Genesis 12:16 - Exposition

And he entreated Abram well —literally, did good to Abram ; ευ} e)xrh&santo; ( LXX ; Hieronymus, Poole) supposes that the court of Pharaoh or the Egyptian people generally conferred favors on the patriarch, which is not at all so probable as that Pharaoh did— for her sake. Marriage negotiations in Oriental countries are usually accompanied by presents to the relatives of the de as a sort of payment. "The marriage price is distinctly mentioned in Scripture ( Exodus 22:15 , Exodus 22:16 ; Ruth 4:10 ; 1 Samuel 18:23 , 1 Samuel 18:25 ; Hosea 3:2 ); was commonly demanded by the nations of antiquity, as by the Babylonians (Herod; 1.196), Assyrians ( AE lian V . H ; 4. 1; Strabo, 16.745), the ancient Greeks, and the Germans (Tacit; 'German.,' 18. ); and still obtains in the East to the present day". And he had —literally, there was (given) to him— sheep , and oxen . Flocks of small cattle and herds of larger quadrupeds, together constituted the chief wealth of nomads (cf. Genesis 13:5 ; Job 1:3 ). And he asses . Chamor, so named from the reddish color which in southern countries belongs not only to the wild, but also to the common or domestic, ass (Gesenius). The mention of asses among Pharaoh's presents has been regarded as an " inaccuracy " and a "blunder," at once a sign of the late origin of Genesis and a proof its author's ignorance of Egypt (Bohlen, Introd; ch. 6.); but