And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This [is] thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He [is] my brother.
13. God caused me to wander ] Referring to Gen 12:1. The Hebrew student will notice that the verb “caused me to wander” is in the plural, although, as a rule in the O.T., the word “God” ( Elohim) is treated as sing. But it is sometimes the case that the plural is used, as here and in Gen 31:53, Jos 24:19, when an Israelite speaks to heathen, or else heathen are speaking of God, e.g. 1Sa 4:8; 1Ki 19:2; 1Ki 20:10. For an exception, see Gen 35:7. Here the Massoretic note adds “holy,” in order to call attention to the unusual construction.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 13. When God caused me to wander] Here the word Elohim is used with a plural verb, ( hithu, caused me to wander), which is not very usual in the Hebrew language, as this plural noun is generally joined with verbs in the singular number. Because there is a departure from the general mode in this instance, some have contended that the word Elohim signifies princes in this place, and suppose it to refer to those in Chaldea, who expelled Abraham because he would not worship the fire; but the best critics, and with them the Jews, allow that Elohim here signifies the true God. Abraham probably refers to his first call.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To wander. This word he useth because God did not direct him to any certain place, but sent him out he knew not whither, Heb 11:8. And being to travel and sojourn amongst persons of divers tempers and manners, and all pagans, he thought this equivocal expression convenient for his security.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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
Heb 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. When God caused me to wander (430) Because the verb is here put in the plural number, I freely expound the passage as referring to the angels, who led Abraham through his various wanderings. Some, with too much subtlety, infer from it a Trinity of Persons: as if it had been written: The gods caused me to wander. I grant, indeed, that the noun אלהים ( Elohim,) is frequently taken for God in the Scripture: but then the verb with which it is connected is always singular. Wherever a plural verb is added then it signifies angels or princes. (431) There are those who think that Abraham, because he was speaking with one who was not rightly instructed, spoke thus in conformity with the common custom of the heathen; but, in my opinion, most erroneously. For to what purpose did he, by erecting altars, make it manifest that he was devoted to the service of the only true God, if it were lawful for him afterwards to deny, in words, the very God whom he had worshipped? On which subject we have before spoken, as the case required. Abraham, however, does not complain respecting, the angels, that he had been led astray by their fallacious guidance: but he points out what his own condition formerly was; namely, that having left his own country, he had not only migrated into a distant land, but had been constantly compelled to change his abode. Wherefore there is no wonder, that necessity drove him into new designs. Should any one inquire, why he makes angels the guides of his pilgrimage? the answer is ready; Although Abraham knew that he was wandering by the will and providence of God alone, he yet refers to angels, who, as he elsewhere acknowledges, were given him to be the guides of his journey. The sum of the address is of this tendency; to teach Abimelech, that Abraham was alike free from malicious cunning, and from falsehood: and then, that because he was passing a wandering and unquiet life; Sarah, by agreement, had always said the same thing which she had done in Gerar. This wretched anxiety of the holy man might so move Abimelech to compassion as to cause his anger to cease.
(430) “ Quando circumduxerunt me angeli.” — “When the angels led me about.”
(431) The reasoning of Calvin is not conclusive. There are cases, though but few, in which Elohim, as here, when joined to a verb plural, signifies, not angels nor princes, but the true God. See Gen 35:7. Calvin, however, in this passage also, translates the word, “angels.” Still there seems no sufficient reason for departing from our own received version. Dathe agrees with it. “ Deinde cum Deus me ex patria mea migrare juberet.” It is also confirmed by the Septuagint version. — See the Commentary of Professor Bush, in loco. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) When God caused me to wander.According to rule, Elohim is construed with a verb singular for the true God, but with a verb plural for false gods. Here the verb is plural, and the same construction occurs in Gen. 35:7; Exo. 22:9; 2Sa. 7:22 (but singular in 1Ch. 17:20); and Psa. 58:11 : moreover, in Jos. 24:19, Elohim is joined with an adjective (holy) in the plural. These exceptions may either be relics of a less strict use of the name Elohim, or they may be errors of copyists, misled by the ordinary rules of grammar. This latter view is confirmed by the fact that the Samaritan Pentateuch, both here and in Gen. 35:7, has the singular.
At every place.The fact of this compact between Abraham and Sarah having been made so long before, would convince Abimelech that their conduct was not occasioned by anything which they had seen at Gerar (comp. Gen. 20:10).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 20:13. When God caused, &c. It is observable here, that the noun and verb are both in the plural, When the Elohim they caused me to wander, another striking proof of the doctrine of the Sacred Trinity.
REFLECTIONS.We have here,
1. Abimelech’s care and haste to get rid of Sarah: he warns his servants, and trembles himself. When sin is in the case, we cannot be too solicitous to be rid of it.
2. His serious reproof of Abraham: a great sin, which would have involved his kingdom in ruin, brought on him by Abraham’s suspicious fear and dissimulation, without any provocation. Note; (1.) Adultery is among the greatest of sins. (2.) Kings shall rue for it. (3.) Their people are often involved in their punishment. (4.) The greatest injury any man can do us, is to lead us into sin. (5.) Uncharitable suspicions are very injurious to ourselves, and oftentimes the cause of greater evil to others.
3. Abraham’s weak excuse. His fears of the place favoured of censoriousness: his fears of his wife bespoke his unbelief. Note; (1.) We are too apt to conclude they have no religion, who are not exactly in our way of thinking: But we are often mistaken to our shame; their practice reproves us. (2.) Equivocations generally lead us into scrapes; but truth will never shame its author.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
About 1151 in value. See Gen 24:65
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 20:13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This [is] thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He [is] my brother.
Ver. 13. When God caused me to wander. ] Cum facerent Dii , when they, even God, caused me. The mystery of the Trinity, a though Calvin interpret it of the angels; as Cartwright likewise doth that of Solomon, which Junius conceiveth to be spoken of the blessed Trinity, “There be higher than they,” Ecc 5:8 sc., that Three in One, and One in Three.
a Mysterium Triados . – Jun.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
caused. The verb is in the plural. kindness. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause). Kindness put for the kind deeds caused by it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
God: Gen 12:1, Gen 12:9, Gen 12:11-20, Act 7:3-5, Heb 11:8
This: 1Sa 23:21, Psa 64:5, Act 5:9
say: Gen 12:13
Reciprocal: Gen 26:7 – She is my sister
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 20:13. When God caused me to wander from my fathers house Then we settled this matter. It may be, that God denied Abraham and Sarah the blessing of children so long, to punish them for this sinful compact they had made to deny one another: if they will not own their marriage, why should God own it? But we may suppose that, after this reproof, they agreed never to do so again, and then presently we read, (Gen 21:1-2.) that Sarah conceived.