Why Abimelech Rose Early and Abraham Called Sarah His Sister

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 26:1

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

(Gen. 20:8:) "AND ABIMELECH AROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING," etc. — for he was watching for the morning, [waiting] when he might rise early. Immediately (ibid.) "HE AROSE AND CALLED ALL HIS SERVANTS." He said to them: Thus and so the Holy One, blessed be He, said to me in a dream of the night. They said to him: Do not fear; dreams speak emptiness, and would you be afraid of dreams? When they had said this to him, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (in Gen. 20:7): "IF YOU DO NOT RESTORE HER, KNOW THAT YOU SHALL SURELY DIE." (Gen. 20:8-9:) "AND THE MEN FEARED GREATLY, AND ABIMELECH CALLED ABRAHAM." Abraham said to Abimelech (Gen. 20:11-12): "BECAUSE I SAID, SURELY THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD IN THIS PLACE," etc., "AND MOREOVER SHE IS INDEED MY SISTER, THE DAUGHTER OF MY FATHER, BUT NOT THE DAUGHTER OF MY MOTHER." From here they said: A star-worshiping gentile has no father.

Themes

AbrahamCreationMatriarchsDreamsWomen

Biblical References

Continue Reading

Targum JonathanAbraham Called Sarah His Sister Twice and Blamed IdolatryAbraham tells a foreign king that Sarah is his sister. Again. He already pulled this move with Pharaoh in Egypt (Genesis 12:13). Now in Gerar, he does it a secoMidrash AggadahWhy God Remembered Abraham and Rescued Lot from SodomWhen the fire came down upon Sodom, why was Lot drawn out alive? The verse does not say that God remembered Lot. It says that God remembered Abraham and sent LoMidrash AggadahAbraham Answers Avimelech on Sarah as Sister and WifeWhen Avimelech demanded an accounting, Abraham laid his reasoning bare. "Only there is no fear of God in this place" — and where the fear of God is absent, men Midrash AggadahAbraham Tells Avimelech That Sarah Bears No GuiltWhen Avimelech confronted him, Abraham did not unsay his words. He pressed the meaning of the verse: "And she became my wife." Yet, Abraham argued, you never onThe Midrash of PhiloWhy Hagar Despised Sarah After She ConceivedOur question comes from (Genesis 16:4): "When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes." Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, becomes pregnaMidrash Tanchuma Buber, Chayei SaraAbraham Eulogizes Sarah Through the Woman of Valor VersesWhen Sarah died, Abraham came to mourn and to weep, and out of his grief he asked: when will I ever find another like you? So the sages read the whole song of t