One Big Happy Family (or It’s a Small Galaxy After All)

There is a trinity of stories with a wife-sister theme in Genesis. Names get changed around here and there in each one, but they are very similar.
First in Genesis 12, Abram (Abraham) and his wife Sarai (Sarah) go to Egypt. Abram worries that the Egyptians will see how “beautiful” a woman Sarai is and kill him and take her. So he tells her to say that she is his sister.

They get to Egypt and Pharaoh’s courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and was taken into his palace. But plagues hit Pharaoh and his household because of it. He finds out she is Abram’s wife and asks him why he didn’t say that Sarai was his wife. They are then told to go on their way.

Then, in Genesis 20, it goes like this:

Abraham and Sarah travel to the Negeb and settled for a bit. Abraham said of Sarah, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech has Sarah brought to him. God comes to the King in a dream and tells him he will die because he has taken a married women. Abimelech says I didn’t touch her, please spare me. God says give her back and we’re cool. (My translation.)

So the King says to Abraham, I thought she was your sister. Abraham tells him he was in fear of his life. Oh, and she really is my sister. We have the same father.

What? Half-sister?

It is possible the ancient Hebrew for father could also mean grandfather, but either way, it is a bit creepy. Meet my wife, my sister. Whenever I read this I keep thinking of when Luke kisses Princess Leia in Star Wars and how I thought they should be together, only later to find out they were brother and sister. Yuck.

Finally, in Genesis 26, Isaac (the son of Abraham and Sarah) and Rebekah get in on the act.

Isaac says, “She is my sister.” But, Abimelech king of the Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac and Rebekah together. My Tanakh translation says Isaac was “fondling” Rebekah. The NIV says “caressing.” I think my favorite is the King James Version. It says he was “sporting with her.”

He asks Isaac about it and Isaac says he was worried he would be killed because of Rebekah. Abimelech tells all of his people not to mess with them.

I’m not sure what’s the point of the stories. My study bible links the first and the last version to the same author, with chapter 20’s version to another author.

~ by bart on January 28, 2008.