In Parashat VaYera, when Avimelech, king of Gerar, following a nocturnal Revelation from God, confronts Avraham and demands to know why he misrepresented his relationship with Sara, Avraham states,

Beraishit 20:11

…“Because I thought: Surely the Fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.”

While Avraham is credited with promoting monotheism in an idolatrous world, his assumption that “Fear of God” is a state of mind that can be expected to exist in any setting including Gerar, reflects the universalism inherent within the concept. Such an understanding allows for our being able to comprehend what Yosef, still in character as the second-in-command in Egypt, says to his siblings:

Ibid. 42:18

And Yosef said unto them the third day: “This do, and live; for I fear God.”

as well as the Tora’s description of the Egyptian midwives’ (assuming they are not Yocheved and either Miriam or Elisheva, but rather actual Egyptians) motivation for defying Pharoah:

Shemot 1:17

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive.

Nevertheless, Avraham’s evaluation of Gerar is markedly different from Yosef describing himself, or the Tora accounting for the internal decision-making of the midwives. Avraham is negatively judging the inhabitants of Gerar based upon personal fear rather than any real empirical evidence. Granted, what takes place in Gerar mirrors his experience in Egypt (Beraishit 12:1—20), where his prudence in asking Sara to identify herself as his sister appears to have been borne out. And in both instances, God’s subsequent Involvement—He Sends plagues against Pharoah and his household, and Comes to Avimelech in a dream in order to Protect Sara’s virtue—suggests that Avraham was appropriately prescient regarding what would have happened had he and Sara not lied about their relationship. Yet, RaMBaN, just as he called Avraham out regarding his having left Canaan in order to go to Egypt (see “Piety or Prudence 10/23/15), similarly critiques Avraham for placing his wife in jeopardy in order to protect himself:

RaMBaN on Beraishit 12:10

…And you should know that Avraham our Father inadvertently sinned a great sin when he brought his righteous wife into a situation which could have led to a sin because of his fear lest they (in this case, the Egyptians) kill him, and he should have trusted in HaShem that He will Save him and his wife and everything that he owned. Because God has the Power to Help and to Save…

Consistently, RaMBaN couches the manner in which he explains Avraham’s response to Avimelech in terms of possibilities rather than certainties:

Ibid. 20:12

Then Avraham answered, “I didn’t know you. Certainly I thought perhaps there is no fear of God in this place. Because in most places in the world there is no fear of God. Therefore from the time that I left my land and travelled amongst the nations as a wandering person, and I didn’t know to what sort of place I have come, I made a condition with her to say this (that she is my sister) in every place.

In contrast to the situation of famine, where the individual affected has to decide about how much physical difficulty he and his family can deal with were they to remain in the afflicted area, in the case of misrepresenting a marital relationship, it is not only a matter of evaluating the potential behavior of the residents of the area to which one has come, but also what might happen to individuals aside from yourself that are directly affected by your stratagem, in this case Sara. Even Avimelech protests that had he proceeded based upon Avraham and Sara’s claims, he would have been guilty of adultery, one of the seven Noachide Commandments (Beraishit 20:4-5)! Perhaps the RaMBaN has less of a problem with Avraham’s lying were he the only one in danger—after all making a false claim is not one of the three transgressions that one is to die for rather than transgress; but when Avraham’s actions to save his life directly impacts upon Sara’s sexual morality, a sin that is considered “Yeihareg VeAl Ya’Avor” (be killed and do not transgress), the moral dilemma becomes exacerbated, and one can ask, “Who says that your blood (Avraham) is redder than the next person’s (Sara) (Sanhedrin 74a).

But then is Avraham’s only recourse according to RaMBaN, to depend upon a miracle, i.e., God’s Intervention? Just because God Is Capable of Saving people who are in trouble, there are no guarantees that He Will. The Rabbis have often stated, “Ein Somchin Al HaNeis” (Do not rely on miracles.)

Of more contemporary interest, is RaMBaN’s description of Avraham’s negative take on most of the inhabitants of the world around him. Avraham is usually depicted as someone who tries very positively to encourage the various people whom he encounters to reject idolatry and embrace monotheism, at least once he relocates to Canaan (see my “Abraham: Pioneer Religious Educator, Paradigm for Contemporary Teachers of Judaism” at https://rayanotyaakov.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2009-abraham-pioneer-religious-educator.pdf ). What we are not told is what he thinks of those who have not accepted his presentations. The story of Gerar comes on the heels of the destruction of Sodom and Amora. Perhaps the extreme evil of that society reinforced Avraham’s negative view of non-monotheists in general. But should such stereotypes be engaged in?

Currrent events have illustrated to us, how religious conflicts lead different factions and denominations to devalue, if not demonize, their antagonists. While the pagan world with whom Avraham interacted is described as guilty of all sorts of abominations, how would and did Avraham approach these individuals? Did he believe that by definition everyone who was not a monotheist was a despicable human being? Was he only interested in being “Mekarev” (lit. bringing close) those who continued to practice idolatry while suspecting and detesting everyone else, or could he appreciate them as individuals who simply lived their lives in a different manner than he did, as long as they didn’t threaten him and his family members? RaMBaN ratchets up the problem even further when he says about the Gerarites:

RaMBaN on Beraishit 20:2 s.v. “VaYomer Avraham El Sara Ishto…”

…But this king (in contrast to Pharoah) was whole-hearted and just, and also his people were good. It is just that Avraham suspected them and said to all, “She is my sister.”

In other words, Avraham was “Chosheid B’Kesheirim” (suspected those who should have been above suspicion).

Perhaps this was yet another lesson to Avraham over the course of his learning curve: Protect yourself, but do not necessarily presume that the entire world, particularly those who are different from you, is corrupt and evil.