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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 20: 1
  • Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:12:52 EDT


James:
Let me first set forth in two posts some additional information from the
Amarna Letters that impacts on chapter 20 of Genesis. Then at the end of the
second post I will come back to the question of where Abraham was going and
why
when he left the Hebron area.
1. Was Abraham Afraid of Being Murdered by Abimelech?
Abimelech of Gerar is either a local ruler in the Negev Desert, or, on my
controversial view, Abimelech of Gerar is closely modeled on historical
princeling ruler Abimilki of historical Garu, whose city-state was the tiny
island
of Sur just off the coast of southern Lebanon. We know that Abraham is
portrayed as having 318 armed retainers at Genesis 14: 14. Could a man with
318
armed retainers be honestly afraid of being murdered by Abimelech/Abimilki?
In secular history, the princelings in Canaan during this time period
fielded incredibly small militias. We see this in the Amarna Letters from
Abimilki
of Sur, where it is assumed that a mere 20 soldiers sent out from Egypt
would
be enough to impose law and order on the city-state of Sur and its violent
surroundings.
"May the king [pharaoh Akhenaten], my lord, give 10 palace attendants
[military fighters from Egypt] to guard his city [of Sur]…." EA 148: 4-17
"I write
to the king [pharaoh], my lord, because every day the king of Sidon has
captured a palace attendant of mine." [Note the reference to the rival
princeling ruler of the city-state of Sidon as being a "king". The
princeling rulers
routinely referred to each other as "kings", including hated rival
princeling
rulers.] "Since he ["the king of Sidon"] has acted hostilely, has he not
violated his oath? There is not another palace attendant." EA 148: 18-26,
34-40 "May the king [pharaoh] send 20 palace attendants [military fighters
from Egypt] to guard his city [of Sur]…." EA 149: 6-20 "Should a single
soldier guard the city [Sur] of the king [pharaoh], my lord, then I would go
in to
behold the face of the king, my lord." EA 150: 4-13 "May the king
[pharaoh],
my lord, give me 20 men to guard the city [Sur] of the king, my lord…." EA
151: 12-24 "[A]nd may he [pharaoh] give me 80 soldiers to guard [Sur], for
the war against me is severe." EA 152: 47-57 "Moreover, since the
departure
of the [Egyptian] troops of the king [pharaoh], my lord, from me, the ruler
of Sidon [north of Sur] does not allow me or my people to go to land to
fetch
wood or to fetch water for drinking. He has killed one man, and he has
captured another." EA 154: 11-20
Thus when Abraham, with his 318 armed retainers, loudly says to Abimelech
and Abimelech's assembled people that Abraham was afraid of being murdered by

Abimelech on Sarah's account, we are to understand that as being an obvious
cover story. Abraham, Sarah and Abimelech know full well that Abraham is in
no
danger of being murdered by Abimelech, because Abraham's militia is much
stronger than Abimelech's tiny militia.
2. Did Abimelech and Abimilki Have a Fertility Problem Like Abraham?
Abimelech's willingness to deal with Abraham and Sarah cannot be understood
apart from Abimelech's terrible fertility problem. Abimelech is a young
princeling ruler who wants to impregnate the women of his palace, in order
to show
that he is a virile ruler. But prior to the arrival of Abraham and Sarah,
Abimelech has frustratingly been unable to impregnate any woman in his
palace:
"God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore
children. For the LORD [YHWH] had fast closed up all the wombs of the house
of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." Genesis 17-18
The reference to "because of Sarah Abraham's wife" at the end means that
Abimelech's own fertility problem was what gave Abraham and Sarah leverage
to
deal with Abimelech. Abimelech was willing to do almost anything to get the
holy man Abraham to offer a profound fertility prayer on behalf of
Abimelech,
which is exactly what ends up happening: "And Abraham prayed unto God;
and
God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore
children." Genesis 20: 17
What about historical princeling ruler Abimilki of Sur, in southern Lebanon?
It is noteworthy that in the 10 Amarna Letters that Abimilki wrote, not
once is there any mention of Abimilki having any children. In 8 letters,
Abimilki complains that there is no water to drink. He mentions that his
people
are "wailing in the streets" for water (EA 150: 32-37), but he never makes a
comment such as asserting that his own children were asking for water. In
EA
155, Abimilki repeatedly refers to pharaoh Akhenaten's daughter,
Mayati/Meritaten, but he never once mentions any child of his own.
Thus the 10 Amarna Letters we have from Abimilki are consistent with the
portrait of Abimelech in chapter 20 of Genesis: a young princeling ruler who
wants to impregnate the women in his palace, but who to date has had no
success
in doing so.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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