More “Righteous Men” in the Bible

More “Righteous Men” in the Bible

More lessons learned from the “good book”

Let’s talk about Abraham, aka Abram and his wife Sarah, aka Sarai. This guy is the “father of nations” and the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all branch off from this guy’s lineage.

He is very favored by the Old Testament god and is considered to be a righteous man.

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2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.-Genesis 12:1–4 KJV

Upon going to Egypt to escape a famine Abraham decides to lie to the Egyptians and say that Sarah is his sister, which seeing as how she was his half-sister is only a partial lie…but saying that she wasn’t his wife was a complete lie.

The Egyptian Pharaoh ended up taking Sarah as a wife, and upon this occurring God decides to curse his family with a plague, to let him know that Sarah is already married to another man.

10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.

17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.-Genesis 12:10–20 KJV

For some reason, God looks past the fact that Abraham lied to the Pharaoh and essentially pimped his wife out to guarantee his own safety, and gain some nice stuff from the Pharaoh trying to get into his good graces to marry his “sister”.

Somehow God saw this as a reason to punish the Pharaoh, not Abraham.

Then a while later Abraham decides this trick went over so well he’s going to try it again!

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2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.-Genesis 20:1–7,14 KJV

Here we go! Abraham got another payday from pimping out his wife/sister, yet God was ready to go after this king who had no idea she was already a married woman.

Do make note that this second story specifies that King Abimelech never touched Sarah, yet with the Pharaoh story there are no such verses.

In the first story, God straight away smote the entire family with a plague, leading me to think that the Pharaoh likely did consummate his marriage with Sarah, and yet Abraham was down for pulling the entire charade a second time for more cattle and slaves. What a “righteous man”!