Matriarch in distress

Genesis 20: Once again we get the story of the matriarch in trouble. Abraham and Sarah settle in Gerar. King Abimelech takes a fancy to the comely Sarah – young and desirable here – and, since Abraham says that she is his sister, available. God appears to the King in a dream, and tells him that he will die because of Sarah. The King is understandably upset, and tells Abraham that “you have done things to me that ought not to be done”.

In his own defense Abraham informs the King that Sarah is actually his half-sister (the daughter of Abraham’s father). He feared that he would be put to death if he were known as Sarah’s husband, because the King has no fear of God.

The King bestows great wealth and land on Abraham. It turns out that God had already visited misfortune on Abimelech – when Abraham prays to God the King is healed and the wombs of his wife and female slaves “opened”.

This is the same story we’ve already come across in Genesis 12 – just in a different country, featuring a king and not a pharaoh who is punished for unwittingly transgressing against God’s people. This is the first time that we read that Abraham and Sarah are related though.

As before, although Abraham is guilty of dishonesty, and really also responsible for the suffering God inflicted on innocents, he is not censured. It seems that the patriarch lives a charmed life – this story also ends with him wealthier than he was at its start.

~ by tamfuwing on June 17, 2008.