Regarding Genesis 20, where it says Sarah was untouched. So being the wife of Abraham she had no relations with him?\u00a0 Then how was it written she was barren?\u00a0 Abraham was married to his half-sister so he only told half a lie to the Pharaoh. Why was the Pharaoh plagued when this was the free will of Abraham imposed on the Pharaoh?<\/p>\n
The firstborn son to Abraham by his wife, Hagar, was Ishmael, so they did have relations?\u00a0\u00a0 His first noted son was Ishmael?\u00a0\u00a0 Wife\/Hagar plus Husband\/Abraham equal son Ishmael?\u00a0 Did they have more children?\u00a0 Then half-sister\/wife Sarah plus half brother\/husband Abraham had a son Isaac who is the younger brother to Ishmael.\u00a0 So same father different mothers?<\/p>\n\t
Sarah was untouched by Abimelech. “But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.<\/em>” (Genesis 20:4-5). This does not mean she did not have sexual relations with her husband Abraham. God intervened with Abimelech to keep an innocent man from committing a sin. “And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her” <\/em>” (Genesis 20:6).<\/p>\n Abraham had lied to both Pharaoh in Genesis 12 and to Abimelech in Genesis 20. We are informed of these incidences to understand that even a man of great faith had his weakness and sinned.<\/p>\n Hagar was Sarah’s handmaid. The practice was that if a woman was unable to have children, her husband could marry her handmaid, making her a concubine. Children born to the handmaid were counted as the wife’s children. “So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, and she will bear a child on my knees, that I also may have children by her.” Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife, and Jacob went in to her<\/em>” (Genesis 30:3-4).<\/p>\n In the case of Abraham and Hagar, Ishmael was their only child. Abraham did marry another woman, Keturah, after Sarah died and had six sons by her (Genesis 25:1-2).<\/p>\n Isaac was Abraham’s second son, but he was the son that God had promised. God told Abraham to send Ishmael away. “Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba<\/em>” (Genesis 21:10-14). Abraham also did not allow the sons of Keturah to inherit from him either. “And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east<\/em>” (Genesis 25:5-6).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Regarding Genesis 20, where it says Sarah was untouched. So being the wife of Abraham she had no relations with him?\u00a0 Then how was it written she was barren?\u00a0 Abraham was married to his half-sister so he only told half a lie to the Pharaoh. Why was the Pharaoh plagued when this was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[23,189],"class_list":["post-36597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-abraham","tag-genesis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-children-did-abraham-have\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":0},"title":"How many children did Abraham have?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many children did Abraham have? Answer: Abraham had a son, named Ishmael, by his wife's maid, Hagar, whom he had taken as a concubine (a servant who was also a wife) (Genesis 16:3-4). However, since he was not the child promised to Abraham and Sarah, he was not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7562,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-did-adam-and-eves-children-marry\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":1},"title":"Who did Adam and Eve’s children marry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just recently I have heard a question that has been circulated among many different mediums. Just the other night this same question came up in my history class and I would like to know how to answer it. Forgive me if I have somehow missed the logic in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-was-isaac-when-he-was-offered-up-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":2},"title":"How old was Isaac when he was offered up to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How old was Isaac when he was to be sacrificed? Answer: The Bible does not give a specific age, but there are events surrounding Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teens or early twenties at the time of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49906,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hagar-and-exclusion\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":3},"title":"Hagar and Exclusion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford This became apparent last week when we studied the use of the story of Lot by Jesus and Peter. Today, gospel preachers like to bag on Lot. They condemn him for \"pitching his tent towards Sodom\" and point to the corruption of his family with grim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Navez_Agar_et_Ismael-198x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-gentiles-also-descendants-of-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":4},"title":"Are Gentiles also descendants of Abraham?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we Gentiles are also descendants of Abraham, then from whose mother: Hagar, Sarah or Keturah? Is it from Keturah to whom she bore Abraham six legitimate sons after Abraham married her after Sarah died? Am I correct to say that Muslims are descendants of Ishmael who later intermarry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":36597,"position":5},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael’s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}