The event in and when we consider the circunistan- | should never have subjected himse ces under which it occurred, it is impos- again to such danger reproach, an sible to acquit him, to say the least, of infamy. The repetition of so gros the sin of gross unbelief. Having been an offence, after such a warning and called out of his native country to so- such a deliverance, increased its sinful journ in a strange land, and depending ness an hundred-fold. We shudder upon God for direction and support, he moreover, while we contemplate the went forth, not knowing whither he tendency of this shameful prevarication went. For the space of twenty-five It was calculated to ensnare the people years he had experienced the faithful- among whom he sojourned; while it ness and loving-kindness of his God. exposed the virtue of Sarah to the exHe had moreover recently received the tremest hazard. Had she been ac most express promises that he should knowledged for Abraham's wife, every have a son by Sarah, who should be one would have known the unlawfulthe progenitor of the Messiah. Yet on ness of entertaining a desire after her, coming to Gerar his heart fails him and would have abstained from showfor fear that the people will kill him in ing her any undue attention. But order to gain possession of his wife; when she passed for an unmarried wowho, it appears, though ninety years man, every one was at liberty to insinstill retained a good degree of her for- uate himself into her affections and to mer beauty; and in order to secure seek to the uttermost an honourable himself has recourse a second time to connection with her. the expedient of equivocating in respect deed shows what might reasonably to his real relation to Sarah. This have been expected from such a plot. was a practical distrust of the protec- The catastrophe, which came so near tion of Jehovah for which we can find taking place, was no other than the no apology. In what had God failed natural consequence of the deceit which him that he should begin now to doubt was practised. But what was its asof his faithfulness or power? Could pect and tendency with respect to the the Philistines touch a hair of his head Messiah? This was a matter of very without the divine permission? Be- serious moment. But a short time, sides it ought to have occurred to him perhaps but a few days, before, God that he had once before been guilty of had promised to Abraham that within the same dissimulation, and had been the year he should have a son by Sareproved for it. Had the Philistines rah. Had Abimelech then proceeded come suddenly upon him, and threat- to accomplish his purpose, and God ened to put him to death for his wife's withholden his interference, it would sake we should the less have wonder- have remained a doubt at this moment ed that they were prevailed upon to whether the promises were ever fulfilconceal their relation to each other. But led to Abraham, and whether the Mes he had done the same thing many years siah did indeed descend from his loins. before and had thereby ensnared Pha- Consequently the covenant made with raoh king of Egypt, nor was he then Abraham, and all the promises made to delivered without a divine interposition, him and his seed, would be left an awand a just rebuke from the injured ful uncertainty. If it would have been monarch. Surely he ought to have criminal in Abraham and Sarah to conprofited by past experience. He should cert such a plan under any circumstanhave been sensible of the evil of such ces, how much more criminal was it a proceeding; and having been once to do so under the peculiar circumstanrescued, as it were by a miracle, heces in which they then were? Happy 3 But f God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to nim, h Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou nast taken: for she is a man's wife. f Ps. 105. 14. g Job 33. 15. h ver. 7. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? i ch. 18. 23. ver. 18. made the medium of communicating dren of men. Accordingly Abimelech dreamed that God addressed hin in the words following, although we suppose that there was something in the nature of the impression that carried with it the evidence of its own divine origin and authority.—¶ Behold, thou art a dead man, &c. himmeka הנך מת .Heb was it for Abraham, happy is it for us, that the 'Lord is our keeper.' -the most important truths to the chilAbimelech. Heb. abi-melek, i. e. father-king; the common title of the kings of Gerar, as Pharaoh was of the kings of Egypt. See Note on Gen. 12. 15. The term conveys a latent implication that in those early days the kingly rule was considered to be of a paternal character. Indeed all magistrates are spoken of in the Scriptures as fathers to their people. 2 Kings, 5. 13. Job, 29. 16. In later times this feature of the office has mostly disappeared. -T Sent and took Sarah. God so ordered it in his providence that Abraham should be chastened for the evil counsel which he devised, by Sarah's being exposed to the very danger from which, by a sinful evasion, he was endeavouring to shield her. Similar results may invariably be expected to follow the practical disbelief of which the people of God may be guilty. They can neither equivocate, nor doubt, nor disobey with impunity. meth. That is, thou art all but a dead man; thou art in the most imminent however, is to be understood with an danger of death. The threatening implied condition of impunity provided he desisted from his present purpose her husband. Comp. Ezek. 33. 14, 15. and restored the woman unharmed to Jon. 3. 