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Genesis

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Abraham and Sarah in Gerar

Chapter 20

1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar, 2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.”⁠ So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.⁠ 3 But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream at night⁠ and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 5 Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!” 6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.⁠ 7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.” 8 Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants. When he told them about all these things, they were terrified. 9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!” 10 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” 11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 What’s more, she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife.⁠ 13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 So Abimelech gave sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given 1,000 pieces of silver to your ‘brother.’ This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” 17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.⁠ 18 For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 20:12 and Leviticus 18:9

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Genesis, Abraham marries his half-sister Sarah, an act later forbidden in Leviticus. Genesis uses distinct traditions not yet shaped by later texts in the Torah and makes no attempt to harmonize these stories.

Passages

Genesis 20:12

Hebrew Bible
11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 What’s more, she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Leviticus 18:9

Hebrew Bible
8 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual relations with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual relations with them, because they are your own nakedness.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

References

"... Although the rest of the Torah would not be intelligible without the background provided in the Book of Genesis, this work nevertheless constitutes a distinct and discrete unit within that literary corpus. Its individuality and antiquity are asserted in numerous ways ... Abraham married his half-sister, an act that is repeatedly forbidden in the law collections. Jacob was simultaneously married to two sisters, mothers of the tribes of Israel, a marriage arrangement that is outlawed in Leviticus 18:18. Judah and Tamar understand that the levirate obligation extends even to the father of the deceased, childless husband; but according to Deuteronomy 25:5–10, it is restricted to the brothers. Indeed, the offspring of the union of Judah and Tamar—which would later be considered an illicit union—becomes the ancestor of the royal line of David. And whereas intermarriage with foreigners, natives of Canaan, is prohibited in Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:3, no such interdiction is either assumed or implied in the narratives of Genesis. Simeon and Levi voice no religious objection to the proposal of the Shechemites to intermarry with Jacob’s family. Their sole concern is the violation of their sister. Both Judah and Simeon married Canaanite women; and Joseph took to wife the daughter of an Egyptian priest, a union that produces two of the tribes of Israel. In general, religious differences between the patriarchs and foreigners are never a source of tension. The only sins attributed to non-Israelites are of the moral kind; idolatry, a major theme in the rest of the Bible, is never mentioned ..."
Nahum M Sarna, Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with New JPS Translation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), xv.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 20:12 and Leviticus 18:9

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