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SUBJECT: Abraham and his marriage to Sarah
QUESTION: Why was the marriage between Abraham and
Sarah allowed. Wasn’t Sarah his sister and isn’t this
disallowed in Leviticus 20:17
ANSWER:
Verse in question:
Leviticus 20:17
And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter,
or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see
his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut
off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his
sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
Now let us look at the situation with Abraham:
ABRAHAM
II. Kindred. - Gen 11:27, which introduces Abraham, contains
the heading, "These are the generations of Terah." All the
story of Abraham is contained within the section of Genesis
so entitled. Through Terah Abraham's ancestry is traced back
to Shem, and he is thus related to Mesopotamian and Arabian
families that belonged to the "Semitic" race. He is further
connected with this race geographically by his birthplace,
which is given as 'ur-kasdim (see UR), and by the place of
his pre-Canaanitish residence, Haran in the Aramaean region.
The purely Semitic ancestry of his descendants through Isaac
is indicated by his marriage with his own half-sister (Gen
20:12), and still further emphasized by the choice for his
daughter-in-law of Rebekah, descended from both of his
brothers, Nahor and Haran (Gen 11:29; 22:22 f). Both the
beginning and the end of the residence in Haran are left
chronologically undetermined, for the new beginning of the
narrative at Gen 12:1 is not intended by the writer to
indicate chronological sequence, though it has been so
understood, e.g. by Stephen (Acts 7:4). All that is definite
in point of time is that an Aramaean period of residence
intervened between the Babylonian origin and the Palestinian
career of Abraham. It is left to a comparison of the
Biblical. data with one another and with the data of
archaeology, to fix the opening of Abraham's career in
Palestine not far from the middle of the 20 th century BC.
~from International Standard
Bible Encyclopaedia
Note: This
verifies that Abraham was married to a HALF-sister.
There is no prohibition against marrying a half sister.
There is nothing in Lev. 20 against marrying a half sister.
Notice this now from a Bible Dictionary regarding Family
Relationships and specifically marriage between half sisters
and brothers and how it was allowed.
RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY
3. Brothers and Sisters: The terms "brother" ('ach; adelphos)
and "sister" ('ahoth; adelphe) apply to children of the same
father and mother (Gen 4:2), and also to children of one
father (Gen 20:12) or of one mother (Gen 43:7; Lev 18:9;
20:17). The brother as well as the father was the natural
protector of the honor of his sister; thus, the sons of
Jacob speak of Dinah as "our daughter" (Gen 34:17). Absalom
feels more deeply aggrieved over the crime against Tamar
than does David himself (2 Sam 13:21). The brother's other
duties toward a sister were very much like those of a father
(Song 8:8). The Law strictly forbids the intermarriage of
brother and sister, whether of the same father and mother or
not, whether born at home or born abroad, as a "disgraceful
thing" (chesedh, a different word from checedh, "kindness"
(Lev 18:9,11; 20:17). In earlier times marriage between
half-brother and sister was allowable (Gen 20:12; compare 2
Sam 13:13). In fact, we are expressly told that the laws
against incest were not obeyed by the Egyptians or the
Canaanites (Lev 18:3 ff; 20:23). Brotherly sentiment was
highly developed (Gen 24:60; Josh 2:13; Prov 17:17; compare
Lev 25:35; Deut 15:11 f; 25:3); the dwelling of brothers
together in unity is considered good and pleasant (Ps
133:1). Brothers were ever ready to protect or avenge each
other (2 Sam 3:27). Indeed, it is part of the unwritten,
common law, recognized though not necessarily approved in
the Bible, that the brother or next of kin, the go'el, is
expected to avenge a death (Num 35:19 ff; Deut 19:6; Josh
20:3; 2 Sam 14:11), and no punishment is meted out to
prevent such self-help, unless it occurs in a refuge-city. A
brother was also expected to ransom a captive or slave (Lev
25:48; Ps 49:7). Half-brothers were of course not so near as
brothers of the full blood (compare Joseph and his
brothers), and it is not surprising to find the sons of a
wife despising and driving out the son of a harlot (Judg
11:1, Jephthah). The words "brother" and "sister" are used
frequently of more distant relationships and figuratively of
a friend. ~from
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia
Note: That in
this discussion they reference Genesis 20:12 which concerns
Abraham and Sarah.
Genesis 20:12
And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my
father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my
wife. |