I normally devote my other blog to matters religious, but I decided to break with protocol tonight.
It has been a while since I read the OT so I decided to refresh my memory. Tonight, I read about the account of Abraham and Sarah in the land of Gerara, where Abimelech saw Sarah and took her as his wife (although he already had at least one). Scripture tells us that God appeared to Abimelech in a dream, and warned him not to touch Sarah, for she was already married. Now Abimelech didn't know this, and so God warned him about it, giving him a chance to do the right thing. What does this account tell us about marriage?
First, let us consider Abraham's request of Sarah: "Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may be well used for thee, and my soul shall live for thy sake." This is from his exhortation when the went to Egypt, but he used the same ploy when they went to Abimelech. It seems to me that Abraham values his life over the sanctity of his marriage to Sarah. In fact, what is Sarah to him that he is willing to have her treated as a concubine to serve at the whims of a king (two kings, in fact)? Abraham is not the only one at fault here. Sarah agrees, both times, to be used for another man's pleasure so her husband can live. Now, I can see the whole life and death thing, to be sure. Having one's life threatened is a pretty serious thing. But what of this "that I may be well used for thee" thing Abraham says? What does the Bible say about that? "And they used Abram well for her sake. And he had sheep and oxen, and he asses and she asses, and menservants and maidservants, and camels." He wasn't just trying to save his own life, he said "that I may be used well for thee", meaning he meant to profit from her beauty!
It should be clear that Abraham and Sarah either A) didn't understand the whole "man shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" thing, and B) if they did, they valued life and property over each other. Enter God.
We know God is Unchanging. Because God is unchanging, so are His Laws. The decree against adultery wasn't Revealed until the Decalogue was given over 500 years after Abraham. This doesn't mean that adultery wasn't sinful, just because it wasn't revealed. God punishes Pharoah for this action, causing Pharoah to suspect that Sarai is Abram's wife. Consider the words God uses with Abimelech: "Lo, thou shalt die for the woman thou hast taken: for she hath a husband." God is willing to punish Abimelech with death for his adultery, which, coincidentally, is the same punishment for adultery in Leviticus. There is more, however. Abimelech professes not to have know that Sarah was married, and so acted innocently. God responds: "And I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart: and therefore I withheld thee from sinning against me, and I suffered thee not to touch her."
God is acting to prevent an innocent man from sinning so greviously against Him, such is His His forceful adherence to the concept that the marriage bond is sacred. He would not let Abraham and Sarah's marriage bond be desecrated. What is even more interesting in this is that God wouldn't let Sarah or Abraham commit this act of adultery, although they were perfectly willing to do so. To me, this indicates 1) the importance of the marriage bond to God, and 2) God's tremendous mercy.
St. Paul talks about Christ and the Church in terms of a Bridegroom and Bride, clearly indicating that participating in Holy Matrimony is partaking, in a veiled way, the Life of Christ. God retrofits that sanctity, that meaning in Genesis by preventing Sarah from violating her marriage bond with Abraham. He protects the Sacrament even before His Son assumes Human Nature and becomes True God and True Man, even before the Sacrament is instituted on Earth. This is huge.
God's infinite mercy is also at play here. He acts to prevent His prophet and his wife from gravely sinning. Not only that, but He prevents two Heathens from greatly offending Him, as well. This is also huge.
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