14). And where was Sarah? He confined her in a chest, into which he
locked her, lest any one should gaze on her beauty. When he came to the
receipt of custom, he was summoned to open the chest, but declined, and
offered payment of the duty. The officers said, "Thou carriest
garments;" and he offered duty for garments. "Nay, it is gold thou
carriest;" and he offered the impost laid on gold. Then they said, "It
is costly silks, belike pearls, thou concealest;" and he offered the
custom on such articles. At length the Egyptian officers insisted, and
he opened the box. And when he did so, all the land of Egypt was
illumined by her beauty.

_Bereshith Rabba_, chap. 40.

The question may naturally be asked why Abraham hid his wife from the
gaze of others first then and not before. The reply is to be deduced
from the following double rendering of Gen. xii. 11:--"Behold now I know
that thou art a fair woman." As if to say, "Usually people lose their
good looks on a long journey, but thou art as beautiful as ever." The
second explanation is this:--Abraham was so piously modest that in all
his life he never once looked a female in the face, his own wife not
excepted. As he approached Egypt and was crossing some water, he saw in
it the reflection of her face, and it was then that he exclaimed,
"Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman." As the Egyptians are
swarthy, Abraham at once perceived the magnitude of the danger, and
hence his precaution to hide her beauty in a chest.

_Zeenah Ureenah_ (1877 in Russia), fol. 28, col. 1.

When Abraham came to the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah, Adam and Eve
rose from their grave and protested against his committing her to the