The king, Abimelech, knowing he has not touched Sarah, asks “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? He said she was his sister, and she said he was her brother.”

And God says “I know, I know. You have done this with a clear conscience, and have not sinned against Me because I kept you from touching her. So give her back to Abraham, who is a prophet, and he will pray for you. If you do not, you and all who are yours will surely die.” So did Abimelech, who many scholars suggest was a polytheist, already believe in the one (Abraham’s) God, or did God’s voice (or appearance) in his dream turn him into a believer?

Anyway, Abimelech drops her like a hot rock, as I most certainly would do after hearing God’s threat. He takes her back to Abraham and complains to him, saying “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”

And Abraham answers “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” Of course we’re not told why Abraham thought that, but he continues “Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.’”

So Sarah really is Abraham’s half sister. Which makes me wonder why this didn’t show up back in Egypt, when he offered Sarah to the Pharaoh.

Anyway, Abimelech believes Abraham. As Ellicot says, “The fact of this compact between Abraham and Sarah having been made so long before, would convince Abimelech that their conduct was not occasioned by anything which they had seen at Gerar.”

Abimelech then gives “sheep and oxen and male and female servants” to Abraham, restores Sarah to him, and gives him permission to settle wherever he pleases.

Then Abimelech goes to Sarah and says ”Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” (Note he carefully calls Abraham her brother, not her husband.)

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.

So Abraham is once again handsomely rewarded for what was, as far as I’m concerned, a cowardly and ignoble act. There are many things about this story I don’t quite understand. One of them is the requirement for Abraham to pray before God would remove the blight he put on the house of Abimelech, instead of all-powerful God, who caused the blight, just flipping the switch and removing it. It seems like Abimelech was the injured one here, the victim of an act he didn’t commit or have any knowledge of. It would make more sense to me if he and Sarah prayed for Abraham. But I’m not the one writing it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Controversy and Concordance, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


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