In the previous sentence, you speak of killing Abraham to "make his beautiful wife available to them" and in the next breath you seem to insist that Abraham was not offering his wife sexually to them. So when you argue for the availability of his wife to them, were you thinking "chat room" or "good cook" availibility?
I perceive time between the time Abraham decided to refer to his wife as "sister" and when events took place such that Sarah was taken away from him. In other words, from my perspective, Abraham was not approached about the availability of Sarah, and then Abraham responded on the spot, "oh, she is my sister, here, take her to be your wife." In those days, the betrothal of a woman was an involved process involving a dowry and coordinating with the family. However, if Abraham was identified as the husband, someone could quickly kill him to take him out of the way. So not advertising the relationship gave him working room. As her brother, he would be involved in that process. I think Abraham had told many others before Abimelech came along that she was his sister, but Abimelech's position of power created the situation whereby Sarah was taken away from him, most certainly against his wishes.
David Miller wrote:
It may even be that the Lord God Himself told him to do this.
John S. wrote:
You blast me into the next judgment for going beyond the written text yet you do that very thing here with far less justification than my observation.
"blast you into the next judgment"? LOL. I think you are getting a little excited here. Context, John. I am not trying to argue that God told Abraham to do it. I am trying to help you see that based upon what the text says, for all we know, something very different could have taken place. My point is, we don't know. God might have told him to do it, or maybe Abraham was willing, as you say, to let men sleep with his wife. Based upon the text, we don't know. You argued from the text that you are right. I'm arguing that based upon the text, we don't know. You infer his willingness to share his wife. I infer that he thought being her brother put him in a better position to protect his wife. If he is dead, he can't protect her from them.
John S. wrote:
So you have completely given up on Gen 20:11
No, I am sticking by what Gen. 20:11 says. It says that Abraham observed that they did not fear God, and he believed that they would kill him for his wife. So, he thought it best to say that she was his sister. Nowhere does it say that Abraham was willing for men of power to sleep with his wife. In fact, the text tells us that Abraham in league with God was able to stop men from sleeping with his wife. Those are the facts. These facts tell me that Abraham was not willing to share his wife with others. I realize that you see it differently, but you should be careful how far you go to judge Abraham to have such evilness in his heart.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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