Genesis 20:13

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

13._When God caused me to wander _(430) Because the verb is here put in the plural number, I freely expound the passage as referring to the angels, who led Abraham through his various wanderings. Some, with too much subtlety, infer from it a Trinity of Persons: as if it had been written: _The gods caused me to wander_. I grant, indeed, that the _noun _ אלהים (_Elohim_,) is frequently taken for God in the Scripture: but then the _verb _with which it is connected is always singular. Wherever a plural verb is added then it signifies angels or princes. (431) There are those who think that Abraham, because he was speaking with one who was not rightly instructed, spoke thus in conformity with the common custom of the heathen; but, in my opinion, most erroneously. For to what purpose did he, by erecting altars, make it manifest

9-13 See here much to blame, even in the father of the faithful. Mark his distrust of God, his undue care about life, his intent to deceive. He also threw temptation in the way of others, caused affliction to them, exposed himself and Sarah to just rebukes, and yet attempted an excuse. These things are written for our warning, not for us to imitate. Even Abraham hath not whereof to glory. He cannot be justified by his works, but must be indebted for justification, to that righteousness which is upon all and unto all them that believe. We must not condemn all as hypocrites who fall into sin, if they do not continue in it. But let the unhumbled and impenitent take heed that they do not sin on, thinking that grace may abound. Abimelech, being warned of God, takes the warning; and being truly afraid of sin and its consequences, he rose early to pursue the directions given him....

Verse Genesis 20:13. _WHEN GOD CAUSED ME TO WANDER_] Here the word אלהים _Elohim_ is used with a plural verb, (התעו _hithu_, caused me to wander), which is not very usual in the Hebrew language, as this _plural noun_ is generally joined with _verbs_ in the _singular_ number. Because there is a departure from the general mode in this instance, some have contended that the word _Elohim_ signifies _princes_ in this place, and suppose it to refer to those in Chaldea, who expelled Abraham because he would not worship the _fire_; but the best critics, and with them the _Jews_, allow that _Elohim_ here signifies the _true God_. Abraham probably refers to his _first call_....

- Abraham in Gerar 2. אבימלך .2 _'ǎbı̂ymelek_, Abimelekh, “father of the king.” 7. נביא _nābı̂y'_ “prophet,” he who speaks by God, of God, and to God, who declares to people not merely things future, but also things past and present, that are not obvious to the sense or the reason; related: “flow, go forth.” 13. התעוּ _hı̂t‛û_ is plural in punctuation, agreeing grammatically with אלהים _'ĕlohı̂ym_. ו(w), however, may be regarded as the third radical, and the verb may thus really be singular. 16. נכהת _nokachat_ an unusual form, either for נכחת noka

EXPOSITION GENESIS 20:1 AND ABRAHAM JOURNEYED (_vide_ Genesis 12:9) FROM THENCE. Mamre (Genesis 18:1). In search of pasture, as on a previous occasion (Keil); or in consequence of the hostility of his neighbors (Calvin); or because he longed to escape from the scene of so terrible a calamity as he had witnessed (Calvin, Wilier, Murphy); or in order to benefit as many places and peoples as possible by his residence among them (A Lapide); or perhaps being impelled by God, who designed thereby to remind him that Canaan was not intended for a permanent habitation, but for a constant pilgrimage (Poole, Kalisch). Toward the south c

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN GOD CAUSED ME TO WANDER FROM MY FATHER'S HOUSE,.... In Ur of the Chaldees, from whence God called him to go forth; which laid him under an obligation to depart from thence, and move from place to place, and go he knew not where, as in Hebrews 11:8; or "the Gods", as it is in the plural number, and so the verb in construction with it; not the idol gods, the gods of the Gentiles, as the Targum of Jonathan, who interprets the words thus, "and it was when the worshippers of idols sought to cause men to err, and I went from my father's house;'' but the true God, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Melech acknowledge, and is by many Christian interpreters understood of the three Persons in the Godhead: THAT I SAID UNTO HER, THIS [IS] THY KINDNESS WHICH THOU SHALT SHOW UNTO ME; this I shall take as a favour done me, as an

CHAPTER 20 ABRAHAM IN GERAR _ 1. Abraham in Gerar (Genesis 20:1)_ 2. Second denial of Sarah (Genesis 20:2) 3. God's dealing with Abimelech (Genesis 20:3) 4. Abimelech and Abraham (Genesis 20:8) Note Abraham's going down to Egypt in chapter 12 and now going to Gerar and denying again Sarah. In chapter 26 Isaac goes also to Gerar and denies Rebekah. It shows what the flesh is. But Abraham is greatly honored by the Lord. The Lord called him a prophet. Abraham prayed and God healed Abimelech....

GENESIS 20. ABRAHAM PASSES OFF SARAH AS HIS SISTER AT GERAR. The first complete narrative from E. The writer uses Elohim, but P's characteristics are absent. Phraseology as well as the use of Elohim instead of Yahweh forbid us to assign it to J, who has also a variant of the story (Genesis 12:1); contrast Genesis 20:13 with Genesis 12:11. Features which point to E are the phraseology, the representation of Abraham as a prophet (Genesis 20:7) and his home as in the Negeb (Genesis 20:1), also the speaking of God in a dream; Sarah is obviously of an age a

CAUSED. The verb is in the plural. kindness. Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause). Kindness put for the kind _deeds_ caused by it....