Abraham was the first recorded pimp

"1. Pharaoh did not kill Abraham because he knew that he was a special man, after having been stricken by the plagues that G-d hit him with. In rabbinic literature, it is taught that whatever Sarai said should happen to Pharaoh and his men happened, e.x "strike that one with boils, set that one on fire, etc"." This may have been so, but during the Exodus, why didn't Pharaoh (obviously a different Pharaoh) listen to Moses because "he knew he was a special man". If the Pharaoh was really that evil, he would ignore it and continue on his life. Furthermore, if the Pharaoh thought Abraham was a very special man and would not harm him because of this, why did Abraham worry in the first place? According to the Oral Torah, Sarah had an angel with her and Abraham knew that she would be protected by this angel. Regardless, it was still not justified, let me tell a story to say why: "Say me and you are walking by a ledge one day, when some Mafiosa tells me to kick you off the cliff for 5$, so I say "don"t worry talmid, you have God protecting you!" So I kick you off a cliff and collect the 5$, you land on a trampoline and survive, then I expect to be friends with you after that." No! It would not be acceptable to do that, God protection or no. "2. Abe was not a jokester who played pranks on people, and needless to say kings. He didn't tell Pharaoh/Abimelech that Sarah was his wife for a simple reason: Because they would kill him to get rid of the competition, or at least he feared so." It wasn"t a prank, it was a scam, the intention, according to the Oral Torah, was that he would say "she"s my sister", the Egyptians give him gifts enable for him to give them Sarah, and he ditches the place the next day. Nevertheless, even if the incident with Egypt was as you say, the incident with Abimekel was completely unprecedented, and Abraham had no reason to believe that Abimekel would do this. There"s much evidence that Abimekel and Abraham were friends, or at the very least allies, Abraham knew that Abimekel would not do anything to him to steal Sarah, it was just a scam he tried. From the story of Rahab, we know that lying is acceptable in the case of life or death, this justifies the "she"s my sister" business on the part of lying, given that Abraham had a legitimate reason to believe this, but Abraham should not have had any intent on making a profit on this. Lying to save lives is one thing, lying to save your life, AND make a profit, is something completely different, and it is the definition of swindling. "3. Abimelech was NOT a good man. He was terrified for his life, which is why he complied with Abraham the way he did. In truth, Abimelech knew that Abraham was Sarah's husband, as evidenced by G-d's threat to his life. Why would G-d threaten someone for something which is not his fault? Abimelech was just using the whole brother-sister thing as an excuse to share a bed with Sarah, and then, he would be able to excuse himself later by saying "They said that they were siblings!"." As we can be seen from the texts here: Genesis 20:6: "Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her." God said that Abimekel did this on a clean conscience because he didn"t know that Sarah was his wife, hence the reason why Abimekel was only threatened, not plagued, because God knew he didn"t really do anything wrong. Furthermore, there is another verse suggesting this: Genesis 26:10-11: "Then Abimelek said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." 11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." Abimekel feared sin, and he kept away from it as best he could, he even made orders saying that no one should harm Isaac or his wife, from this we can infer that Abimekel was in fact an honest man. Additionally, Abraham knew that Pharaoh knew that he was "a special person", and did not harm him, and Abimekel was much more morally inclined than the Pharaoh, giving Abraham all the more reason to think that Abimekel would NOT hurt him or his wife. Furthermore, there is scriptural evidence to suggest that Abimekel and Abraham were friends, even further establishing that Abraham had no reason to believe he would hurt him. "As for why Abraham went to Egypt, it was because there was a famine in the land that he lived in, and since Egypt was the center of trade, there was obviously less famine there. He was forced to go there, and take his wife with him. This was all behind G-d's plan. The purpose of Sarah's abduction was to test Abraham to see how much faith he had in G-d. This was one of the ten tests which G-d tested Abraham with. The same goes for the reason why Israel and his sons went to Egypt. That was the whole point of Joseph being sold into slavery, so that he could later become king and save his family from the famine." I know it was a famine, but he could have gone somewhere else, if these people are really evil enough to kill him to steal his wife, why would Abraham chose this place as opposed to anywhere else. He could have gone east to the Mediterranean for example. This is much closer to Canaan than Egypt, and there was guaranteed to be food there. "Again, I'd like to point out the danger of no rabbinic literature. Like I said before, you cannot understand the Torah without the aid of rabbinic commentaries and explanations to certain verses. You serve as a prime example. Had you known the above, about the Ten Trials of Abraham, and other things, you would never be asking these questions. Without the rabbis, the whole Torah makes zero sense, at least to the common man who cannot delve into the meaning of the words." The trouble with building a religion on teachings of Rabbis which teachings are based on Rabbis before them which teachings are based on Rabbis before them which eventually leads back to the Torah, is like translating the Torah from Hebrew to Latin to German, to Italian, to English etc., and expecting that bible to be accurate and in line with the original messages. Now, I"d like to clarify, I am not against rabbinical teachings, I am only saying that, if a rabbinical teaching is not backed by scriptural evidence from the Torah, it cannot be regarded as true with the same surety as we can give it if it is in the Torah. According to rabbinical teachings, Abraham hid his wife in a box, but we have no reason to believe this, in fact we have all the reason to think otherwise. Abraham could not have just hid her in the box the whole time he was there, not only could she get heat stroke, but how would she eat or drink or sleep without someone seeing her get out of the box to do so, and he couldn"t pass food and water in there, someone would notice that, and what kind of husband would he be leaving his wife in a box all day? According to the Oral Torah, the whole place "light up" when the box was opened so that Sarah was visible, if this was so, then Abraham could not have opened the box up without the same thing happening, hence he would have to keep her in a box all day. I, on the other hand, have a very easy solution, just give her a Sombrero! Abraham just gives Sarah a Sombrero and a Poncho to wear, she covers her face with the Sombrero, her body with the Poncho, and no one notices. He just says it"s his cousin from Mehico, and problem solved! No boxes/Say you"re my sister/Angels necessary, just a Sombrero and a Poncho. Obcourse not a literal Sombrero and a Poncho, but you get the point, Sarah wears something to cover her up, or dresses to fake to be a man, either way is good, and problem solved. Why didn"t Abraham do this? Because he couldn"t make a profit, and that is what this whole thing is about, profit. As to the story of Isaac and Abimekel in Genesis 26, Isaac knew that Abimekel was NOT the kind of person to sleep with someone else"s wife, and that he made compensation when he did, or even that there was a chance that he MIGHT have wronged her in any way he would compensate. He knew that Abimekel was a honest man, and he knew that Abimekel would especially not hurt him because he knew that God had favor with him. So Isaac had no reason to do this. Conclusion: So Abraham did this soley to rip poor saps out of money, and it had nothing to do with safety or anything like that. This was just a swindle, and regardless of whether or not Sarah actually had anything done to her, Abraham knew better than to put her in that position, and he should not have done it. Just like I should not kick someone off a cliff for 5$, even if there was a trampoline at the bottom and I knew that he would not be harmed. You should never put anyone, let alone your wife, in that position, period, regardless of whether or not anything happens as a result.