John Gill Commentary Genesis 20

And Abraham journeyed from there towards the south country ,
&c.] He returned from the plains or oaks of Mamre, where he had lived fifteen or twenty years, into the more southern parts of the land of Canaan: the reason of this remove is not certain; some think, because he could not bear the stench of the sulphurous lake, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were become; and others, because of the scandal of Lot's incest with his daughters, which prejudiced the idolatrous people in those parts more against the true religion; neither of which are likely, by reason of the distance; but the better reason seems to be, that it was so ordered in Providence that he should remove from place to place, that it might appear that he was but a sojourner in the land.

and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur ;
two wildernesses, as Jerom says ^F25 , one of which joined to Egypt, to which the people of Israel went when they passed over the Red sea, and the other, Kadesh, reached to the desert of the Saracens. Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase the words between Rekam and Chagra, or Hagra, the same place where the angel of the Lord met with Hagar at the well, (See Gill on Genesis 16:7) and (See Gill on Genesis 16:14):

and sojourned in Gerar ;
or Gerara, as Jerom ^F26 calls it, from where he says the Geraritic country in his time beyond Daroma, or the south, had its name, and was twenty five miles distance from Eleutheropolis to the south, and was formerly the southern border of the Canaanites, and the metropolis of Palestine.'' According to the Samaritan version, Gerar is the same with Ashkelon, which was afterwards, when aristocracy took place in this country, one of the five lordships of the Philistines; and so says Africanus ^F1 ; and that Gerar was in the country of the Philistines, and Abimelech was king of them, is clear from (Genesis 21:32) (26:1) . This place was about six miles from Mamre ^F2 , from where Abraham removed.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: De loc. Heb. fol, 91. I.
• F26: De loc. Heb. fol, 91. I.
• F1: Apud Syncell. Chronic. p. 100.
• F2: Bunting's Travels, p. 57.

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she [is] my sister
This he gave out in all conversation he came into, and said it to every one that asked who she was, which was little better than a lie; it at least was an equivocation and deception, and not at all justifiable, and tended to expose his wife's chastity, and discovered a distrust of divine Providence; the same infirmity he had given way to, and the same evil he had fallen into in Egypt, (Genesis 12:11–20) , and therefore was the more inexcusable now; good men not only fall into sin, but have their relapses:

and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah ;
having heard or seen what a beautiful woman Sarah was, though ninety years of age, having never bore children; and understanding she was a single person, sent his servants to take her, and bring her to his house, in order to be his wife, which seems to be done with some kind of force; and it can hardly be thought that Abraham and Sarah would freely agree to it, at least it must be done with reluctance on their parts.

Whether Abimelech was the first king of Palestine of this name, is not certain; if he was, which is not improbable, it became usual afterwards for the kings thereof to be so called, as Pharaoh was a common name to the kings of Egypt; it signifies "father" and "king", as kings should be the fathers of their people.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night
Put a dream into his mind, by which he cautioned him against taking Sarah to be his wife; so careful was the Lord that no wrong should be done to such a godly and virtuous person, to which she was exposed through the weakness of her husband. Aben Ezra wrongly interprets this of an angel, when it was God himself:

and said unto him, behold, you [are but] a dead man, for the woman
which you have taken ;
that is, God would punish him with death, unless he restored the woman, whom he had taken, to her husband;

not for any uncleanness he had committed with her, but for taking her without her free and full consent, and without inquiring more strictly into her relation to Abraham, and connection with him, and for his impure and unlawful desires after her, if persisted in:

for she [is] a man's wife ,
or "married to an husband" ^F3 ; and therefore it was unlawful in him to take her to be his wife.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (leb tleb) "maritata marito", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Schmidt.

But Abimelech had not come near her

Sarah had been put into an apartment in his palace, and not yet admitted to his company, not at least to his bed; he had not lain with her, which is the design of the expression: the Septuagint version is, "had not touched her", as in ^{(Genesis 20:6)}; which is another phrase expressive of the same thing:

and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation ?

meaning either his family, the greater part of which were not accessory to this affair; or rather his kingdom, as Aben Ezra, see ^{(Genesis 20:9)}; which though not a nation of righteous men, in a strict sense, see ^{(Genesis 20:11)}; yet with regard to this business of Sarah were no ways criminal:

either God had threatened to destroy his people, as well as himself, if he did not return Sarah to her husband, or committed iniquity with her; or he knew that this had been usual for people to suffer for the crimes of their governors, and like a true father of his country shows an affectionate concern for their welfare in the first place; for this may be the sense of the word "also", on which an emphasis is put; wilt thou not only slay me, but also a whole nation for my sake, a nation free from all fault and blame in this matter? though some think he has reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a recent action, and fresh in his mind; as if he should say, thou hast justly destroyed a wicked people for their sins, and wilt thou also destroy a nation that at least, in comparison of them, is a just and righteous one?

Said he not unto me, she [is] my sister ? &c.] By this it appears, that Abimelech had a personal conversation with Abraham, and inquired of him about Sarah, who she was, and what relation she was to him, who told him that she was his sister; and for the truth of this he appeals to the omniscient God, who knew that Abraham had told him this: and she, even she herself said, he [is] my brother ; when Sarah was asked what relation she stood in to Abraham, and he to her, she declared he was her brother; so that Abimelech had reason to conclude, from what both of them had said, that this was the truth of the matter, and especially from what Sarah said, who he thought might be depended on, and would speak out the whole truth on such an occasion: in the integrity of my heart, and innocency of my hands, have I done this ; hereby declaring, that his design was not to defile the woman, and to gratify his lust, but to take her to be his wife; and this he thought to be no evil, though he had a wife, (Genesis 20:17) ; polygamy not being reckoned a sin in those times; and that he had used no violence in taking her, they both seemingly agreeing to it.