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[161]
NOW, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and
Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition,
he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they
enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what they
said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had
better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own
notions proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with him, and
was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women, lest the
king should kill him on occasion of his wife's great beauty, he contrived
this device : - he pretended to be her brother, and directed her in a dissembling
way to pretend the same, for he said it would be for their benefit. Now,
as soon as he came into Egypt, it happened to Abram as he supposed it would;
for the fame of his wife's beauty was greatly talked of; for which reason
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would not be satisfied with what was reported
of her, but would needs see her himself, and was preparing to enjoy her;
but God put a stop to his unjust inclinations, by sending upon him a distemper,
and a sedition against his government. And when he inquired of the priests
how he might be freed from these calamities, they told him that this his
miserable condition was derived from the wrath of God, upon account of
his inclinations to abuse the stranger's wife. He then, out of fear, asked
Sarai who she was, and who it was that she brought along with her. And
when he had found out the truth, he excused himself to Abram, that supposing
the woman to be his sister, and not his wife, he set his affections on
her, as desiring an affinity with him by marrying her, but not as incited
by lust to abuse her. He also made him a large present in money, and gave
him leave to enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians;
from which conversation his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous
than they had been before.
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