(Genesis 20:1 - 21:21)
Abraham journeyed south to the Negev and settled in between Kadesh and Shur. When he stopped for a time at Gerar, he presented his wife Sarah as his sister. Abimelech, the King of Gerar, had her sent for and brought her into his harem. In a dream Jehovah warned Abimelech "You are condemned to death, for the woman you have taken is another man's wife."
Abimelech, who had not yet touched Sarah, responded "Jehovah, will you exact retribution against a country that has committed no wrong save out of ignorance?. Did he not say to me 'She is my sister'? Even she said 'He is my brother'. I have acted only in good faith and with honorable intentions."
Jehovah, in the dream, said "Yes, I know you acted in good faith. It was I who restrained you from touching her, so that you would not commit a sin. Now you must restore her to her husband, for he is a prophet. If you do so, he will intervene for you and you shall live. But if you do not, you, your family, and your household will die."
Abimelech got up early in the morning and summoned members of his court to inform them of these developments. They were quite alarmed and distressed. He then sent for Abraham and inquired of him "What have you done to me? How have I so offended you that you inflict this wrong upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me what no man should do to another. What did you witness that caused you to do this?"
Abraham explained "It occurred to me that this might not be a God-fearing country and that I might be killed by someone desiring my wife. And the truth is, she really is my sister, my half sister. We have the same father, but different mothers, and we are husband and wife as well. After we departed our homeland to wander at Jehovah's behest, I asked her, as a favor to me, that where ever we might journey she should say of me 'He is my brother'."
Thus Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham and made gifts to him of sheep and oxen, maids and manservants. He told him "My land is at your disposal. You may settle where you wish."
To Sarah Abimelech said "I have given your husband a thousand pieces of silver. This will compensate you for any injury I may have done to you and will demonstrate to your people that you have been guilty of no wrong."
Abraham prayed to Jehovah to allow Abimelech and his wife and his female servants to be able to have children again, for, because of Sarah, Jehovah had made all the women in Abimelech's household temporarily barren.
True to his word, Jehovah visited Sarah and fulfilled the promise he had made to her. As was foretold by him, Sarah conceived and gave birth to a child at an advanced age. Abraham named the child that she bore Isaac [meaning "he laughs"]. According to Jehovah's instructions, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. (Abraham was a hundred years old at the time that Isaac was born.)
Sarah said "Jehovah has made me laugh because of this and all who will hear of it will laugh, too. Who would have said to Abraham that his wife Sarah would be nursing a child born to her in her old age?"
The child grew and on the day he was weaned, Abraham gave a big party to celebrate it. But when Sarah noticed Ishmael, Abraham's son by the servant Hagar the Egyptian, teasing her own son, she demanded of Abraham “Get rid of this serving woman and her child! This son of a slave will not share your inheritance with my son!"
Abraham was dismayed by this for the sake of his son Ishmael. Jehovah advised Abraham "Don't be distressed on account of your servant and her son. Listen to Sarah and follow her wishes, for it is through her son Isaac that your legacy will be fulfilled. But because he is still your offspring I will make the servant's son the father of a nation."
Abraham got up early in the morning and gave Hagar a loaf of bread and strapped a waterskin over her shoulder before he sent her and her son away. Hagar and Ishmael departed and aimlessly wandered in the desert of Beersheba until they were lost. After all the water was consumed, Hagar had her son lay down underneath one of the bushes. She left him there and moved a good distance away, saying "I don't want to see my child die." As she sat there, she wailed and wept.
Jehovah heard the cries of the boy, and his emissary called down to Hagar from the sky "What's the matter with you, Hagar? ... Don't worry. Jehovah has heard your boy cry out from where he lies." Jehovah spoke to her "Rise, pick up the boy, take him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation."
Jehovah opened her eyes and directed her to a well. She reached it and filled her waterskin, giving a drink to her son.
Jehovah guided Ishmael as he grew to manhood in the wilderness and became an archer and hunter. He lived in the desert of Paran, but his mother found a wife for him in Egypt.
