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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Genesis 20:4

a righteous nation Abimelech appeals to the instinct of justice, that God will not punish the innocent, as if they were guilty. Cf. Genesis 18:23.

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See also Genesis 20:4 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - 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 futu...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    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 ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    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 i...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    LORD*. Jehovah. One of the 134 emendations of the Sopherim. See App-32. ALSO, i.e. as well as Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19. NATION. Abimelech evidently expected God to slay the whole nation....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 19 CALL OF ABRAM Genesis 20:1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I wil...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    LORD, WILT THOU SLAY ALSO, &C.— Abimelech here deprecates the Divine wrath, and enters into a justification of his conduct; declaring that both Abraham and Sarah had united in attesting that Sarah was...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART THIRTY-THREE THE STORY OF ABRAHAM: SOJOURN IN THE NEGEB (Genesis 20:1 to Genesis 21:34) 1. _Abraham and Abimelech_ (Genesis 20:1-18) 1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _BUT ABIMELECH HAD NOT COME NEAR HER: AND HE SAID, LORD, WILT THOU SLAY ALSO A RIGHTEOUS NATION?_ Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? - х_ 'ADONAAY_ (H136), Lord: see the note at Genesis 15...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ABRAHAM AT GERAR 1. Abraham leaves Mamre (Hebron) for Gerar, SW. of Philistia. It seems from Genesis 21:34 that he remained in that district for some years....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    WILT THOU SLAY ALSO A RIGHTEOUS NATION] Abimelech's people, at all events, had not been guilty of any sin....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 20 ABIMELECH TAKES SARAH V1 Abraham travelled away from the big trees at Mamre. He went toward the region that is called the Negeb. He lived betw...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    A RIGHTEOUS NATION. — Knobel has pointed out that there is an allusion here to the fate of Sodom. Though the malady was confined to Abimelech and his household, yet he sees destruction threatening his...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ אֲבִימֶ֕לֶךְ לֹ֥א קָרַ֖ב אֵלֶ֑יהָ וַ יֹּאמ

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    ABRAHAM AGAIN DENIES HIS WIFE Genesis 20:1 It is wonderful that Abraham should fall like this. He had walked with God for so many years, and experienced so many deliverances, that we should have expe...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Once again we have to face Abraham's deflection from faith. We see him journeying south to Gerar. This was the center of a race of men who, having driven out the original possessors of the land, were...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    WHEN ABRAHAM FAILED TO TRUST GOD A book that only claimed to be from God would not record the failings of a great man like Abraham. since the Bible is from God, it tells us of a second time Abraham fa...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also (d) a righteous nation? (d) The infidels confessed that God would not punish but for just occasion: therefore, when he puni...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    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...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    We have had hitherto God's account of that which He had made; then the trial and utter ruin of the creature, with the revelation of divine mercy in Christ the Lord. We have had in fine the judgment of...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    4._But Abimelech had not come near her_. Though Abraham had deprived himself of his wife, the Lord interposed in time to preserve her uninjured. When Moses previously relates, that she was taken away...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 20 AND 21. In Chapter s 20, 21 we have the question of the heir and of the path of faith in another point of view. Abraham denies his relationship with his wi...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    BUT ABIMELECH HAD NOT COME NEAR HER,.... Sarah had been put into an apartment in his palace, and not yet admitted into his company, not at least to his bed; he had not lain with her, which is the desi...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Ver. 4. _But Abimelech had not come near her._] Being hindered by sickness. Gen 20:17 Well might St Amb...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Wilt thou also slay a righteous nation?_ He probably referred to the late destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plain, which, no doubt, must have caused great consternation, if not also some deg...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Abraham soiourneth at Gerar, 2 denieth his wife, and loseth her. 3 Abimelech is reproued for her in a dreame. 9 He rebuketh Abraham, 14 restoreth Sarah, 16 and reprooueth her. 17 Hee is healed...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation?...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Sarah Again in Danger...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    EIGHTH SECTION _Abraham and Abimelech of Gerar. His and Sarah’s renewed exposure through his human, calculating prudence, as formerly in Egypt before Pharaoh. The Divine preservation. Abraham’s inter...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    ABRAHAM EXPOSED AND REPROVED Now we return to Abraham's history. He journeyed toward the south, which is typical of pleasant circumstances, but nearly always having danger in it. He dwelt between Kade...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-8 Crooked policy will not prosper: it brings ourselves and others into danger. God gives Abimelech notice of his danger of sin, and his danger of death for his sin. Every wilful sinner is a dead ma...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    ABIMELECH HAD NOT COME NEAR HER, i.e. had not yet lain with her. A modest expression, like that of _knowing_ a woman, GENESIS 4:1, or _going_ in to her, GENESIS 6:4, or _touching_ her, Proverbs 6:29...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    We have two distinct points in this chapter: first, the moral degradation to which the child of God sometimes subjects himself, in the view of the world; and, secondly, the moral dignity which _ alway...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 20:4 Abimelech H40 near H7126 (H8804) said H559 (H8799) Lord H136 slay H2026 (H8799) righteous...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ABRAHAM AND ABIMELECH (GENESIS 20:1). Genesis 20:1 ‘And Abraham journeyed from there towards the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar.' He had been establ...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Abraham's lapse at Gerar. Lying to Abimelech about his wife. CHARACTERS: Abraham, Sarah, Abimelech. CONCLUSION: Sin has many tools but a lie is a handle that fits them all. If the truth is...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 20:1 , _Gerar,_ in the tribe of Simeon, then a royal residence. Abimelech was the common name of the kings that reigned there. Genesis 20:2. _She is my sister._ It is not said whether Sarah wa...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister_ ABRAHAM’S REPETITION OF HIS OLD FAULT; THE POWER OF FORMER TEMPTATIONS I. THEIR POWER MAY SLUMBER LONG. In this instance, twenty-four years. Ne...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 20:1 King Abimelech takes Sarah into his harem, which seems to put at risk God’s promise that Sarah will bear Abraham a son. ⇐...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 20:3 BUT GOD CAME TO ABIMELECH. The text emphasizes that Sarah has not had intercourse with the king; otherwise, it could have appeared that Abimelech was the father of Isaac ...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 20:1. Kadesh; Shur; Gerar.] All lying near the southern borders of Canaan. Gerar was the chief city of the Philistines. It is now called _Khirbet-el-Gerar, i.e.,_ the ruins o...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    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);

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Abraham journeyed from there toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar (Genesis 20:1). So Abraham was living in the area of Hebron, but now he is still s...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    had. Genesis 20:6 Genesis 20:18 wilt. Genesis 20:17 Genesis 20:18...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation — Not such a nation as Sodom....

  • When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties, Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe, 1960

    GENESIS 21:32; GENESIS 21:34 — Did the Bible mistakenly place the Philistines in Palestine at the time of Abraham? PROBLEM: The earliest allusion to Philistines by Palestinian or Egyptian sources is...

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