101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

yth #53:
Abraham pretended that Sarah was his sister.
The Myth: And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that
he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look
upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they
shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray
thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live
because of thee. (Gen. 12:11–13)
And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled
between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his
wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. (Gen.
20:1–2)
The Reality: Genesis has three different stories about a patriarch who feared that
a foreign king would kill him in order to take his beautiful wife for a queen, so the
patriarch’s wife pretended to be his sister. All three stories stem from a common
mythological source.
When Abraham left Mesopotamia and came to Canaan, a famine plagued the
land and he had to go to Egypt for food. For some reason, he feared that the pharaoh
would be aware of his presence and find his wife most attractive and desirable. (Sarah
was about sixty-five years old at the time.) Abraham figured that if the pharaoh
thought Abraham and Sarah were husband and wife, the monarch would have him
killed so that he could take Sarah into the royal household. Therefore, he asked her to
pretend to be his sister. Presumably, Abraham tolerated his wife becoming concubine
to the pharaoh.
The pharaoh did indeed learn about the beautiful Sarah and did take her as a wife.
But great plagues struck the king’s household and he learned the truth. The pharaoh
returned Sarah to Abraham and sent them out of the country with great wealth—
cattle, gold, and silver.
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