famine and also portrayed his wife as
his sister (Genesis 12:10-20). Again
with Abraham and Sarah (Genesis
20:1-18), when living in G'ror,
Sarah is taken from Abraham after
smar
"Don't fear,
Abram, I will
protect you;
your reward
is very great."
he indicates that she is his sister.
What possible lesson can we learn
from the Torah's reporting of such
an event — particularly when it is
presented three different times?
Perhaps it is possible to say that the
Torah tells us these stories to describe
the moral degeneracy and ruthless
intimidation of strangers in these com-
munities, where one would actually
kill a husband in order to steal his
wife. This was the moral climate in
which the forefathers found themselves
and yet were able to survive. But even
more so, it is possible that these stories
are told three different times to show
us that this contact with Abraham and
his family actually did help civilize and
bring morality "to the families of the
land." Each of these three episodes can
be compared and contrasted to find
that as time went on, the behavior of
these people seemed to improve.
In the first instance, it is the
king's agents who take Sarah and the
king is only prevented from violat-
ing her because he is incapacitated
by God. In the second case, the king
demonstrates his desire to do what is
right and is outraged at having been
put in such a circumstance and actu-
ally receives a vision and communi-
cation with God. Finally, the third
time, Rivka is not even taken (in
spite of Isaac's fear that she would
be). Thus, we see that the Torah
itself demonstrates that moral bless-
ing that the forefathers brought to
the communities in which they
lived. Truly, throughout history,
beginnini, with the forefathers, the
contact Jews have had with the other
nations continues to fulfill the
promise (Genesis 12:3), "Through
you will be blessed all the families of
the land."
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67