Scarcely had Abraham established himself in Canaan, when a devastating
famine broke out—one of the ten God appointed famines for the
chastisement of men. The first of them came in the time of Adam, when
God cursed the ground for his sake; the second was this one in the time
of Abraham; the third compelled Isaac to take up his abode among the
Philistines; the ravages of the fourth drove the sons of Jacob into
Egypt to buy grain for food; the fifth came in the time of the Judges,
when Elimelech and his family had to seek refuge in the land of Moab;
the sixth occurred during the reign of David, and it lasted three
years; the seventh happened in the day of Elijah, who had sworn that
neither rain nor dew should fall upon the earth; the eighth was the one
in the time of Elisha, when an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces
of silver; the ninth is the famine that comes upon men piecemeal, from
time to time; and the tenth will scourge men before the advent of
Messiah, and this last will be "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."[64]
The famine in the time of Abraham prevailed only in Canaan, and it had
been inflicted upon the land in order to test his faith. He stood this
second temptation as he had the first. He murmured not, and he showed
no sign of impatience toward God, who had bidden him shortly before to
abandon his native land for a land of starvation.[65] The famine
compelled him to leave Canaan for a time, and he repaired to Egypt, to
become acquainted there with the wisdom of the priests and, if
necessary, give them instruction in the truth.[66]
On this journey from Canaan to Egypt, Abraham first observed the beauty
of Sarah. Chaste as he was, he had never before looked at her, but now,
when they were wading through a stream, he saw the reflection of her
beauty in the water like the brilliance of the sun.[67] Wherefore he
spoke to her thus, "The Egyptians are very sensual, and I will put thee
in a casket that no harm befall me on account of thee." At the Egyptian
boundary, the tax collectors asked him about the contents of the
casket, and Abraham told them he had barley in it. "No," they said, "it
contains wheat." "Very well," replied Abraham, "I am prepared to pay
the tax on wheat." The officers then hazarded the guess, "It contains
pepper!" Abraham agreed to pay the tax on pepper, and when they charged
him with concealing gold in the casket, he did not refuse to pay the
tax on gold, and finally on precious stones. Seeing that he demurred to
no charge, however high, the tax collectors, made thoroughly
suspicious, insisted upon his unfastening the casket and letting them
examine the contents. When it was forced open, the whole of Egypt was
resplendent with the beauty of Sarah. In comparison with her, all other
beauties were like apes compared with men. She excelled Eve
herself.[68] The servants of Pharaoh outbid one another in seeking to
obtain possession of her, though they were of opinion that so radiant a
beauty ought not to remain the property of a private individual. They
reported the matter to the king,[69] and Pharaoh sent a powerful armed
force to bring Sarah to the palace,[70] and so bewitched was he by her
charms that those who had brought him the news of her coming into Egypt
were loaded down with bountiful gifts.[71]
Amid tears, Abraham offered up a prayer. He entreated God in these
words: "Is this the reward for my confidence in Thee? For the sake of
Thy grace and Thy lovingkindness, let not my hope be put to shame."[72]
Sarah also implored God, saying: "O God, Thou didst bid my lord Abraham
leave his home, the land of his fathers, and journey to Canaan, and
Thou didst promise him to do good unto him if he fulfilled Thy
commands. And now we have done as Thou didst command us to do. We left
our country and our kindred, and we journeyed to a strange land, unto a
people which we knew not heretofore. We came hither to save our people
from starvation, and now hath this terrible misfortune befallen. O
Lord, help me and save me from the hand of this enemy, and for the sake
of Thy grace show me good."
An angel appeared unto Sarah while she was in the presence of the king,
to whom he was not visible, and he bade her take courage, saying, "Fear
naught, Sarah, for God hath heard thy prayer." The king questioned
Sarah as to the man in the company of whom she had come to Egypt, and
Sarah called Abraham her brother. Pharaoh pledged himself to make
Abraham great and powerful, to do for him whatever she wished. He sent
much gold and silver to Abraham, and diamonds and pearls, sheep and
oxen, and men slaves and women slaves, and he assigned a residence to
him within the precincts of the royal palace.[73] In the love he bore
Sarah, he wrote out a marriage contract, deeding to her all he owned in
the way of gold and silver, and men slaves and women slaves, and the
province of Goshen besides, the province occupied in later days by the
descendants of Sarah, because it was their property. Most remarkable of
all, he gave her his own daughter Hagar as slave, for he preferred to
see his daughter the servant of Sarah to reigning as mistress in
another harem.[74]
His free-handed generosity availed naught. During the night, when he
was about to approach Sarah, an angel appeared armed with a stick, and
if Pharaoh but touched Sarah's shoe to remove it from her foot, the
angel planted a blow upon his hand, and when he grasped her dress, a
second blow followed. At each blow he was about to deal, the angel
asked Sarah whether he was to let it descend, and if she bade him give
Pharaoh a moment to recover himself, he waited and did as she desired.
And another great miracle came to pass. Pharaoh, and his nobles, and
his servants, the very walls of his house and his bed were afflicted
with leprosy, and he could not indulge his carnal desires.[75] This
night in which Pharaoh and his court suffered their well deserved
punishment was the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, the same night
wherein God visited the Egyptians in a later time in order to redeem
Israel, the descendants of Sarah.[76]
Horrified by the plague sent upon him, Pharaoh inquired how he could
rid himself thereof. He applied to the priests, from whom he found out
the true cause of his affliction, which was corroborated by Sarah. He
then sent for Abraham and returned his wife to him, pure and untouched,
and excused himself for what had happened, saying that he had had the
intention of connecting himself in marriage with him, whom he had
thought to be the brother of Sarah.[77] He bestowed rich gifts upon the
husband and the wife, and they departed for Canaan, after a three
months' sojourn in Egypt.[78]
Arrived in Canaan they sought the same night-shelters at which they had
rested before, in order to pay their accounts, and also to teach by
their example that it is not proper to seek new quarters unless one is
forced to it.[79]
Abraham's sojourn in Egypt was of great service to the inhabitants of
the country, because he demonstrated to the wise men of the land how
empty and vain their views were, and also he taught them astronomy and
astrology, unknown in Egypt before his time.[80]