Genesis 12 - Abram's (First) Big Lie
Zooming in on the first patriarch
Now we start to sl-o-o-ow down. Having zipped through many generations--from the creation to the flood--in less than a dozen chapters, we will now spent the remaining nearly-forty on just four guys, averaging almost ten chapter per person. (Compare that to Chapters 5 and 10!)
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In this lesson, a patriarch tells a lie and the entire Egyptian nation gets punished because of it.
Okay, look, I'm not so naïve as to believe that heroes are perfect human beings. Far from it. But when Abram-who-would-become-Abraham, father of both the Jews (and by extension the Christians, at least spiritually) and the Muslims, lies to the Pharaoh, True Believers have to work their pretzel logic overtime to prove to me that this is okay. Is it right that the god punished an entire people who took Abram's words at face value, and made wrong decisions based on them? Read on...
The Story
Abraham's Journey from Ur to Canaan, by József Molnár, 1850 (Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest) (Wikipedia)
Last time we learned that Terah had three sons--Abram, Nahor, and Haran--and that Haran had a son named Lot. After Haran died, Terah and the whole fam damily--wives included--headed off toward Canaan, but stopped at Haran (the place, not the dead guy) which modern scholars believe to have been in Turkey. Ur (in southern Iraq) to modern Israel by way of Turkey? Sounds like the long way around. Maybe that was to avoid traffic. Or it could be because of that big honkin' desert in between?
Just for the hey of it, I asked Google Maps for directions from Nasiriyah, Iraq--near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur--to Nablus, the modern West Bank city that was the Biblical Shechem. Going as directly as possible (on foot), it's 877 miles and 286 hours. Going by way of Harran, Turkey, it's around 1385 miles and 383 hours. Figuring around five miles a day (what with the flocks and the babies and all), that's about 57 days versus 77 days, a difference of nearly three weeks. (Wanna move 10 miles a day? Halve it, to a difference of ten days.)
Anyway, sometime after Terah died (at age 205) the god told Abram--as new head of the family--to move along. And after the god made another covenant--the Abrahamic ("all families of the earth shall be blessed through you" yada yada)--75-year-old Abram finally made it to Canaan. Even though the Canaanites were there, the god promised Abram, "I will give this land to your descendants." In return, Abram built a couple of altars to say "thanks." (Rev. Halley suggests that these altars and the associated rituals were a means of "evangelizing" the surrounding pagans.)
And then the famine struck (just his luck), so Abram headed on down into Egypt. And knowing that Sarai was a babe... wait--Abram is at least 75, so Sarai must be... 65? How many 75 year-olds worry that some foreigner is going to swoop in on their 65-year-old wives? Anyway, Abram foists a big ol' lie: "Tell the Egyptians you're just my sister," he says. "It might save my life," he says.
And sure enough, the Egyptians found this crone (sorry ladies; I'm 65 myself, and not as beautiful as I useta was) so beautiful that they passed the word on to Pharaoh, who snagged her for his harem. (Yes, his harem.) But being fair-oh (get it?) he gave Abram a sort of dowry: a bunch of livestock, and servants, who sadly probably counted as livestock in those days, appearing in the list like this: sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
Then, the god sends great plagues. GREAT PLAGUES?! That's right, this so-called patriarch lies, and Pharaoh--who has no reason to doubt the intelligence he has received--acts on it, and gets punished for it! He's justifiably outraged ("What have you done? Why didn't you tell me?" etc.), and sends Abram and all packing--apparently allowing them to keep the booty.
There is reason to believe that these weren't plagues on the scale that Moses inspired, maybe just boils or something. It must have been pretty noticeable, though, because it caused the Pharaoh to ponder long enough, put two and two together and figure out it was caused by the presence of the refugee woman in his harem. (Ya gotta be smart to be Pharaoh!)
Okay, let's pick apart a couple of points.
The Big Lie--or Is It?
Abram's Counsel to Sarai: "Here's what I want you to say..." (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot) (Wikipedia)
Abram sets up a Big Lie: Telling Pharaoh that his wife Sarai is his sister.
And as he was approaching Egypt, Abram said to his wife, "Listen, I know that you are beautiful to look at, so when the Egyptians see you, they'll say, 'This is his wife,' and they'll kill me, but keep you alive. Please, tell them you are my sister, so I'll be safe, and stay alive.
In modern times, we have been conditioned to believe that "truth" means "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Ethicists call violation of the first part, about the whole truth, "lies of omission." And the latter, telling something other than the truth, "lies of commission." Omitting facts with intent to deceive is on par with committing perjury.