4. It is evident from such a stern admonition that God regards adultery as a very heinous crime, and though originally addressed but to a tened to as the voice of God sounding single individual, yet it ought to be lisout his judgment respecting this aggravated sin in the ears of the whole human race.- -T For she is a man's wife. Heb. 3 for she is married to an husband; or still more lit 3. God came to Abimelech in a dream by night. That is, revealed himself in a dream by night. Chal And the Word from the face of God came to Abimelech in a vision of the night.' erally, she is the possessed, subjected, or The Most High has access to all men's married one of a lord; implying that minds and can impress them by a her wedded fealty was wholly due to dream, an affliction, or in any way another; and that he could not take which seems to him good. He did her without infringing upon a most thus by Abimelech; he came to him in solemn covenant relation previously a dream. Dreams in general are the subsisting between Abraham and her. mere delusive play of the imagination, The simple declaration,' she is a man's which is for the time released from the wife,' ought instantaneously to extincontrol of reason. Yet they are sub-guish the least motion of unhallowed ject to the power of God, and in the desire towards an object made sacred early ages of the world, before the and inaccessible by the very nature of #Scriptures were indited, were often the marriage compact. 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 k 2 Kings 20. 3. 2 Cor. 1. 12. 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. m 1 ch. 31. 7. & 35. 5. Ex. 34. 24. 1 Sam. 25. 26, 34. m ch. 39. 9. Lev. 6. 2. Ps. 51. 4. their words for it that they were brother and sister, and nothing was said of her being his wife. In the integrity of my heart, &c. Heb. cha in the perfection, sincerity, or simplicity of my heart, &c. This is a paraphrastic way of expressing innocency of intention. Comp. Ps. 26. 6. righteousness of hands have I done this.' Chal. 'In the rectitude of my heart and cleanness of my hands have I done this.' 6. And God said unto him in a dream. More correctly 'in the dream,' i. e. in the dream mentioned v. 3. It does not appear that there was a twofold communication made in this way. 4. Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? These words appear to contain a reference to the recent awful event of Sodom's overthrow, which must have greatly impressed the surrounding country. It is as if he had said, 'I am aware that thou hast slain a nation notorious for its filthy and unnatural crimes; but we are not such a-73. 13. Gr. 'In a pure heart and nation; and in the present case all that has been done was done in perfect ignorance. Surely thou wilt not slay the innocent, as if they were guilty.' The language evidently carries with it the implication, which is abundantly warranted elsewhere in the Scripture, that from the close connection existing between them, the sins of rulers were often visited upon their people. See this illustrated in the case of David, 1 Chron. 21. 14, 17. The 'righteousness' which he here affirms of the nation in general is doubtless to be understood of innocency or guiltlessness in this respect, not of a universal free-ening of death, in case he persisted in dom from sin. Abimelech would not presume to arrogate to himself or to his people entire exemption from moral evil, but merely that in the present instance neither he nor they had knowingly done wrong, and consequently were not condemned in their own consciences. We find a similar use of the word 2 Sam. 4. 11, where it unquestionably signifies innocent; 'How much more when wicked men have slain a righteous ( tzaddik) per son in his house on his bed.' -TI know that thou didst this in the integrity of thine heart, &c. God in his answer admits Abimelech's plea of ignorance, and suggests that he was not charged with having yet sinned, although he sees fit to renew the threat retaining Sarah, after being informed of the truth. It is intimated, however, that if he had come near her, he would, in so doing, have sinned against God, whether he had sinned against Abraham or not. But though acquitted on the whole, still as he and his people were not left without some marks of the divine displeasure, v. 17, 18, we are taught that the searching eye of Omniscience may behold admixtures of evil in that conduct which to general view, and in our own estimation, may be entirely free from fault, and that consequently in judging ourselves we 7 Now therefore restore the thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou P and all that are thine. man his wife;" for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and n 1 Sam. 7. 5. 2 Kings 5. 11. Job 42. 8. Jam. 6. 14, 15. 1 John 5. 16, o ch. 2. 17. p Num. 16. 32, 33. How much reason then have we to be thankful for God's protecting and preserving grace! Had he taken no better care of us than we have done of ourselves, how many times should we have dishonoured our holy profession! Who that knows any thing of his own heart, is not conscious that he has at some times tampered with sin, and are safe in taking it for granted that many offences escape the most rigid inquisition that we are able to make into the state of our hearts.