Day 3 of #16Days Sarai: Sister-wife?

 One of the next questionable encounters is with Abram. When we join the text for this next instalment, Abram has just recently heard from God that He will make him into a ‘great nation’.

Gen 12:2-3

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

You would think that on hearing this, Abram might be feeling confident of his future. He has a great relationship with God who has promised him land and descendants, even building an alter in verse 8 to mark the spot where God appeared to him. And yet, within a few short verses, Abram reveals his humanity in an unconscionable way.

Gen 12:10-20

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

In a surprise move, Abram turns to his wife and manipulates her into saying that she is his sister rather than his wife, saying he will surely die if she doesn’t. Sarai had little to no choice in this emotional power move. Inevitably Sarai was taken to Pharaohs palace as his wife as we see in the next passage. Make no mistake, Abram essentially sold his wife into sexual slavery, regardless of whether the Pharoah thought he was ‘legitimately taking’ a wife for himself. Abram acquired great wealth for this atrocity but thankfully God was far from impressed.

17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

I have to admit when I first read this story I was perplexed about why Pharaoh seemed to be punished for Abrams wrongdoing and lies. There is truth in that but Pharaoh, from a feminist point of view wasn’t exactly guilt-free in this story either. He may have lavished wealth on Abram but he still ‘took’ Sarai, a newcomer to his land. Sarai again would have had no choice. Manipulated by her husband and taken by a King. The fact is she wasn’t his to take, nor Abrams to give of course.

God sent a message to Pharaoh and it had to be a big message. In those times it was considered that Pharaoh was an earthly representative of the Egyptian god Rah who was a vengeful and violent god. The God of Abram spoke to him in a language he would understand. We could also say that in his actions, Pharaoh was more honourable than Abram, he called out Abrams lies and sent him away. We see God’s protection in this because he could just as easily have killed them all (see previous comment about Rah!).

Sarai was somewhat of a pawn in the games of these men. I believe that we see the consequences of these power plays later in Sarai’s behaviour in what can be described as horizontal violence towards Hagar.

So does God care? Well I do think that Abram, though did become the ‘Father of Nations’, did not have an easy ride of it. He suffered discord in his relationships with family and his journey to fatherhood was rocky to say the least. There is no doubt that Abram was in the wrong. I’m hesitant to talk about Sarai as a ‘bit part’ to a main narrative that Abram was a flawed man through whom God still worked incredibly. Sarai’s story speaks loudly in it’s condemnation of what happened and where we see violence like this ‘disrupt’ a story, it means we must pause and reflect on what it means and it points to a common thread which I hope is starting to become clear.

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