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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