Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“When Abram had come into Egypt, some Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels”
(Genesis 12:14-16)

Sarai was about sixty-six (66) years old when she was spotted, found beautiful, and bought by Pharaoh to be one of his concubines/wives.

Abram said nothing. He did not say this is my wife. He did not protest. Instead, he accepted what amounted to a dowry. This was not a small dowry either. Sarai was thought to be worth all of this. She had a HIGH value. There is no telling what she was thinking. There is no telling what Abram was thinking, either, but this is hardly the actions of an upright and godly man. These are the actions of a fear-filled and cowardly man. We know based on Hebrews that Sarai was trusting in the Lord – which is a good thing since there weren’t any people she could rely on.

There are those who believe that it was here that Hagar came into Abram’s household – possibly among the female servants, but also possibly after Sarai left Pharaoh’s house as a final ‘sorry’ payment.

It is from this moment that Abram and his descendants are a negative presence to Egypt. In essence, they start to be afflicted (treated badly). Over time it increases so that by the time Joseph gets to Egypt, an Egyptian won’t even eat at the same table as a Hebrew – no matter how highly placed (Genesis 43:32). When God tells Abram they will be afflicted 400 years, this kind of treatment is part of that affliction (Genesis 15:13; Galatians 3:17). It wasn’t 400 years as full-on, abused slaves. Slavery was the latter part, being despised was the total part (approximately 100 to 150 years).

The sage Chizkuni writes: ‘ויהי כבוא אברם מצרימה, As soon as Avram came to Egypt, etc.;” according to the plain meaning of the text, it sounds as if all the people in the entourage are considered as merely as an appendage to Avram, his fate dominating what would happen to all the people who had traveled to Egypt with him. Further confirmation of this approach to the text is what we read in verse 10 where Avram is described as descending to Egypt in the singular, i.e. וירד אברם מצרימה, which sounds as if he alone had traveled to Egypt, although we know that Lot was with him.’

The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘Pharaoh’s officers saw her, and they praised her to Pharaoh king of Egypt, informing him that there was an exceptionally beautiful woman among the visitors who had arrived from distant lands. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house to be one of his wives. It seems that Sarai was not able to object, as she and Abram claimed to be siblings. And he, Pharaoh, benefited Abram for her sake, as the brother of the woman he sought for himself. He, Abram, acquired, of his own property as well as from all the gifts he received, sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves, maidservants, female donkeys, and camels.‘

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘As Abram anticipated, beautiful Sarai is transported to Pharaoh’s harem; and wealth is transferred to Abram. An exchange of a woman has taken place. The tricksters’ economic status has increased, explicitly because of Sarai.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ולאברם היטיב בעבורה, as soon as the king had taken Sarai he showered Avram with favours, seeing that she had described him as her brother. The favours consisted of the king sending him livestock, as well as other gifts which he could enjoy personally, so that he would give his consent to the marriage. Afterwards, when he had been punished by G’d, he did not ask Avram for forgiveness but deported him, as opposed to Avimelech (Genesis 20,14) The meaning of the words ויהי לו, is that these gifts which used to belong to Pharaoh remained in Avram’s possession.’