Friday, November 04, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
In this week's parasha, we have the troubling incident of Abram (Abraham) descending to Egypt with his wife Sarai (Sarah), and instructing her to act as his sister so the immoral Egyptians wouldn't kill him to take her.
The Hebrew text is ambiguous as to whether Pharaoh consummated his relationship with Sarai. It says that Sarai was taken to Pharaoh's palace and later, after God punished Pharaoh, he told Abram:
לָמָ֤ה אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙ אֲחֹ֣תִי הִ֔וא וָאֶקַּ֥ח אֹתָ֛הּ לִ֖י לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֥ה אִשְׁתְּךָ֖ קַ֥ח וָלֵֽךְ׃Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!”
Jewish commentators say that the marriage was not consummated, and that the plagues God sent to Pharaoh stopped him from touching her. But the text doesn't exactly support that.
George Bush, a distant relative of the presidents with that name, was a 19th century Christian Biblical scholar (and professor of Hebrew) who wrote a comprehensive commentary on the Pentateuch. Without citing any Jewish commentaries, he comes to the same conclusion, based on logic as well as textual analysis.
Not too shabby.
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