When I translatied Gen 12 with my Hebrew class last spring, Sarai’s story struck me.
And sadly, hers is a story we hear too often: men prosper on account of the women they’ve hurt, tucked neatly away, and silenced.
The Hebrew portrays this dynamic so vividly!
And sadly, hers is a story we hear too often: men prosper on account of the women they’ve hurt, tucked neatly away, and silenced.
The Hebrew portrays this dynamic so vividly!
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Comments
There is no doubt there is much confusion in understanding.
TomG.
I think this is a purposeful literary effect meant to portray how Sarai is effectively obscured to all but the Lord.
All but one (v. 17) refer to Abram benefiting from Sarai marrying Pharaoh. We’ll come back to this.
Compare this to the green, which shows where her name is used.
Sarai is referred to as “wife/woman” 10x & only called by her name twice, neither time by another character—only by the narrator
But their consonants are those of the 3MS pronoun, which would be “he/him.”
The Masoretes provide the vowels for the 3FS pronoun so that we know it should be read as “she/her” referring to Sarai.
Sarai is distanced from the reader by being referenced to with the wrong pronouns and referred to either through her proximity to a male (as a wife) or as a nameless woman.
On top of that, we never hear a word from her.
This is SO CLOSE TO SAYING HER NAME that the difference is in ONE VOWEL.