Notes
1. During his wanderings Abraham again tells everybody that Sarah is not his wife, but only his sister. Didn't he learn his lesson in Egypt? Apparently not. It is quite remarkable that he would persist in this error, also remarkable that Jehovah would not rebuke Abraham for his repeated dishonesty. Another curious aspect of this is the necessity for this subterfuge. Sarah is now in her nineties, aged, and, by her own admission, well past it. Why would she still be the object of men's lusts and why would a hundred-year old man fear that lascivious men are going to kill him to take possession of his old hag of a wife? It makes no sense, unless this story is out of place chronologically and occurred when Abraham and Sarah were still relatively young.
2. It almost seems as if Abraham is practicing a con game. He comes to town with his fetching wife, whom he claims is only his sister. He waits for the local potentate to hear of her beauty and then says and does nothing when she is inducted into the potentate's harem. When the error is discovered, the potentate apologizes, restores Abraham's wife, and then showers Abraham with rich gifts in compensation. Abraham, contrary to what an honorable man would do, does not refuse the gifts, in this case, a thousand pieces of silver (25 pounds). Abraham falls back on the excuse that the woman really is his sister, as well as his wife. (The reader first learns this here. Why didn't the writers inform us of this incest earlier when telling us of Sarah and the Pharaoh?) No matter what Abraham does, however cowardly, unjust, or duplicitous he may be, Jehovah will not only take his side, championing is patently unworthy favorite, but will use all the power at his disposal to punish his enemies. (Abraham continually feels fear for what may happen to him, inexplicably heedless of the promises of Jehovah, who has promised to protecting him.)
3. Jehovah makes it clear that taking another man's wife for your own is wrong. He expresses no such disapproval of a husband concealing his marriage or failing to defend his wife's honor. And as we have seen in the past, Jehovah has no qualms about punishing the innocent, even when, as in this case, he acknowledges that Abimelech has acted honorably and has sinned unwittingly. And his punishments always seem far too harsh for the crimes committed.
4. We find here and elsewhere that Jehovah has the power, not only to communicate with humans telepathically and, to some extent, read their minds, but to enter their dreams and speak to them in visions. Also, here we find him and his emissary speaking to Hagar from the sky, as if, one might imagine, through a loudspeaker on some aerial vehicle.
5. At the weaning party for Isaac, Sarah again reveals what a total bitch she is. She can't abide Hagar's son Ishmael (who is about 14 years old) playing with her son -- rather like a snobbish, prejudiced modern mother not wanting her child to play with the poor kid or the brown-skinned kid. Ishmael is, however, Abraham's son, whom he loves, and her husband's union with Hagar was sanctioned by Sarah herself. Hagar seems to epitomize the unhappy fate that so often befalls low-status women who consort with high-status men.
6. Instead of asking her husband to discipline Ishmael, if he was really out of line, Sarah insists that Hagar and her son must go -- kick them out, banish them to perish in the desert! Hen-pecked Abraham is reluctant to accede to his wife's wishes, but, lo and behold, Jehovah inserts himself into the family feud and takes Sarah's side. Abraham makes no provision at all for Hagar, like selling her to a neighboring nomad or arranging for her to live some place else, or even helping her to plan her journey. At least he has the grace to give Hagar some bread and water before booting her out of camp, even though he should have foreseen that the provisions would prove inadequate. Sarah obviously doesn't give a hoot if her former servant and her husband’s son die or not.
7. It seems inconsistent that Jehovah urged Abraham to get rid of the servant Hagar and her son and then rescues them when they are dying of thirst in the desert. Apparently the not-at-all-omniscient Jehovah was not very closely monitoring the situation. He seems surprised to find Hagar lost and forsaken. Why didn't he advise Abraham more specifically about what to do about Hagar, since he was committed to make Ishmael the father of a great nation?
8. The town of Gerar, near Beersheba in the northern Negev, was a Philistine town founded about 1200 B.C., hundreds of years after Abraham’s time. The Desert of Paran is probably located in the southern Sinai.
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