Genesis 12
Abraham telling the Egyptians that Sarah is his sister can be very confusing.
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“To kill the husband in order to possess himself of his wife seems to have been a common royal custom in those days. A papyrus tells of a Pharaoh who, acting on the advice of one of his princes, sent armed men to fetch a beautiful woman and make away with her husband. Another Pharaoh is promised by his priest on his tombstone, that even after death he will kill Palestinian sheiks and include their wives in his harem.” (Kasher, Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation, 2:128.)
Abraham could validly state that Sarah was his sister. In the Bible the Hebrew words brother and sister are often used for other blood relatives. (See Genesis 14:14 , in which Lot, Abraham’s nephew, is called “his brother.”) Because Abraham and Haran, Sarah’s father, were brothers, Sarah was Abraham’s niece and thus could be called sister . The accompanying pedigree chart shows this relationship.
Another ancient custom that might shed light on the relationship permitted a woman to be adopted as a man’s sister upon their marriage to give her greater legal and social status (see Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. “Sarah,” 14:866).
Even though Abraham was correct in calling her his sister, he did deceive the Egyptians. How can this action be justified? The answer is very simple. His action was justified because God told him to do it (see Abraham 2:22–25 ). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught the following:
“That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another.
“God said, ‘Thou shalt not kill;’ at another time He said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’ This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.” ( Teachings, p. 256.)
Since God is perfect and does not do anything that is not right (see Deuteronomy 32:4 ; 1 Samuel 15:29 ; Alma 7:20 ; D&C 3:2 ), Abraham’s act was not wrong.
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A few thoughts:
Sarah must have been extremely beautiful
Wealth can do good things for those who are able to practice restraint and use it wisely. Maybe the Lord sent them into this situation so Abraham could build up his worldly possessions even further?
As it is phrased here the pharaoh actually sounds like a nice guy. He would not have killed Abraham to marry Sarah as Abraham feared he might.
July 19th, 2011 on 9:17 pm
Are you taught (in LDS teachings) that Abraham lied out of fear? Or have you always been taught with a teaching tied back to that passage in Abraham?
Do you believe that God creates evil?
[Reply]
Jenna Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 12:27 am
No, we actually read in Abraham (a book translated by Joseph Smith and in the LDS canon) that Abraham knew going in to the situation what was going to be asked of him. So he had no reason to lie out of fear, God had prepared him for what he was going ot face.
I do not think God creates evil. I do think that God operates by the law of choice and accountability though, letting His children choose how they would like to act. This is how so much evil occurs in the world.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
July 29th, 2011 at 9:11 am
What is your interpretation of Isaiah 45:7?
I very much believe that God allows consequences to occur and for us to experience them as a result of our “free agency,” but I think He is far more in control than that alone and clearly not limited to our actions. Do you believe (or does LDS teach) that sometimes God may allow catastrophic, evil events to happen so that He may be glorified in the end?
Are you ever taught in LDS teaching that many things in the scriptures cannot be explained this side of Heaven and that we can really only “chalk it up” to the mysteries of God?
[Reply]
Jenna Reply:
August 19th, 2011 at 11:46 am
LDS Scriptures have references throughout to similar scriptures found through the OT, NT, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/isa/45?lang=eng
Isaiah 45:7 links to three different scriptures:
Amos 3:6
http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/amos/3.6?lang=eng#5
And if you click in that verse on the word “done” you will see that Joseph Smith corrected that to the word “known”. (We believe the bible to be true as far as it is translated correctly, and Joseph Smith spent some time working on a re-translation of the Bible to correct mistranslations that occurred over time)
So my interpretation of that verse is that God does not create evil. Evil never comes from God, it is always of the devil (http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7.12?lang=eng#11)
I do think that God allows catastrophe to happen (I think he always allows evil to be committed by men, he never limits our free agency (though that doesn’t necessarily preclude him from exerting considerable influence on us through the Holy Ghost) but not to glorify him, it’s to give us a chance to learn and grow. This life is a test, and we need to be able to experience both the good and the bad to show which side we are going to choose.
I think there are plenty of things that we don’t understand right now! Yes, we are taught that eventually we will know all things pertaining to God, but we aren’t ready for it now.