Genesis 20:3

3 But God came to Avimelekh in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, since she is someone's wife."

Genesis 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 20:3

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night
Put a dream into his mind, by which he cautioned him against taking Sarah to be his wife; so careful was the Lord that no wrong should be done to such a godly and virtuous person, to which she was exposed through the weakness of her husband. Aben Ezra wrongly interprets this of an angel, when it was God himself: and said unto him, behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman
which thou hast taken;
that is, God would punish him with death, unless he restored the woman, whom he had taken, to her husband; not for any uncleanness he had committed with her, but for taking her without her free and full consent, and without inquiring more strictly into her relation to Abraham, and connection with him, and for his impure and unlawful desires after her, if persisted in: for she [is] a man's wife,
or "married to an husband" ^F3; and therefore it was unlawful in him to take her to be his wife.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (leb tleb) "maritata marito", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Schmidt.

Genesis 20:3 In-Context

1 Avraham traveled from there toward the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. While living as an alien in G'rar,

2 Avraham was saying of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister"; so Avimelekh king of G'rar sent and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Avimelekh in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, since she is someone's wife."

4 Now Avimelekh had not come near her; so he said, "Lord, will you kill even an upright nation?

5 Didn't he himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In doing this, my heart has been pure and my hands innocent."