Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
What, again with this lie? Why didn't Abraham learn the lesson with Pharaoh in Gen 12? Sounds like God is about to punish Abimelech for Abraham's lie.
Also, isn't Sarah now, like, 90 years old? She was joking about how old and frail she is, and even found humorous the idea that her old withered husband could give her sexual pleasure (Gen 18:12). I don't get why everyone is always fighting over Sarah, basically treating her like property.
And if the fear is that someone will take Sarah to be his own wife, isn't the obvious solution to TELL THE TRUTH and say that she's Abraham's wife in the first place? This whole subterfuge is completely irrational.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.
Yup, predictable. I'm starting to figure this God character out.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
Sounds reasonable. Except for the part where Abimelech has not yet slept with her.
6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
Aha, Abimelech didn't sleep with Sarah because God held him back. Pity God couldn't have held Abraham back from telling the lie, or from allowing Abimelech from taking her, or...
7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
This is a strange direction for God to give Abimelech: if Abraham prays for you, then I'll save your life. But this is God talking; when Abraham prays, he's talking to God. So God says, I'll save your life if Abraham asks me to save your life. What a capricious, sick mind.
8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
DUDE! You lied to me and now look what happened! What did I ever do to you?
(If Abraham isn't careful, he's going to get a reputation as a liar.)
10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
What? These people aren't afraid of God, so they will kill me to take my 90-year-old wife. So I'm going to lie and say she's not my wife so they'll take her anyway, and I'll let God punish them, but at least my life will be spared, even though I'm a liar.
Yeah, incredibly pure ethics. A shining model of morality.
Also note the very strange view that, without a "fear of God," people will do wicked things like steal people's wives. This is insidious, and is part of the hurtful nature of this religion.
12 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.
Oh, so she IS Abraham's half-sister. (Checking Gen 11, this was NOT explained there.) Another example of incest, with no less than Abraham. This is shocking! (Unless Abraham is lying again, which he is known for.) I never knew that the namesake for this family of religions had an incestuous marriage!
13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
He clearly didn't learn his lesson with Pharaoh.
14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
Sounds like quite a scam that Abraham and God have worked out, to get Abraham rich. Trick rich leaders into taking Sarah, then revealing that Sarah is Abraham's wife and threaten them with death for their "crime," after which Sarah gets returned and the duped leader has to pay Abraham a fortune. Since Abraham isn't getting punished for this, and he keeps getting richer, no wonder he keeps this up.
15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, 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.
Have you learned your lesson? The only moral person here is the poor dupe Abimelech.
17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Not only had God threatened to kill Abimelech if he didn't return Sarah to Abraham, but he had also made all of the women barren while Sarah was in his possession.
Since God overreacts so much when they tell this lie (the lie of omission, in not admitting Sarah is Abraham's wife), I sure hope they don't do it again.
Also, Abraham: she's your sister. Yuck!
No comments:
Post a Comment