What A Wife Is Not

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Remember, the key to understanding Genesis 12-36 is to see it as the education of the patriarchs about the way to make family work.

Here we go again.

The Abraham story began with Abraham passing off his wife as his sister when they sojourned in Egypt. A lot has happened since then, and Abraham and Sarah have grown old and very wealthy. But still, Abraham hasn’t learned his lesson: a “wife” is not the same thing as a “sister” or a “mistress” or a “concubine”; a wife is a partner in the raising and the shaping of the next generation.

And so, here Abraham tries the same trick with Abimelech, and just as before, the Lord intervenes.

What happens next is important. As we’ll see in tomorrow’s reading, Sarah finally becomes pregnant with the child of the covenant—Isaac—but only after Abraham finally learns his lesson.

“Only when Abraham acknowledges that a wife is something absolutely other than a sister does Sarah become pregnant; and only then is she a wife in the full sense”.

—Leon Kass

For the covenant to be passed down, both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers will be necessary. As we’ll continue to see, this lesson is not one the children of Abraham learn easily!

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 20:1-18

The Egyptian Woman

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The key to understanding Genesis 12-36 is to see it as a story about the education of the patriarchs as patriarchs, that is as the founders of a family that will be able to successfully pass on the covenant, generation to generation.

Or, to put it more succinctly:

Genesis 12-36 is about what it takes to make family work.

In Egypt, Abraham gives his wife to Pharaoh. But, the Lord rescues her and Pharaoh sends them on their way. The lesson for Abraham: a wife is not the same thing as a sister.

Now, it’s as if the roles are reversed: Sarah gives Abraham her Egyptian slave Hagar. The Lord permits Abraham and Sarah to make a mess of things, but then steps in and blesses Hagar’s son with Abraham, Ishmael.

Abraham will subsequently learn that a wife is not the same thing as a concubine.

In each episode, Abraham is learning what the Lord requires of him to be the founding patriarch of a people.

For us, I think the lesson is clear: you can’t have God’s ends apart from God’s means. Trusting in God’s promises means trusting that God will bring them about without your having to force them to happen.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 16:1-16

Were There Other Hypothetical Abrahams?

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[Scroll down to the end for some bonus content about “That Hideous Strength” from Friday’s post, including a complete answer to my trivia question.]

Were there other men whom the Lord called and commanded to leave their homes and families who refused to go? Were there others with whom the Lord wanted to make a covenant, if only they would obey? Were there other hypothetical Abrahams? If so, then certainly part of Abraham’s greatness—just like the Virgin Mary’s, millennia later—was his unique willingness to say, “Yes.”

You have no idea what hinges on your obedience today. Abraham said “Yes,” and history changed forever.

P.S. As we will see, the stories of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—are primarily concerned with their education about family; family is what God will use to pass on the covenant, so it’s important that Abraham and the others learn how to make family work. (It doesn’t come naturally!) So, in this strange story about Sarah and Pharaoh, Abraham is learning that a “wife” is not the same thing as a “sister”.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 12:1-20

 
 

Bonus Content: “That Hideous Strength

On Friday, I wrote about Babel and entitled my post “That Hideous Strength.” I asked you to identify the source of that title.

No one actually got the answer right (or at least not completely). Yes, it is the title of the 3rd novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, but none of you actually explained why Lewis gave his novel that title or why I used it in the title of my post. So, let me tell you:

I re-read the Space Trilogy last year and was struck by the epigraph on the title page of That Hideous Strength. Here’s what it says:

“The shadow of that hyddeous strength

Sax myle and more it is of length”

Sir David Lindsay: from Ane Dialogue [describing the Tower of Babel]

Sir David Lindsay was a poet of the late Renaissance, who wrote Ane Dialogue in 1555 (which explains the strange spelling). Lewis, remember, was an expert on English Renaissance literature; when he wrote his novel about the dangers of technological powers joined with spiritual evil, he used the striking phrase “that hyddeous strength” as his title. I think the description of Babel is terrifying: an evil tower so high that it’s very shadow is six miles long.

So, there ya go.