Wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis Wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis There are three wife-sister narratives in Genesis, part of the Torah, all of which are strikingly similar. The narratives occur in Genesis 12, 20 and 26. At the core of each is the story of a Biblical Patriarch, who has come to be in the land of a powerful foreign overlord who misidentifies the Patriarch's wife as the Patriarch's sister, and consequently attempts to wed her himself. The overlord later finds out his error. Two of the three stories are similar in many other details, including the ruler's name, Abimelech. The first episode
Personification in the Bible Personification in the Bible Personification, the attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions and natural forces like seasons and the weather, is a literary device found in many ancient texts, including the Hebrew Bible and Christian New Testament. Personification is often part of allegory, parable and metaphor in the Bible. A famous example of personification is the personification of Wisdom as a woman in the Book of Proverbs, or natural forces in the Book of Job. An early example of zoomorphism in the Hebrew Bible is when sin is likened to an animal "crouching"