SDMB weekly Bible Study (SDMBWBS)-Week 13 Genesis 20-22

Now, as poster not moderator: here’s a lot here, this is a big mouthful to chew off in one session.

Chapter 20

As noted by Prof P, this is presumably the E-version of the wife/sister story. There are two J-versions. We’ve done the first, Gen 12:10-20 with Abraham/Sarah vs Pharaoh in Egypt. This one is Abraham/Sarah vs Abimelech in Gerar. There will be a second J-version (in Ch 26) with Isaac/Rebecca vs Abimelech in Gerar. So, the current version sort of crosses the other two (same husband/wife as in the first; same king/country as in the second.) I find this difficult to explain if there is one author (although it can be done, the stories are different.) If there are two authors, then each author is self-consistent.

In verse 4, note that Abimelech pleads, “O Lord, will you slay innocent people?” The Hebrew goy here can mean nation, but often people or group. Since the monarch and his people were considered as one, the translation “innocent nation” is reasonable. Note that this parallels Abraham plea for Sodom (Gen 18:24): “Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?” Thus Abimelech is, like Abraham, holding God accountable.

Interesting discussion question in verse 6, God says that He kept Abimelech from sinning. We’ll later find God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, helping Pharaoh to do more evil. There is implication that God helps the righteous not to succumb to temptation, but that He gives evil people gentle nudges into worse.

God’s direct threat in verse 7, “if you do not return her” is unique.

This story can be seen as pre-shadowing the Exodus story: the woman (Israel) is taken by a king (Pharaoh) who is beset by plagues until he returns her to her husband (metaphorically, God).

The conclusion of this chapter has Abraham praying for fertility for Abimelech. Thinking of Abraham’s life/story as one of discovery about God, he has now learned that God is the source of life. And, 20:17 is a nice lead-in to Chapter 21, God as source of fertility, so now Sarah gives birth as promised. [The chapter divisions that we have were made in, IIRC, the 13th Century, and not known in the Hebrew text.]

Chapter 21:

Isaac is the first person to be circumcised on the 8th day, as commanded in Gen 17:12. Sarah implies that the laughter was mocking, but now turned to celebration and joy.

If there were multiple authors, then Gen 21:8 – 20 is the E-version of the expulsion of Hagar. It is similar to the J-story that we discussed in Ch 16, but there are major differences: different reasons, different personality for Hagar, etc. Sarah wants her family raised well, and Hagar presumably is a bad influence.

SIDEBAR: Richard Friedman in his Who Wrote the Bible argues (well) that there was an oral tradition of the story, and that it became distorted slightly in the north kingdom (E-versions) from the south kingdom (older J-versions.) When the north kingdom was destroyed, a combined JE-version was produced that allowed assimilation of the exiles back into the fold. Some stories were left as separate J- and E- versions (as this one), others were combined together (as Noah), so that everyone would recognize the stories that they had learned.

Note that there is a profound literary unity between the two stories: Here in 21:17, “God has heard the boy crying,” we have an echo of the earlier story 16:11 where God says to name the boy Ishmael meaning “God hears.” And in 21:19, God “opened [Hagar’s] eyes” parallels 16:13 where Hagar names God the All-Seeing (our translation: “You are the God who sees me”) It’s a neat literary echo, I think, of God hearing and seeing in both stories.

God treats Hagar well; she’s not a bad person, she’s just not fit to be one of the Matriarchs.

OK, enough for now, I’ll try to get to the binding of Isaac later tonight.

Chapter 22: The binding of Isaac

The opening sentence tells us that God tested Abraham. We, hearing the story, are given information that Abraham doesn’t have, so we (and those hearing the story 3000 years ago) have no doubt that this is a test, and that God does NOT want human sacrifice.

I, and most commentators, disagree with that explanation. If human sacrifice is being outlawed here, then there’s no test. There’s no comparison here, no transition, no one who thinks human sacrifice is a good thing (and gets put down.) I think the simple reading of the text is very clear that human sacrifice is viewed with abhorrence.

