CHAPTER 20

20:1-6 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

AMBROSIASTER. (Verse 4) HOW CAN WE EXPLAIN THESE PARABLES OF THE SAVIOR ON THE CROSS: “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING (LK. 23:44)?” IF THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, HOW CAN WE FORGIVE THEM WHEN KING ABIMELECH SAYS TO GOD, “SHALL YOU LOSE AN INNOCENT NATION BECAUSE OF ITS IGNORANCE (GEN. 20:4)?” — All ignorance is not exempt from punishment. Ignorance is excusable in those who have not been able to find means of learning. But the Savior asks His Father to forgive those who have no desire to learn when they can. This ignorance is therefore guilty in them, and it will be forgiven them if they convert. All ignorance is not exempt from punishment. He who was able to learn and did not do it, was guilty. Neither matter nor the masters were wanting to him to learn, but the pleasures or a bad disposition made him neglect this duty and rendered it utterly inexcusable. This is what makes the Savior say in speaking of the Jews: “If I had not come, and had not spoken to them, they would have no sin (Jn. 15:22).” As for the one who is in ignorance without his fault, because he has not found a master to learn and has not been able to know by the public what it was necessary to think of such a doctrine, it is all to made free from fault and condemnation. The Lord asks his Father to forgive if they convert to those who have taken no care to learn the truth when he proclaimed it to them and who put to death by ignorance the very author of the truth. That is why the Apostle St. Peter said to them in the Acts: “Turn ye that your sins be blotted out. (Acts 3:19) [Questions on the Old And New Testaments, Question 45]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Verse 2) She is my sister for he feared to say, She is my wife. For although everyone who lies wishes to hide what is true, yet not everyone who wishes to hide what is true, tells a lie. For in general we hide truths not by telling a lie, but by holding our peace… For Abraham did not say, She is not my wife, but he said, “She is my sister;” because she was in truth so near akin, that she might without a lie be called a sister. Which also afterwards he confirmed, after she had been given back by him who had taken her, answering him and saying, “And indeed she is my sister, by father, not by mother;” that is, by the father’s kindred, not the mother’s. Somewhat therefore of truth he left untold, not told anything of falsehood, when he left wife untold, and told of sister. [Against Lying, 23 NFNP s.1 v.3]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. THE BEAUTY OF SARAH. — And Abraham said concerning Sarah his wife, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest at any time the men of the city should kill him for her sake. It is commonly questioned how Abraham could still be afraid of being in danger because of the beauty of Sarah, given his age. The answer is that one must admire more the vigor of that beauty, which could still be desired, than not think that it is a difficult question. [Question 48]

(Verse 6) GOD’S WORDS TO ABIMELECH. — Concerning what God said to Abimelech because of Sarah: I spared you, so that you should not sin against me, when you warned him that what he believed to be Abraham’s sister was really his wife, you have to keep in mind and pay attention that in reality it is a sin against God when you commit certain acts, that is, what men think are minor things, such as carnal sins. Concerning what he said to him, “See that you are going to die,” (Gen. 20:3) it is necessary to pay attention to what God tells him to warn him, as predicting something that would surely happen, so that he would take precautions in order to avoid sin. [Questions on Genesis, 49]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. And Abraham departed from thence to the south side, and dwelt in Cades and on, and went to Gerara, and dwelt there a little while. (Gen. 20:1) I rejoice when I see you come running, to hear the word, and to receive with pleasure the teaching that we give you. And that is why, with an ardor that redoubles every day, I serve you my poor and puny meal. The excess of your hunger prevents you from perceiving how thin the service is, and what is small, seems to you considerable. This is what happens for body meals. A man receives guests who have no appetite; it is in vain that the service is magnificent and sumptuous; the disgusted guests do not appreciate the richness of the banquet, often sought-after dishes seem to them contemptible; it is because the guests have no appetite. On the contrary, suppose the poor, the hungry, invited to a table, however thin it may be, it seems splendid to them, because they eat with pleasure, with greed. We, too, as we are assured of your spiritual appetite, are not afraid, my brethren, to serve you every day that meager meal whose dishes are of little value. What made a wise man say: It is better to be invited with affection to eat herbs, than to eat the fat calf, when one is hated (Prov XV, 17); words which teach us that the eyes of charity transform the food served to it, that it finds what is sumptuous, and small, which seems great.

