Reading the Wife/Sister Narratives in Genesis

Book excerpt: The book of Genesis introduces three similar wife/sister narratives, commonly thought to be originating from different sources because of their repetitive entries. This research explores the wife/sister narratives in Genesis (Gen 12:10–13:1, 20:1–18, and 26:1–11), and it aims to provide an understanding of the three stories as a whole by uncovering its context by textlinguistic and literary type-scene analysis. Textlinguistic analysis helps us to see how each wife/sister narrative functions in its context, while type-scene analysis emphasizes how the three narratives develop and contribute to the patriarchal narratives through their similarities and variations. Although the traditional type-scene analysis studies recurrent fixed motives in texts, this study focuses much more on literary aspects such as characterization, theme, and plot. Through this study, the three wife/sister stories will elaborate that the patriarchal narratives are not results of different authors, but the well-developed products of a single author. The three wife/sister stories work together to highlight God’s faithfulness to his promises (Gen 12:1–3).