Глава 12

Gen.12:4. "Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran". An insoluble question arises: if Terah, the father of Abraham, while still in the land of the Chaldeans, begat Abram at 70 years old, and then died in Haran at 205 years old, then how is it now, after the death of Terah, that Abram was 75 years old when leaving Haran, when it turns out that 135 years passed from the birth of Abram to the death of his father? Thus, the tradition of the Jews is true, which I said above, that Terah came out with his sons from the “fire of the Chaldeans” and that Abram, being among the Babylonian fire for not wanting to bow to him, was freed thanks to God’s help; and from the time when he confessed the Lord, despising the Chaldean idols, the days of his life and age are counted. But, since Scripture has left this uncertain, it may turn out that Terah, leaving Chaldea, came to Haran several years before his death. Or he actually came to Harran immediately after the persecution and stayed there a little longer. So, if anyone does not agree with the above, then let him find another solution, and then it will be proper for him to reject what I have said. Gen.12:9–10. “And Abram departed and went into the wilderness. And there was famine in the land." In this and many other places, instead of the word “desert,” the Hebrew text says “to the south.” This is what we should note here. Gen.12:15–16. “And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before Pharaoh, and brought her into the house of Pharaoh; and he dealt well with Abram for her sake; and he had flocks and herds, and donkeys, and male and female servants, and mules, and camels.” Although the body of holy wives is desecrated not by violence, but by spontaneous desire, and Sarah can be excused for the fact that during a famine, left alone, finding herself in unfamiliar royal palaces, with the connivance of her husband, she could not resist, however, another excuse can be found for this forced act that brings shame. According to the Book of Esther, among the ancients, if the king liked a woman, she was first rubbed with myrtle oil for six months and decorated with various dyes for six months, and she lived surrounded by the care of maids, and only then was introduced to the king (cf. Esther 2:12). And in this case, it may be that Sarah, after the king liked her, while her entrance into the royal bedroom was being prepared for a year, and Pharaoh, meanwhile, generously gave gifts to Abraham, but then was struck by the Lord, Sarah, up to that moment, was preserved from cohabitation with Pharaoh.