Abimelech (oratorio) - Abimelech

Abimelech tells the story of Abraham and Sarah at Gerar (Genesis 20) in three acts. Although there are multiple versions of the story with different characters, Smart relies on the version in which Abraham pretends that Sarah is his sister, and the king of Gerar, Abimilech, wishes to marry her. God intervenes by telling Abimelech that Sarah is married and should be returned to Abraham; Abimelech returns Sarah to Abraham but criticizes Abraham for lying. The oratorio leaves out the final portion of Abimelech's biblical story in which Sarah is made fertile by God along with Abimelech's women.

There is an emphasis on the sexual jealousy of Abraham over Abimelech's treatment of Sarah. This was partly done for "theatrical effect". However, there is also an emphasis on the impious actions of the Gentiles of Gerar and of their inability to love properly, especially when Hagar sings:

Lo, her ears

Have suffer'd profanation from the lips

Of an enamour'd Gentile - Couldst think,

That men remoter from the truth of God,

And more of brutal nature, should controul

Their appetite from such a form as Sarah's?

(Abimelech 94-99)

As the oratorio continues, there is emphasis that only those who follow the true God are capable of understanding the proper ways to act.