Genesis 12 thoughts
In chapter 11 the Bible said Sarai was barren. In chapter 12, God tells a 75-year-old Abram that he’ll be made a great nation. I wonder if Abram thought kids were still part of his future, or if he interpreted God’s words differently. I wonder how old Sarai was - normally I’d assume she was Abram’s age, but I’m not sure that makes sense. For one, the Abram’s brother married his other brother’s daughter. So there was already an age gap. There’s also the matter of just how attractive everyone thought Sarai was. That inclines me to think she’s at least a bit younger, though whether she was of child-bearing age I don’t know.
As crazy as, “Do me a favor: tell them you’re my sister” reads, what’s even nuttier is the implication Noah was fine to profit from Pharaoh living with Sarai. This seems an awful lot like Abram was pimping out his wife… for at least a little while… for the sake of security and increased material wealth.
I have no idea what to make of that, but I completely understand Pharaoh’s apparent righteous indignation. What kind of a man does that? I just cannot imagine what Abram was thinking, or Sarai for that matter. Perhaps they both anguished over this, and perhaps there’s an unwritten power Pharaoh was wielding that made it impossible to correct this in a more normal sense. But from the text alone I have little choice but to this Abram is a pretty lousy husband and man.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
i agree. i’m also very confused over this passage. it seems like the lie kept him alive and produced financial gain. Are we to infer that this was acceptable to God? I know this is an accounting of history, not an indication of God’s law or preference, but I can’t help but draw modern day parallels. The famous “Nazi” situation (if you’re housing a jew in WW2, and a nazi asks if you’re housing a jew, what do you say when you certainly will both be killed if you told the truth).
In the end though, I’m also surprised Pharoah was willing to let them both go. If the premise is that they would have killed him just because he was married to a beautiful woman, why would he just let him go if he lied to him and brought a curse on his household? There is so much detail missing in these accounts, but perhaps 1) it would have been a unreadable, uncommunicable book with more detail and 2) there is a specific reason that i’m not seeing for it being this concise.
(Also, Nathan, on a personal note, notice he has “possessions”, i.e. personal property)