HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  29So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

  The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon

  30Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” 33So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 34On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” 35So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

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  a Gk Syr Vg: Heb he

  b That is Little

  19.1–38 The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (mainly J, with a P coda in v. 29) has three sections: the angel’s investigation of the wickedness of Sodom and the righteousness of Lot (vv. 1–11); the escape of Lot’s family and the destruction of the cities (vv. 12–29); and the birth of Lot’s sons (vv. 30–38). In each part Lot’s righteousness with respect to the men of Sodom is tempered by his moral weakness with respect to Abraham, a theme that resumes from ch. 13. This situation justifies Lot’s deliverance from destruction and his lesser genealogical position as the (somewhat scandalous) ancestor of Moab and Ammon.

  19.1–3 Lot’s hospitality to the strangers, although genuine, is not as gracious as Abraham’s in the previous chapter (18.1–8). Whereas Abraham ran…to meet them, Lot rose to meet them. Whereas Abraham served cakes of choice flour, Lot served unleavened bread. Whereas Abraham stood by them…while they ate, at Lot’s feast they ate together: and they ate. These are subtle denigrations of Lot by comparison with Abraham.

  19.4–5 The wickedness of Sodom consists of the shameful behavior of the men toward strangers. Rather than exhibiting hospitality and protection, as does Lot, the men of the city seek to sexually assault them (v. 5). Homosexual rape is a strategy of humiliation. This shameful behavior toward the strangers is exhibited by all the men of the city (v. 4). There are no innocents among them, in contrast to Lot.

  19.6–8 Lot’s response is to maintain his honor as host by protecting the strangers and to offer his virgin daughters as surrogate victims for the men’s sexual assault. His response shows that the men’s wickedness is not homosexuality as such, since the daughters are offered as suitable surrogates; their wickedness is sexual violence (gang rape) as the inverse of hospitality and protection. Lot’s offer of his daughters for gang rape is, however, also immoral and impugns his honor as a father. He later pays the price for this shameful offer when his daughters serially rape him (vv. 31–36).

  19.9–11 The wicked men threaten to assault Lot (v. 9), though it is unclear whether sexual assault or murder is intended. The angels now extend their protection to Lot, rescuing him and blinding the wicked men in return for his attempt to protect them.

  19.12–23 Lot is ineffectual and rather comic as he fails to convince his prospective sons-in-law to flee (v. 14). He hesitates to leave himself, so that the angels seize him and his family and drag them out of the city (v. 16). He also resists the angels’ instructions to flee to the hills and pleads for a closer refuge, the little city of Zoar (which means “little,” vv. 20, 22). Though Lot is a buffoon, his wife is even worse off, for she cannot resist a peek at the cities’ destruction in spite of the angels’ command not to look back. For this tragic flaw, she becomes a part of the landscape of the Dead Sea region, a pillar of salt (v. 26). This brief notice accounts for a particularly strange geological formation, which in turn serves as a memorial for Lot’s wife and a visual sign of the story.

  19.27–29 The scene shifts to Abraham’s perspective on the hills above the plain, recalling Abraham’s effort to save the city on behalf of its innocents. In v. 29, a P coda to the J story, the scene shifts to God’s perspective. Because God remembered Abraham, he saved Lot in the midst of destruction, clarifying the larger picture of what happened.

  19.30–38 The aftermath of the great destruction, with the story of Lot and his two daughters, thematically echoes the aftermath of the flood, with the story of Noah and his three sons (9.18–27). In both the father becomes drunk and is the object of (sexual?) transgression by his offspring, resulting in a shameful ancestry for Israel’s neighbors (Canaan, Moab, and Ammon). These are ethnographic stories that cast aspersions on Israel’s cultural rivals while acknowledging a kinship between them. Lot’s daughters are well-intentioned, aiming to engender offspring through their father, since they think there are no men left to impregnate them (v. 32). Their justification for engaging in sex with their father happens to be wrong, since only the cities of the plain were destroyed, but they do not know this. Lot is also relatively innocent, since he is drunk and unconscious during the sexual act (v. 35). Nonetheless, he is culpable for having offered his daughters previously for gang rape, and now he receives poetic justice, measure for measure, as his daughters rape him. The offspring of Lot and his daughters have names that betray their shameful origins: Moab is a play on me’ab, “from the father,” and Ben-ammi means “son of my kinsman” (vv. 37–38).

  GENESIS 20

  Abraham and Sarah at Gerar

  1From there Abraham journeyed to-ward the region of the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien, 2Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married woman.” 4Now Abimelech had not approached her; so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? 5Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” 6Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7Now then, return the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”

  8So Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.” 10And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?” 11Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’” 14Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. 15Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.” 16To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your
exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18For the LORD had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

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  20.1–18 The first continuous story from the E source, a version of the matriarch in danger. As in the J version in (see note on) 12.10–20, the couple are Abraham and Sarah, and as in the J story in 26.6–11, the couple journey to Gerar, ruled by King Abimelech. In each story, the patriarch attempts to save his life by claiming that his beautiful wife is really his sister. The E version interposes God’s presence throughout the story and maintains Abraham’s and Sarah’s virtue. As in the other versions, the foreign king is noble and resents Abraham’s ruse. Here Abraham’s piety justifies his actions, and God is firmly in control. Note that in the other sources Sarah is already an old woman (17.17, P; 18.12, J), but in this chapter she is still beautiful and desirable.

