[b-hebrew] Genesis 20: 1
Isaac Fried
if at math.bu.edu
Thu Oct 18 17:39:46 EDT 2007
Jim,
It is difficult for me to agree with you but it is indeed well nigh
possible that the whole thing was premeditated. The venerable Abraham
conspired to become Pharaoh's brother in law and gain thereby power,
safety, and material remuneration. He used his wife to trap the
mightiest man on earth! Still, it was all predicated on Sarah being
such an exceptional beauty [or may be God blinded the Egyptians as to
her wrinkles, etc. etc.].
Eventually the king contracted from her some virulent germs [Nordic
flu?] and he let them go.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
On Oct 18, 2007, at 3:18 PM, JimStinehart at aol.com wrote:
>
> Isaac Fried:
> You wrote: "Abimelech, his pompous name not withstanding, was a
> mere speck
> upon
> the dusty horizon of southern Israel. But the first Hebrew couple had
> a similarly harrowing experience upon entering Egypt---the America of
> the ancient world [Genesis 12:11-20]. Her beauty was such that as
> soon as they crossed the border into the land she was spotted by the
> national Egyptian GSA [girl spotting agency] who wrote [all in neat
> little pictures] such a glowing report about her that the mighty
> Pharaoh himself could not wait to accept her in his chambers. Just
> Sarah of all the millions of good looking Egyptian girls!
> Do you deem it plausible that LABAN HA-)ARAMI was the blondy of
> Aram?"
> The author of the Patriarchal narratives, and everyone else in the
> ancient
> world, knew that a pharaoh of Egypt would never make a grab at a
> woman who was
> not a virgin and who was beyond the normal age of childbearing in the
> ancient world. That is not because pharaohs were particularly
> moral or high-minded,
> but rather is because it would have been considered a mortal
> insult for a
> non-virgin, older woman to be offered to, or lusted after by, an
> august
> pharaoh.
> There is no chance that the author of the Patriarchal narratives
> wants us to
> think that (i) Pharaoh lusted after old Sarah, and would have been
> willing
> to kill Abraham to get at old non-virgin Sarah, or that (ii)
> Abraham and Sarah
> may have mistakenly thought that Pharaoh might think that way.
> Just in case someone (like you) might miss the point, the author
> of the
> Patriarchal narratives makes it all absolutely clear in the
> Abimelech episode.
> Sarah is stated age 90 "years". Sarah has stopped having the
> periods of women.
> Sarah is "withered". Abraham falls down laughing at YHWH's
> statement that
> Sarah may still, at her old age, be able to bear a child. Chapter
> 20 of
> Genesis never says that Sarah is beautiful, and never says that
> young ruler
> Abimelech had any lust for Sarah at all. Even a small-time ruler
> would not lust
> after a woman who was so many, many years past the normal
> childbearing age in
> the ancient world.
> Isaac Fried, you completely misunderstand what is going on at the
> end of
> chapter 12 of Genesis and in chapter 20 of Genesis. Neither
> Pharaoh nor
> Abimelech has any lust for old Sarah. On neither occasion does
> Abraham have any
> bona fide fear that Abraham's life may be in danger, whether on
> Sarah's account
> or otherwise.
> In both cases, as part of a carefully planned out cover story,
> Abraham says
> publicly that Sarah is his sister. In the Abimelech case
> explicitly, and in
> Pharaoh's case implicitly, Abraham says that Abraham feared being
> killed by
> the ruler on Sarah's account. That cover story neatly enables
> each of Pharaoh
> and Abimelech to claim that the ruler did not knowingly take a
> married woman
> into his household. Absent such a cover story, neither ruler
> would have
> been willing to take old Sarah into his household. In each case,
> the ruler and
> Abraham and Sarah have in fact jointly agreed upon a plan of
> action. Never is
> Abraham in fear of his life from either ruler, and in neither case
> does
> either ruler lust after old Sarah, for heaven's sake.
> I do not know why so many people on this b-Hebrew list insist on
> viewing the
> Patriarchal narratives as if they were "fairy tales". Old Sarah
> excites no
> lust in any Gentile ruler. Given Sarah's age, that would be
> nonsensical.
> Rather, the Pharaoh and Abimelech episodes are similar to the
> famous binding
> incident: unpleasant, awkward, controversial, and seemingly
> immoral, yet
> absolutely critical tests of Abraham's suitability to be what YHWH
> has planned
> for Abraham:
> "'[I]n thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'"
> Genesis 12:
> 3
> It's not easy being Abraham. Abraham has to go through these three
> gut-wrenching tests, each of which is more unpleasant than the
> last. But Abraham
> never feared for his life, on account of Sarah or otherwise,
> regarding either
> Pharaoh or Abimelech, and neither ruler lusted after old Sarah.
> If you don't understand any of that, you will never understand why
> Genesis
> 20: 1 presents Abraham and Sarah as making a beeline for
> Abimelech's place in
> Gerar. Abraham and Sarah want to interact with Abimelech, just as
> Abraham
> and Sarah had previously wanted to interact with Pharaoh.
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
>
>
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