Bereshis 26:10

10 And Avimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have slept with thy isha, and thou shouldest have brought asham (guilt) upon us.

Bereshis 26:10 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:10

And Abimelech said, what is this thou hast done unto us?
&c.] By entertaining suspicions and jealousies of us as bad men, and by exposing us to the temptation of committing iniquity; why hast thou dealt thus with us, and what have we done, or is in our character, that thou shouldest act after this manner? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife;
it is much one or other had not before this time, not looking upon it criminal to have to do with a single woman, when they would not have meddled with another man's wife, Jarchi interprets this of Abimelech himself; and so the Targum of Jonathan, who perhaps had been thinking of taking her to his bed; and was "within a little" F3, as the word for "lightly" may be rendered, of accomplishing his design: and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us:
been the occasion of their committing the sin of adultery, which was heinous in the eyes of Heathens, and of bringing on them the punishment due thereunto.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (jemk) "parum abfuit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Bereshis 26:10 In-Context

8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Avimelech Melech Pelishtim (Philistines) looked out at a chalon, and saw, and, hinei, Yitzchak metzachek (was caressing) Rivkah his isha.
9 And Avimelech called Yitzchak, and said, Hinei, of a surety she is thy isha; and why saidst thou, She is my achot? And Yitzchak said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.
10 And Avimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have slept with thy isha, and thou shouldest have brought asham (guilt) upon us.
11 And Avimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his isha shall surely be put to death.
12 Then Yitzchak sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and Hashem blessed him.
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