6 And God saith unto him in the dream, `Yea, I -- I have known that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I withhold thee, even I, from sinning against Me, therefore I have not suffered thee to come against her;
And yet, Jehovah liveth, God of Israel, who hath kept me back from doing evil with thee, for unless thou hadst hasted, and dost come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal till the light of the morning, of those sitting on the wall.'
and now, my lord, Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, in that Jehovah hath withheld thee from coming in with blood, and to save thy hand to thee -- now let thine enemies be as Nabal, even those seeking evil unto my lord.
none is greater in this house than I, and he hath not withheld from me anything, except thee, because thou `art' his wife; and how shall I do this great evil? -- then have I sinned against God.'
and your father hath played upon me, and hath changed my hire ten times; and God hath not suffered him to do evil with me.
Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find. And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For -- better to me then than now.
and because of this shall God send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie,
for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now `will hinder' -- till he may be out of the way,
And concerning the things of which ye wrote to me: good `it is' for a man not to touch a woman,
and of the fruit of the tree which `is' in the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die.'
For a sun and a shield `is' Jehovah God, Grace and honour doth Jehovah give. He withholdeth not good To those walking in uprightness.
And I send them away in the enmity of their heart, They walk in their own counsels.
for I dispossess nations from before thee, and have enlarged thy border, and no man doth desire thy land in thy going up to appear before Jehovah thy God three times in a year.
and they journey, and the terror of God is on the cities which `are' round about them, and they have not pursued after the sons of Jacob.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 20
Commentary on Genesis 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
We are here returning to the story of Abraham; yet that part of it which is here recorded is not to his honour. The fairest marbles have their flaws, and, while there are spots in the sun, we must not expect any thing spotless under it. The scripture, it should be remarked, is impartial in relating the blemishes even of its most celebrated characters. We have here,
Gen 20:1-2
Here is,
Gen 20:3-7
It appears by this that God revealed himself by dreams (which evidenced themselves to be divine and supernatural) not only to his servants the prophets, but even to those who were out of the pale of the church and covenant; but then, usually, it was with some regard to God's own people as in Pharaoh's dream, to Joseph, in Nebuchadnezzar's, to Daniel, and here, in Abimelech's, to Abraham and Sarah, for he reproved this king for their sake, Ps. 105:14, 15.
Gen 20:8-13
Abimelech, being thus warned of God in a dream, takes the warning, and, as one truly afraid of sin and its consequences, he rises early to obey the directions given him.
Gen 20:14-18
Here is,