11 And Abraham said, Because it seemed to me that there was no fear of God in this place, and that they might put me to death because of my wife.
And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.
And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.
And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:
But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil.
And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.
<To the chief music-maker. Of the servant of the Lord. Of David.> The sin of the evil-doer says in his heart, There is no fear of the Lord before his eyes. For he takes comfort in the thought that his sin will not be uncovered and hated. In the words of his mouth are evil and deceit; he has given up being wise and doing good. He gives thought to evil on his bed; he takes a way which is not good; he is not a hater of evil.
The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.
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,