What a softer felicity might we wish, who, in the presence of such floods of hearers, utter words received with so much zeal and affection! Nothing is so necessary to him who speaks, but the benevolence of him who listens. At the sight of a passionate audience, eager to hear, the speaker takes courage, he feels so to speak penetrated by a new strength, because he knows that more his table is rich gifts of the Spirit, his own resources will grow. There are no feasts of the world like spiritual banquets. At men's; the magnificence of the table entails the expenses; the feast diminishes the fortune of the one who gives it. Here, on the contrary, it is quite different; the more guests there are, the more our wealth increases; and, indeed, we do not tell you what comes from us, but what inspires us for your utility the grace and goodness of God. Well ! therefore, since you come with so much eagerness and joy to hear the word, let us examine attentively the passages which have just been read and collect the fruit they contain. For, according to this great exhortation which Christ addresses to us, read carefully the Scriptures (John, V, 39), a great treasure is hidden in the Scriptures; he is in the depths; therefore, it is proper to look for it with (307) much care if we wish, after recognizing the virtue which the depths of the Scriptures concealed, to collect a great utility from it. The virtues of all righteous men have been recorded by grace and by the disposition of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, to serve us as a continual teaching, to excite our emulation, to bring us to conform our life to the life of these just. Let us listen to the divine Scripture. What does she tell us today about our patriarch? Abraham, said the text, having left from there to go to the south, lived between Cades and Sur, and went to Gerara to go there. stay awhile. Abraham, said the text, having left from there. Where from? from where he had fixed his tent, where he was. It was given to receive the Creator of all beings, and to receive the angels. Leaving from there, says the text: He went to Gerara to stay there.

See how these righteous people live. Their furniture was little, they did not admit the, superfluous. See the ease of transport; they were travelers - pilgrims who pitched their tents one day. here the other day there, as you do in a foreign country. They did not resemble us, who live in a foreign land as if it were our homeland, who raise splendid residences, and porticoes, and places of walk, and who possess estates, baths and a thousand other constructions of any kind. See how this righteous, whose whole fortune consisted of slaves and herds; who never stopped in the same place; who planted his tent one day at Bethel another day beside the oak of Mamre; who another day was coming down to Egypt, now laying his tent in the land of Gerara. And he accepts everything, and in all he does is his gratitude to the Lord. After so many promises that God had made to him, he sees himself in the midst of so great difficulties; various and varied trials occur to him; like a diamond that nothing changes, it remains firm, it always shows a pious zeal that no obstacle slows down. See, indeed, now, my beloved, what a trial it undergoes in the land of Gerara, and admire the courage and virtue of the righteous. See what seems unbearable to all, what the ear itself would not want to hear, it supported without complaining, without asking Lord what happened; what most men do. And these men are bowed under the weight of sins without number; for some difficulties they encounter, they immediately murmur, and their anxious curiosity asks why such and such a thing has happened? Why this thing has been permitted? But that just does not hold that conduct; which has earned him a greater abundance of help from above. In fact, it is the characteristic of a good servant not to look curiously at what his master does; he stayed, he receives while blessing him.