But some True Believers try to get Abram off the hook here by reciting Proverbs 12:23:
A prudent man conceals knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.
So Abram was just being "prudent" by "concealing knowledge," they say.
But that's a violent way to rend that verse in an entire chapter that condemns lying. It seems to have more to do with humility and a wise reticence, in comparison with the second half of the verse, translated in the NIV "but a fool’s heart blurts out folly."
They also try to justify the lie by citing a "fact" which is not revealed until later. The second time Abram gets caught pulling this schtick on a king--this time, on Abimelech, king of Gerar--he rationalizes his lie by saying, "And 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." (Gen. 20:12)
So this 65 year old is his half-sister, he claims, and when he said sister, he sorta forgot the "half-" part, and the fact that they were married.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but let me just note quickly that (1) Abram is by this time Abraham, the new name having been given by the god as a sign of that he's now a Certified Prophet, which to my mind means he should be above this sort of thing; and (b) Sarai-who-has-become-Sarah must be ancient, because she was 90 when Isaac was born, and this is after that. Abraham seems to be one of those guys who overestimates the attractiveness of his woman (as we all would if we were smart).
I found an article about an ancient rabbi (who died ca 320 CE) who suggested that, when the god made Sarah capable of bearing Isaac, he did so by restoring her youth. He might have reset her to, like, 20, leaving her able to stir Abimelech's interest.
But what about this half-sister business? Why did Abram/Abraham only trot out this explanation decades later, for a local little pissant potentate, and not when a Pharaoh in all his terrible majesty was bellowing in his face?
I propose that it weren't necessarily so. Having run this con once before, with mixed results (he got caught, but kept the dowry), Abram/Abraham has invented a "refinement."
But even if it were true, a half- ain't the same as a sister, and being married matters.
Tell Old Pharaoh
Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh's Palace (and doesn't she look happy?) by James Tissot (Wikipedia)
I don't really have a point to make about the Pharaoh, but here I just want to explore some of the dynamics a bit.
What is the likelihood of some nomads stumbling into the splendor that was Egypt, and the locals nudging each other and saying, "Get a load of that 65-year-old babe with that desert dude"? Was Egypt suffering some kind of shortage of eligible bachelorettes or something? Or was Sarai just such a smokin' hot senior citizen that Abram knew the Egypties wouldn't be able to resist?
Who are these "princes of Pharaoh"? "Princes" makes it sound like they were his sons, but the NIV calls them "Pharaoh’s officials." Were they the ICE officers of their day, checking passports with a side mission of scoping out potential wives for the Pharaoh? (It's good to be the king!) If so, what sorts of standards were they given? And were they prohibited from discriminating on the basis of age?
The harem. Some ultra-conservative scholars have suggested that the Pharaoh in this story was Khufu (also called Cheops), builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, whom history says reigned from 2589-2566 BCE (maybe). Near the Great Pyramids are three associated "Queen's Pyramids." One is thought to be the tomb of Khufu's mother, Hetepheres I, indicating that the wives of pharaohs were capable of achieving great status in his day.
Incidentally, one of Khufu's wives, Meritites I--previously associated with the pyramid now attributed to Hetepheres--was believed to be his sister or half-sister, another echo of the Abram/Sarai story.
Rev. Halley, however, claims Abram's Pharaoh was Senusret II, who reigned much later--1897-1878 BCE--and whose tomb bears a sculpture "depicting a visit of Asiatic Semitic traders to his court." There it is! Proof of the Abram/Sarai story!
Finally, it's worth remembering that this was not the last time a triangle of the god, his prophet, and the Pharaoh would result in plagues. Some "scholars" suggest that the Pharaoh whom Moses knew was Ramesses II, who reigned from 1279-1213 BCE. The "scare quotes" hint at the fact that there is not a shred of evidence for any of this outside of the Bible (wishful thinking not withstanding), so "scholarship" is a relative concept here.
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And now it's time for the Text and the Footnotes.
The Text: The Abrahamic Covenant I: A Great Nation (12:1-5)
12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your family, and your father's house, and go to a land that I will show you.
12:2 "I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
12:3 "I will bless those that bless you, and curse him that curses you. And all families of the earth shall be blessed in you."
12:4 So Abram went as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
12:5 Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot, and all the material wealth they had gathered, and the children that had been born in Haran; and they entered Canaan.
