Some have worried about God telling Abraham to lie about his wife. Certainly, it seems deceptive. Certainly, in conveys a falsehood. How can we come to terms with this? Well, one justification is that the life of this great prophet must be weighed in the balance. As Joseph Smith taught, “God said, ‘thou shalt not kill;’ at another time He said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’… Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.” 1 Which is worse, for Abraham to tell Pharaoh Sarah is his sister, or for Nephi to chop off Laban’s head? Both were exceptions to the rule. If God makes the rules, he can make exceptions to them.
One of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16). Over the centuries, Rabbis recognized the conflict. They explain that Abraham was not lying at all.
“But in that Abraham said, ‘Sarah is my sister,’ he did not lie; inasmuch as Terah, his father, married two wives; one of which was called Tona, the mother of Abraham, who died shortly after he was born.
Then Terah married again another wife whose name was Tahdif, who bare him Sarah, whom Abraham married, and who for that reason, said, ‘She is my sister’-on my father’s side, but not on my mothers.” 2
This raises another issue. Which is more unsettling, that Abraham misrepresented his relationship with Sarah, or that he married his half-sister?
“Women of Sarai’s day considered travel the one thing most fatal to beauty; yet when Sarai arrived in Egypt, her still-radiant beauty was enough to cause a minor sensation. It was a matter of course in those days for a prince to help himself to any handsome woman who caught his eye, and to kill her husband if the husband objected. Knowing that Sarai’s beauty would endanger Abram, the Lord suggested that he conceal his real relationship to her. (See Abraham 2:22-25.)
“Being so directed, Sarai agreed to call herself Abram’s sister. It was a partial truth, as Sarai was indeed Abram’s half-sister. They shared the same father.” 3
Notes
- Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 256.
- John Tvedtnes, B. Hauglid, John Gee, Traditions about the Early Life of Abraham, Provo: FARMS, 2001, 223. In The Book of the Cave of Treasures, E. A. Budge informs the reader, “Now Sara was the sister of Abraham on the father’s side, because Terah took two women to wife. When Yawnu, the mother of Abraham died, Terah took to wife a woman whose name was “Naharayth” (or Shalmath, or Tona, or Tahdif), and of her Sara was born. See The Book of The Cave of Treasures, Cosimo, Inc, 2005, p. 149. The Book of Jubilees lists the mothers of Abraham and Sarah as Tona and Tahdif respectively. See Robert Henry Charles, The Book of Jubilees: Or The Little Genesis, 1902, London: Adam and Charles Black, p. 93
- Jerrie W. Hurd, Our Sisters in the Bible, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983, 8.