We learned in Gen 18:19 that Abraham’s mission is to do justice and pursue righteousness. He has faced several tests and trials, though none were named as such explicitly. All the tests have been based on “natural” law (not the later laws of Sinai.) Thus, he has had to deal with famine, had to protect his wife in a foreign land, had to battle and negotiate fairly with rival kings, tried to save the righteous in Sodom, and now he faces a trial of faith. The trials were all based in this world, not in heaven, not in some theological realm.

Abraham and Sarah have learned two lessons so far: (1) that both mother and father are needed to provide biological and spiritual procreation, to form a family; and (2) that God is the creator of all life, in the beginning and continuously. The test now is: does Abraham really believe God to be the source of all life?

The story starts with God calling Abraham by name. This is always significant in the Hebrew bible, a sign of intimacy. Abraham’s answer, Hinneni, “Here I am,” implies attentiveness and reception. It’s the only word that Abraham says to God in this entire story, and he says it again in verse 11 just before the sacrifice.

God’s instructions are explicit: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac” There can be no doubt who is meant. In the last chapter, Abraham lost one son (Ishmael), and now it seems he is to lose the other. In both cases, the child is saved by divine intervention at the critical moment (the only two instance of an angel calling from heaven to a human being.) And in both stories, there is a lucky discovery: water for Ishmael, a ram in the thicket for Isaac. (Nice literary parallelism, I think.)

Given such a dreadful instruction, Abraham is silent. He argued for Sodom, but he submits silently to this bitter command. He does not question. And remarkably, Sarah is ignored in this chapter. Speculation includes that Abraham didn’t tell her, because she would try to stop him. Others speculate that Sarah went looking for them, was told by Satan of Abraham’s intention, and died of a broken heart. The text just doesn’t mention her.

They travel for three days. That’s a long journey, and Abraham doesn’t falter during all that time and distance. He has plenty of time to reconsider, but he doesn’t waver.

In verse 6, it is unlikely that he carried fire for three days; some translate as “firestone.” The word for knife used here is an unusual one; there may be some word play, with knife ma’akhelet and the rescuing angel mal’akh.

In verse 6, Abraham and his son “walked together.” I personally think the poetry and imagery are marvelous in these next verses. They’ve sent away the servants. They’re walking out into the loneliness, Isaac is unsuspecting and innocent, Abraham is agonizing in silence. Then Isaac asks where is the offering, Abraham evades the question, and the two continue to “walk together” (same phrase in verse 8 as in verse 6.)

So, Isaac is saved and a ram is sacrificed. [In response to the posts above: some commentators who think Isaac was actually killed also say that he was restored to life by the angel, resurrected from the ashes on the altar. The view that Isaac was actually killed is, of course, a distinct minority.]

This story is a powerful one, and led to incredible amounts of commentary and speculation and midrashim, often radically different. What is the nature of the test? Mostly, Abraham is praised for his faithfulness, but some criticize Abraham for not protesting, and even think that he failed the test. Some see Isaac as psychologically damaged forever after, even though his life is saved. Some think that the test comes from Satan rather than from God. Some see Abraham as a dangerous religious fanatic, whose certainty in his belief leads him almost to murdering his own son. Some see Isaac’s willingness to die as a model of faithfulness, others think he too should have protested.

One midrash says that Abraham actually pours out his soul to God, reminding God of how he’s followed all other instructions without complaint, and begging God to be compassionate and revoke the command.

Later Jewish tradition saw the binding of Isaac as a symbolic precedent for Jewish martyrdoms. It’s an extremely powerful story.

I’d like to quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), one of the greatest Jewish theologians and philosophers of the last century, who remembered reading this story in Poland as a child of seven:

There’s a glaring problem with this second version, even if you ignore the very obvious similarities with the first and third, namely it’s completely out of place chronologically. Sarah is 90 years old. Although some people were still being depicted as longer than normal, Chapter 18 tells us (KJV), “Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age…,” with Sarah so far past the age of childbearing that she can laugh, rather than cry, when the angel predicts that she will finally have a son.

