Genesis 20

Genesis 20:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 20 Abraham and Abimelech v1 Abraham went from that place to the area called the Negev. He lived between the cities called Kadesh and Shur. And he stayed in Gerar for some time. v2 And Abraham said that Sarah was his sister. So Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent for Sarah. And he took her into his *household.

v3 Then God came to Abimelech in a dream one night. And God said to him, ‘You will soon die, because you have taken a married woman.’

v4 Now Abimelech had not touched Sarah. So he said, ‘*Lord, I cannot believe that you will kill an innocent nation. v5 Abraham said to me, “She is my sister.” Sarah too said, “He is my brother.” So I took her into my house. I did not know that it was wrong.’

v6 God said this to Abimelech in his dream. ‘It was wrong for you to take Sarah. But I know that you did not know it. So I did not let you touch her. I prevented you. So then you would not *sin against me in that way. v7 Now give back the man’s wife. He is a *prophet. He will then pray for you, so that you will live. But if you are not willing to give her back, then you will certainly die. And all that belong to you will certainly die.’

v8 So early in the morning Abimelech called all his servants. He told all the servants about his dream. They were very afraid. v9 Then Abimelech called Abraham. He said to Abraham, ‘You have done a very wrong thing to us. You have caused very bad things to happen to me and to my *kingdom. I have not *sinned against you. You have done things to me that you should never have done.’ v10 Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘Why did you do this?’

v11 Abraham replied, ‘I was sure that you did not have fear towards God here. I thought that your men would kill me in order to take my wife. v12 She is in fact my sister too. My father was also her father, although we had different mothers. She then became my wife. v13 God made me go away from my father’s house. So I said to her, “Please be kind to me and do this. Tell people that I am your brother. Tell that to whomever we meet.” ’

v14 So Abimelech took sheep, *cattle, male slaves and female slaves. And he gave them to Abraham. He gave Abraham’s wife Sarah back to Abraham. v15 Abimelech also said, ‘Look! Here is my country. Live wherever you like.’

v16 Abimelech then said to Sarah, ‘Look! I am giving 1000 silver *shekels to your brother. That money is for you. It is because of what happened. So now I have settled the matter.’

v17 So Abraham prayed to God. God cured Abimelech and his wife and slaves, so that they had children. v18 Because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, they had all been unable to have children. That was because the *Lord had prevented them.

We do not know why Abraham went to live somewhere else. Maybe he felt too close to the place where the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah had been. God had destroyed those cities. The ash and other substances that came from there probably affected a large area. Maybe those substances spoilt the land where Abraham’s animals ate grass. He went south to live just outside Canaan.

Abraham was again afraid. So he said that Sarah was his sister. Abraham had done that in Egypt too (Genesis chapter 12). He did not think about the trouble that it might cause to other people. The punishment for *adultery was death. Abimelech did not belong to the nation that God had specially chosen. But God showed his *mercy to Abimelech. God spoke to him in a dream. God warned him in that way. Abimelech did not *sin, because God prevented him. Therefore God did not make him die.

Abimelech acted very well. He said that he was innocent. He said that his people were innocent. He did not get angry and he did not blame Abraham too severely. Abimelech respected Abraham because Abraham was a *prophet. Notes on the verses Verses 1-2 The writer has already told us that Sarah was a very beautiful woman (Genesis 12:14). Although Sarah was now old, she was still beautiful. Abraham was afraid that someone might kill him in order to marry Sarah. So, Abraham and Sarah pretended that they were not married.

Verse 3 For ‘a married woman’, the *Hebrew text could mean ‘a woman that an owner owns’. By means of Adam and Eve, God showed that a wife was her husband’s most precious possession. She was also a close companion, whom he loved very much. And she helped her husband much. Anyone that took a married woman away from her husband was *sinning greatly.

Verse 4 Abimelech did not touch Sarah, because God prevented him. We do not know how God prevented him. Maybe Abimelech was ill. He worried about his people. Abraham had worried similarly about the people in Sodom. Here, Abraham did not seem to be worried about Sarah. Maybe he thought, ‘It is very important that I should stay alive.’ Then he could have a son, as God had promised. So if Abraham stayed alive, he would be ‘helping’ God to carry out that promise. But God is able to carry out his promises. God does not need our help. We just need to trust him. God could take care of Abraham in any circumstance. Abraham should have known that. God considered *adultery as a *sin. But he kept Sarah safe. There was no possibility that Abimelech might be Isaac’s father.

Verse 7 Abimelech did not argue with God. He gave Sarah back to Abraham. God showed that Abraham was ‘special’. God told Abimelech that Abraham was a *prophet. Abraham would pray to God on behalf of Abimelech.

Verse 8-11 Abimelech respected Abraham’s God. Abimelech believed that God knew the truth about the situation. So Abimelech listened to God. Abraham had said that people in Gerar did not respect God. But Abimelech showed that Abraham had been wrong about that.

Abimelech acted better than *Pharaoh had acted earlier, in Egypt. Abimelech gave Abraham the opportunity to explain.

Abraham had acted badly. He had not told all the truth. He had not acted as a guest should act. That was very important. He had really believed that the people in Gerar did not respect God. But Abraham still went to live there.

Verse 12 Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister. That is, they had only one parent in common. Later, God did not allow men to marry their half-sisters. But here God probably did allow Abraham to do that.

Verse 13 Abraham had already prepared for a situation where some other man might want to take Sarah. Abraham had already told her to say everywhere that Abraham was her brother. So they were saying something that was only partly true. And they had even said it before they needed to do so. Abraham was not ready to trust God. Abraham took many years to learn that he should trust God in every situation.

Verses 14-16 Abimelech was very kind to Abraham. He gave Sarah back to Abraham. Abimelech also gave very great wealth to Abraham. He even invited Abraham to live in Gerar. 1000 *shekels was an enormous amount of money. A bridegroom usually gave a gift to his bride’s family so that he could marry the bride. But 50 *shekels was the biggest amount of money that a man would give for that. In Babylonia, an ordinary workman earned half a *shekel a month. Abimelech gave the money in order to settle the matter. He was showing that he was sorry about his actions. He was still sorry, although he had not acted on purpose. He repaid Sarah because she had suffered. Abraham took the money and the animals. He showed that he did not blame Abimelech.

Verse 17-18 It had become clear that the women in Gerar could not have children. So we think that Sarah was in Abimelech’s *household for several weeks or several months.

God sometimes caused women not to have children. And at other times he gave children to women. Both those facts are clear. For a long time, God caused Sarah not to have children. When, at last, a child was born, people would thank God very much for that. Because of that, they would know how very wonderful God is. Similarly in John 9:3, Jesus says this. ‘This man was blind when he was born, for this reason. God wants to show his power to people when I cure the man.’ God called Abraham a *prophet. God answered Abraham’s prayers for Abimelech. God did not expect Abraham to be ‘perfect’ before God answered his prayers.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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