Abraham and Barak Who Made Themselves Secondary

"Say, I pray you, that you are my sister" (Genesis 12:13). Two people were principal figures and yet made themselves secondary: Abraham and Barak. Concerning Barak, it is written, "And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam, and he said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go" (Judges 4:6). Rabbi Judah says: he meant, if you will go with me to Kedesh, I will go with you to Hazor, and so forth. Rabbi Nehemiah says: he meant, if you will go with me to the song of victory, I will go with you to the war. And she said, "I will surely go with you; nevertheless the journey that you take shall not be for your honor" (Judges 4:9). She said to him: do you suppose that the honor of the song is handed over to you alone, so that I am made secondary? As it says, "Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam" (Judges 5:1). Abraham was a principal figure, as it says, "And Abram took Sarai his wife" (Genesis 12:5), yet he made himself secondary when he said, "Say, I pray you, that you are my sister," and so he became secondary to her, and it went well with Abram for her sake. "Behold now, I know that you are a woman fair to look upon; say, I pray you." In Job it is written, "I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look upon a virgin?" (Job 31:1). What is not his he did not gaze at, but at what is his he did gaze. Abraham did not gaze even at what was his, for it is written, "Behold now, I know" [the word now implying] that until then he had not known so well.