Monday, 7 September 2015

Letter to Abimelek (Gen 26)


Dear Abimelek,

I am interested in your rule. Did you have to deal with a large influx of migrants during the famine? Was it Isaac’s wealth that meant you allowed him to stay or were you giving refuge to a large number of people? I ask that but then wonder if he was wealthy because of when our scriptures tell us he became rich and wealthy.

I ask because in our time it appears that wealth is what gets many people immigration status.

Did you have any doubts about the relationship between Isaac and Rebekah before you saw them? Was it normal for people to kill people to take their wives?

You appear to fear the wealth that he gained whilst living in your country. Was it you feared he would attack you, or gain a party which wanted to dispose you around him?

I find it interesting that you note the power he has is growing due to God.

As I read your story and others in Genesis I am gaining a little more of an appreciation of your culture and of the risks which you were running the whole time. It is very different to our culture but still has stuff to speak into it about our own attitudes towards migration and fear of the migrant gaining too much power.

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