On Hearing the Same Story Three Times

Have you ever been reading the Bible, and you think to yourself, "Didn't I just read this?"

Believe me, it happens ... especially when you've just finished Samuel-Kings in your "read the Bible in a year" plan and then you turn the page only to start Chronicles. After 9 chapters on genealogy (!), it sets you right back in the story of Saul and David! 

Tell me you're not tempted to skip the whole thing!

T E L L M E.

That’s an extreme example. Most of the time the repetition is much more subtle.

It could be something that Bible scholar, Robert Alter, calls "type-scenes."

These are stories that follow the same pattern or utilize the same general structure. They’re helpful models for storytelling (and for memorization).

For example, have you ever noticed all of the pure. unadulterated. passionate. romance. that happens around wells in the Old Testament? I mean, if you want to get hitched in the Old Testament world, go to a well. You'll be sure to find the love of your life there. She might even water your camels.

(**Sadly, I'm not sure what the modern day equivalent of the well is. For kids of the 90s, it was probably the mall on a Friday night. Get yourself a fruit punch Mystic from GNC, walk around inside in your pullover Starter jacket, hang out by the fountain, and let the magic happen. Now? No idea.)

We have a lot of these "type-scenes" in television and film, and we can recognize them because they represent conventional ways of telling stories. 

For example...

I love the movie "She's All That" (still), partly because I had a huge man-crush on Freddie Prinze Jr when I was in high school, and partly because I still love feel-good, guy-gets-girl, teeny-bopper romance. Kate and I just re-watched the entire series of Dawson's Creek. So ... I mean ... yeah. (Fun fact: I used to record Dawson's Creek on VHS every Wednesday while I was at youth group. Yep. I JUST SAID THAT.)

Here's the basic plot of "She's All That": Geeky/artsy character with glasses, so stigmatized by the larger high school populace that doofus/mean friend of attractive main character (Freddie) bets him that even his high status as Valedictorian/soccer star couldn't make geeky/artsy character popular. Main character takes the bet, geeky character takes off her glasses, main character does some spoken word, and badda boom badda bing. True love. 

Something similar also occurs in "Can't Buy Me Love" (great film) and sort of/maybe/kind of in "Clueless" (it's not romantic in nature, but Cher, the popular girl, befriends a geeky new girl and her inclusion makes her popular). 

There are probably others. And when you watch them, you'd think, "Hey, I know this plotline ... Is Freddie Prinze Jr in this one?”

And that is a type-scene …

and they show up in the Bible.

For example, in Genesis, we have multiple versions of the ole "Important Guy Tells His Pretty Wife to Pretend She's His Sister While in a Foreign Land So He Doesn't Get Murdered When the People Inevitably Fall in Love With Her" type-scene.

Classic.

Here’s how it works in Genesis 12.

Abram and Sarai are traveling in Egypt. Abram knows that his 65 year old wife is very. sexy. So he says, "Baby, the men here ... they won't be able to handle your hotness. Tell them you're my sister. That way, they won't kill me so they can sleep with you. They'll just ... you know ... sleep with you. They might even PAY ME FOR IT!"

Sure enough, when the men of Egypt see Sarai, they can barely contain themselves. They tell the Pharaoh about her, and he takes her into his harem. In exchange, he gives Abram a bunch of stuff—wedding gifts, more or less.

Abe gets rich off the deal.

In the next scene, Yahweh afflicts the Egyptians because of all of this foolishness. (In my opinion, it seems like some misplaced anger on Yahweh's part. Maybe Abram, instead of getting rich, should have gotten a taste of the aforementioned afflictions? He’s the one scapegoating his wife after all.)

Somehow Pharaoh knows this is happening because of Sarai, so he asks Abram, "What gives? Why didn't you tell me the truth? Take her, keep the cash, and get out of here!"

It's a weird story. 

Then in Genesis 20, it happens AGAIN.

In this version, Abraham and Sarah (their names have changed) are traveling south (again), and decide to park it in Gerar. 

Sarah is older now, but apparently, she's still just, I mean, really smoking hot. Too hot to handle. And Abe knows it. he thinks, when the men of Gerar see her—and they will see her—they're going to want her! And they do. 

To protect himself, Abraham blurts out, "She's my SISTER!" (A minor difference from Genesis 12. Sarah isn’t in on the deal.)

The guys who had been so enamored with Sarah then tell the top cheese about her, Abimelek, the king of Gerar. (In Genesis 12, it's Pharaoh, now it's the king.) So he sends for Sarah. Why not? She's available. She's incredibly beautiful. Let's do it. Well, no sooner than he does, God (*note: in Genesis 12, the divine's name is Yahweh, here it is Elohim) visits Abimelek in a dream and says, "Don't even think about it. Sarah is spoken for." Abimelek explains himself, saying, "Listen. Her "husband" said he was her brother! Don't be mad at me! I'm innocent." And God says, "Ok. But do what needs to be done. You’ve been warned."

In the morning, Abimelek takes Sarah back to Abraham and says, "What gives? Why didn't you tell me the truth? Get out of here. And take all of these animals with you!"

We get a new detail in this retelling. Abraham explains himself to Abimelek, saying, "Well, you see, she sort of is my sister. She’s my HALF-sister. So, I mean ... I am kinda right."

Still, it’s similar. Right?

Foreign country. Sarah is gorgeous. Too gorgeous for the men of the area. Abe says, "She's my sister," so no one will kill him over her hotness. Sarah ends up with the leader. Leader finds out Abraham lied, and then gives Sarah back along with a bunch of stuff to make Abe rich.

Now, let me ask you ... do you think Abraham is that bad of a husband? 

And do you think Sarah would be up for this con twice?!

What is it that George W. Bush says? "Fool me once ... shame on ... uhhh ... shame on ... [long pause] ... fool me, you can't get fooled again!" (That's exactly what he said. I looked it up. For comedic purposes, you can watch it. )

Usually, scholars conclude, "Of course Abraham didn't do this twice. That would be insane. Instead, what we have here are different versions of the same tradition."

Note the differences in the story: the names for God, different leaders/places, Abe justifies his "lie" in one version. Walter Brueggemann writes, "It appears that the shaper of 20:1–18 had before him the older material which strangely presented Abraham caught in a bald lie. That material has now been reworked along other lines, making them less damaging to the reputation of Abraham" (Genesis, 177).

It's hard to say what, exactly, is going on here. And honestly, reconstructing the how and the when of the tradition's development isn't my point.

I’d rather move on to the fact that in Genesis 26, it happens again!

This time, Isaac is the stand-in for the self-obsessed, worried husband, and Rebekah is the sacrificial, attractive bride, who is identified as his sister. 

Ok. 

[hands raised]

Ok. 

[waving them around]

As we have come to expect, some of the details are different, but still, it’s virtually the same story.

However you choose to approach the Bible, it seems far-fetched that what we have here are three stories, recounting real events.

The stories are just too similar. And people are just not that dumb. (And I write that as a husband who knows *most* of his faults, and still repeats them from time to time.)

For Alter, the similarities demonstrate the authors’ use of a type-scene—a convention of storytelling.

So what you have in Genesis 12, 20, and 26 are three different versions of the ole "Important Guy Tells His Pretty Wife to Pretend She's His Sister While in a Foreign Land So He Doesn't Get Murdered When the People Inevitably Fall in Love With Her" type-scene.

This would explain the similarities (and differences, too), and it goes a little further than just saying, "yeah. these must be from different sources." I mean, they probably are (well, at least two of them), but it also demonstrates that this literary motif was embedded in the parlance of their time ...

just like Freddie Prinze Jr. in "She's All That."