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Yitzhak (Itzik) Peleg

Was the Ancestress of Israel in Danger?

Because of the grievous famine which plagued the land, Abram and Sarai went down to Egypt (Gen 12,10). The question naturally arises: What happened, if indeed anything, between Pharaoh and Sarah the Matriarch? In this article I suggest a new line of reasoning which may lead to a conclusive answer to this question. My claim is that »something« did occur between the two. In the familiar term »measure for measure« the same word »measure« was chosen in order to express the connection and mutual suitability, both in content and in form, between the act (the sin) and its results (the punishment). A good example is the word ’āchal in the story of Eden, which describes both the sin and its punishment. Adam's and Eve's sin was that »she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat« (Gen 3,6). The punishment is, of course: »In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread« (3,19). It is therefore possible to claim that since Pharaoh's punishment is described by means of the verb nāga‘ (???????), his sin was that he touches (nāga‘) Sarai. The use of nāga‘ for the sin which Abimelech (in Gen 20) almost committed in the second story supports this claim.

Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0044-2526
Volume: 118, 06/2006
Pages: 197 - 208

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