Yet this story says she’s such a hot babe that the king wants her for his harem the minute he lays eyes on her, with no indication that he finds it odd that she’s unmarried, which implies that she looks like a teenager.

MODERATOR COMMENT: Yeah, the copyright thing could be a problem. I will discuss with stpauler and we’ll come up with some reasonable remedy.

Summary: although the NIV does allow quoting (up to 500 verses, with attribution), we’re well beyond that and haven’t been using the attribution. Plus, general SDMB rules say that the mods don’t want to have to go tracking down each situation.

I think the best solution going forward is to use the King James Version and I will link the verse numbers to Bible Hub’s parallel verses pages so we can see other translations. Hopefully that works for everyone but I’m open to any other suggestions too. It’ll look like this going forward:

King James Version: Genesis 20

1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.

12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

King James Version: Genesis 21

1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

8And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:

23Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

24And Abraham said, I will swear.

25And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.

26And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day.

27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?

30And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.

31Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.

32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.

King James Version: Genesis 22

1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;

21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

My own read of the story: part of its purpose is to act as a ‘just so’ story, to explain why the Jewish God doesn’t require human sacrifice - even though his competitors often did.

The ancestor was tested. God doesn’t need to repeat that test.

Why is an explaination necessary? Because in the ancient world, it would appear, the level of sacrifice demonstrated the sincerety of the commitment, and the ultimate level of committment is to sacrifice your own beloved child (you can see that in this story - whatever later commentators may think, Abraham is praised for his willingness to sacrifice his son). Why should the Hebrews display less committment to their god than the worshippers of Phonecian gods, who did in fact sacrifice children? The answer: because God already tested Abraham that way, and there is no need for a repeat. The Hebrew god accepts animal sacrifice instead.

It’s also jarring that God has no problem with a woman being abducted against her will into a harem so long as she’s single.
There seems to be some argument about whether or not Abraham was telling the truth that Sarah was really his half-sister. I don’t know what Biblical scholars think of the story, but I know that it is referred to as a deception in some sermons and in popular literature, and writers (including Orson Scott Card) have written novels in which she is not his half-sister (though Card’s ancestor, Brigham Young, used the passage as precedent to allow at least one marriage between half-siblings).

I have read several accounts in which the story of Isaac’s near sacrifice was contrasted to the habit many societies at the time had of sacrificing their first born. Abraham’s “I tried” story would have allowed a man whose extremely beloved wife had an only son to save face before his neighbors, saying that he was willing to honor the customs but was not required. You can even see a parallel to the story of Abraham smashing the idols of his father’s workshop; if his neighbors said “God does not talk to mortals”, Abraham could answer “then why do we sacrifice our sons to him?”, plus he could always lie and tell them he’d sacrificed Ishmael.

In Anita Diamant’s novel The Red Tent, an occasionally good read (especially the first half), Isaac is portrayed as an old man who still suffers PTSD from the incident.

My only problem with the KJV is due to its age. Not because of its language, which is gorgeous, but because scholars agree that it is incorrect in its translations in certain areas.

But I’m sure we’re a smart bunch and can deal with it in the commentary. I’m just sorry to make you do more work.

Well, we can always post links to more correct translations. And, actually, dealing with some of the errors may be interesting; short quotes from other translations are acceptable. (Most bible translation websites WANT you to quote them, it’s just a question of how much.)

This is a better explanation of my POV of the story and its relation to human/animal sacrifice than I could have written myself.

Plus, from my Christian POV, it is one of the first examples of explicitly substitutionary sacrifice, except exactly the reverse of what it will be with Jesus. The son is going to be sacrificed, and a lesser creature (the ram) is substituted instead to spare the son. In the Gospels, the lesser creature is going to be sacrificed, and the Son is substituted to spare the lesser creature. It adds to what Professor Pepperwinkle mentioned above - Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice; Jesus carrying His own cross.

Regards,
Shodan

Thanks for the personal response, Prof.

MODERATOR COMMENT: Hmmm. We’ve got a different opinion on the use of translations, so we may wind up being OK. Love it when lawyers do talmudic disputation.

I hope you make a more clear announcement on this later. Both in what the disputation opinion is, and exactly what is “ok.”

