Tag: Abimelech

The Men were Afraid

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So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.
Genesis 20:8 (NKJV)

Why does the text tell us that Abemelech’s men were afraid?

In this chapter, we read that God appeared to Abimelech by dream and threatened his life unless he returned Sarah to Abraham. Abimelech tells his servants, and then the text says that “the men” were afraid.

There are speculations about the precise locations of Gerar (likely near the Negev region in Southen Israel) and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (near the Dead Sea), but it’s assumed that the places were about 40 to 50 miles from one another.

The rabbis note that by the time Abraham arrives, the people of Gerar could still see the smoke from the burning cities.

Perhaps the arrival of a prophet of the God who destroyed the cities was enough to terrify everyone. But the text doesn’t say “everyone” was afraid. It doesn’t give a vague pronoun here, even though it could have.

It said “and the MEN” were very afraid.

While the commentaries don’t say this, I wonder if “the men” are mentioned here to tie us back to the cities that were destroyed. There were wicked men in Sodom and Gomorrah, and perhaps the men here considered their own life choices and wondered if they were next.

One Jewish commentary says that perhaps the men were afraid that Abraham would not intercede for them and shield them from doom.

The men were very frightened. They were afraid that Avraham would refuse to pray for them.
Haamek Davar on Genesis 20:8:1

We already know that Abraham is a man who pleads on behalf of others. Perhaps here, God is teaching him to pray not just for his own people, but for the well-being and protection of others as well.

The Prophet’s Role

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Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Genesis 20:7 (NKJV)

When “prophet” is first introduced, we are shown the prophet’s role:

1. To restore relationship
2. To plead on behalf of someone:
– a) So they may live
– b) So they may avoid destruction

The word “restore” is שׁוּב (shuv), and it’s the same as “repent” or “turn back.” It is a word that means to return to origin and start again. It is a word of healing and repair.

But restore back to what?

The phrase “man’s wife” is אֵשֶׁת־הָאִישׁ (ishet ha’ish). Literally “the wife of the husband.” These words bring us back to Genesis 2, when Adam first meets his wife, who is just like him, as though she’s made in his image and likeness.

And this points us back to Genesis 1: “Let us create mankind in our image.”

The prophet’s role is firstly one of restoration. To restore us to one anther, and to God. To bring us into oneness and wholeness and peace with God, like it was in the Garden.

And this is done through intercession, through praying on behalf of others.

Look at the words of life and death. God doesn’t say “if you don’t, I will kill you.” He says “if you do not שׁוּב (shuv), you will die.

In the hebrew, it is מוֹת תָּמוּת (mot tamut). “You will surely die.” (lit. dying-die)

Yes. The same words from the Garden.

In the first story of death, we were told if we ate from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, we would mot tamut. But here: if we do not restore, we will mot tamot.

Can you see it? Can you see God’s desire? God wants the restoration of relationships: Ish and Ishah, God and humanity, we and our neighbors… as it was in the garden. As it is in heaven.

This is the prophet’s prayer.

Because everything else is death, chaos, destruction, hopelessness, emptiness, loneliness.

And she…

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Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the [a]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
Genesis 20:

Genesis 20:5 contains an extra “she” (and-she and-even-she) that most translations render as “she herself,” but the Midrash points out that this is intended to demonstrate how much Abimelech was convinced Sarah was Abrahams sister and that he was innocent.

“Did he not say to me: She is my sister? And she, also she…” – she, his donkey drivers, his camel drivers, the members of his household, and the members of her household, all of them said so.
Bereshit Rabbah 52:6

“EVERYBODY said it!”

Prophet

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Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”
Genesis 20:7 (NIV)

Genesis 20:7 is the first time anyone is called a “prophet” of God. It is נָבִיא (navi) This word never appears again in Genesis, and is not mentioned until Exodus, where God tells Moses, “I have made you like a god to pharaoh, and Aaron your brother like a prophet” in Exodus 7:1.

Conception

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But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?”
Genesis 20:4 (NKJV)

The text is very clear that Abimelech didn’t sleep with Sarah. Why is it so important to mention it here, while keeping it vague back in Genesis 12, when Pharaoh takes Sarai?

The rabbis say that this serves a very important purpose.

Based on the timeline, this encounter in Gerar is near the time Isaac should be conceived.

By drawing attention Abimelech’s words AND by reinforcing them with God’s own words (“I didn’t LET you go near her!”), nobody in the story can question if Abraham is the father.

Furthermore, the Tze’enah Ure’enah states the following to reinforce this!

The explanation is that the Holy One brought it all on the household of Abimelech that they could not give birth to children, could not urinate or defecate. All of their bodily orifices were stopped up. Even a hen could not lay an egg. It was hoped that Abimelech would understand and notice that his sin was because he had taken Sarah as a wife.
Tze’enah Ure’enah on Genesis 20:4:1

Abimelech’s Challenge

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But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?”
Genesis 20:4 (NKJV)

When Abimelech, who does not know Abraham’s God, is challenged by God in a dream, his response is fascinating.

“Will you slay a righteous nation as well?”

On the one hand, Abimelech defends himself and his actions, so his statement can be rendered this way: If you destroy this nation with me in it, you’ll have destroyed a righteous man.

This links to the previous chapter, where a city was destroyed.

On the other hand, Sodom and Gomorrah are like the wicked world destroyed in the flood. The rabbis say that Abimelech’s word might be as follows:

“If this is how You judged the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion, perhaps they too were innocent.”

You might think, “how could Abimelech possibly dare to speak to God like this?!”

Perhaps this is why God came to him *in a dream,* and why Abimelech merely refers to God as Adonai, and not as the divine name or as God Himself.

Faithfulness

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But 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 married.”
Genesis 20:3 (NASB)

The rabbis suggest that the people of Abraham’s day believed that faithfulness is of such great importance that adultery was considered worse than murder.

Back in Genesis 12, Abram’s fear was that the men of Egypt would be willing to MURDER him, but he’s not worried that they’ll simply abduct Sarai and sleep with her or take her as their own wife.

It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Genesis 12:11-12 (NASB)

Perhaps part of this idea comes from seeing that God commanded faithfulness first in Genesis 2:24, but the story of murder isn’t shown until Genesis 4 when Cain kills Abel.

And perhaps this is why God warns Abimelech the way He does.