Wife–sister narratives in Genesis

There are three wife-sister narratives in Genesis, part of the Torah, all of which are strikingly similar. At the core of each is the tale of a Biblical Patriarch, who has come to be in the land of a powerful foreign overlord that has mistaken the Patriarch's wife to be the Patriarch's sister, and consequently has attempted to wed her himself, though later finds out his error. Two of the three stories are similar in many other details, including the antagonist's name, Abimelech, although this could be construed as being a royal title.

The stories

Abram and Pharaoh

The first of the stories is found at . The first part begins with Abraham emigrating to the southern region of Gerar, whose king is named Abimelech. (Note that, by this time, God has changed Abram and Sarai's names to Abraham and Sarah, respectively, as stated at . Here it is Isaac who, in order to avoid a famine, emigrates to the southern region of Gerar, whose king is named Abimelech. Isaac has been told to do so by Yahweh, who also orders him to avoid Egypt, and promises to him the fulfillment of the oath made with Abraham. Isaac states that Rebekah, his wife, is really his sister, as he is worried that the Philistines will otherwise kill him in order to marry Rebekah. After a while, Abimelech spots Isaac "sporting" with Rebekah, and states that she must be Isaac's wife rather than his sister.

Abimelech then orders that Rebekah be left alone by the denizens of Gerar, on pain of death. Isaac goes on to spend a year in the area, and gradually built up a large household of servants, and a strong possession of livestock, leading to the envy of the Philistines of Gerar, so Abimelech sends Isaac away. Noting that the wells that Abraham had dug have since been filled in, Isaac re-digs them, giving etymologies for three:
*Esek (which means "challenge") gaining its name due to the Gerar herdsmen contesting the ownership of the well
*Sitnah (which means "opposition") gaining its name due to the Gerar herdsmen also contesting this well
*Rehoboth (which means "enlarged space") gaining its name because "Yahweh made room for" Isaac

Isaac then travels to Beersheba (which does not yet have its name), and Yahweh appears to him, so Isaac builds an altar there. Abimelech then meets Isaac there, with a friend named Ahuzzath, and Philcol, Abimelech's chief captain. They then make an oath of non-aggression, hold a feast, and then depart from one another. Later on the same day, Isaac's servants report to him that they have found another well, so he names the place in such a way that it later becomes known as Beersheba. "Beer" is the Hebrew word for "well", the other half of the word is explained as due to Isaac naming the location:
*Shibah, which means "seven", according to the Masoretic text
*Shebua, which means "oaths", according to the Septuagint

Parallels between the stories

The parallels are familiar to all readers of Genesis and the "Jewish Encyclopedia's" [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=245&letter=S#816 article "Sarah"] notes that :"the story of Sarah's life, brief and incomplete as it is, presents nevertheless curious repetitions, e.g., the incident with Pharaoh and a similar incident with Abimelech (). This recurrence indicates that none of the accounts is to be accepted as historical; all three are variations of a theme common to the popular oral histories of the Patriarchs. That women were married in the way here supposed is not to be doubted. The purpose of the story is to extol the heroines as most beautiful and show that the Patriarchs were under the special protection of the Deity."

Much Biblical criticism views the parallels as evidence for the documentary hypothesis, with each of the stories originating in different parallel partly independent sources, with a later redactor being responsible for the passages which explain why Isaac would be digging wells that Abraham has already dug () would view her also being his wife as a form of incest. However, in some significant ancient cultures, such as the Hurrian and Egyptian cultures, biological sisters were often raised to the position of a wife in order to give the sister a greater standing in society, and this tradition is one with which Abraham would be likely to have come into contact during his migration.

On the other hand, there has been ancient tablets recently recovered from the ancient city of Mari that suggest otherwise. These ancient Semite legal records show that when a woman is married to a man, she is then formally adopted by his father as a full daughter as well [http://www.truthnet.org/biblicalarcheology/2/Patriarchalperiod.htm] . Like Abraham, many ancient Semites were Nomads and it was customary for the daughter-in-law to be officially adopted as a full daughter in case her husband is to die while she is traveling with his family.

According to ) from the word "Sarita" (often translated "you have struggled"), which is thought to have a linguistic connection with Sarah (c.f. Hosea 12:3 - "own sarah El"="as a man he struggled with God"). In this theory, Isaac is hence the result of the union between Abimelech and Sarah. The theory goes on to state that as the culture became patriarchal, so the figure of Abraham was introduced and gradually took over Sarah's role, though obviously this was not possible in the tale of the marriage to Abimelech. Consequently Sarah became variously identified as Abraham's sister or as his wife, the deception part of the tale arising as a result of Sarah having to be Abraham's wife for them both to be parents of Isaac, but also Abimelech's for the treaty, and simultaneously not commit bigamy by having two husbands.

References

*cite book|author=Israel Finkelstein|title=The Bible Unearthed|publisher=Free Press|year=2002|id=ISBN 0-684-86913-6
*cite book|author=Robin Lane Fox|title=The Unauthorized Version|PublisherKnopf|year=1992 | pages=409f
*cite book|author=Richard Elliott Friedman|title=Who Wrote The Bible?|publisher=Harper and Row|location=New York|year=1987|id=ISBN 0-06-063035-3
*cite book|author=Richard Elliott Friedman|title=The Bible with sources revealed|publisher=HarperSanFrancisco|year=2003|id=ISBN 0-06-053069-3
*cite book|title=Jewish Encyclopedia
*cite book|author=Robinson|title=Biblical Researches|publisher=Arno press|year=1977|id=ISBN 0-405-10281-X
*cite book|author=|title=New American Bible|publisher=|year=|id= — note the footnotes for Genesis 26 and 20-21
* Emanuel Feldman. Changing patterns in Biblical criticism. "Tradition" 1965;7(4) and 1966;8(5).