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Abraham and Sarah settle in Gerar Gen.20:1. Abraham rose from there to the south When staying in the valley of Mamre became uncomfortable, probably due to heavy, suffocating gases coming out of the neighboring basin of Siddim, after the terrible catastrophe that occurred in it (chap. 19), then the patriarch Abraham with all his herds rises from it and migrates to the “south,” or, as expressed in the Hebrew text, to the land of “Negeb,” as the southern steppe district of Palestine was called. and settled between Kadesh and Shur; Kadesh, later renamed Mishpat, lay in the southeastern corner of Syria and was one of the final destinations of Chedorlaomer's campaign (Gen. 14:7; Num. 34:4). The Sur desert was located almost opposite, in the southwestern corner, and is now called Jifar. Obviously, these were the borders of the country of Negeb. Gerar, together with Gaza, formed the southern border of Canaanite territory (Gen. 10:19) and served as the capital of the Philistines (Gen. 26:1). It was located 25 miles from the city of Elovferopolis, 3 hours northeast of Gaza, on the site of the modern ruins of Umm El-Gerar and Kir-bet-El-Gerar. Abimelech, king of Gerar, takes Sarah into his home Gen.20:2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. [For he was afraid to say that this was his wife, lest the inhabitants of that city would kill him for her.] This agreement, as we know, was concluded between Abraham and Sarah just before leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, was once repeated in Egypt and is now being repeated again (Gen. 12:11, 20:13). The words of this verse in parentheses are not found in the Hebrew Bible; but their relevance in the Greek and Slavonic Bibles is justified by the preceding context (Gen. 12:11–12). And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. The name “Abimelech” is of Semitic origin and literally means: “my father, king,” or “king-father.” It served as a general title for the Philistine kings, similar to “Pharaoh” among the Egyptians, “padishah” among other Persians and modern Turks, etc. It seems strange that Abimelech could be seduced by ninety-year-old Sarah (Gen. 17:17). In response to this, it is assumed that either Sarah, having received from God the ability to bear children, also received the physical strength necessary for this, and, therefore, blossomed again (John Chrysostom, etc.), or that Abimelech in this way wanted to establish a friendship and alliance with her imaginary brother, the rich and powerful nomad-patriarch Abraham. God appears to Abimelech in a dream and threatens him with death for this. Gen.20:3. And God came to Abimelech at night in a dream Protecting the purity of the future mother of the promised son, God appears to Abimelech and admonishes him. He is called here "Elohim", i.e. the same name by which He was vaguely known among the pagan Semites, although mixed with various errors. The appearance of the Creator at night and in dreams was the usual form of His revelation to the pagans, for example, to Pharaoh (Gen. 41:1) or Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:5). and he said to him, Behold, you will die for the woman whom you have taken, for she has a husband. Based on the subsequent context (Gen. 20:17), one might think that Abimelech was very sick at this time, and therefore such a threat was especially valid. Gen.20:4. Abimelech did not touch her and said: Master! Will You really destroy [who did not know this] an innocent people? In this case, both this very appeal to God (“Adonai”), and the confession of His Justice, reminiscent of similar speeches of Abraham (Gen. 18:23–25), provides clear evidence that traces of true knowledge of God have not yet completely disappeared from the memory of the best representatives of the Canaanite tribes, one of which is in this case Abimelech of Gerar. Gen.20:5. Didn't he himself tell me: she is my sister? And she herself said: he is my brother. I did this in the simplicity of my heart and the purity of my hands. Justifying his act, Abimelech says that he committed it not through abuse of the right of the strong, but out of ignorance, being himself deceived; in reality, neither from the internal (simplicity of heart) nor from the external (purity of hands) side was there anything criminal in his action. This is how Abimelech reasoned from the point of view of his own Canaanite morality, where taking an unmarried woman into the king’s harem was considered an honor, and not a dishonor for her. Gen.20:6. And God said to him in a dream: And I know that you did this in the simplicity of your heart, and kept you from sin before Me, and therefore I did not allow you to touch her; The content of this verse contains a number of deep truths: firstly, divine omniscience is revealed here, which penetrates into the depths of our thoughts and feelings; secondly, here the high property of Divine Justice is revealed, by which it judges and evaluates the actions of people not by external facts, but by their internal motives and the moral mood of the guilty person; finally, from here follows the idea of ​​God as the supreme guardian of the holiness and purity of the marriage union. Gen.20:7. now return your wife to her husband, for he is a prophet and will pray for you, and you will live; Here in the