The Skeptics Annotated Bible (22 page)

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.

(12.13)
“Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister.”
Abraham makes Sarah lie for him, by telling the Egyptians that she is his sister. But at least it was half-true, since she was his half-sister. Such incestuous marriages are condemned elsewhere in the Bible, but God makes an exception for Abraham and Sarah. (See 17.15-16 where God blesses their marriage and 20.2-18 where Abraham repeats the same “she’s my sister” lie.)

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

(12.14)
“The Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.”
Poor Pharaoh couldn’t resist the “very fair” Sarah, and he takes her into his harem.

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.

(12.17)
“The LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.”
God sent great plagues on the Pharaoh and his household because the Pharaoh believed Abrahams lie.

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.

13
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai;

4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.

9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

13 But
the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

(13.13)
“The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.”
This verse doesn’t say what the Sodomites did to make them such exceedingly great sinners, though most Bible believers equate “Sodomite” with homosexual. (But see Ezek 16.49, which claims the sins of Sodom were pride, gluttony, sloth, greed, and failure to help the poor.)

14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

15 For
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

(13.15)
“All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”
God gives Abraham and his descendants all of the land of Canaan “forever”. This promise is still used to justify the unending battles over the land in the Middle East. But according to Acts 7.5 and Heb 11.13, God’s promise to Abraham was not fulfilled.

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

14
And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

7 And
they
returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and
smote all the country of the Amalekites
, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.

(14.7)
“They … smote all the country of the Amalekites.”
The Amalekites were smitten before Amalek (from whom they descended) was born. Amalek was the grandson of Esau (36.12).