The book of Genesis is filled with a cast of seemingly minor characters, hostile ones. They take up little space and might easily be forgotten amid the dominant narratives of Abraham, Sarah and their offspring. But these characters make a difference. They hold sway during critical moments — skirmishes in the larger battle that the Patriarchs and Matriarchs wage to found the Jewish line. These hostile actors are all very different. This suggests that their sequential appearance in the narratives of Genesis makes this point: Victory over one malicious opponent is no preparation for the next challenge. Sometimes the challenger is subtle, sometimes brutal, sometimes confused but wily. Let us probe three actors in the biblical cast.
EPHRON SON OF ZOHAR
Ephron son of Zohar makes his appearance in this week’s Torah portion, Chayyei Sarah (“The Lives of Sarah”). Sarah, Abraham’s wife, has died. Abraham needs a burial place. Genesis may be read as a series of firsts. The first human being, the first murder, the first discovery of G-d, the first act of hospitality, the first circumcision, etc. There is also the first need for a burial place. Abraham approaches Ephron son of Zohar, who owns an appropriate plot just where Sarah has died, right in Kiryat Arba, or Hebron.
The negotiation for the sale of the plot begins innocently. It doesn’t seem like a negotiation at all. Everything is smooth, painless, straightforward. Just a lovely gift stemming from admiration and respect. Abraham opens, humbly referring to himself as “an alien and a resident” in the land; he really deserves nothing. Ephron’s people, the Hittites, see Abraham quite differently. With what seems to be sincere flattery, they tell him, “You are a prince of G-d in our midst, so bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places.” An outright gift.
Abraham, ever polite, ever respectful, ever cautious, senses something. He does not say “thank you” and proceed to bury Sarah. Although he might be a prince of G-d, he knows that he has no temporal power in the land of Canaan. Again humble, he bows, and asks the Hittites to intercede with Ephron son of Zohar. He makes known his desire for Ephron’s Cave of Machpelah, and offers to pay full price. He senses: there is no gift.
Ephron overhears the discussion. He says to Abraham, “No, my lord; hear me! I have given you the field, and as for the cave that is in it, I have given it to you. In full view of my people the Hittites I have given it to you. Bury your dead!”
No price. No pressure. No hostility. No quid pro quo. Abraham knows better. Pressure that is no pressure is exactly the kind of pressure that the Jewish people will know henceforth. Facing a subtle, hostile actor, Abraham becomes the paradigm for the bobbing and weaving that his descendants must often master in order to survive. He responds to Ephron, “If only you would hear me! I give you the price of the field. Take it from me, that I may bury my dead.” But Ephron has asked no price. No matter. Ephron responds to Abraham, “What is a tract of land, worth 400 silver shekels, between you and me?”
Abraham weighs out the 400 silver shekels in negotiable currency, “and Ephron’s field in Machpelah, facing Mamre — the field and cave in it and all the trees in the field within the surrounding boundaries — was confirmed as Abraham’s valid purchase in full view of the Hittites and all at the city gate.”
Only then can Abraham bury Sarah.
ABRAM’S PHARAOH
Unlike Ephron son of Zohar, another minor character in Genesis is blatantly hostile. No subtle negotiations. No unstated expectations. No purely monetary extortion.
Well known were the habits of Pharaoh, the tyrant of Egypt in the time of Abram (before G-d changed his name to Abraham). Under Abram’s Pharaoh, women had no rights. A man had no rights to the woman he married. Women were objects. Truth was not a value. The currency of the land was fear — a fear of Pharaoh by his subjects, and a fear by Pharaoh only of a natural force. Only such a force could alter his brutal habits.
Abram and Sarai (Sarah’s original name) heeded G-d’s voice, uprooted themselves from their homeland, traveled to Canaan, and soon after their arrival there famine ravaged the land. They headed for Egypt, where there was food. On the way, Abram asked Sarai to refer to herself in Egypt as Abram’s sister, not his wife. If she were his wife, especially given that she was beautiful, Pharaoh and his thugs would kill Abram and hand Sarah over to Pharaoh to do with as he pleased.
Pharaoh’s comrades, unlike Ephron’s, do not flatter the likes of Abram. Pharaoh, unlike Ephron, does not speak in circles and circumlocutions. Pharaoh hardly speaks at all. His currency is violence. It can be met only with deception.
