Genesis 20:18 | 43 and she named him Moab a; he is the fa ther of the Mo ab ites of to day. 38 The youn ger daugh ter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi b; he is the fa ther of the Am mon ites c of to day.
Abraham and Abimelek
20:1-18Ref— Ge 12:10-20; 26:1-11
20
Now Abra ham moved on from there into the re gion of the Ne gev and lived be tween Ka desh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Ge rar,
2 and there Abra ham said of his wife Sar ah,“ She is my sis ter.” Then Abim e lek king of Ge rar sent for Sar ah and took her.
3
But God came to Abim e lek in a dream one night and said to him,“ You are as good as dead be cause of the wom an you have tak en; she is a mar ried wom an.”
4
Now Abim e lek had not gone near her, so he said,“ Lord, will you de stroy an in no cent na tion?
5
Did he not say to me,‘ She is my sis ter,’ and didn’ t she also say,‘ He is my broth er’? I have done this with a clear con science and clean hands.”
6
Then God said to him in the dream,“ Yes, I know you did this with a clear con science, and so I have kept you from sin ning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now re turn the man’ s wife, for he is a proph et, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not re turn her, you may be sure that you and all who be long to you will die.”
8
Ear ly the next morn ing Abim e lek sum moned all his of fi cials, and when he told them all that had hap pened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abim e lek called Abra ham in and said,“ What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my king dom? You have done things to me that should nev er be done.” 10 And Abim e lek asked Abra ham,“ What was your rea son for do ing this?”
11
Abra ham re plied,“ I said to my self,‘ There is sure ly no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me be cause of my wife.’ 12 Be sides, she real ly is my sis ter, the daugh ter of my fa ther though not of my moth er; and she be came my wife. 13 And when God had me wan der from my fa ther’ s house hold, I said to her,‘ This is how you can show your love to me: Ev ery where we go, say of me,“ He is my broth er.”’”
14
Then Abim e lek brought sheep and cat tle and male and fe male slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he re turned Sar ah his wife to him. 15 And Abim e lek said,“ My land is be fore you; live wherev er you like.”
16
To Sar ah he said,“ I am giv ing your broth er a thou sand shek els d of sil ver. This is to cov er the of fense against you be fore all who are with you; you are com plete ly vin di cat ed.”
17
Then Abra ham prayed to God, and God healed Abim e lek, his wife and his fe male slaves so they could have chil dren again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the wom en in Abim e lek’ s house hold from conceiv ing be cause of Abra ham’ s wife Sar ah.
a
37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father. b
38 Ben-
Ammi means son of my father’ s people. c
38 Hebrew Bene-
Ammon d
16 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
19:36 – 38 The Moabites and Ammonites are both related to Abraham by their incestuous beginnings between Lot( Abraham’ s nephew) and Lot’ s daughters.
19:37 Moab The Hebrew word used here sounds like the Hebrew phrase for“ from father.” the Moabites This people group was eventually neighbors of Israel. They lived east of the Dead Sea. See note on Ru 1:1. 19:38 Ben-Ammi The Hebrew word used here means“ son of my people.” the Ammonites This people group lived east of the Jordan River, north of the Moabites. They were eventually neighbors of Israel. See note on 1Ch 19:1.
20:1 – 18 Abraham repeats the mistake he made in Egypt( Ge 12:10 – 20). Finding himself in the foreign territory of Gerar, he again claims that Sarah is his sister out of fear of personal harm( vv. 2,11; compare 12:11 – 12). In both instances God intervenes and protects Abraham. Here, God intervenes by appearing to Abimelek, the foreign king, in a dream( vv. 3 – 7).
20:1 Negev The narrative about Sodom and Gomorrah places Abraham in Mamre, near Hebron. Now he has migrated to the Negev, the desert area between Canaan and Egypt, southward toward the Sinai Peninsula. Shur A defensive wall in the eastern Nile delta. Gerar A Canaanite city in the western Negev. See note on 26:6. 20:2 She is my sister Just like when Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt( 12:10 – 20), Abraham fears that his life is in jeopardy. Abimelek This is a fairly common personal name in northwest Semitic literature( Ugaritic and Phoenician literature). It means“ my father is king,” and may be a title. 20:4 Lord In the Hebrew text here it is not the divine name, Yahweh, that is used but adonay— the customary address to a divine being( see 18:3 and note).
20:5 – 7 God affirms Abimelek’ s innocence and commands him to send Sarah back to Abraham.
20:7 prophet Prophets were essentially spokespersons for and representatives of God. They exhorted people to be loyal and obey his commands lest judgment occur. 20:9 What have you done to us Though forewarned— and despite the fact that he will return Sarah to Abraham without having sexual relations with her( v. 6)— Abimelek is angry with Abraham. 20:11 no fear of God Abraham views Abimelek and his people as lacking any sense of morality that would come from belief in the one true God. 20:12 my sister Sarah is Abraham’ s half-sister— such marriages seems to have been culturally acceptable at this point in time in the ancient Near East. Despite later prohibitions under the law( see Lev 18), 2Sa 13:13 and Eze 22:11 indicate that close kinship marriages still occurred. 20:18 had kept all the women in Abimelek’ s household from conceiving This suggests that Sarah was in the king’ s company long enough for the people in his household to notice the absence of any new pregnancies.