Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women

The Arranged Marriage

27 Avram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all the things they had collected, and all the souls that they had acquired, and they set out for the land of Canaan. —GENESIS 12:5* And Sarah laughed to herself. —GENESIS 18:12 T he house of Terach, minister at the court of Ur of the Chaldees, buzzed with excitement. Guests were due to arrive. The inner chamber was softened by bright tapestries depicting local gods. Nevertheless, the walls echoed with angry voices. Terach was helping his son get dressed. Avram combed out the strands of his black beard and arranged the golden robe beneath it. “I still can’t believe I agreed to this meeting. I don’t want an arranged marriage. Certainly not to a product of this decadent city.” “The daughter of Nofet is a beautiful woman.” Terach adjusted a deep blue sash. “You’ll like her, she’s your half-sister.” THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE k * Author’s translation “She is?” Avram turned around to look at his father. “I’ve never met her.” “She’s the daughter of a moon priestess. Her mother and I were partners at a ritual lunar event. She’s no legal relation to you.” Avram sighed. “Do you think a priestess’s daughter is going to leave Ur and travel to a wilderness like Aram-Naharaim?” he pointed out. “When she doesn’t even believe in my god?” “I still don’t believe I’ve agreed to move to that wasteland.” The two men would have continued to argue, but a small bronze bell rang in the outer chamber, announcing the arrival of Nofet and her daughter. Terach exited through a thick curtain. Avram heard his father’s robes swish as he bowed ceremoniously. Other robes swished in return. Avram hesitated a moment before leaving the safety of the cloth cave. He held in his thoughts the young woman he had met on a hill outside the city. He had come out after an argument with his father, fists clenched, eager to get out of the suffocating city, and there she had been. She was dressed like an aristocrat, although she was barefoot and had tucked her overskirt into her belt. Her veil had fallen backward onto her shoulders like a cowl. Her face was as bright and smooth as a citron. She was pacing with her hands clasped perfectly behind her back as if they were sculpted in dark marble. Something about her made everything else come into sharp relief. Avram noticed the sharp pebbles beneath her soles, the supple leather of the sandals hanging from her right hand. He asked her her name, and she told him. Then he asked why she was alone out there on the hill. She snorted. “If parents had wings, they’d be mosquitoes. I wanted to get out while I still had some blood left.” Avram laughed. “My father’s gained weight over the years. He’s more like a horsefly.” 28 S I S T E R S A T S I N A I The young woman offered him one of her dangling sandals. “You could swat him with this.” Her voice was gravelly, exciting. “I’d need a soldier’s boot, I think,” Avram replied. He gestured up the wadi. “Are you walking to the top?” “Why not?” They passed pairs and trios of nibbling ibex with spiraling horns. The woman reached out to touch one. It did not move away. How odd, Avram thought. Animals always ran away from him. Particularly sheep. They were very timid. He had a difficult time with sheep. “They like you,” he commented to his companion as a young ibex slowly trotted away. “Yes,” she said. “It’s people I can’t generally abide.” They walked in silence for a moment. “What was your disagreement with your parents about?” Avram finally asked. “Money? A husband? A piece of land? A new dress?” “A dress?” she laughed mockingly. “Nothing that important. It was about the gods, if you must know.” She looked embarrassed then. She shook her head when he pressed her further. “No, I want to hear,” he said to her. She plucked the tip off a nearby leaf. “My aunt had the good fortune to marry a god,” she answered him dryly. “That is, the king desired her and sent for her. He didn’t consult her first. My...