Genesis - chapters 12-23
Lesson 6: Abraham’s Family: Genesis 12-23 What if… faith and science agree on history and culture and traditions? Abraham’s Wives: What if… someone says Abraham had three wives? Sarai: Sarai as Abraham’s sister? Read Genesis 12:10-13, 20:1-3. Actually, calling your wife your sister wasn’t an uncommon practice at the time. In Genesis 26:6-7. Isaac plays the same trick on Abimelech as his father did before him – though it may be Abimelech’s son… And in other historical records, the same idea is repeated – an attempt to avoid the alternative where a king kills the husband to gain access to the wife (as David eventually did to Uriah). In fact, since Sarai was probably related by blood to Abraham, she may technically have been his “sister” as well as his wife, since the same word would have covered many types of cousin. So maybe Abram didn’t lie. Hagar: Servant as surrogate mother? Read Genesis 16:1-4. Another culturally common practice, particularly in Egypt, was that of a servant givi...