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CHAPTER 20 Jan. 11 
Abraham in Philistine Country
Abraham travelled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. 2Abraham said about Sarah his wife, She is my sister. Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife. 4Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? 5Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister?’ She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother’. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this. 6God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her. 7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours. 8Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that ought not to be done! 10Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see, that you have done this thing? 11Abraham said, Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake’. 12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, He is my brother’. 14Abimelech took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah his wife, to him. 15Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you. 16To Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you an adorning of the eyes before all that are with you. In front of all you are reproved. 17Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. 18For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Commentary


20:3 Throughout the records of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his children there is continual repetition indicating how they tended to commit the same sins- e.g. going into Egypt and lying concerning their wives: 12:13; 20:3,13; 26:7. The sinfulness of sin is that our failures encourage our children to commit the same, and worse. 
20:16 Sarah was “reproved” by King Abimelech for going along with Abraham’s lie about her not being his wife. And yet Kings were reproved for her sake, and were not allowed to do anything harmful to her (Ps. 105:14)! And Abraham reproves Abimelech later- for something Abimelech claimed he had not done (Gen. 21:25). The repeat of the word “reprove” is surely meant to indicate that here is an example of Abraham and Sarah being counted righteous because of their faith- when clearly they were not wholly righteous. Abraham, the man who had to be reproved, was used by God to reprove the man who had reproved him… it would have sounded very hypocritical to Abraham’s neighbours. Yet the point was, that God saw him as being righteous.
20:18 This shows that we can suffer the effect of others’ sins, whilst being personally innocent of the specific sin they committed- as has happened with the effect of Adam’s sin.