In an attempt to "prove" that uniquely Latter-day Saint Scripture contradicts the Bible, one long-standing anti-Mormon wrote the following:
In the Book of Abraham, God commands Abraham to lie
about Sarah in Egypt (Abraham 2:22-25), in contradiction of His nature (Numbers
23:19) and His commandments (Exodus 20:16). (Ed Decker, Decker’s Complete Handbook on Mormonism [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest
House Publishers, 1995], 22)
In reality,
this is not a lie. Abraham and his wife were indeed (half-)brother and sister
to
one another as the
Bible itself explicated in the following:
And
yet indeed she is my sister, she is the daughter of my faith, but not the
daughter of my other; and she became my wife. (Gen 20:12)
It should be
noted that the Hebrew terms for “brother” and “sister” do not allow
for a differentiation between those who share both parents and those with only
one shared parent. As one scholar commented:
The word “brother” is used in several ways in the
Hebrew Bible. The word can denote a fraternal relationship between two men with
the same father and/or mother. Biblical Hebrew makes no linguistic distinction
between full brothers (brothers who share two parents) and half-brothers
(brothers who share only one parent). The second use of the word is broader,
indicating kinship. Thus Abraham describes his relationship with his nephew Lot
as a brotherly one. The word can be used in an even broader sense, to describe
the relationship between individual Israelites. (Dvora E. Weisberg, Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient
Judaism [Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 2009], 99-100)
Contra Decker,
there is no contradiction between the Bible, God’s inability to lie, and the
Book of Abraham.