Because my denomination has always erred on the side of caution and followed Zondervan’s policies to the letter. If something about what they say doesn’t actually jive with the law, that would be ignorance that needs to be fought.

And, no, I didn’t ask Richard Parker because he seemed to be under the impression that one need only satisfy one aspect of fair use law instead of all of it. Sure, this is scholastic commentary, which is allowed, but you must also not use a “significant portion” of the work, which is what Zondervan’s 500 verse limit is all about, being what they consider significant enough to litigate.

The ruling that I’ve got is that we’re fine to go ahead, but we’ll add the copyright notice. The NIV’s own policy is

So, I’m going to backtrack and add the copyright info in the old threads, and we should be OK. Most bible translations, after all, want people quoting them. So we’ve got both “scholarly commentary” and their own requirements to bolster this direction. We’re not quoting a full chapter, nor as much as 500 verses, in any one thread; and, assuming we get plenty commentary, we’re OK with the 25% as well.

Just a quick question - in Hebrews, Abraham is considered as one of the ‘giants of Faith’, and he is considered righteous because he believed in God.

However, from the way I see it, Abraham never believed he was going to have Isaac (his inner monologue earlier when the angels told him he was going to bear a child at Genesis 17:17). Was he attributed to be one of the faithful because of his willingness to sacrifice Isaac?

I don’t pretend to be well-versed in New Testament, so I can’t comment on the verse in Hebrews. However, in the book of Genesis, “faith” or “belief” are not really issues. At the beginning of the story of Abraham, God tells him to leave where he is and go to a new land: “walk yourself.” There are midrashim (non-biblical stories) about how Abraham came to believe in God rather than idols, but none of these appear in the actual text. Abraham learns about God as the story (and his life) progress, to the point that he is willing to sacrfice Isaac to obey God’s explicit command. Along the way, Abraham (and Sarah) have doubts, do not fully trust God, but they behave in ways that strive for justice, hospitality, kindness.

The Pentateuch does not much concern itself with belief, but with behavior.

I was just reading these chapters over again, and I was struck by these verses:

We focus heavily on Isaac, for good reason, but here’s God telling Abraham to send his son away. And Abraham is distressed greatly, because it’s his son. But he does so even though it pains him. That story by itself is full of emotional torment.

And then that story is immediately followed by God telling Abraham to sacrifice his other son.

Hi, I haven’t been in these threads before, but I started reading this one.

I see that people are hung up on the use of “only son” for Isaac, when it’s pretty darned obvious he isn’t the only son of Abraham.

And I also see that the English translation being used is, mainly, the NIV.

Well, I wish I knew Hebrew, but to put Isaac’s status in a different light, may I quote from the English version of the Tanakh? It’s the Jewish Publication Society’s translation of the Holy Scriptures, copyright 1985/5746

Chapter 22 Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” and He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, who you love, and to to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.”

Later, when Abraham is prevented from killing Isaac

Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” And he said; “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”

This translation seems to recognize that Isaac was not an “only” son, but he was the one closest to Abraham’s heart. What kind of a spin do you feel that puts on this story?

A New Testament parallel occurs in Hebrews 11:17 where it says that Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only-begotten son. The term “monogenos” is also the one used in John 3:16 for God to sacrifice his only-begotten son, Jesus. A goodly number of Greek scholars have indicated that the term in these places is more adequately translated “favored son” or “first among sons”, rather than “only-begotten”.

I don’t know about the Greek, but the Hebrew יחיד can mean sole, single, solitary, unique. Everett Fox, who tends to be a literalist translator, uses “only-one.” Presumably, the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, roughly 100 BCE) is where the Greek word comes into play, with the possible meaning of “favored.”

Since Ishmael has been sent away, Isaac is the only remaining son. And it’s been made clear that monotheism is to be continued through Isaac. So the use of “only” – while annoying to us modernists – was reasonable for the time it was written.

Welcome to the discussion, Baker, and we’re always glad to look at other translations. KJV uses “only”, but many more modern translations perfer “favored” exactly to reflect our more modern attitudes.