  20.3–7 God reveals himself in a dream (v. 3; cf. 28.12), threatens Abimelech with death if he does not return Abraham’s wife, and reveals that he has been monitoring and controlling events (v. 6). God has maintained Sarah’s virtue and Abimelech’s innocence. God further reveals that Abraham is a prophet, with the power of intercessory prayer (v. 7). The reason for his prophetic prayer is delayed until v. 17, where we are told retrospectively that God had afflicted Abimelech and his household.

  20.8–10 Abimelech eloquently upbraids Abraham (cf. 12.18–19; 26.10), showing himself to be a righteous man in spite of Abraham’s fears (v. 11). Abraham is initially silent and only replies after Abimelech’s second speech. Things…that ought not to be done, later applied to the rape of Dinah (34.7).

  20.11–13 Abraham maintains his integrity by comparable eloquence, justifying his actions by his pious expectation (v. 11). Moreover, he covers his ruse by explaining that it was not a lie: she is indeed his sister because they are related (v. 12). His conduct toward Sarah was also respectful (v. 13).

  20.14–18 Abimelech responds to Abraham’s eloquent speech by restoring Sarah, enriching Abraham, inviting him to settle in his land, and paying restitution. In turn, Abraham prays for God to heal Abimelech and his house, fulfilling his role as prophet (v. 7). God’s healing allows them to have children, suggesting retrospectively that Abimelech had been afflicted with impotence (tactfully described by God in v. 6). V. 18 is a gloss affliction and its connection to Sarah’s abduction.

  GENESIS 21

  The Birth of Isaac

  1The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. 2Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

  Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

  8The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.a 10So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 11The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” 14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

  15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

  20God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

  Abraham and Abimelech Make a Covenant

  22At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; 23now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my off-spring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.” 24And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

  25When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. 29And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30He said, “These seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand, in order that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba;b because there both of them swore an oath. 32When they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33Abrahamc planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.d 34And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines.

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  a Gk Vg: Heb lacks with her son Isaac

  b That is Well of seven or Well of the oath

  c Heb He

  d Or the LORD , El Olam

  21.1–7 The birth of Isaac is a turning point in the Abraham narrative, a first step in the fulfillment of the patriarchal promises. This section is an amalgam of J (vv. 1a, 2a), P (vv. 1b, 2b–5), and E (vv. 6–7). The P section emphasizes the child’s circumcision (see 17.12), and the E section highlights Sarah’s surprise and the theme word laughter, for Isaac’s name means “laughter, play.”

  21.8–21 The story of the expulsion of Hagar is the E counterpart to the J story in ch. 16. In both, Sarah’s wrath is kindled against Hagar, who flees or is expelled and is then met by an angel, who grants a patriarchal promise to her child. In this story, Abraham’s virtue is maintained in spite of his acquiescence in Sarah’s treatment of Hagar (cf. the E portrait of Abraham in ch. 20). In this story, as in ch. 16, Hagar and Ishmael are portrayed as sympathetic figures, ancestors of the Arab tribes of the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Note that in P Ishmael is already a teenager (17.25), but in this story he is still a child (see vv. 14–15).

  21.8–10 On the day when Isaac is ceremonially separated from his mother’s breast, Sarah sees Ishmael playing (or perhaps better “laughing”), which is the theme word of Isaac’s name (see v. 6). Sarah identifies Ishmael not by his proper name, but as the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham. Her perception of this child “Isaac-ing” on the day of Isaac’s weaning brings forth her rage and fear that this child will supplant Isaac, and she seeks Abraham’s permission
to expel them.

  21.11–14 In contrast to ch. 16, where Sarai was the dominant figure and Abram merely obedient, here the matter is very distressing to Abraham (v. 11), and God intervenes to give him counsel. God reveals that Abraham’s promised seed will come through Isaac (v. 12), though both sons will become nations. By this, God promises that Ishmael will survive the expulsion. Abraham’s wordless provisioning of Hagar (v. 14) anticipates the description of his own journey with Isaac in 22.3, both journeys that seem to be death marches for his sons. Note that Ishmael is a small child, riding on his mother’s shoulder.

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  21.15–21 Hagar’s grief at the impending death of her child is finely drawn. Her desire not to look on her child’s death and her sitting away from him about the distance of a bowshot (v. 16) are turned about when God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water (v. 19) and the child becomes an expert with the bow (v. 20). Further, her loud weeping (v. 16) is met, with a shift to Ishmael’s voice, when God heard the voice of the boy (v. 17). God’s response also fulfills Ishmael’s name, which means “God has heard.” The moment when the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven echoes the parallel moment in the next story (22.11), saving the life of Isaac. God’s promise to make a great nation of Ishmael (v. 18) echoes the promise to Abraham (12.2). In all of these echoes, Ishmael is truly Abraham’s son, even though his descendants are a different nation.

  21.22–34 The E story (with perhaps some admixture of J) of the founding of Beer-sheba (cf. the J story of Isaac in 26.12–33). Abraham, a resident alien in the rural hinterlands ruled by Gerar (see 20.15), prospers since God is with him in all that he does (v. 22). A dispute over ownership of a well is resolved by a covenant with King Abimelech, in which Abraham exchanges livestock for rights to the well. The oath and the seven ewe lambs are linked to the name of Beer-sheba, which means “well of the seven” or “well of the oath.” This story affirms Israel’s ancient rights to the land.