NIV, Faithlife Study Bible | Page 93

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 .