ויסע משם, “he moved away from there.” He moved away from Eloney Mamre.

ויאמר אברהם אל אשתו, “Avraham said to his wife:” when speaking in her presence he said that she was his sister, while she kept quiet. [the word is considered here as the same as “על,” about; Ed.]

הנך מת, “you are about to die;” G-d’s dealings with Avimelech prove that gentiles do not have to be cautioned not to commit acts which they know to be punishable.

ואבימלך לא קרב אליה, “while Avimelech had not become intimate with her.” [but he had kidnapped her, Ed.] The reason why the Torah had to emphasise this latter point, i.e. that Avimelech had not violated Sarah sexually, is the fact that her being kidnapped occurred so close to her becoming pregnant with Yitzchok.

ויאמר א־דני, He said: ”My Lord,” i.e. this word is treated as the holy name of G-d.

?הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג, “Are You killing people even if they are innocent?” The verse appears as an abbreviated version of Avimelech’s thoughts. The full version would be: הגם גוי צדיק תהרוג?, “Are You also going to kill an innocent nation?” The word גם appears in the Torah quite often as part of such an abbreviated formulation. An alternate exegesis of this verse: the word, “also,” is treated as someone or something additional i.e. “if You kill me (Avimelech describes himself as if only one of the common people) then you must also kill Avraham the righteous person for having misled me. Had he not described her as his sister I would not have abducted her.

והיא גם היא, the word היא is spelled with the letter י.

והיא גם היא, “and she also referred to Avraham as her brother not only in public but also when they were alone.

עשיתי זאת, “have I done this.” This refers to his having kidnapped Sarah. According to a different interpretation, G-d was content with warning Avimelech because he had taken the trouble to investigate Sarah’s marital status. Pharaoh who had not bothered to do so, was struck with a plague immediately. (Compare B’chor shor on end of verse 16.)

גם אנכי ידעתי כי בתם לבבך וגו׳, “also I am aware that you have acted innocently, etc;” G-d , by saying: גם, includes that not only does He know that Avimelech had not raped Sarah in his heart but that his hands had remained clean also.

על כן, this is why it was I Who prevented you from “getting your hands dirty;” I prevented you from touching her immodestly.

וייראו האנשים, according to Rabbi Abba, the people of Gror still saw smoke rising from the valley where Sodom once used to be situated, and that frightened them very much. They were afraid that the angels who had wrought that havoc would show up near them at any moment.

רק אין יראת, “there is only no awe of the Lord, etc;” Avraham could have said that there was no fear of any retribution for criminal acts from a deity. There are three diminutives in this verse, i.e. the words: ,רק, אך and מן. We have a rule that one diminutive is designed to exclude something from the rule discussed, whereas two such diminutives are a signal that something additional is to be added. It follows that when there are tree diminutives, it again is meant to exclude something. In this instance Avraham acknowledged that there were things in the universe which the Philistines feared, but it was not judgment by an invisible G-d. Rabbi Chavell refers the reader to the comment on this verse cited in Torah Shleymah #54. by an invisible G-d.

כאשר התעו אותי אלוקים, “When G-d caused me to wander, etc,” Avraham refers to the time after he had been saved from Nimrod’s furnace when that ruler had expelled him from his country. He had not really had a permanent residence anywhere ever since. He had only been relatively safe after having defeated Nimrod (Amrafel) and his armies as reported in Genesis chapter 14.

הנה נתתי אלף כסף לאחיך, “here I have given 1000 pieces of silver to your brother;” Avimelech uses the word “your brother” sarcastically, meaning that he had given this amount of money to the person whom she had described as her brother. It was customary in those days to give expensive gifts to a bride’s brother. (Rash’bam) (We find that Eliezer had done the same to Rivkah’s brother and family.)

הנה הוא לך כסות עינים לכל אשר אתך, “this is to enable you to call your husband your brother, i.e. as a cover up, but this is to be used only as an explanation to your immediate entourage.

ואת כל, but concerning the general population in my country you must not continue to describe your husband as your brother. Otherwise other people may become the victims of the same error I have become a victim of. The letter ו in the word: ונוכחת is superfluous, as are numerous letters, [especially when the Torah quotes human beings rather than G-d as the speaker. Ed] In the Jerusalem Targum we find the following translation/exegesis: “the money I have given to your brother as compensation that he has been deprived of your presence for a single night; even if I would give you all my wealth it would not be enough to compensate you for the embarrassment that I have caused you. Suffice it to say that your husband Avraham is a righteous man who is aware that I have not violated you.”An alternate exegesis: הנה נתתי, if I have only given 1000 pieces of silver and nothing else to the person whom you describe as your brother, this will serve as something small enough for him to hide, and you would become embarrassed because people would say that I have paid a bribe to your brother to keep him from raising a fuss, but they would still think that I have violated you. Now that I have also given you sheep and cattle, male and female slaves, openly, everyone will know that you and I have nothing to hide. You will be able to hold your head high and argue with everyone, seeing that your hands are clean and I have returned you to your husband against my will. Yet another explanation of this difficult verse: “Your brother Avraham is the one that can serve as your blindfold. It was he who had hidden from one and all that he was your husband and that you were his wife. He had commanded your entire entourage to go along with this charade, You have also played along, so that my sin must be viewed in that context and not be considered as so severe.”

וילדו, “they gave birth.” Avimelech is not included in the statement: “they gave birth.” It refers only to the females mentioned in the verse. We have proof that this is the correct interpretation from Genesis 29,39 ויחמו הצאן, when the sheep were in heat, where the Torah uses the masculine mode, although obviously it was the female sheep which were in heat, as the male do not conceive and give birth. There is further proof that the expression וילדו, “they gave birth,” cannot refer to Avimelech personally, from verse 18, where the Torah relates that while Sarah was in Avimelech’s palace, captive, all the women in his household, had been unable to give birth though highly pregnant. After Avraham prayed for Avimelech, G-d healed them so that they all gave birth simultaneously as a sign of G-d’s intervention. Another example of a similar formulation in the Torah, which at first glance appears incredible is in Genesis 30,26, where after the birth of Joseph, and completion of a total of 14 years of service to Lavan, Yaakov demands: תנה את נשי ואת ילדי אשר עבדתי אותך בהן, “Hand over my wives and my children for whom I have served you!” Yaakov had served Lavan only for his wives, not for his children.