And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
10. What sawest thou ] i.e. “what hadst thou in view?” An unusual use of the verb “to see.” Cf. Psa 66:18, “if I regard (lit. ‘see’) iniquity in my heart.” Some scholars prefer, by a slight alteration of the text, the reading, “what didst thou fear?” yartha for ra’tha (Bacher).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What levity or miscarriage didst thou discern in us which moved thee to deal thus with us?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Abimelech said unto Abraham,…. Continuing his discourse with him:
what sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? he desires to know what he had observed, either in him or his people, that gave him any reason to conclude that they were a lustful people, and would stick at nothing to gratify their lusts, which put him upon taking such a method to secure his life, lest they should kill him for his wife’s sake.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ What sawest thou, ” i.e., what hadst thou in thine eye, with thine act (thy false statement)? Abimelech did this publicly in the presence of his servants, partly for his own justification in the sight of his dependents, and partly to put Abraham to shame. The latter had but two weak excuses: (1) that he supposed there was no fear of God at all in the land, and trembled for his life because of his wife; and (2) that when he left his father’s house, he had arranged with his wife that in every foreign place she was to call herself his sister, as she really was his half-sister. On the subject of his emigration, he expressed himself indefinitely and with reserve, accommodating himself to the polytheistic standpoint of the Philistine king: “ when God (or the gods, Elohim) caused me to wander, ” i.e., led me to commence an unsettled life in a foreign land; and saying nothing about Jehovah, and the object of his wandering as revealed by Him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. What sawest thou that thou hast done this thing ? By this question the king provides against the future. He thinks that Abraham had not practiced this dissimulation inconsiderately; and, since God was grievously offended, he fears to fall again into the same danger. He therefore testifies, by an inquiry so earnest, that he wishes to remedy the evil. Now, it is no common sign of a just and meek disposition in Abimelech, that he allows Abraham a free defense. We know how sharply, and fiercely, they expostulate, who think themselves aggrieved: so much the greater praise, then, was due to the moderation of this king, towards an unknown foreigner. Meanwhile, let us learn, by his example, whenever we expostulate with our brethren, who may have done us any wrong, to permit them freely to answer us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) What sawest thou?Some modern commentators explain the Hebrew as meaning, What purpose hadst thou? What didst thou look for? But the old rendering is probably right. Abimelech first denies by indignant questions that he had been guilty of any wrong towards Abraham, and then asks what he had seen in the conduct of himself and people to justify such mistrust of them. Throughout, the king speaks as a man conscious that his citizens so respected the rights of a stranger and of marriage, that Sarah would have been perfectly safe had Abraham openly said that she was his wife.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. What sawest thou What didst thou observe in us or among us to lead thee to do this thing? What didst thou take us to be? Others take the question to mean, “What hadst thou in thine eye; or what object hadst thou in view?”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 20:10. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, &c. Continuing his discourse to him, he desires to know what he had observed either in him or his people, which gave him any reason to conclude that they were given up to evil desires, and would stop at nothing to gratify them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 20:10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
Ver. 10. What sawest thou? ] He hath not yet done, but further expostulateth the injury, and setteth on the reproof. Personatae reprehensiones frigent .” Rebuke them sharply”. Tit 1:13
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sawest thou = hadst thou seen.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: Gen 12:18 – General Gen 26:10 – General Gen 31:26 – What 2Ch 16:3 – break