Obedience to Yahweh versus morality in Old Testament patriarchs

Morality of the Patriarchs

Given that the Old Testament places such a tremendous focus on morality, it is surprising to see how immorally the patriarchs are portrayed in portions of the Old Testament. Abraham (Abram) represents that Sarah (Sarai) is his sister, rather than his wife, which leads to attempts by other men to take her as a wife (Gen 12:20-20). Abraham also permits Sarah to treat her slave Hagar poorly after Sarah regrets giving Hagar to Abraham to conceive a child (Gen 16:1-6). Even after learning that Yahweh disapproved of his deception regarding Sarah, Abraham represented that Sarah was his sister to King Abimelech of Gerar (Gen 20). Despite these seeming moral transgressions, Yahweh seems to hold Abraham in high regard. When Yahweh wants to destroy Sodom, Abraham is able to bargain with him regarding the number of righteous people required to live in Sodom in order to spare it from destruction. (Gen 18:20-33). In fact, it appears that Yahweh is more concerned with obedience to Yahweh than innate morality; He asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and when Abraham demonstrates his willingness to comply, Yahweh rewards Abraham's fidelity. From Abraham's behavior and Yahweh's reaction to his behavior, it is clear that, though the Old Testament is concerned with morality, it defines morality as obedience to Yahweh, rather than a modern definition of morality.

Genesis 12:10-20

Abraham is widely regarded as the father of the Jewish people, so it is very surprising to see that he actively engaged in deception. When forced by famine to flee to Egypt, Abraham was worried that the beauty of his wife Sarah would cause the Egyptians to kill him. As a result, the two of them represented that they were siblings rather than spouses, and Pharaoh took Sarah into his household. However, Yahweh does not punish Abraham for this behavior. On the contrary, Abraham is enriched financially because Pharaoh gives him livestock and slaves in exchange for Sarah. In fact, Yahweh punishes Pharaoh and his people with plagues, rather than punishing Abraham. In this manner, Abraham is punished for his immoral behavior, and does not appear to have any remorse about deceiving Pharaoh. The authors seem to justify Abraham's actions by having him assert that the Egyptians would kill him because of his beautiful wife. However, this justification appears weak, because it seems unlikely that a man would actually be killed because his wife was attractive; in fact, the authors do not give any support for Abraham's assertion. Unfortunately, this introduction to Abraham's immoral behavior may have had a negative impact on the ancient Jewish reader, by teaching that deception and theft was permissible behavior and would be rewarded by Yahweh, as long as the victims of the deception were not Jews.

Genesis 18:20-33

Despite the fact that Abraham's actions seem very immoral, it is clear that Yahweh did not think that Abraham behaved in an immoral manner. When Yahweh decides to destroy Sodom, Abraham intervenes on behalf of the people of the city. He asks Yahweh if he would destroy the city if he could find righteous people existing in it. Clearly, the authors imply that Abraham must be considered among the righteous, because he is able to intervene on behalf of other righteous men. This passage is central to the Old Testament portrayal of the patriarchs, because it makes it clear that Yahweh's visions of righteousness is not necessarily the same as a modern view of morality. In fact, Yahweh's vision of righteousness appears to be more closely related to His selection of prophets and his determination that certain people are blessed, rather than any behavior chosen by those people. This attitude certainly influenced ancient Jews, by making it clear that the Jewish people were Yahweh's chosen and would be shown favor, as long as they remained obedient and showed faith in Yahweh.

Genesis 20

Having learned that Yahweh would reward him for deception, Abraham once again encourages Sarah to represent herself as his sister, rather than his wife. This time the deception occurs in Gerar. Unlike the Pharaoh, King Abimelech does not actually approach Sarah. However, Yahweh approaches him and warns him that his death is imminent because he has taken a married woman. King Abimelech protests his innocence, and Yahweh tells him that he will be spared as long as he restores Sarah to Abraham. Interestingly enough, Yahweh says that Abraham's prayers will provide for Abimelech's salvation. Moreover, Abraham once again obtains tremendous financial gain from his deception. However, both Abraham and the authors seem to justify Abraham's behavior by minimizing his deception; Abraham justifies the statement that they are siblings by explaining that they are actually half-siblings as well as spouses.

Genesis 22

Although Genesis is peppered with instances where Abraham engages in behavior of questionable morality, nowhere is this more apparent than in Genesis 22. There are few things that modern people consider more depraved than the intentional killing of a child. Even though the sacrifice of Isaac is demanded by Yahweh, it still seems horrifying that Abraham is willing to kill his child. However, this chapter highlights the difference between modern views of morality and Yahweh's definition of righteousness. Old Testament righteousness was based almost solely on the willingness to submit to Yahweh's will. Therefore, the authors portray Abraham as a righteous man, rather than as an immoral man, because he demonstrates a willingness to submit to Yahweh's will. Furthermore, the mere fact that he was willing to submit to Yahweh's will was enough; Yahweh spared Isaac and blessed Abraham because Abraham demonstrated that he would submit to Yahweh's will. Such a message was essential to Jews, because righteous obedience became the foundation of ancient Judaism.

Conclusion

The Old Testament portrays the patriarchs in a manner that makes their morality appear ambiguous. It should come as no surprise that this ambiguity is highlighted by Abraham's story. Because Abraham is the ultimate Jewish patriarch; his sons formed the tribes of Israel and the entire corpus of the Jewish people; one would imagine that Abraham's behavior would have been beyond reproach. However, reading Genesis, it is clear that Abraham's behavior was not exceptionally moral or good. On the contrary, Abraham engaged in repeated acts of deception, which resulted in other men attempting to have relations with his wife. Rather than being punished for his behavior, Abraham received tremendous financial rewards for engaging in such deception. In addition, even after he shows contempt for Hagar, who is carrying his child, and does not treat his son Ishmael in a good manner, Yahweh still rewards Abraham by giving his wife Sarah a child. Despite Abraham's seemingly immoral behavior, it should really come as no surprise that Abraham's behavior is rewarded, because the authors of Genesis make it clear that Abraham is Yahweh's chosen. Abraham acts like a man who has been chosen; he acts with the assurance that he is superior to others and that he has Yahweh's favor. In fact, he boldly intercedes when Yahweh informs him that He plans to destroy Sodom, and Sodom is briefly spared as a result of Abraham's righteousness. What Abraham's story makes clear is that Old Testament righteousness cannot be defined or explained by modern definitions of morality. On the contrary, Old Testament morality came down to a single major issue: whether one would submit to the will of Yahweh. If so, then one was considered moral. As a result, even when the authors do not show overt approval of the patriarchs' actions, they do not show any type of condemnation of those actions. In fact, even when the authors do not justify the patriarchs' actions, they at least pass along the justifications that the patriarchs give for those actions. In fact, it is important to the development of Judaism that the authors did not overtly justify the patriarchs' actions; their acceptance was unimportant, what was important was Yahweh's reaction to those actions. As ancient Jews, the authors would have been aware that their approval or disapproval of the patriarchs' actions would have been disrespectful to Yahweh. They had no right to question Yahweh's choice of Abraham as the founder of Judaism, Yahweh's tacit approval of Abraham's deceptions or his treatment of Hagar and Ishmael, or Yahweh's demand that Abraham sacrifice Isaac. In fact, that the authors show such a non-judgmental attitude towards Abraham's behavior demonstrates that they understood the large-scale implication of Abraham's story, which was that the Jews were Yahweh's chosen people and that they would be rewarded as long as they remained obedient to Yahweh.