So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” – Genesis 12:18-19

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 3, 2018): Genesis 12

Politically, there seems to be an innate drive to be feared. In the context of last month’s summit between the United States and North Korea, and in the continuing relationship since then, there was a subtext to the meetings with both sides possessing the desire to be feared. The problem is that the response to fear is complex. Often it results in those who fear us simply telling us what we want to hear rather than sharing with us the truth. Admittedly, I have felt that pressure. But it is the truth that we need. And in our culture, we all need to be truth tellers, no matter what the situation.

Abram escaped the famine in Palestine by running to Egypt. But the change in location meant that Abram was uneasy, or maybe more precisely, he was afraid. And the fear in Abram caused him to be untruthful with the Pharaoh. Abram told the Pharaoh that his wife Sarai was his sister. In Abram’s mind, the comment was probably not a lie. It just highlighted one portion of his relationship with Sarai. Sarai was Abram’s half-sister. The problem is that the fact that Sarai was his half-sister was not the most important factor in his relationship. In some ways, the fact that Sarai was his half-sister could be called an accidental relationship. We have no control over who it is that are our siblings. But Sarai was also his wife which meant that Abram had entered into a voluntary and moral relationship with her. And it was this moral relationship that was the most important relationship when it came to the Pharaoh.

Abram was scared, and so he didn’t give the Pharaoh the information that he needed. As a result, the Pharaoh had suffered. And the Pharaoh confronts Abram asking why he did not tell him that Sarai was his wife. Is all of this the fault on Abram? No. It is partially Abram’s fault. After all, Abram, like us, needed to be a truth-teller in his culture. And in a very basic way, Abram failed. But there is little doubt that the Pharaoh wanted to be feared. In many ways, being feared by both his people and foreign visitors accomplished the aims of this national leader. And this situation, at least partially arose, because, in the eyes of Abram, the Pharaoh got what he wanted. Abram feared him.

As we look at our current political situation, we need to understand the same thing. Yes, there are times when being feared serves our purposes. But in the long run, fear often simply means that those who fear us will not give us the complete story. And without the complete story, at least sometimes, we will set ourselves up for failure and suffering.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 13