Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife”; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, September 13, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Sarai must have been a saint. We get this story pretty much exclusively from Abram’s point of view. We don’t know what Sarai thought about it, only that she obviously complied because as the story plays out, Pharaoh thinks, “Whoa, this is a hot babe,” and marries her. Which means she slept with him. Which means that Abram prostituted his wife to save his own skin. And this is… well it’s just wrong. And, sure, God punished Pharaoh (which, frankly, isn’t fair. God should have punished Abram, in my opinion) and when Pharaoh figured out what had happened, he let Sarai go back to Abram (and why he didn’t kill Abram at that point to legitimize his marriage to Sarai I will never know). And Sarai went. That poor voiceless woman.
Abram pulls this stunt a second time (Gen 20:1-16), though in the latter case the ruler, Abimelech, doesn’t actually lay a hand on Sarai. And then it happens again with Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 26:1-33), this time with the ruler (also named Abimelech) figuring it out before anyone can make advances on her.
Supposedly the point of these stories is to show off the beauty and desirability of the women (probably to reflect well on the men) and to show off that the men are protected by God. Through modern eyes (which I can’t help but having) I would have to find hope in these stories by uplifting the strength of the women, who endured the oppressive patriarchal system that made it okay for their husbands to use them as a kind of social meat shield, and still (we can hope) love these men in all their imperfections.
I’m not advocating a “Stand By Your Man” attitude by any means! But, man, Biblical women were incredible examples of both beauty (interior and exterior) and grit, shining out from the mire of their oppression.
Is it possible to read Bible stories without the lens of our modern context?
