16 And unto Sarah H8283 he said, H559 Behold, I have given H5414 thy brother H251 a thousand H505 pieces of silver: H3701 behold, he is to thee a covering H3682 of the eyes, H5869 unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. H3198
And Joab H3097 answered, H559 The LORD H3068 make his people H5971 an hundred H3967 times H6471 so many more H3254 as they H1992 be: but, my lord H113 the king, H4428 are they not all my lord's H113 servants? H5650 why then doth my lord H113 require H1245 this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass H819 to Israel? H3478 Nevertheless the king's H4428 word H1697 prevailed H2388 against Joab. H3097 Wherefore Joab H3097 departed, H3318 and went H1980 throughout all Israel, H3478 and came H935 to Jerusalem. H3389 And Joab H3097 gave H5414 the sum H4557 of the number H4662 of the people H5971 unto David. H1732 And all they of Israel H3478 were a thousand H505 thousand H505 and an hundred H3967 thousand H505 men H376 that drew H8025 sword: H2719 and Judah H3063 was four H702 hundred H3967 threescore and ten H7657 thousand H505 men H376 that drew H8025 sword. H2719 But Levi H3878 and Benjamin H1144 counted H6485 he not among H8432 them: for the king's H4428 word H1697 was abominable H8581 to Joab. H3097
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 20
Commentary on Genesis 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
Ge 20:1-18. Abraham's Denial of His Wife.
1. Abraham journeyed from thence … and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur—Leaving the encampment, he migrated to the southern border of Canaan. In the neighborhood of Gerar was a very rich and well-watered pasture land.
2. Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister—Fear of the people among whom he was, tempted him to equivocate. His conduct was highly culpable. It was deceit, deliberate and premeditated—there was no sudden pressure upon him—it was the second offense of the kind [see on Ge 12:13]—it was a distrust of God every way surprising, and it was calculated to produce injurious effects on the heathen around. Its mischievous tendency was not long in being developed.
Abimelech (father-king) … sent and took Sarah—to be one of his wives, in the exercise of a privilege claimed by Eastern sovereigns, already explained (see on Ge 12:15).
3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream—In early times a dream was often made the medium of communicating important truths; and this method was adopted for the preservation of Sarah.
9. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said … What hast thou done?—In what a humiliating plight does the patriarch now appear—he, a servant of the true God, rebuked by a heathen prince. Who would not rather be in the place of Abimelech than of the honored but sadly offending patriarch! What a dignified attitude is that of the king—calmly and justly reproving the sin of the patriarch, but respecting his person and heaping coals of fire on his head by the liberal presents made to him.
11. And Abraham said … I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place—From the horrible vices of Sodom he seems to have taken up the impression that all other cities of Canaan were equally corrupt. There might have been few or none who feared God, but what a sad thing when men of the world show a higher sense of honor and a greater abhorrence of crimes than a true worshipper!
12. yet indeed she is my sister—(See on Ge 11:31). What a poor defense Abraham made. The statement absolved him from the charge of direct and absolute falsehood, but he had told a moral untruth because there was an intention to deceive (compare Ge 12:11-13). "Honesty is always the best policy." Abraham's life would have been as well protected without the fraud as with it: and what shame to himself, what distrust to God, what dishonor to religion might have been prevented! "Let us speak truth every man to his neighbor" [Zec 8:16; Eph 4:25].