Arguing With God - Part IV God and Avimelech

(23) Abraham came forward and said, “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?

(27) Abraham spoke up, saying, “Here I venture to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes: ...(30) And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I go on: ... (31) And he said, “I venture again to speak to my Lord: ... (32) And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I speak but this last time:

(1) Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was sojourning in Gerar, (2) Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. (3) But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are to die because of the woman that you have taken, for she is a married woman.” (4) Now Abimelech had not approached her. He said, “O Lord, will You slay people even though innocent? (5) He himself said to me, ‘She is my sister!’ And she also said, ‘He is my brother.’ When I did this, my heart was blameless and my hands were clean.” (6) And God said to him in the dream, “ I knew that you did this with a blameless heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. That was why I did not let you touch her. (7) Therefore, restore the man’s wife—since he is a prophet, he will intercede for you—to save your life. If you fail to restore her, know that you shall die, you and all that are yours.” (8) Early next morning, Abimelech called his servants and told them all that had happened; and the men were greatly frightened. (9) Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What wrong have I done that you should bring so great a guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. (10) What, then,” Abimelech demanded of Abraham, “was your purpose in doing this thing?” (11) “I thought,” said Abraham, “surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. (12) And besides, she is in truth my sister, my father’s daughter though not my mother’s; and she became my wife. (13) So when God made me wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘Let this be the kindness that you shall do me: whatever place we come to, say there of me: He is my brother.’” (14) Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored his wife Sarah to him. (15) And Abimelech said, “Here, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” (16) And to Sarah he said, “I herewith give your brother a thousand pieces of silver; this will serve you as vindication before all who are with you, and you are cleared before everyone.” (17) Abraham then prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his slave girls, so that they bore children; (18) for the LORD had closed fast every womb of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

“And now, restore the man’s wife, as he is a prophet” (Genesis 20:7)

This Gemara questions that response. Is it the wife of a prophet that is returned, and the wife of one who is not a prophet is not returned? Rather, the explanation is as Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says, as Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says that Rabbi Yonatan says: This is what God is saying to Abimelech: “And now, restore the man’s wife” (Genesis 20:7), in any case, whether or not he is a prophet. And as for that which you said: “Will You even slay a righteous nation? Didn’t he say to me: She is my sister” (Genesis 20:4–5), claiming that you are a victim of circumstances beyond your control and exempt from punishment, that is not a valid claim. He is a prophet and it is from you that he learned to conduct himself in that manner. With regard to a stranger [akhsenai] who comes to the city, one asks him about matters of eating and drinking, e.g., whether he is hungry or thirsty. Does one ask him: Is that your wife? Is that your sister? Abraham understood from this line of questioning that you are suspect with regard to abducting women, and that is the reason that he introduced Sarah as his sister. Therefore, you are liable to be executed for her abduction.