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Having built an altar there, and called upon God, Abraham proceeded
thence and dwelt in the desert, and was compelled by pressure of famine
to go on into Egypt. There he called his wife his sister, and told
no lie. For she was this also, because she was near of blood; just
as Lot, on account of the same nearness, being his brother's son,
is called his brother. Now he did not deny that she was his wife, but
held his peace about it, committing to God the defence of his wife's
chastity, and providing as a man against human wiles; because if he
had not provided against the danger as much as he could, he would have
been tempting God rather than trusting in Him. We have said enough
about this matter against the calumnies of Faustus the Manichaean.
At last what Abraham had expected the Lord to do took place. For
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who had taken her to him as his wife,
restored her to her husband on being severely plagued. And far be it
from us to believe that she was defiled by lying with another; because
it is much more credible that, by these great afflictions, Pharaoh
was not permitted to do this.
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