Sister-Wife Tales in Genesis (based on handout from Rabbi David H. Aaron's HUC-JIR BIB401, Fall 2011)

Literary Station	Genesis 12:10-20	Genesis 20:1-18	Genesis 26:1-16
Context for Displacement Theme	(10)There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.	(1) Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was sojourning in Gerar,	(1) There was a famine in the land—aside from the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham—and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. (2) The LORD had appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land which I point out to you. (3) Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. (4) I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs—(5) inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws, and My teachings.”
Anticipating Danger	(11) As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. (12) If the Egyptians see you, and think, ‘She is his wife,’ they will kill me and let you live.(13) Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.”	(2) Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” ...	(6) So Isaac stayed in Gerar. (7) When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.”
Matriarch Transference	(14) When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful the woman was. (15) Pharaoh’s courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s palace.	...So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.	(8) When some time had passed, Abimelech king of the Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.
Wealth Acquisition	(16) And because of her, it went well with Abram; he acquired sheep, oxen, asses, male and female slaves, she-asses, and camels.
Divine Intervention	(17) But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram.	(3) But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are to die because of the woman that you have taken, for she is a married woman.” (4) Now Abimelech had not approached her. He said, “O Lord, will You slay people even though innocent? (5) He himself said to me, ‘She is my sister!’ And she also said, ‘He is my brother.’ When I did this, my heart was blameless and my hands were clean.” (6) And God said to him in the dream, “I knew that you did this with a blameless heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. That was why I did not let you touch her. (7) Therefore, restore the man’s wife—since he is a prophet, he will intercede for you—to save your life. If you fail to restore her, know that you shall die, you and all that are yours.”
Local King's Actions		(8)Early next morning, Abimelech called his servants and told them all that had happened; and the men were greatly frightened.	(12) Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold the same year. The LORD blessed him,
King Confronts Abraham (Morality Play)	(18) Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me! Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? (19) Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!”	(9) Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What wrong have I done that you should bring so great a guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. (10) What, then,” Abimelech demanded of Abraham, “was your purpose in doing this thing?”	(9) Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why then did you say: ‘She is my sister?’” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” (10) Abimelech said, “What have you done to us! One of the people might have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” (11) Abimelech then charged all the people, saying, “Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall be put to death.”
Absolving Patriarch		(11) “I thought,” said Abraham, “surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. (12) And besides, she is in truth my sister, my father’s daughter though not my mother’s; and she became my wife. (13) So when God made me wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘Let this be the kindness that you shall do me: whatever place we come to, say there of me: He is my brother.’”
[Displaced] Wealth Acquisition		(14) Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored his wife Sarah to him. (15) And Abimelech said, “Here, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” (16)And to Sarah he said, “I herewith give your brother a thousand pieces of silver; this will serve you as vindication before all who are with you, and you are cleared before everyone.”	(12) Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold the same year. The LORD blessed him, (13) and the man grew richer and richer until he was very wealthy: (14) he acquired flocks and herds, and a large household, so that the Philistines envied him.
Resolution	(20) And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, and they sent him off with his wife and all that he possessed.	(17) Abraham then prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his slave girls, so that they bore children; (18) for the LORD had closed fast every womb of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.	(15) And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with earth. (16) And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us.”