-T For I also withheld thee from sinning, &c. Instead of 'for' a better rendering of the particle in this clause would be ' moreover.' A close inspection of the original, however, will probably suggest, as preferable to either, the follow-laid such snares for his own feet, that ing, which makes the present clause parenthetical; 'I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart (and I, even I, have withheld thee from sinning against me), therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.' In this declaration we read a striking proof of the mercy and condescension of Heaven. It was a signal kindness at once to Abraham and Abimelech thus to interpose an effectual restraint to the commission of a crime which might have been attended with the most disastrous consequences. God was thus propitious to the king because he had, in the main, an honest intention. He did not design to violate the sanctity of the marriage cove nant. nothing but God's gracious and unlooked for interference has preserved him! And even when we have deeply offended our heavenly Father by our perverseness, and done that which, if exposed, would bring overwhelming disgrace upon us and our profession, how graciously has he prevented the consequences of such culpable lapses, and accepted our secret penitence, instead of 'putting us to an open shame?' Let us then, while we magnify the goodness of God, still tremble in view of our weakness, and ever feel the neces sity of offering for ourselves the petition, 'Lead us not into temptation.' 'Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.'- -T Suffered thee not. Heb. 3 gave thee not. 'Giv On this ground alone he was favoured with impunity from sin. The narrative teaches us, (1.) That absolute ignorance excuses from guilt. Yet let us not forget that the ignorance of which this can be said, must be unavoidable. Where the means of acquiring knowledge are possessed, and igno-ing,' in the style of the Scriptures, is ance arises from neglecting them, or often used for suffering, permitting. from aversion to the truth, it is so far Thus, Gen. 31. 7, 'But God suffered from excusing, that it is in itself sinful. him not to hurt me;' Heb. gave him (2.) That great as the wickedness of not. Ex. 3. 19, The king of Egypt men is upon the face of the earth, it will not let you go;' Heb. will not give would be much greater, were it not that you to go. Ps. 16. 10, Neither wilt God, by his providence, in innumera- thou suffer thine Holy One to see corble instances, withholds them from it. I ruption;' Heb. give thine Holy One. ་ 8 Therefore Abimelech rose | things in their ears: and the men early in the morning, and called were sore afraid. all his servants, and told all these Rev. 13. 7, 'And it was given unto him that he should make war with the saints;' i. e. it was permitted him; he received a providential license. 7. He is a prophet. Heb. nabi. Gr. poprns prophctes, from po pro, before and pnp phemi, to speak; i. e. one who speaks of things before they happen, or in other words a foreteller of future events. But that this was not the original notion of the word, its use in this place sufficiently proves. Abraham certainly was not a prophet in the present usual acceptation of the term. It here obviously means, in a more general sense, one who is favoured with the revelation and spirit of God, one who stands in a specially near relation to God, and who is consequently fitted to be the utterer or interpreter of his will. But as those who were in habits of intimacy with God by prayer and faith, were found the most suitable persons to communicate his mind to men, both with respect to the present and the future, hence the nabi, the intercessor, became in process of time a public instructer or preacher, and also the predictor of future events; because to men of this character God revealed the secret of his will. The idea therefore of an utterer of divine oracles, of an interpreter of the divine will, is the leading idea conveyed by the term prophet, and in conformity with this, Aaron as the spokesman or interpreter of Moses to the Egyptian king is termed his prophet, Ex. 7. 1. In the New Testament also, prophet is, for the most part, synonymous with interpreter, and prophesying with the interpretation or exposition of the Scriptures, 1 Cor. 14 29. In reference to the fact before adverted to, that the office of a prophet implies 9 Then Abimelech called Abra a special intercourse with heaven, Maimonides, the chief of the Jewish doctors, remarks, that it is one of the foundations of the Law, to know that God maketh the sons of men to prophesÿ; and prophecy resideth not but in a man that is great in wisdom, and mighty in his virtuous qualities, so that his affections overcome him not in any worldly thing; but by his knowledge he overcometh his affections continually, and is a man expert in knowledge and of a very large understanding. On such a man the Holy Spirit cometh down; and when the Spirit resteth upon him, his soul is associated unto the angels, and he is changed to another man, and he perceiveth in his own knowledge that he is not as he was, but that he is advanced above the degree of other wise men.' (Ainsworth.) -¶ He shall pray for thee. We are elsewhere informed that intercession for others was a special work of the prophets. Thus, Jer. 27. 18, 'If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts,' &c. Comp. Jer. 14. 11.-15. 1. And this, if we conceive of it aright, will ever appear the most honourable and blessed part of the office. It is indeed a great distinction to be made, as it were, privy to the counsels of Heaven, an utterer or expounder of prophetic mysteries, but it is in fact a far higher privilege to act the part of a pious intercessor with God in behalf of men, and to be to them a procuring cause of spiritual and temporal mercies.- - Thou shall live. Heb. live thou; the imper ative instead of the future for the sake of emphasis. Thus, Am. 5. 4, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.' Heb. 'Live ye (imper.).' Ps. 37. 27, 'Do good and |