Reading the Book: Making the Bible a Timeless Text

Four - Father Abraham, Teacher of Faith

Chapter Four FATHER ABRAHAM, TEACHER OF FAITH 'R.cture a grade B boilerplate spy movie. There's desert, famine, a dangerous border crossing. The hero turns to his stunningly gorgeous wife and tells her, "My dearest, you are very beautiful. If they see you and find out you are my wife, they will kill me but keep you alive. So that I may remain alive, tell them you are my sister." Up till now the male lead is unambiguous, protective of his wife, heroic. The couple adopts a pose in order that the husband may survive long enough to fight his way out of the dilemma and into the next scene. We've seen this picture dozens of times on late-night television. But imagine how disconcerting it would be if the protagonist added, "And while we're at it, I'll be able to turn fi ,. a pro It on you. Now, instead of a hero we might imagine the male lead to be a slimeball. someone who would offer his wife to strangers , sell his virgin sister, offer you dirty postcards. hot wristwatches . Sure enough. as the plot unfolds. the female is recognized to be exceedingly beautiful, and when Mr. Bad is told of her beauty, he takes her to live with him. To ice the cake, the male lead does profit richly. In the way of movies set in the Middle East he is rewarded for the woman with sheep and cattle, mules and donkeys, slaves and camels. Pretty sleazy READING THE BOOK ...................... 58 business; the kind of thing you'd expect from a James Bond clone made with a very low budget, or from Pedro Almodovar at his campiest, no? Well. look again-the plot and dialogue quoted above is from Genesis 12; the male lead is Abraham. The moral ambiguity of this characterization. the shift in role from the romantic, protective husband to the low-life hustler was felt long, long ago. This reading, while purposely provocative, is not to be dismissed as merely an impious blasphemy of the Holy Bible. First, allow me to translate the text (rather literally) so that you can judge how to read these seven verses of Scripture. Then, I'll share with you some of the discomforts over this passage found in ancient commentaries : There was a famine in the land, so Abraham descended to Egypt to stay there because the famine in the land was so bad. When he got near coming to Egypt he said to Sarah, his wife, "Behold . I know how beautiful a woman you are to look at. When the Egyptians see you and ask whose wife is that, they'll kill me and keep you alive. Say, please, you're my sister in order that I might benefit on your behalf, and they'll keep me alive because of you." So it happened when Abraham came to Egypt that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh's officers saw her, praised her to Pharaoh. and the woman was taken for Pharaoh's household. Abraham profited because of her. He got sheep and cattle and donkeys. slaves and handmaidens, mules and €aIllels. One of the earliest commentaries on this passage dates from the first century C.E. and was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Called the Genesis Apocryphon by scholars, its author 59 ............ FATHER ABRAHAM, TEACHER OF FAITH is terribly uncomfortable with the Bible having Abraham enlist Sarah to lie on his behalf. As a palliative to this discomfort . the retelling of the tale in this Dead Sea scroll has Abraham dream about a cedar and a palm tree. When men seek to cut down the cedar the palm cries out, so the cedar tree is saved by the palm. Abraham awakes from his frightful dream and interprets it for Sarah: "They will seek to kill me but will spare you . . . so tell them. 'He is my brother' and because of you I shall live and my life shall be saved." Though the moral ambiguity of Abraham is recognized by this passage, it is not solved-only the dream is solved and the blame is shifted to the giver of dreams. God. Placing the responsibility with God is important, for as we'll see. the ancients read these disturbing stories with a keen eye and understood that God functions in a di1ferent moral sphere than humanity. Later rabbinic...