![]() ![]() ![]() Sarah thus was presumably extraordinarily special to Abram. If Abram and Sarai attempt to follow this custom, certainly they did not attempt it as a first resort Genesis suggests that Ishmael was not born until Abram was 86 and Sarai 76 (16:2-3 cf. There a wife of means might give her female servant to her husband as a concubine, and most relevantly, as attested in a Nuzi tablet, a wife unable to bear a child would have her woman servant bear in her place (cf. Abram and Sarai may have been following a custom from Mesopotamia. In fact, God had to rescue Abram and Sarai from this strategy! (Some find in the multiple occasions signs of sources in this post, though, I am exploring the narrative as it stands, as typically in narrative approaches in 20:13, Abraham later explains, perhaps truthfully, that this was their regular practice.)Īlthough a man of wealth and status such as Abram often married multiple wives, and customarily did so if one wife could not bear children, Abraham did not marry another woman so long as Sarah lived (25:1, 6). At some points God directly commands Abram, but when Abram, and later his son Isaac, present their wives as their sisters (12:13 20:2 26:7), the biblical text offers no indication that this strategy was divinely ordained. Obedience pleases God, but it does not solve every problem or imply perfection in every other area of our life. At least we can say that the narrative offers no indication that leading one’s people to Egypt temporarily during a famine was disobedient or faithless it may have simply been the wisest course available. Here he simply seems silent-at least so far as we know, since the narrative does not tell us everything that was once known. What could they do? Although God later warns Isaac not to travel to Egypt during a famine (26:1-2), he later instructs Jacob to do so (46:3). Canaan may be the land of promise for Abram’s household, but Canaan is not ready for them just yet. Unlike Egypt, which is blessed with the Nile, Canaan depends on rainfall, and thus is more vulnerable to famines (as noted by my colleague Bill Arnold in his Cambridge commentary on Genesis). Many travelers journeyed from Mesopotamia to Canaan in this period, but Abram went specifically in obedience to God’s call. (I use the earlier name Abram for passages before Gen 17:5 and the later name “Abraham,” given in 17:5, after that passage Sarai becomes Sarah in 17:15.) Genesis also often reiterates the promise of the land to Abram (e.g., 12:7, where the Lord appeared to Abram), reinforcing a theme that God wanted his people to remember as they settled the land. Genesis names some of the places where Abram journeyed (e.g., 12:6), places that would be significant for Abraham’s descendants when they settled there. In obedience to God’s call, Abram journeyed to Canaan (Gen 12:4). (This continues a series of posts on this section of Genesis: God’s promise, God’s call) ![]()
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