12:1 The LORD had said to Abram: Some scholars suggest that "had" may indicate that this is referencing 11:31, explaining why Terah and his sons etc. "went forth ... from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." I don't think so. Back when they left Ur, Abram did not leave "[his] family, and [his] father's house"; they all went together. I see this as referring to a whole new mission.
12:1 your family: Presumably he's leaving behind his extended family, as his wife, and his nephew and his wife, go along.
12:2 "I will make of you a great nation" etc.: This is the first broaching of the "Abrahamic Covenant," which will be undergoing clarification as late as Chapter 17. Dr. Scofield also calls this "The Fourth Dispensation: Promise," following on Innocence (Adam and Eve in the Garden), Conscience (after the Fall), and Human Government (since Noah). Abram was to (1) gain a land, (2) found a nation of people, (3) have a great name, and (4) be a blessing. Let's see which of these promises has been fulfilled by the time Abram/Abraham dies in Chapter 25.
12:3 "And all families of the earth shall be blessed in you": True Believers see this as a promise of the coming of Jesus, as it extends beyond Abraham's physical descendants, the Jews and Muslims.
12:5 the children that had been born in Haran: This is my understanding. The KJV says "the souls that they had gotten in Haran"; the NIV translates this as "the people they had acquired in Harran." True, Sarai was "barren," but didn't Lot have some daughters? Heh heh. (See Chapter 19)
The Text: The Abrahamic Covenant II: The Promise of the Promised Land (12:6-9)
12:6 Abram passed through the land to a place called Sichem, on the plain of Moreh. The Canaanites lived there at the time.
12:7 And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, "I will give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared unto him.
12:8 He went from there to a mountain east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. He built [another] altar to the LORD there, and called on the LORD's name.
12:9 And Abram continued his journey toward the south.
12:6 the plain of Moreh: NIV has "the great tree of Moreh," which makes more sense as a place for an altar.
12:6 The Canaanites lived there at the time: They wouldn't be mercilessly wiped out until the time of Joshua.
12:7 to your descendants: "unto your seed"
12:8 Bethel: The name means "house of God." Abram would settle here for a time after his return from Egypt. At this point, the place was probably called Luz, a Canaanite name. It wouldn't be called Bethel until Jacob's time. Calling it "Bethel" now is like taking about the Dutch era in "New York"; properly it was "New Amsterdam" when they owned it, but few people would know what you were talking about if you called it that.
The Text: A Famine and a Lie (12:10-13)
See discussion of this and 14-20 in the mini-sermon "The Lie--or Is It?" above.
12:10 A famine struck the land, and it was so bad that Abram went down to stay in Egypt.
12:11 And as he was approaching Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Listen, I know that you are beautiful to look at,
12:12 "So when the Egyptians see you, they'll say, 'This is his wife,' and they'll kill me, but keep you alive.
12:13 "Please, tell them you are my sister, so I'll be safe, and stay alive."
12:10 Egypt: Egypt is seen by some to symbolize "the world," that is, the un-spiritual realm. Instead of dealing with the famine (often seen a test sent by the god), Abram chose to head for a cushier situation (though not Kush itself--get it?). Somehow, they say, Abram had lost the god's favor, invoking the famine; Pastor Chuck Smith suggests it's because Abram failed to heed the call and go straight to Canaan, without stopping at Haran. Anyway, by going down to the "worldly" place, he ended up with a load of cattle and servants. Was that really a bad idea?
The Text: Pharaoh Detects the Lie (12:14-20)
See discussion of this in the mini-sermon "The Lie--or Is It?" above.
12:14 And so it happened that when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians noticed that Sarai was very beautiful.
12:15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and called her to Pharaoh's attention, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.
12:16 Pharaoh asked Abram for her, and gave him sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants, and camels.
12:17 And the LORD sent great plagues on Pharaoh and his house because of Abram's wife Sarai.
12:18 And Pharaoh asked Abram, "What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
12:19 "Why did you say, 'She is my sister' so I tried to take her as my wife? There's your wife! Take her and go!"
12:20 And Pharaoh gave his men orders to send him away, with his wife and all he had.
12:15 The princes of Pharaoh: As suggested above, this may mean "officials."
12:16 servants: See the discussion of their status above.
12:17 great plagues: No lurid details... yet.
12:20 all he had: This makes me think that Abram kept all the "dowry" given by Pharaoh.
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And that pretty much completes this sordid little episode. In the next lesson, Abram and Lot will divvy up... well, something that isn't theirs!
'Til soon!