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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Was Pharaoh "Touched" or "Plagued" by God at Genesis 12: 17?
  • Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:35:35 EDT


Was Pharaoh “Touched” or “Plagued” by God at Genesis 12: 17?

1. Q: How did Pharaoh know that it was time to return Sarah to Abraham?

A: God “touched” Pharaoh at Genesis 12: 17. The traditional English
translation that God “plagued” Pharaoh is unwarranted, as nun-gimel-ayin/naga
simply means “touch”.

2. Q: Had Abraham, pursuant to divine advice, prophesized to Pharaoh that
Pharaoh would at some point receive a divine communication, which would be
the
signal to return Sarah to Abraham?

A: Probably (though that is not explicitly so stated in the text). See #3
below.

3. Q: Why does the young Pharaoh at Genesis 41: 39 declare to Joseph that “
there is none so discrete and wise as thou”, b-e-f-o-r-e a single feast or
famine year has occurred, based on that Hebrew monotheist’s prophesy that
n-e-x-t year will be the first of 7 feast years, to be followed, importantly
and
ominously (beginning a long 7 years from now), by 7 famine years?

A: In part because the young Pharaoh’s father, that is the old Pharaoh in
chapter 12 of Genesis, had apparently received a divine prophecy from a
Hebrew
monotheist (Abraham) that the old Pharaoh would be “touched” by God, as a
divine signal that Sarah should be returned to Abraham. That divine prophecy
from
a Hebrew monotheist in chapter 12 of Genesis had come true in that
generation, as the old Pharaoh was indeed in due course “touched” by God. So
it seemed
likely to that old Pharaoh’s son, the young Pharaoh at the end of Genesis,
that Hebrew monotheist Joseph’s new, disturbing divine prophesy would also
come
true.

Another factor, as is well known, is that Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer told
Pharaoh that Joseph had, two years previously, correctly interpreted the
chief
cupbearer’s dream. Genesis 41: 9-13 But note that the chief cupbearer, who
unlike Pharaoh probably was not personally a committed monotheist, had not
seen
fit to pay any attention to Joseph, or to try to get Joseph out of jail,
after
the chief cupbearer had had his dream correctly interpreted by Joseph.
Genesis
40: 23 The Pharaohs’ peculiar, positive reactions to Abraham and Joseph only
make sense if the Pharaohs themselves are semi-monotheists, who instinctively
admire and trust these unusual Hebrew monotheists from Canaan.

4. Q: Is the apparent double occurrence in the Patriarchal narratives of an
Egyptian pharaoh receiving a correct divine prophecy from a Hebrew monotheist
significant?

A: Yes. Joseph in effect tells us precisely that at Genesis 41: 32, as he
emphasizes the divine importance of the same thing happening twice: “‘And
for
that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is
established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.’”

5. Q: Is the clear implication of these two stories, taken together, that
the old Pharaoh in chapter 12 of Genesis was leaning toward a type of
semi-monotheism at the end of his reign, and that the young Pharaoh at the
end of
Genesis was a full-blown semi-monotheist?

A: Yes. Even though those Egyptian pharaohs worshiped an entirely different
deity (a sun god) than did the Hebrews, and even though many aspects of their
religious beliefs were very different from (and slightly post-date) Hebrew
monotheism/semi-monotheism, nevertheless those two Egyptian pharaohs and the
Hebrews were the only semi-monotheists on planet Earth prior to the common
era.
Hence, those two particular pharaohs and the early Hebrews could,
temporarily,
if it suited their separate purposes, consider themselves to be “fellow
travelers”, of a sort, on religious matters. That explains why the old
Pharaoh
does not strip fellow monotheist Abraham of any of Abraham’s new great wealth
at
Genesis 12: 20, why the young Pharaoh at Genesis 41: 40-41 puts Hebrew
monotheist Joseph in charge of Egypt’s entire food supply even before the
first
prophesized feast year has occurred (much less any famine years), and why in
the
last chapter of Genesis the young Pharaoh sends all his top officers all the
long way to Canaan for a super-magnificent funeral for the namesake of the
Hebrew
monotheists -- Jacob/“Israel”.

Note that the Patriarchal narratives make good historical sense, and good
logical sense, if we will simply pay close attention to what the text says,
and
recognize the overwhelming Late Bronze Age historical ambience of the
Patriarchal narratives. Pharaoh in chapter 12 of Genesis does not react to
Pharaoh on
the basis of irresistible lust for middle-aged Sarah, who not only was a
non-virgin, but also was so old that she was almost past the time when a
woman
could give birth in ancient times. That strange scholarly theory of the case
(Pharaoh being motivated by irresistible physical lust for old Sarah) makes
no
sense on any level -- historical, logical, biological, theological or moral.
(That peculiar theory of the case would portray Abraham as being cowardly and
immoral, in giving Sarah to lustful Pharaoh in order to save Abraham’s own
skin.
No way!!! Chapter 12 of Genesis is not anti-Semitic propaganda!) No, that
old Egyptian Pharaoh is reacting to Abraham as a fellow monotheist (not as
the
consort of an irresistible female beauty).

We can tell who that old Egyptian Pharaoh was, historically, and figure out
Pharaoh’s own political reasons why he would want all Egypt to be a-buzz
about
Pharaoh’s odd treatment of Hebrew monotheist Abraham, if we pay close
attention to what the text says and does not say, and analyze the story in
its Late
Bronze Age historical context. We can figure out not only who the Pharaoh is
at
the end of chapter 12 of Genesis, but also the exact year, near the end of
his long, famous, grandiose, decadent reign, when this story would have taken
place, because that is the one and only time in all history when this story
could have occurred. No other pharaoh in history would have reacted to a
Hebrew
monotheist like Abraham in that particular way.

Whether the story told at the end of chapter 12 of Genesis is literally true
or not, the Hebrew author of the story definitely wanted it to be a
believable
story, which his audience would find credible; and the Hebrew author wanted
to portray Abraham as being a righteous man, who is severely divinely tested,
but who is most definitely and properly divinely blessed (not, for heaven’s
sake, as being a scoundrel of the first order!). That indeed is the case.

One key to understanding the Patriarchal narratives is to realize that in
chapter 12 of Genesis, Pharaoh is reacting to Abraham as a fellow
monotheist/semi-monotheist. Sarah’s continued beauty in middle age is a
relatively minor
factor, its importance being that Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 12: 11),
Pharaoh’s
ministers (Genesis 12: 15), and Pharaoh (Genesis 12: 16) genuinely believe
that
Sarah, despite her age, as a still-beautiful woman remains capable of bearing
a son and heir for Abraham. There is no pharaonic physical lust for Sarah in
Genesis, and YHWH does not “plague” Pharaoh at Genesis 12: 17.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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