Genesis 26:6-11

2008.Jul.04 19:05

Better Job This Time, Abimelech.

Read Genesis 26:6-11 | Full Chapter

Isaac moved to Gerar with his beautiful wife Rebekah. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her, and so he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister.
(Genesis 26:6-7, CEV)

Here, we have part two of the Abimelech and husband-pretending-to-be-brother stories (My discussions on the first). The first stars Abraham and Sarah, the second Isaac and Rebekah. In my limited understanding of Biblical scholarship, I remember (hopefully this memory is accurate) that some (perhaps many?) scholars consider these two passages to be two versions of the same story, with differences due to different early sources. The basics of the accounts are pretty close, and I don’t get any major difference in understanding between the Sarah/Abraham or Rebekah/Isaac as the subjects.

Outside of all that, what I really notice is the different response of Abimelech. I like the idea that both situations happened and Abimelech learned from the first (or, maybe one of his descendents of the same name did).

After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac hugging and kissing Rebekah. Abimelech called him in and said, "Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?" "Because I thought someone would kill me," Isaac answered. "Don't you know what you've done?" Abimelech exclaimed. "If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!" Then Abimelech warned his people that anyone who even touched Isaac or Rebekah would be put to death.
(Genesis 26:8-11, CEV)

Abimelech, in the earlier story, “sent and took Sarah” (Genesis 20:2, NASB). In this case, the king leaves Rebekah alone, so that when he discovers the deception, it’s not really problem. Sure, he now needs to address Isaac, and he does, but Abimelech has not put himself into a problematic situation, to understate it. He also shows concern not only for his own potential guilt, but that of the other men in his nation. Then, he provides protection for the itinerants by means of a proclamation that the punishment for hurting them is death.

In other words, this time, Abimelech does everything right, at least as far as I can tell. Perhaps he learned, either from his own previous wrongs (I consider kidnapping a wrong regardless of the prevailing culture) or that of an ancestor. In any event, Abimelech acts honorably, identifies a potential problem, and handles it. I like it.