Hebrew original the term “nabi” is used for the first time, which serves as a technical designation for a special ministry in the Old Testament. Based on the testimony of Prince. Kings (1 Sam. 9:9), some say that this term is of comparatively later origin, which was preceded in the period of the judges by the term “rohe” (seer); from this they conclude that the entire Pentateuch is a work of a later era. But a deeper analysis of the Pentateuch and a more complete history of the term “nabi” indicate just the opposite. There is no doubt that the term “Nabi” is of very ancient, pre-Mosaic origin; but initially it did not have a technical meaning, and according to the meaning of its root (“naba” - to speak), it pointed to the person with whom God spoke or who himself spoke with God, in general - he stood with Him in a closer, more direct relationship, proclaimed His will and interceded with Him for others (Exod. 7:1, 15:20; Num. 11:29; Deut. 13:1; Judges 6:8; 1 Sam. 9:9; 1 Kings 22:7 etc.). Over time, such persons received the special name “roe” - seers, or seers, due to their more tactile property of predicting the future; This was the case mainly in the era of the judges. But during the period of the kings, when they began to carefully study the Pentateuch, the ancient name of the prophets, “nabi,” was again restored, as more fully expressing the idea of ​​their service as a mediator between God and people. Gen.20:8–9. And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spake all these words in their ears; and these people [were all] very afraid. And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him: What have you done to us? How did I sin against you, that you brought a great sin on me and my kingdom? You did things to me that are not done. All this solemnity and publicity of the investigation of the case testifies to its extreme importance in the eyes of Abimelech and the latter’s high justice. Gen.20:10. And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you mean when you did this deed? What motives guided you in leading us into such a deception, which could cost us our lives, or at least threaten us with deprivation of offspring? Gen. 20:11–12. Abraham said: I thought that there was no fear of God in this place, and they would kill me for my wife; Yes, she is truly my sister: she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife; Abraham justifies his behavior, firstly, by a sense of self-preservation, which suggested this remedy to him out of fear that the wicked Philistines could kill him in order to take possession of his wife; secondly, by reference to the fact that Sarah is actually his sister, only not his own, but his half-sister. Gen.20:13. when God led me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her: do this kindness to me, wherever we come, talk about me everywhere: this is my brother Abraham's third justification is his voluntary agreement with Sarah, concluded just before leaving Ur of the Chaldeans and, therefore, not having in mind the personality of Abimelech. Remarkable here is Abraham's deeply religious point of view on his entire wandering life, as under the direct guidance of God. Abimelech returns Sarah Gen.20:14. And Abimelech took [a thousand shekels of silver and] flocks and herds, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. Just as the Egyptian Pharaoh (Gen. 12:20) once gave a gift to Abraham as a reward for the assassination attempt on his wife, Abimelech of Gerar now did the same in atonement for his involuntary guilt. The writer's remark about the thousand shekels LXX was obviously introduced from the context (Gen. 20:16) Gen.20:15. And Abimelech said [to Abraham], Behold, my land is before thee; live wherever you want. Just as much as the Egyptian Pharaoh, once in a similar position, was in a hurry to remove Abraham as quickly as possible, so, on the contrary, Abimelech is now trying to keep Abraham in his country and enter into a friendly alliance with him; from this we can conclude that in their previous act - in the capture of Sarah - they were guided by equally unequal motives. Gen.20:16. And he said to Sarah, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand shekels of silver; Behold, this is a covering for your eyes before all who are with you, and before them all you are justified. A similar amount appears twice more in the Bible (2 Samuel 18:12; Isaiah 7:23); in our money, counting each shekel at 80 kopecks, it was equal to over 800 rubles. silver As for the veil given by Abimelech to Sarah as evidence of her innocence, the meaning of this gift is not clear enough for us: in all likelihood it was based on some local custom unknown to us, and in any case achieved its goal. Abimelech is healed by Abraham's prayer Gen.20:17. And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his servants, and they began to give birth; Here is a new example of the power and effectiveness of the prayer of a righteous man (Gen. 19:29; cf. James 5:20). Gen.20:18. For the Lord has shut up every womb in the house of Abimelech for Sarah Abraham's wife. Childlessness in the Holy Scriptures is considered a punishment for sin (Gen. 16:2; Exod. 23:26; Deut. 7:14; Lev. 20:20; Is. 66:9, etc.); It was precisely this that was chosen as the most sensitive punishment for the child-loving Philistines. You might be interested in: