Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James: 
I should have also cited Genesis 20: 4:  "Now Abimelech had not come near 
her;  and he said: 'Lord [Adonai], wilt  Thou slay even a righteous nation?'" 
In my view, the author of the Patriarchal narratives  wants us to understand 
that verse as  follows: 
The next morning, when Abimelech told his servants all  that happened, 
Abimelech said to the assembled multitude that Abimelech had not  come near 
Sarah, 
and that he had said to God:  'Lord [Adonai], wilt Thou  slay even a 
righteous 
nation?'" 
Note Abimelech's self-serving assertion that Abimelech is  "a righteous 
nation".   
Whether Abimelech is being truthful or not in claiming to  his servants that 
Abimelech had not come near Sarah we will never know.  In my view, the author 
of the  Patriarchal narratives wants us to understand these verses as being 
what  Abimelech said to his servants, not as necessarily being what actually  
happened.  In particular, at the  point that Abraham utters that profound 
fertility prayer for Abimelech, how  could Abraham have known what had 
actually gone 
on the previous  night? 
Jim Stinehart 
Evanston, Illinois



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