Into Egypt; And After He Had Continued There A While He Returned Back
Again.
1. Now, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and
Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition,
he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they
enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what
they said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they
had better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his
own notions proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with
him, and was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to
women, lest the king should kill him on occasion of his wife's great
beauty, he contrived this device:—he pretended to be her brother, and
directed her in a dissembling way to pretend the same, for he said it
would be for their benefit. Now, as soon as he came into Egypt, it
happened to Abram as he supposed it would; for the fame of his wife's
beauty was greatly talked of; for which reason Pharaoh, the king of
Egypt, would not be satisfied with what was reported of her, but would
needs see her himself, and was preparing to enjoy her; but God put a
stop to his unjust inclinations, by sending upon him a distemper, and a
sedition against his government. And when he inquired of the priests how
he might be freed from these calamities, they told him that this his
miserable condition was derived from the wrath of God, upon account of
his inclinations to abuse the stranger's wife. He then, out of fear,
asked Sarai who she was, and who it was that she brought along with her.
And when he had found out the truth, he excused himself to Abram, that
supposing the woman to be his sister, and not his wife, he set his
affections on her, as desiring an affinity with him by marrying her, but
not as incited by lust to abuse her. He also made him a large present in
money, and gave him leave to enter into conversation with the most
learned among the Egyptians; from which conversation his virtue and his
reputation became more conspicuous than they had been before.
2. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different
customs, and despised one another's sacred and accustomed rites, and
were very angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with
each of them, and, confuting the reasonings they made use of, every one
for their own practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and
void of truth: whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as
a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any
subject he undertook; and this not only in understanding it, but in
persuading other men also to assent to him. He communicated to them
arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for before
Abram came into Egypt they were unacquainted with those parts of
learning; for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from
thence to the Greeks also.
3. As soon as Abram was come back into Canaan, he parted the land
between him and Lot, upon account of the tumultuous behavior of their
shepherds, concerning the pastures wherein they should feed their
flocks. However, he gave Lot his option, or leave, to choose which lands
he would take; and he took himself what the other left, which were the
lower grounds at the foot of the mountains; and he himself dwelt in
Hebron, which is a city seven years more ancient than Tunis of Egypt.
But Lot possessed the land of the plain, and the river Jordan, not far
from the city of Sodom, which was then a fine city, but is now
destroyed, by the will and wrath of God, the cause of which I shall show
in its proper place hereafter.