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Tsiyon
Listener Q+A
Was Sarai
Abram's Half-Sister or was she his Niece?
Q. I heard your Midrash last shabbat about Abraham and
Sarai. About 3 months ago I did my own study on Abraham and the
genealogies of Terah. Two extra biblical sources that I looked at
were the book of Jasher and Antiquities of the Jews. I have read
online we cannot be totally sure of the accuracy of Jasher. I have
also heard that we can accept the historical accuracy found in
Josephus. One interesting thing that I saw was that Jasher and
Josephus both indicate that Sarai was Abraham's niece (i.e. the
daughter of his brother Haran) and not his step sister. I know that
when extra biblical sources contradict the Scriptures that you
always go with what the Scriptures say. But when I went back to
Genesis 11 I found that the genealogies do not state whose daughter
Sarai was. In fact if you look closely at the entire genealogy in
Genesis chapter 11 you will notice that it states that each man had
"other sons and daughters" for everyone except Terah. The genealogy
says twice that Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran,
but says nothing about him having other sons and daughters like
everyone else who came before him in this genealogy. Is the Genesis
account really saying that Terah had only 3 children?
The only place in Genesis that says Sarai was Abram's
half-sister is in Genesis 20:12, but in this situation Abraham is
caught not being truthful with Abimelech about being married to
Sarai. Here Abraham tells Abimelech that she is his sister in order
to preserve his life when Abimelech desired to have Sarai. Once
Abimelech learned that Sarai was his wife Abraham never backs down
from the story that she was also his sister. Could it be that
Abraham stuck with the story that Sarai was his sister to avoid
being accused of lying to the king? If Abraham would have come clean
and said that she was his niece he would have been found guilty of
lying to the king. I'm sure there would have been a stiff penalty
for that. I'm wondering if Abraham thought that Abimelech had no way
of knowing his family's genealogy and felt that he could get away
with this lie to get him out of this trouble he was in?
Have you come across any of this information in your
studies? I'm not being critical of you, but just want to compare
study notes. I found this so interesting a few months ago when I
discovered this but have not seen any commentaries that have
discussed this possibility. You seem to be very thorough in your
studies and I was wondering if you came across this.
I have been criticized by a lot of friends by even
suggesting that Sarai was not Abraham's sister. Some have said what
difference does it make. My response has been that to Christians and
Jews whether Sarai was Abraham's sister or niece makes no difference
since this was an acceptable practice at the time. But Abraham being
married to his sister does make a difference to the Muslims. I found
a few Muslim apologetics sites online that claim that Isaac could
not be the "promised son" becuase he was born of incest and that
therefore Ishmael must be the "promised son." One of these Muslim
sites points out that Christians and Jews find no problem with
Abraham marrying his sister and having relations with her but are
abhorred when Lot had relations with his daughters. In their eyes
both cases are incest. They use Leviticus 18 to back up their
arguement. Perhaps that is a valid argument. Yes it is true that the
marriage of Abraham and Sarai was before the Torah was given, but if
Sarai was indeed Abraham's niece then Abraham can be accused of no
guilt even by Leviticus 18; it would have been a legitimate marriage
from God's point of view.
Tsiyon Answer -
Its great to see you and others looking deeply into the
Torah.
I am aware of the controversy you mention regarding the parentage of
Sarai. The Rabbinical view is that she was Abram's niece, Iscah,
although the Scriptures do not identify Iscah as Sarai. The rabbis
see the name Iscah, meaning "to watch, observe" as an indication of
Sarai's beauty. However, the name does not indicate one who is
watched, but one who watches or observes. This better describes
Lot's wife, who, against divine instruction, turned to watch the
destruction of Sodom and was then turned to a pillar of salt. While
admittedly also a speculation, this strikes me as more fitting to
the meaning of the name than the rabbinical speculation. (Gen 11:29,
19:17-26)
Next comes "The Book of Jasher" which seems to give more fuel to the
rabbinical speculation. However, the "Book of Jasher" in circulation
today is clearly proven to be something other than the book of the
same name cited in Scripture. It is a rabbinical creation which
shamelessly re-writes much of Genesis in the rabbinical mold. While
not useless, all it amounts to in this case is another telling of
the rabbinical view, which is not a true witness to the facts. (See
Modern Apocrypha, Famous "Biblical" Hoaxes by Edgar J. Goodspeed,
The Beacon Press, Boston, 1956, Library of Congress number 56-10075)
Next comes Josephus. There is no denying the importance of his work,
since it offers much historical data from a first century Jewish
perspective. This is especially useful in matters pertaining to the
affairs leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem, of which
Josephus was an eye-witness. Of those events it is generally true
that "we can accept the historical accuracy found in Josephus."
