Interestingly, we see Abram being a complete coward and a liar, but God supporting him anyway.
"As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."
Abram even takes his charade so far as to allow his wife to become part of Pharaoh's harem! That is some terrible husbanding right there, I think we can all agree.
It's important to mention here that the Bible is, to use a common phrase, descriptive and not prescriptive. It is relaying to us the story of how a human being behaved, not saying 'this is a good way to act'. It also models for us the way that God repeatedly uses the weakest, most flawed human beings to carry out His plans. He is not a God that always favours the bravest, the smartest, or most beautiful - we see right from the start that God does not select his favourites based on worldly values. In using such flawed people, it makes it clear to us that we can all be used by God to serve a greater purpose, regardless of our flaws or our past.
Minor quibbles today: I feel like God was a bit harsh on Pharaoh here. I know this is foreshadowing the way God defends his people against Pharaoh later on in scripture, but I'm not sure why He punished Pharaoh for taking Sarai as his concubine when Pharaoh didn't even know she was married.
Also, I feel really shallow for saying this, but upon first reading, I found it a bit unrealistic that everyone would find Sarai so beautiful at at least 65 years of age. Before anyone lynches me, I'm not saying that women can't be beautiful at 65, or later, there are lots of stunning women out there. But I did find it slightly strange that Pharoah, who had nubile young girls coming out of his ears, would look at a woman in her mid to late sixties and say "WOOF, that's the foxy lady for me". And they didn't even wear make up back then! I'm sure the ladies in the audience will agree that make up is a very important tool in fooling the men-folk into thinking we're a lot more desirable than we really are (it's ok, I don't expect you to back me up in public). Study guides inform me that some of her allure would have been due to her status as the most important female of the group, but I'm just raising it as a quibble in the spirit of complete honesty. Yes I am horrible. Maybe she was just a stone cold fox, who knows?
Um, perhaps back to what exactly they count as years then
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought that too, but then their advanced ages become important to the story in the next chapter when they become parents in their old age. Although again, as you say, maybe their ages are just exagerated to make a point.
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