Genesis 12:11

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,.... Just entering into it, having travelled from the mountain between Bethel and Hai, two hundred and forty miles (p); or when he

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: When he was come near to enter into

Quest. How could she be so fair, when she was above sixty years old? Answ. She was so both comparatively to the Egyptians, and simply in herself, and that might be from divers causes: 1. From the greater vigour of nature in that age of the world. 2. Because her beauty was not diminished by child-bearing. 3. From God’ s singular providence, ordering it thus for Abram’ s trial, and for the manifestation of his special providence watching over him and his.

Genesis 12:11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou [art] a fair woman to look upon:Ver. 11. Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman.] And yet she was now sixty-five years of age; wherein she was a figure of "Jerusalem the mother of us all." Sarai’ s chief beauty was that of "the hidden man of the heart," as saith St Peter. But outward beauty is very lovely and attractive. Plato calls it the principality of nature; Aristotle, a greater commendation than all epistles. And being asked whether beauty were amiable, he answered, That’ s a blind man’ s question. The poet could say, Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus - That virtue hath a better grace That shineth from a beauteous face. Howbeit, Seneca saith, he was out in that saying; for that virtue needs no ornament more than she hath of her own, but beautifies herself sufficiently, and consecrates the body, wherein she dwells. But by the leave of so great a philosopher, I am of the poet’ s mind; and although I grant that favour without grace is but a gold ring in a swine’ s snout, as Solomon hath it, or ornamentum in luto , as another (so it was in Alcibiades for a man, and in Aurelia Orestilla for a woman), yet surely, where they meet, they make a happy conjunction, and draw all hearts to them, as in Germanicus (for a man), in whom beauty and virtue strove for precedency; and Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Esther, who is said to have been of all men the most beautiful and most bountiful. So in Esther (for a woman), who "obtained favour in the sight of all that looked upon her". And Aspasia Milesia, the wife of Cyrus, who deserved to be styled καληκαισοφη, fair and wise, as Aelian relateth As on the other side in Vatinius, deformity of body strove with dishonesty of mind, adeo ut animus eius dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur , saith Paterculus. Tυφλουτοερωτημς. Ipsa magnum sui decus est, et corpus suum consecrat. - Sen., epist. 67. Salvian. Cuias praeter formam nihil nunquam, bonus laudavit. - Salust. Kαλλιστοςμεντοσωμα, αριστοςδετηνψυχηνεφυ. - Dio. Artaxerxes, omnium hominum pulcherrimus, ait Emil. Prob. Aelian Var. Hist., lib. xii. cap. 1.

(11-13) Thou art a fair woman.—For the word yephath, rendered “fair,” see on Genesis 9:27. Though its general meaning is beautiful, yet there can be no doubt that the light colour of Sarai’s complexion was that which would chiefly commend her to the Egyptians; for she was now past sixty, and though vigorous enough to bear a son at ninety, yet that was by the special favour of God. As she lived to the age of 127 (Genesis 23:1), she was now about middle age, and evidently had retained much of her early beauty; and this, added to the difference of tint, would make her still attractive to the swarthy descendants of Ham, especially as they were not a handsome race, but had flat foreheads, high cheek-bones, large mouths, and thick lips. Twenty years later we find Abram still haunted by fears of the effects of her personal appearance (Genesis 20:2), even when living among a better-featured race. From Genesis 20:13 it appears that on leaving Haran Abram and Sarai had agreed upon adopting this expedient, which seems to us so strangely contrary to the faith which the patriarch was at that very time displaying. He abandons his birthplace at the Divine command, and starts upon endless wanderings; and yet, to protect his own life, he makes an arrangement which involves the possible sacrifice of the chastity of his wife; and twice, but for God’s interference, this painful result would actually have happened. Perhaps Abram may have depended upon Sarai’s cleverness to help herself out of the difficulty; but such a mixture of faith and weakness, of trust in God in abandoning so much and trust in worldly policy for preservation in a foreseen danger, cannot but make us feel how much of infirmity there was even in a character otherwise so noble.

Verse 11. Thou art a fair woman to look upon] Widely differing in her complexion from the swarthy Egyptians, and consequently more likely to be coveted by them. It appears that Abram supposed they would not scruple to take away the life of the husband in order to have the undisturbed possession of the wife. The age of Sarai at this time is not well agreed on by commentators, some making her ninety, while others make her only sixty-five. From Genesis 17:17, we learn that Sarai was ten years younger than Abram, for she was but ninety when he was one hundred. And from Genesis 12:4, we find that Abram was seventy-five when he was called to leave Haran and go to Canaan, at which time Sarai could be only sixty-five; and if the transactions recorded in the preceding verses took place in the course of that year, which I think possible, consequently Sarai was but sixty-five; and as in those times people lived much longer, and disease seems to have had but a very contracted influence, women and men would necessarily arrive more slowly at a state of perfection, and retain their vigour and complexion much longer, than in later times. We may add to these considerations that strangers and foreigners are more coveted by the licentious than those who are natives. This has been amply illustrated in the West Indies and in America, where the jetty, monkey-faced African women are preferred to the elegant and beautiful Europeans! To this subject a learned British traveller elegantly applied those words of Virgil, Ecl. ii., ver. 18: - Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. White lilies lie neglected on the plain, While dusky hyacinths for use remain. DRYDEN.

11. thou art a fair woman] According to Genesis 17:17 (P), Sarai was 10 years younger than Abram; and from Genesis 12:4 (P) Abram was at least 75 when he entered Egypt, and Sarai, therefore, 65. This kind of difficulty has led to explanations of a somewhat undignified character. The true explanation is that the ages of the patriarchs which belong to the brief and statistical narrative of P have no place in the narrative of J, in which Sarai is beautiful and childless (Genesis 11:30).

11. Thou art a fair woman — Sarai was sixty-five years of age when Abram left Haran, being ten years younger than he, but, considering the longevity of the patriarchs, we may assume that at that