Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH 12:lO-20
There are situations in which a person can lie simply by
keeping silent. Cf. Smith-Fields (OTH, 99) : “It is enough
here to observe that the mighty kingdom of the Pharaohs
had already been long established in Lower Egypt. In this
crisis the faith of Abram failed. To protect his wife from
the license of a despot, he stooped to that mean form of
deceit, which is true in word but false in fact. The trick
defeated itself. Sarai, as an unmarried woman, was taken
to the harem of the king, who heaped wealth and honors
upon Abram,” Whitelaw (PCG, 18 8) comments on
Abram’s introduction of Sarai to Pharaoh as his ‘sister’ as
follows: “A half truth (20:12) but a whole falsehood.
The usual apologies, that he did not fabricate but did
‘cautiously conceal the truth,’ that perhaps he was acting
in obedience to a Divine impulse, that he dissembled in
order to protect his wife’s chastity, are not satisfactory.
On the other hand, Abram must not be judged by the
light of New Testament revelation. It is not necessary for
a Christian in every situation of life to tell all the truth,
especially when its part suppression involves no deception,
and is indispensable for self-preservation; and Abram may
have deemed it legitimate as a means of securing both his
own life and Sarah’s honor, though how he was to shield
his wife in the peculiar circumstances it is difficult to see,
Rosenmuller suggests that he knew the preliminary cere-
monies to marriage required a considerable time, and
counted upon being able to leave Egypt before any injury
was done to Sarah. The only objection to this is that the
historian represents him as being less solicitous about the
preservation of his wife’s chastity than about the conserva-
tion of his own life. . . . ‘No defence can be offered for
a man who, merely through dread of danger to himself,
tells a lie, risks his wife’s chastity, puts temptation in the
way of his neighbors, and betrays the charge to which the
Divine favor had summoned him’ (Dykes) .” The plain
fact is that should anyone take Sarah into his harem on the
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