Genesis 20:13

13 soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother. (and after that God led me out of my father's house, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy for me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say that I am thy brother.)

Genesis 20:13 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 20:13

And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my
father's house
In Ur of the Chaldees, from whence God called him to go forth; which laid him under an obligation to depart from thence, and move from place to place, and go he knew not where, as in ( Hebrews 11:8 ) ; or "the Gods", as it is in the plural number, and so the verb in construction with it; not the idol gods, the gods of the Gentiles, as the Targum of Jonathan, who interprets the words thus,

``and it was when the worshippers of idols sought to cause men to err, and I went from my father's house;''

but the true God, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Melech acknowledge, and is by many Christian interpreters understood of the three Persons in the Godhead: that I said unto her, this [is] thy kindness which thou shalt show unto
me;
this I shall take as a favour done me, as an instance of tender affection unto me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me;
or for the sake of me, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, in order to save me from the hands of wicked men, whom he feared would slay him for her sake: he [is] my brother;
and so he hoped, instead of being ill used, he should meet with favour and friendship on her account, being thus nearly related to her: this he observes to Abimelech, to show that this was an old agreement, near thirty years ago, when they first set out on their travels, and was no new device and scheme which they pursued on account of him and his people in particular; but what they had formerly agreed upon should be said in all places wherever they came, and therefore there was no intention to affront Abimelech; only it supposed they might come into places where wicked men dwelt.

Genesis 20:13 In-Context

11 (And) Abraham answered, I thought within me, and said, In hap the dread of God is not in this place; and they shall slay me for my wife;

12 in other manner forsooth and she is my sister verily, (for she is) the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother; and I wedded her into wife; (and truly in one way she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so I wedded her for a wife;)

13 soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother. (and after that God led me out of my father's house, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy for me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say that I am thy brother.)

14 Therefore Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and he yielded to him Sarah, his wife, (And so Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he gave him back his wife Sarah,)

15 and said, The land is before you; dwell thou, wherever it pleaseth thee.