Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

SOJOURN IN THE NEGEB 20:1-21:34
above cases [in Genesis1 bears, in respect to poZnts of
coiizcidence, worthy of comparison with this unquestioned
instance in modern times.” Again (ibid., 3 17) : “We have
elsewhere seen that distant events may bear a very close
resemblance. A late rationalist concedes that ‘in those rude
times, such a circumstance might have been repeated,’ and
that the ‘dissimilarities of the two cases render their iden-
tity doubtful.’ In king Abimelech, says Keil, we meet
with a totally different character from that of Pharaoh.
We see in the former a heathen imbued with a moral
consciousness of right, and open to receive divine revela-
tion, of which there is not the slightest trace in the king
of Egypt. The two cases were evidently quite distinct.”
Again: “Whereas Abraham makes no reply to Pharaoh’s
stinging indictment (12:2O), he has here a great deal to
say to Abimelech in self -defense (20 : 1 1 - 13 ) .” In passing,
it: should be noted that Sarah was some sixty-five years old,
in the encounter with Pharaoh. As a “noble nomadic
princess,” undoubtedly she had led a healthful life with a
great measure of freedom. (Haley, ibid., 318): “In con-
trast to the swarthy, ugly, early-faded Egyptian women,
she possessed no doubt great personal attraction. In the
second instance, when she was some ninety years of age,
nothing is said as to her beauty. Abimelech was influenced,
not by Sarah’s personal charms, but simply by a desire to
‘ally himself with Abraham, the rich nomad prince’ ” (as
Delitzsch puts it).
2. “New Light” on Abraham’s “Deceptions”
(Explanatory: I have purposely withheld, for presen-
tation at this point, certain evidence from recent archae-
ological findings which throws an entirely new light on
Abraham’s conduct toward Pharaoh and Abimelech, and
have “gone along,” so to speak, with the traditional con-
cept of Abraham’s “deceptions.” It must be admitted
that these do not portray the patriarch in a favorable light.
On the basis of this viewpoint of his motives, perhaps the
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