Expert: Sal - 5/9/2006

Question
Please help me with this as the Jesuit priest in my parish said that I should not concern myself about this issue in the Bible. This may be my misunderstanding but it appears to me that Sara slept with Pharoh, and as a result Abraham gets lots of material possesions, so much so that this leads to the seperation of his family and Lot's. Later, he makes a big issue of refusing to accept any material offerings from the King of Sodom. I am confused about this. Personally, I would look at this as a contridiction that makes no sense at all. Help me understand what the logic of this is.
Thank you,
Helen

Answer
Dear Helen:

I disagree with Father for telling you not to be concerned with something in the Bible. Abraham is not contradicting himself. The two cases are very different.

In the first case (Genesis 12:10-20) Pharaoh gives gifts to Abraham without anything expected back in return. Since Pharaoh had Sara already Abraham was not placed under any obligation in this situation.

In the second case (Genesis 14:17, 21-24) the King of Sodom would let Abraham keep the goods of Sodom if he would give the king the people. Unlike in the first case, the king expects something in return. He is trying to gain an advantage over Abraham who has just won a great military engagement. He led a small band of men to victory over the armies of 4 kings. These 4 kings had defeated 5 kings including the King of Sodom (vv. 8-16). What power did the defeated King of Sodom have? His army had been defeated. He had no strength from which to deal. In other words, he was bluffing. So Abraham rejected the king's proposal. Thus in this case Abraham would have been placed under an obligation by the scheming defeated King of Sodom.

I hope that I have been able to help you see that there is no contradiction here. The two situations are very different and that must be understood in order to realize that Abraham was not being contradictory.

God Bless You,
Sal