However, his telling of events from centuries before himself can
only be as good as the information then available to him. Since his
work is not inspired, it must be understood that the veracity of his
sources range from reliable to total speculation. It has been said
of Josephus; "From an archaeological perspective his works have been
absolutely vital and are considered the definitive source for every
site for which he gave a firsthand account. As a political
commentator and transcriber of hearsay he was less reliable but is
still a useful source." Bottom line: Josephus is often helpful with
history, but does not compare in any sense with the accuracy of
Scripture.
(http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/15exsc/how_reliable_is_josephus_flavius/)
Next comes the Muslims, whom I must simply ignore here, since what
they think is a religiously motivated opinion that is not relevant
to the facts one way or the other.
Next comes the reason rabbinical sources prefer Abraham to be
married to his niece rather than his half-sister. Leviticus 18:9
says; "You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the
daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether
born at home, or born abroad." The rabbis cannot accept that the
Father of our race be guilty of incest, as they would otherwise be
required by their religion to see it, in the case wherein Abram was
the husband of his half-sister. Since the Torah does not
specifically forbid marriage to one's niece, this seemed to them a
solution.
The truth is, early in the human gene pool marriage to a half-sister
did not present the problems that later called for its ban when
Leviticus was written centuries later. When we look back to these
early days and call Abram's marriage to his half-sister "incest" we
are applying a moral standard to Abram that did not exist in his
days. That is unfair as well as misleading.
Next comes what Abram actually says regarding the identity of Sarai
in Scripture;
"And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter
of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my
woman." Gen 20:12
For me, this is definitive and unmistakable. Sarai was Abram's
half-sister. The argument that Abram was a habitual liar so that
these words can't be trusted as truthful is one view, but not my
view. I see Abram as consistently telling the truth, i.e. that Sarai
was indeed his sister. The most he can rightfully be accused of is
withholding the additional information that she was also his wife.
However, is withholding information the same as lying? That seems to
be the view of many today, who think we should live our life telling
everything we know to everyone who asks, even if they may use that
information to do us or others harm. Based on this ridiculous
definition of lying many German Christians during the Nazi era felt
justified in fingering the identity and whereabouts of their Jewish
neighbors when ordered by the Nazis, thereby becoming accomplices
with the Nazis in the murder of millions of Jews. Clearly, such a
definition of lying is from the devil, not YHWH, to make it easier
for the enemy to kill us. We all should smarten up and stop
accepting the moral code programmed into us by the world regarding
the definition of lying, considering the events prophesied for the
days just ahead.
Just to be clear, it is equal to lying to withhold vital information
from those who are entitled to know. That's not everybody. Do
enemies who may use that information to kill you or someone else fit
that category? Abram didn't think so, nor did Jacob, nor did many
other heroes of faith in Scripture. YHWH never condemned Abram or
any of his men for making this distinction, and thereby withholding
vital information from those who would use it against them and the
Kingdom. This is yet one more case where we must learn from
righteous Abraham.
Bottomline: Abram was not a liar but was a truth teller. Therefore,
because of that and because it is inspired Scripture, I feel very
safe in accepting the truth of Genesis 20:12 at face value - Sarai
was Abram's half-sister.
As a side point, that the Scripture does not say Terah had "other
sons and daughters" does not mean he did not have them.
Interestingly, the Scriptural record stops using that term
specifically with Terah, and does not regularly use it from Terah
forward. That is probably because, from Terah forward, the Biblical
line of significance narrows down to the line of Abram, so that
"other sons and daughters" fade from importance in the Biblical
narrative.
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From Eliyahu
What sort of man was Abram? Various sources criticize Abram,
painting him to be a coward, a liar, and an incestuous adulterer.
Some Christian sources say this picture of Abram is not inconsistent
with Scripture since Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to
him for righteousness.” Galatians 3:6
In other words, in their view what Abram actually did in his life
didn't matter, even if evil, since he had faith and was justified as
"righteous" on the basis of his faith with no regard to his works.
To them his works, good or bad, are irrelevant. Is this true? Not at
all. To make such a claim we must ignore much of the rest of
Scripture, for example, this passage from James:
But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works
is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in
that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that
faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was
called the friend of God. You see then that by works, a man is
justified, and not only by faith. Jas 2:20
It is indeed one's works that prove the reality of their faith. That
Abraham was "accounted as righteous" therefore implies that he was
the sort of man who backed up his faith with righteous deeds. Abram
was a righteous man and is not guilty of all the evil slander raised
up against him by those who should know better. In fact, Abram is an
example of righteousness that we can and should emulate in our own
lives. This is the position I'm coming from in the latest EBDBet
Midrash, as we consider Genesis 13 and 14. Join me, and consider the
implications of the righteousness of Abram in your own life, this
Sabbath.
Shalom!
Eliyahu ben David
www.tsiyon.org
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Abram - Profile in Righteousness
