Wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis

Genesis 20:1–16 narrates the story of Abraham emigrating to the southern region of Gerar, whose king is named Abimelech.

The Jewish Encyclopedia's article "Sarah"[1] notes that the story of Sarah's life, brief and incomplete as it is, presents nevertheless curious repetitions, e.g., the incident with Pharaoh and a similar incident with Abimelech (Genesis 12:10 and Genesis 20:1).According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the recurring story has a unified purpose: From the point of view of the history of culture these episodes are very instructive.

This recurrence indicates that none of the accounts is to be accepted as historical; all three are variations of a theme common to the popular oral histories of the Patriarchs.

James Hoffmeier interprets the wife-sister narratives found in the Book of Genesis as reflecting that practice; in his view Abraham and Isaac were traveling in foreign territory without any daughters to offer the local ruler and attempted to create similar diplomatic relationships by presenting their wives as potential gifts.

Niditch associates the wife-sister entries as potential folklore written to target a particular audience and in hopes of conveying a message regarding the sinful nature of deception and adultery.

For example, in Genesis 20:13, Abraham, talking to Abimelech, alludes to Leviticus laws or the Holiness code, by using the phrase "loving kindness".

[7] An explanation presented in classical times, and suggested by Rashi, argued that when a stranger comes to town, the proper thing to do would be to inquire if he needs food and drink, not whether his female companion is a married woman, and hence as Abimelech did the latter, it tipped off Abraham to the fact that there is no fear of God in this place, and so he lied about his relationship with Sarah in order to avoid being killed.

[citation needed] The film Days of Heaven, written and directed by Terrence Malick, is centered around a wife–sister narrative similar to those of the Old Testament.

In 1916, after an incident in Chicago, a man, Bill, flees to the Texas Panhandle with his girlfriend, Abby, and his young sister, where they find work on a large farm.

He and his girlfriend pretend to be siblings to avoid gossip, and the farm's wealthy but sickly owner falls in love with Abby, eventually asking her to marry him.