Abimelech - Genesis 20

20:1-7 - Lot has gone from Sodom to Zoar to a cave in the mountains, and likewise, Abraham leaves the desert he was staying in as a nomad and “journeyed from thence toward the south country,” and dwelled in some cities that I’ve never heard of. We again have the problem where Abraham believes that the royalty of the city will kill him because his wife Sarah is so beautiful, they will want her for themselves. And we know that the Lord has told Abraham to tell everyone that she is his sister before when they went to Egypt. Technically, he’s not lying because as he says in verse 12, “yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.” The IM has a little chart that shows Sarah as being the daughter of Haran, Abraham’s niece and Lot’s sister, which might explain why Abraham is so anxious to look out for him because he’s not only his nephew, but Sarah’s brother as well. This account of king Abimelech in these cities is very similar to what happened with Pharaoh in Egypt, Abraham and Sarah show up, they say that she’s his sister, and Abimelech “took Sarah.” I know that this might have been how it worked anciently, but I feel so bad for Sarah because she’s been taken by pretty much every king of the city that they’ve stayed in, as well as Abraham. What a terrible way to be treated, as a woman anciently, but I guess that’s how it’s always been. When they were in Egypt, as far as I remember, all the women became barren and somehow the Pharaoh deduced that it was because he had taken Sarah away from Abraham that this had happened, which seems pretty farfetched. It’s seems more likely that the same thing happened to Pharaoh that happened to Abimelech, which is that “God came to Abimelech in a dream by night,” and told him that he was “a dead man” because the woman he had taken “is a man’s wife.” Abimelech is shocked and has a conversation with God in which he explains that both Abraham and Sarah had told him that she was his sister and he didn’t know that she was married. He entreats the Lord for his people, asking “wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?... in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.” He’s absolutely correct, Abimelech didn’t know that Sarah was married to Abraham, but maybe the part that makes him wrong also is that he’s snatching up women and holding them captive as sex slaves. I would imagine that Jesus, as the champion of all women, does not like that. The Lord commands Abimelech to give Sarah back to Abraham “for he is a prophet… and thou shalt live,” but if you don’t you and everyone you love will die. This part just seems so brutal, like I appreciate God intervening to get Sarah back to Abraham without being raped, but what about all the women who were held captive who weren’t rescued? I understand that victimization is part of this life and the eternal process, but hold crap, it’s just so brutal. The only thing that makes it even comprehensible is the knowledge that Jesus Christ experienced every moment of every one of those women’s lives, every moment of terror, every hint of pain, he’s cried those tears, he is the only one who knows exactly the price of allowing this fallen world to operate as it does. If there was any other way to make the atonement effective without the suffering of billions of humans and animals, then he would have done it because to have another option and decline it in favor of the more painful, suffering way, is just cruel, and God is not cruel. There is no other way. 20:8-18 - After hearing directly from God, Abimelech wastes no time taking care of business. He “rose early in the morning,” and told all his servants what happened and they “were sore afraid.” When he finally gets to talk to Abraham, he is not pleased, “What hast thou done unto us?” Abraham hems and haws for a bit and says that he thought this would be a godless place where he would be killed, but technically I didn’t lie because she is my sister. In a move that bothers me a bit, Abimelech “took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored hi Sarah his wife.” He allows Abraham to live anywhere in his land that he wants, and told Sarah “I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.” An article about this verse says that this money might have been meant to signify Sarah’s innocence in this matter, and/or to show that she had not been defiled while in his household. Another article speculates that the gifts and money were given to Abraham, instead of Sarah herself to show that “her honor was unstained.” Perhaps if Abimelech had given the money directly to Sarah, it might have been seen as a payment for personal damage and made her appear as a prostitute or something. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on this incident sums up my feels quite well. He says, “What a poor defense Abraham made. The statement absolved him from the charge of direct and absolute falsehood, but he had told a moral untruth because there was an intention to deceive. ‘Honesty if always the best policy.’ Abraham’s life would have been as well protected without the fraud as with it: and what shame to himself, what distrust to God, what dishonor to religion might have been prevented! ‘Let us speak truth every man to his neighbor.’” He makes a good point though, saying that Abraham’s life would have been protected even if he had said that she was his wife. For this we go to Abraham 2:22-25 where it’s clear that the command to tell everyone that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife comes from the Lord, when “the Lord said unto me: Behold, Sarai thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon… Let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live.” It’s like when Satan tempts Jesus to jump off the corner of the temple and be saved by angels. Yes, God could have used his powers to save Jesus in a metaphysical way, but the point is that no one can dictate when God uses his powers to perform miracles. Could God have miraculously saved Abraham when the Egyptians wanted to kill him so they could have Sarah? Of course he could have. But the working of miracles has consequences, such as other people seeing the event, having to live a different lifestyle than the Lord wanted them to (like not being able to teach the Egyptians about astronomy, etc because he couldn’t be around them). For whatever reason, it was God’s will that Abraham deceive these people so that he could be saved. Maybe it could be argued that if the people were righteous, they never would have wanted to kill Abraham, so this little omission was necessary to avoid a huge scene. Anyway, I don’t really understand the purpose of the lie, I mean it’s like when Nephi was commanded to kill Laban, it goes against what we understand the commandments to be in our time now, so we judge them as wrong, or lacking faith, etc. But overall, my main problem with this whole scheme is how completely unfair it is to Sarah.