Blog-12 Abraham’s “Sister”
Abraham’s Sister
The Bible has many passages which have puzzled Biblical historians, archaeologists and anthropologists for centuries. An example is Genesis 12:11-16:
Genesis 12:11-15 RSVWhen he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, `This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.” When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
Strict inerrant interpretation of the Bible have read this passage to say that Abraham and Serrai lied to the Egyptian border officials when they got to Egypt. Is thus an accurate interpretation of the passage?
Probably not.
The Bible records that Abraham was an Aramean.
Deuteronomy 26:5 RSV “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, `A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
Abraham hailed from the area around Mari, which was an Aramean city. Archeologists discovered the site in 1933 and French archeologists conducted excavations in 1933–39, 1951–75, and almost annually from 1979 to 2012, when excavation was halted due to the war in Syria.
The important part of the story is that, when the city was conquered, it was also burned. Mari had an extensive library of thousands of texts inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets. The fire hardened the tablets, preserving them for posterity. An example is below.
Scholars have combed through them, deciphering the text. One fact is relevant to Abraham’s story. An Aramean could have up to seven wives at the same time. The one he considered his favorite would bear the designation of his “sister-wife.” As always, however, as far as I am aware, the scholars are still arguing how to interpret the revelation.
For the Abraham story, however, it puts any claim that Abraham lied to the Egyptians at rest. He may not have told the “whole” truth when he said Sarai was his sister, but he did not lie to them.
There is also an antediluvian report of a moralism. “Why any man would want to get married to a woman is a mystery. However, why any man would want to be married to more than one woman at a time is a big-a-mystery.”