A fresh trial now awaited the faith of Abram. Strong as it always proved in what concerned the kingdom of God, it failed, again and again, in matters personal to himself. A famine was desolating the land and, as is still the case with the Bedouin tribes under similar circumstances, Abram and his family “went down into Egypt,” which has, at all times, been the granary of other nations.
It does not become us to speculate whether this removal was lawful, without previous special directions from God, but we know that it exposed him to the greatest danger. As we must not underrate the difficulties of the patriarchs, so neither must we overrate their faith and their strength. Abram “was a man of like passions with us,” and of like weaknesses. When God spoke to him, he believed and, when he believed, he obeyed. But, God had said nothing, as yet, to him, directly, about Sarai and, in the absence of any special direction, he seems to have taken the matter into his own hands, after the manner of those times and countries. From Genesis 20.13, we learn that, when he first set out from his father’s house, an agreement had been made between the two that Sarai was to pass as his sister because, as he said, “the fear of God” was not among the nations with whom they would be brought in contact, and they might slay Abram for his wife’s sake. The deceit – for such it really was – seemed scarcely such in their eyes, since Sarai was so closely related to her husband that she might almost be called his sister. In short, as we all too oftentimes do, it was deception, commencing with self-deception and, though what he said might be true in the letter, it was false in the spirit of it.
But, we must not imagine that Abram was so heartless as to endanger his wife for the sake of his own safety. On the contrary, it seemed the readiest means of safeguarding her honor, also – since, if she were looked upon as the sister of a mighty chief, he hand would be sought and certain formalities have to be gone through which would give Abram time to escape with his wife. This is not said in apology, but in explanation of the matter.
From: The Bible History: Old Testament: Volume 1: The World Before the Flood and the History of the Patriarchs by Alfred Edersheim (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), pp. 79-80.
Alfred Edersheim (1823-1889) was an Austrian-born English clergyman. A Presbyterian who later became an Anglican, he was a prolific author who was interested in Jewish missions, being a convert himself. His most famous book is The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1883).
