many questions arise from this episode. lack of faith and betrayal are a major theme. abe lacks faith in God, he coerces sarah to lie, and to save his own skin pimps out his wife. truly horrible. interesting enough, abimelech is the only one who seems to heed God’s words, though we are told they are in a Godless place. of course, God appears to abimelech in a dream, and dreams do not hold the same properties of reason that a normal state of consciousness would.
i should point out that it is most likely not the same night that abimelech took sarai that this dream transpired. she, in all likely hood was there for some time. i reason this because of the notation later of the opening of the wombs mentioned in abimaelech’s kingdom. i do not think anyone would notice if there was only one night that they were unable to conceive. this opens up a whole new can of worms that we can deal with later, and as laughter is one of the themes of this part of the journey, i imagine that you will laugh at my conclusions, although you should consider them before you cast them off.
that being said, here we go.
abe and his posse are trespassing on abimelechs turf. he is a king, and he is the law. his men see that sarai is fine, and ask abe who she is. he says it is his sister, and they take her for the king. the king’s intention is not to take her as a wife, as later in this passage we find that he has a wife and many slaves. she was never intended to be a wife, but whore for the king.
this is the second time abe has shown no faith in God’s promise and pimped his wife out for his own purposes. now, as far as abimelech dream: it is a dream. in his dream he did not touch her. in his dream God appears. in his dream he defends himself. again, i have to point out that there is a difference between dreams and reality.
abimelech seeks further confirmation about this situation and confronts abe about his dream, and abe confirms it. my sister, my wife. they are both the seeds of terah. abimelech, in a nice demonstration of morals, is horrified that he is placed in an adulterous situation. he returns sarai, and does something very interesting, he gives over lots of goods to restore her purity. the book says that abimelech makes the restitution to sarai’s brother. this is fascinating, because now knowing that abe is her husband, he is referred to here as the brother. so, abimelech is actually making restitution not to abe, but to the house of terah.
here is where it gets really strange, and we can just write it off for its surface reading, or we can scratch a little. again, i ask you bear with me and consider before you dismiss; after restitution has been made to the house of terah for the violation of a daughter, abe prays for abimelech, and the wombs of abimelechs kingdom are open. all the women who belong to him are now fruitful. again, this would indicate that there was a period of time where no off spring were in the making, and must have been cause for concern. at this juncture, when the wombs belonging to the house of abimelech were opened, sarai has conceived also.
which leads to the big hypothetical; the promise of the seed has been made to eve, the seed is passed down through the woman. the women from the house of terah is the seed bank for what will become the house of israel. judaism as a race is inherited from the mother. so: what if isaac is the progeny of abimelech? the seed still comes forth from the house of terah. abraham’s seed will still be “reckoned” when boaz mates with ruth. that is, if you can make the leap that lot is the levirite son of abraham.
abraham pleads for lot, fights for lot. he worries and frets for ishmael, until God reassures him, yet abe, who has actually shown little faith in God-as demonstrated by the way he whores out isaac’s mother-does not so much as say, “huh?” to God when told to sacrifice isaac. why?
now abe has been told his seed will be blessed, ishmael will be a nation. lot becomes the father of nations. why not sacrifice isaac if your seed line is secure? he is sarah’s only son, but not his. in the text, sarah dies right after this episode, and a bit of math will tell us that isaac was in his thirties at the time of the sacrifice episode. in light of this, it is really isaac who is showing faith in God, more so than abraham, who benefits from the divine intervention.
that is the end of that little fairy tale. the evidence is there. it is far from conclusive, but has been put there in the book so that we can consider the argument.
one last little bon mot: abraham leaves ur, the land build by the descendants of cain, and goes to canaan, the land of the descendants of ham. the relationship with God was passed from adam to his sons. we can believe that cain passed this relationship to his sons. noah is the surviving priest of this special line, and he passes this knowledge down to his sons. melchezadek is a high priest of God in the land of ham. abimelech (my father is king) is a king in the land of melchezadek and ham. God is present in these lands, and has relationships with these people, communicates to them through dreams, and there is already a priesthood established before abraham arrives.
and, as this story is the introduction of the first laugh in the bible, and as isaac means laughter, i leave you now to your bibles and aspirin with a hearty
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
God bless you all

Lionel-

I love the type teaching we get from Abrahams willingness to be obedient to God in sacrificing his beloved son, a teenager walking along with his elderly father to a sacrifice knowing that they have no animal with them to sacrifice. Isaac was obedient to his fathers will and although he could have fought his father off allowed himself to be bound and placed upon the wood. God indeed stayed Abrahams hand, but left us with a beautiful type teaching and prophecy about a Father who would willingly sacrifice his beloved Son whose passion was to willingly be obedient to His Fathers will and be the atonement for our sins.

Charles-

Why would I need asprin?

hutch, true sir, you are sturdy enough to withstand far more nutt-baggery. i love this lesson of lionel’s and i also love your response. my question, that links my goofy hypothesis with the gospels: is joseph not the father of Jesus? and if not by blood, by faith?
grace and peace

ruth is not a hebrew, but as a descendant of lot she is still of the house of terah. so rather than breaking it up, it is reconciling it.
we do not know that cain worshipped false gods. he had a direct relationship with God, God could not bear to allow him to be killed, and place a mark upon him to protect him. do we have evidence that cain worshipped false gods?
God speaks in exodus of the land he gave essau, he forbids israel from tampering with it, so we have to assume he is in relation of some kind with them, and later he tells us that he seeks to bring them under david’s restored tent. oh yeah, and while i am at it, israel and judah also worshipped false gods, and God judged them.
all of abe’s seed seemed to worship yhvh, at least at some point. ishmael’s descendants still do. midian, one of abe’s other sons, is a progenitor of jethro, ziporah ’s father, and is called a high priest of midian. he advises moses and is instrumental in setting up the adjudication of the law.

Lionel-

Are you saying the type teaching breaks down? Grin.

Isaac expected a lamb to be slain.

22. 7Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham prophecied that God would provide Himself the lamb…

22:8Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Yet God provides a ram in this instance. To answer your question, God provided a ram in exchange for Isaac…but we know, He provided Himself the lamb for the sins of manbkind.

Charles, I will fight no more forever! It does not bother me that we may disagree on a number of things, perfect agreement on doctrine and theology cannot be the basis for Christian fellowship.

Regarding Joseph, I don’t know, but people supposed that he was Jesus’ father. Which may mean that he was not. See below:

Luke 3:23-When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,

“Charles, I will fight no more forever” LOL! classic! chief joseph!

by the way, hutch, the conclusion of that particular genealogy when coupled with some translations of john of john 3:16 cause me a certain amount of consternation.