Rebuke between Abraham and Abimelech: A model of conflict resolution

We read the altercations between the patriarch Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen. 20.1–18 and 21.22–34), as paradigmatic for conflict resolution between ethnoi , one representing the resident alien, ‘stranger in a strange land’, and the other, the indigenous ruler/host in the land. The conflict centers on the misappropriation of ‘property’, a wife (Sarah) and a well respectively. Both stories entail verbal rebuke and self-defense, gift exchange and promises of protection, as well as divine fiat. In the first story (Gen. 20), God intervenes overtly in a dream and with an impending death threat; in the second (Gen. 21), divine intervention is implied by the covenant sworn on oath between the two parties at Beer-sheba. These narratives show the effectiveness of open rebuke—from God, from the Philistine king in protest against Abraham’s deception, and from the patriarch in self-defense. The stories ultimately affirm the promise that the patriarch and his descendants would be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:2–3) and result in protected status for the patriarch and his people in the land.