When Abram and Sarai reach Egypt, Pharaoh abducts Sarai. But she calls herself Abram’s sister, thus establishing Abram as the authority to consent to give her hand in marriage. On this basis Pharaoh enriches Abram to curry his favor. By the inexplicable, odd morality of Pharaoh, supposed siblings like Abram and Sarai are left unharmed, although as husband and wife they would be harmed. No device could safely extract Abram and Sarai from this predicament. G-d rescued them supernaturally by bringing severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household. Nazis who penned Polish Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto feared no person, but the Nazis did fear typhus. Rashi says that the plague that struck Pharaoh was a severe skin disease, which made cohabitation with Sarai impossible. Pharaoh sensed something. The plagues were due to Abram and Sarai. He summoned Abram. “Why did you not tell me that she is your wife? Why did you say, ‘she is my sister’ . . . now, here is your wife. Take her and go!” No back-and-forth. No negotiation. No pretense of kindness. Not even regret. Just: Leave!
Such is a tactic of a dictator, who can never admit defeat.
Abram and Sarai, uprooted once again.
ABIMELECH THE ‘KING’
Abraham had to deal not only with Ephron, a false friend who extracted his pound of flesh, and not only with Pharaoh, a dictator who was dangerously averse to subtlety, but also with someone more complex, Abimelech.
Abimelech is variously identified as the “king” of Gerar, apparently a very small kingdom in Canaan, or as the “king” of the Philistines. Abimelech was the prototype of an oppressor that Abraham’s descendants often confronted: someone whose ego was in inverse proportion to his actual power, but still powerful enough to do harm. Abimelech both projected and masked his hostility. He could pose as an ally of Abraham when it suited him. Abimelech could not be trusted, but neither could he be ignored. Despite Abimelech’s complexity, one trait defined his essence: the same immorality that animated Pharaoh.
We first meet Abimelech in Genesis when he suddenly abducts Sarah. Abraham has relocated to Gerar, Abimelech’s territory, where Abraham is again compelled to tell Sarah, “Say you are my sister.” This doesn’t stop her abduction, but, as in the case of Pharaoh, G-d comes to Sarah’s defense. Plagues had afflicted Pharaoh. In Abimelech’s case, it was a dream. “And G-d came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, ‘Behold you are to die because of the woman you have taken; moreover, she is a married woman.’”
Déjà vu all over again: Abimelech, like Pharaoh, bodies forth the anguish of a victim. It is all Abraham and Sarah’s fault! Why did they engage in this sibling ruse? Unlike Pharaoh, who simply expels Abraham and Sarah once their marital relationship is disclosed, Abimelech becomes Mr. Piety. “With purity of heart and integrity of deed, I took Sarah,” he proclaims. He must pose as pious; he has no choice. Because of his abduction of Sarah, G-d has closed every orifice in the bodies of Abimelech and everyone in his household. They can neither relieve themselves nor give birth. Abimelech needs Abraham’s assistance to pray to G-d to heal him and his household.
Abimelech asks straight out: Why did Abraham and Sarah engage in this sibling ruse? Abraham utters words that, no doubt, Abimelech could not grasp: “Because I said, ‘There is no fear of G-d in this place, and they will slay me because of my wife.’” We know Abimelech could not grasp this because after Abraham articulates this dismal truth about Abimelech and his kingdom, Abimelech can think of nothing to say or do but try to bribe Abraham. He gives Abraham cattle, servants and maidservants. He tells Abraham, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you see fit.” He tells Sarah, “Now you are vindicated,” as if the problem were Sarah’s life-saving fib and not Abimelech’s abduction and immorality.
Abraham pays it all no attention. He prays to G-d and Abimelech is healed. But Abimelech is not done with Abraham.
When Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac is born, Abimelech suddenly shows up, touting his credentials as Abraham’s benefactor. Ever pure and righteous in his own heart, Abimelech both praises Abraham and casts aspersions on him. “G-d is with you in all you do”: that is Abimelech on the one hand. “Swear to me here that you will not deal falsely with me nor my son nor my grandson”: that is Abimelech on the other hand. With such a person Abraham must reach some kind of accord. Abraham cannot take Abimelech seriously, but also cannot ignore him. Abraham swears that he will not deal falsely with Abimelech, but Abraham is not cowed. He lays out just who is dealing falsely with whom. He points out that Abimelech’s servants have seized his well, and Abraham wants it back. Mr. Piety resurfaces. Abimelech knew nothing about the well, he says, and again it’s all Abraham’s fault for not bringing it up earlier.
What is to be done with a hostile actor of this kind? Abraham’s descendants have had to navigate this mélange of ego, false piety, some level of good will alongside a pragmatic desire to be on good terms. This stimulates Abraham’s modus operandi: He takes the initiative. He proposes a covenant between himself and Abimelech, and he gifts Abimelech seven ewes, with Abimelech swearing that the wells belong to Abraham. As the Alter of Novorodock (1849-1919) once said, “he who can be cheated in the marketplace is also lacking in fear of Heaven.”
Yes, as Abimelech said, G-d was with Abraham, but it was not only because of Abraham’s piety. It was also, as Abimelech was compelled to learn, Abraham could not be cheated in the marketplace.
© IJN 2024