Notice how the very trials that follow make the virtue of the righteous man even more vivid, God glorifying him by all means. Just as, when he went down to Egypt, he was at first unknown, a traveler, without any one knowing who he was, and soon, suddenly, he left Egypt, and was filled with honors; so now again, he is a traveler in the land of Gerara; he first began by doing all that depended on him, and soon he received from God help that made him so powerful that the king of the land and all the inhabitants of the country rivaled with ardor to serve the just man . Now, says the text, Abraham says, speaking of Sara his wife, that she was his sister. He was afraid to say it was his wife, lest the people of the city kill him because of her. (Gen. 20:2) See the violence of. feelings that attack the soul of this just man, the fear he feels. And although the first apprehension, that of losing his wife, is a very strong emotion, yet the fear of death drives away this first fear. For, in order to escape the horror of death, he was able to see with his own eyes the companion of his life falling into the hands of the king. How difficult this situation is to bear, that is what those who have women know. Whence comes a wise man saying: The jealousy and fury of the husband will not pardon in the day of vengeance; for no price he will renounce his hatred. (Proverbs VI, 34, 35.) Well! this pain, unbearable for all men, see how this righteousness has endured it, because he hated death. This is evidently what happens in the indispositions of the body; when two diseases attack it at once, the progress of one makes the other disappear; the strongest seizes our whole being, so much so that, distracted by the most serious, we often do not feel the one that is less dangerous. Likewise, this just too, at the sight of the death that besieged it, found all the rest bearable.

But now, beware, my beloved, hearing these words, to accuse the just man of pusillanimity, because he feared death. Admire the goodness of the Creator of all beings towards us. This object so terrible for these righteous men and for these saints, Christ has made it so miserable, that this dreaded death of the old men, of these men who are illustrious in their virtues, full of confidence in God, this death makes us laugh today. young men and tender virgins. Death, indeed, is only a sleep, a journey, a passage, from corruption to what is much better. The death of the Lord brought us present immortality; when he went down to hell, he angered her, he reduced that force to nothing, and what was once terrible, terrible, it made him despicable so much that we see people shudder with joy, hasten to run to hasten this journey. That is why Blessed Paul shouts to us: To be free from these bonds, to be with Jesus Christ, is by far the best. (Philip I, 23.) But these opinions on death followed the advent of Christ; it was necessary that the infernal gates, the gates of brass be broken, that the sun of righteousness shine everywhere on the earth. In those ancient times, the face of death was terrible; it filled the souls of the just with terror. This is why they resigned themselves to all other evils, even to those who seemed unbearable. Hence it is that just man, fearing the inhabitants of Gerara, and staying among them, sent his wife for his sweat. And just as, when God allowed him to go down to Egypt, he used this means to make known to these perverse and hardened men the virtue of the righteous; so, too, here the Lord shows his own long-suffering, so that the patience of the righteous man may break forth in all things, and the benevolence of God for him be manifested to all. Abimelech king of Gerara sent men to take Sarah away. Think about it here, I pray you, on the storm of thoughts that the just man was wiping out, seeing that he was taking away his wife and that he could do nothing to defend it. He bore all in silence, because he knew well that God, far from forgetting it, would be bent on helping him. Let us also admire the love of Sarah, who wanted to tear the right man away from death; she herself, discovering everything, could escape a certain outrage. But she supported everything with courage in order to save her husband. And then was this word fulfilled: They shall be two in one flesh (Gen. II, 24), that is to say, one might have thought they were but one flesh, so much had they a mutual concern for each other. Their concord was so great that it might have been thought that they were only a body and a soul. Listen, O men, listen, 8 women; these to show their husbands such love, to prefer nothing to their salvation; these, to testify to their wives the same affection; to do everything as if they were only a soul and a body.

