Family Affairs

Again on two different occasions Abraham would encounter YAHWEH, but in fact we have come to an end of the main series of revelations of the supreme ABBA to the former shepherd of Ur. The explanation for this is simple: the promise has been given and then confirmed; the Covenant promulgated during a solemn ceremony has in its turn been confirmed also. In addition, Abraham has been told that in a short while a son will be born to him according to the flesh. After which the nomad chieftain, with great simplicity, continued his normal existence as a wandering shepherd.

Lot And His Daughters: A Shameful Incident (Bereshith 19:30-80)

After the disaster which destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim in the valley of Siddim, Abraham's nephew, the patriarch Lot, sought refuge in the city of Zoar. Owing to the presence of this just man within its walls Zoar was spared from destruction by fire.

Now shortly after these dramatic events Bereshith states that Lot decided to settle in the hill country, probably to the east of the Dead Sea, the modern Yordan. During their flight his wife was turned to a pillar of salt, so that Lot had with him only his two daughters. In this isolated part of the country there was no man for them to marry and so continue the line.

And so it appeared that Lot's family would die out. To the eastern mentality no more lamentable social or spiritual catastrophe could be imagined. But the two daughters quickly found the solution to the problem. They resolved to make their father drunk and, taking advantage of his condition, sleep with him in turn. Thus they became pregnant and in due time produced two sons. One of them was named Moab, who was to become the ancestor of the Moabites; the other was called Ben-ammi, from whom descended the Beneammon, or Ammonites.

There is an historical explanation of this story. The Moabites and Ammonites gloried in their descent from Abraham through Lot, though the question of incest naturally was not raised. On the other hand, the Scriptural scribe responsible for the inclusion of this episode was writing in the sixth or fifth century B.C., at a time when Moabites and Ammonites had become the declared enemies of Yisrael. It may well be, consequently, that the writer seized the opportunity to slander the two military and political opponents of his country. Incest was held in horror by the Yisraelites and, indeed, by the Assyro-Babylonians. The Mesopotamian code of Hammurabi was very clear on this point and punished by death any such injury to social morality. Thus the rather doubtful story of Lot's daughters can probably be explained as a calumny perpetrated at a later date (at least a millennium after the event).

Abraham, Sarah And Abimelech, King Of Gerar

Once more a change of pasture was necessary; Abraham left Hebron and set out towards the Negeb. Then he returned by way of Gerar, the domain of Abimelech, the petty king of the region.

Here Abraham repeated the trick that previously he played on Pharaoh when he settled in Egypt. Once again, to avoid harsh treatment at the hands of the authorities of the country, Abraham declared that Sarah was not his wife but his sister. As on arrival in Egypt, Sarah, directly they entered Gerar, was noticed by the king's men and shortly afterwards was on her way to the royal harem. But YAHWEH warned Abimelech in a dream that Sarah was married, and ordered him to send her back at once to her husband. Abimelech hastened to return Sarah to Abraham, giving him at the same time 'sheep, cattle, men and women slaves'. To Sarah he said 'I am giving one thousand pieces of silver to your brother' (since after all he was her brother).

It must be said at once, and this is the opinion of orthodox commentators, that this repetition of the Egyptian episode must be regarded as a 'doublet'. The Egyptian account was of Yahwistic origin. This one belongs to the Elohistic cycle. This doublet is repeated again in Bereshith 26; on this occasion it is Yitschaq (Abraham's son) and his wife Rebekah who are the actors; once more it occurs at Gerar and during the time of the king Abimelech. It seems that this little detail struck the storytellers and their audience the shepherds as so amusing that it was repeated on three occasions. It is noticeable that this Elohistic doublet fits very awkwardly into the main Yahwistic narrative which forms its setting. Sarah, as we know, had then reached an advanced age; she had laughed when YAHWEH announced the birth of Yitschaq, declaring that she was past the age of child-bearing and that she had grown old. Her admission to Abimelech's harem seems a little difficult to imagine. This then is a doublet rather awkwardly inserted into the text.

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