Quote: (05-20-2015 10:46 AM)Roosh Wrote:
I started reading the Old Testament (KJV primarily) and thought I'd get a thread going for some questions and observations.
One comment is on Abraham and how willing he is to "lie" about his wife being his sister and pass her on to different rulers just to save his own skin. Why would god reward this?
Roosh,
I'm a big fan of the Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible. Research him if you'd like. This commentary always serves me well. While the syntactical structure of his prose can take several readings to absorb, the effort pays dividends.
Here's the link to the commentary online:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc.i.html
(If you create an account, you can make highlights and notes throughout.)
With regards to what you're talking about, here's what MH wrote about the matter:
"A great fault which Abram was guilty of, in denying his wife, and pretending that she was his sister. The scripture is impartial in relating the misdeeds of the most celebrated saints, which are recorded, not for our imitation, but for our admonition, that he
who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall.
1. His fault was dissembling his relation to Sarai, equivocating concerning it, and teaching his wife, and probably all his attendants, to do so too. What he said was, in a sense, true (ch. xx. 12), but with a purpose to deceive; he so concealed a further truth as in effect to deny it, and to expose thereby both his wife and the Egyptians to sin.
2. That which was at the bottom of it was a jealous timorous fancy he had that some of the Egyptians would be so charmed with the beauty of Sarai (Egypt producing few such beauties) that, if they should know he was her husband, they would find some way or other to take him off, that they might marry her. He presumes they would rather be guilty of murder than adultery, such a heinous crime was it then accounted and such a sacred regard was paid to the marriage bond; hence he infers, without any good reason, They will kill me.
Note, The fear of man brings a snare, and many are driven to sin by the dread of death, Luke xii. 4, 5. The grace Abram was most eminent for was faith; and yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the divine Providence, even
after God had appeared to him twice. Alas! what will become of the willows, when the cedars are thus shaken?"
What I got from that author's note, was that even though God saw that Abraham was good, Abraham still had his faults--i.e. he was human.