This is what constitutes the sincerity of conjugal union, the perfection of concord, the perfection of charity that binds them together. Just as the body does not turn against itself, nor the soul against itself; thus the husband and the wife must not turn against each other; they must be united. Only then can the abundance of all goods flow over them. Where reigns concord, there meet all the goods: peace, love, spiritual joy; no war, no fight, no hatred, no quarrel; all these plagues are dismissed; this root of all goods, I call concord, has made everything disappear. And Abimelech king of Gerara sent out men who took Sarah away; but God, in the night, appeared to Abimelech in a dream, and said to him, Ye shall be put to death for the sake of the woman whom ye have taken away, because she hath a husband. (Gen. 20:3) See the clemency of God, as he saw that the righteous, fearing death, bravely endured that Sarah should be taken away, and that the king regarded her as the sister of the righteous man. finally declared his providence, glorified the righteous, preserved Sara from outrage, and the king from sin. And God, says the text, during the night, appeared in a dream to Abimelech. It is precisely, says the text, during sleep, that God willing to remove him from iniquity, enlightened his conscience, revealed to him what was secret and provoked his fear, by threatening him with death. In fact, says the text: You will be punished with death because of the woman you took away because she has a husband. Now Abimelech had not touched her. All these things happened so that the promise of God to the patriarch might be fulfilled. Indeed, not long before, he had promised that Isaac would come into the world, and the time was near. That nothing might hinder the fulfillment of the divine promise, he struck Abimelech with so great a terror. that this king did not dare to touch Sara. This is why the Divine Scripture added: Abimelech had not touched her. He defends himself and says: Lord, will you punish with death the ignorance of an innocent people? Did I know, he said, that he was his wife? Did I want to outrage a stranger? When I kidnapped this woman, did I think he took his wife away? I thought to receive her like her sweat, I thought to do them honor to her and to him. Will you therefore punish for death the ignorance of an innocent people? I did the action of a righteous man; will you punish me for death? He then explains his thought more clearly: Did he not tell me himself that she was his sister, and she too, did not she tell me that he was his brother? ? See, in the conduct of the couple, the perfect consent: What a perfect concord! He himself said it to me; she herself confirmed her words. I did this in the simplicity of my killer and without defiling the purity of my hands (Gen. 20:5), he said. I did not think I was doing a bad thing, but a legitimate, permissible, irreproachable action. What does the God of goodness answer to this? God says to him during his sleep. (Gen. 20:6) See the condescension of the God of all creatures; see how everything reveals his goodness: I know that you did it with a simple heart. I know, he says, that they themselves have invented a story for you, and have deceived you by their words. I did not want this deception to lead you to sin, that is why I preserved you, so that you would not sin against me. What a care in these words! What clemency in the Lord! Sin, he says, would have rebelled against me.

If it happens among men that a servant is made to be angry with his master, the master takes the insult for him, and says: It is I whom you have insulted in outraging my servant. The treatment that is done to him, it is done to me. The goodness of God here speaks the same language: I have preserved you, says he, so that you may not sin against me. They are my servants, "said he," and so advisable to my eyes, that what they do to them is done to me, whether for good or for bad. That's why I did not allow you to touch her. I am very interested in them, and as I knew it was ignorance that you were going to insult them, I preserved you so that you would not sin against me. Do not just look at this man as a vulgar man; learn that he is one of those to whom I have the greatest interest, and who is particularly dear to me. So give this woman back to her husband, because he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. (Gen. 20:6) See how he proclaims the virtue of the righteous man; he calls him a prophet, he almost makes the king appear his supplicant. Indeed, he will pray for you and you will live. Indeed, he said, being afraid of being killed by you, he built this comedy; he has, so to speak, co-operated in the outrage prepared for Sara; but know that his prayers will bring you life. Then, lest Abimelech, burnt with concupiscence, overcome by the beauty of Sarah, despise his commandments, he sends terror to him, he threatens him with a great punishment. If you do not want to give it back, he says, know that you will be struck with death, you and all that is yours. It is not you alone who will atone for your disobedience; but death, because of you, will lose all that is yours. If God chooses the time of the night to address all these words to him, it is so that the warning received during the hour of rest, is more effective; it is so that fear decides him to, obey the command. And indeed, saith the text, Abimelech immediately arose, called all his servants, and told them all that he had heard. [Homilies on Genesis]

