Solomon’s dream in 1 Kings 3:5–14 is a notable exception, but even here Solomon simply answers a question, he does not win a debate. Usually dream revelations are one sided, with only God speaking, and the dreamer listening. That Abimelech answers the all-powerful accuser and wins the argument while he is still asleep is amazing! This dream dialogue is, in fact, sui generis in the Bible, which records no other such occasion. Abimelech Defends His Innocence in a Dream But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”Īccording to this, Abimelech did not actually lay with Sarah after all. 20:7 Now then, return the man’s wife for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. Gen 20:6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me. One would think that Abimelech must have “taken” Sarah in the intimate sense as the Hebrew verb “to take” may imply (especially in contexts where men “take” women).
20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken for she is a married woman.” Gen 20:2 Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah. Sarah in Abimelech’s House: The Background to the Akeda In this piece, I will attempt to explain the “why” of God’s command and Abraham’s silent obeisance but to do so I must begin my account elsewhere. Kierkegaard, however wished to advance beyond the appreciation of aesthetics and understand the “why,” and in this, I believe, he failed. The existential philosopher Soren Kieregaard was frightened by it: “Silence is the snare of the demon,” he says, “and the more one keeps silent, the more terrifying the demon becomes.” Despite this, Kierkegard appreciated the aesthetics of the terse Biblical text and continues his observation by saying that “silence is also the mutual understanding between the Deity and the individual.” Abraham silently obeys and history is forever changed.Ībraham’s silence is one of the biggest mysteries of the Akedah. The analysis of Isaac’s sacrifice, an account generally acknowledged as one of the seminal texts of the western canon in general, and Judaism in particular, usually begins with God’s command to Abraham go forth to the land of Moriah and sacrifice his son. All stories have beginnings, but some never end.