20:7-12 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. (Verse 12) Hence Abraham, regarding his wife as a sister, says, “she is my sister by my father, but not by my mother, and she became my wife,” teaching us that children of the same mothers ought not to enter into matrimony. [The Stromata 2.23 ANF v. 2]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 20:12 SHE IS REALLY MY SISTER ON THE FATHER'S SIDE, BUT NOT ON THE MOTHER'S SIDE. That is, she is the daughter of his brother Aran, not his sister. The Hebrew reads, "She is really my sister, daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother." In this last text, it is about real kinship from brother to sister. We can say, in defense of Abraham, that such unions were not yet prohibited at that time. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. See how the king becomes the herald of the righteousness of the just man, and makes him known to all. Indeed, says the text, having called all his servants, he told them all that God had revealed to him, in order to teach everyone, and the benevolence of God to the just man, and all the interest that God because of his morals and his virtue. And all of them were greatly afraid. Do you understand now that it was not without reason, without a design of God, that this righteous passed so many times from one place to another? If he had remained under his first tent, how could all the inhabitants of Gerara have known the creditable credit enjoyed by the righteous with God? And all of them were greatly afraid. They were filled with fear that made them very worried about the event. The text continues: Abimelech sent for Abraham. (Gen. 20:9) Consider the glory which the righteous then enjoys with the king, who, a few moments before, was despised of all as a vagabond, a stranger. So everyone is gathered together, and immediately the patriarch is called, who knows nothing and then learns from the king himself what God had done for him. Indeed, the king said to him, Why did you treat us this way? What harm did we do for wanting to commit me and my kingdom to so great a sin? You made us do what you should not have done; what did you want by doing this? (Gen. 20:10) Why, he says, did you want to make me fall into so great a sin? in what thought did you do that? see how these words indicate the threats that God has made to him. For God had said to him, "If you will not return it, know that you will be struck with death, you and all that is yours. These are the same words that Abimelech interprets, saying, What harm did we do to you, for wanting to bind us and my kingdom in so great a sin? Would I have been the only one punished? all my kingdom would have been lost with me, because of the deception you have made. What did you want by doing this? Consider here, my beloved ones, the prudent of the just man; how the excuse he presents, serves him to bring them to the knowledge of God. It is because I have said in myself, "said he," there is perhaps no fear of God in this country, and they will kill me to have my wife. (Gen. 20:11) As if he were saying: I was very worried; I feared that, always possessed by error, you had no concern for justice. That's why I imagined this feint; it was to save you a crime; lest, if you understood that she was my wife, seized with love for her, you were not trying to kill me. See how this little word serves him to take them back, and at the same time to teach them that he who has the mind of God should not commit any injustice, but dread the eye that does not sleep, avoid the punishments of which God threatens whoever does not take the greatest care of justice. The patriarch then wanted to defend himself: Do not think, he says, that even when I spoke so I lied: Indeed, it is my sister of the same father as me, but not of the same mother; and she was given to me for a wife. (Gen. 20:12) As she said, the same father as I, I called her my sister; so do not condemn me. No doubt it is the fear of death that has reduced me to saying what I said; I was afraid that you would let me die, because of her, and that you would not make her yours. possession; however, I did not lie, even in what I told you. "See what care the righteous take to exculpate here lies. [Homilies on Genesis]

20:13-18 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 20:13) In omni loco ubi intraverimus ibi (In all the countries where we will go). [Locutions]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. And hold, he said, I want to tell you everything, listen to the plan that we have worked together since God brought me out of my father's house. (Gen. 20:13) Consider, I conjure you here, the industrious wisdom of the just man; following the thread of his discourse, he informs them that he has been particularly fond of God since the beginning; that it was God who called him out of his homeland, who brought him to this place; he wants the king to know that Abraham is among those who have the greatest trust in God. Since God, "said he," brought me out of my father's house, I said to him, "You will do me this grace, in all the countries where we go, to say that I am your brother. Indeed, as he had said above: I said to myself, there is perhaps no fear of God in this country, it might have been thought that he reprimanded them too severely; He therefore wants to soften this people, and then he says, Do not think that I have only been led with you. Indeed, he hastens to add: Since God took me out of my father's house, I said to him: For the Lord always ordains and arranges things in such a way that those who serve him are like resplendent candles, and that their virtues are everywhere celebrated. And see, I conjure you, my beloved, after God has delivered the righteous from all these troubles, as he fills him once more with all good things, as he fulfills his promise. Here now is the fulfillment of what God had previously told him. [Homilies on Genesis]