And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
10. lightly ] Lit. “as a little”: i.e. “it might easily have happened.” See Gen 12:18, Gen 20:10. For “lien” = “lain,” cf. Psa 68:13 A.V. and P.B.V.).
guiltiness ] Heb. shm; LXX ; Lat. grande peccatum. In spite of ignorance, national guilt would be involved in such an outrage as marriage with the wile of another man. For “guiltiness,” “guilt,” cf. Psa 68:22; Pro 14:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 10. Thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.] It is likely that Abimelech might have had some knowledge of God’s intentions concerning the family of Abraham, and that it must be kept free from all impure and alien mixtures; and that consequently, had he or any of his people taken Rebekah, the Divine judgment might have fallen upon the land. Abimelech was a good and holy man; and he appears to have considered adultery as a grievous and destructive crime.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The heathens esteemed fornication either no sin, or a very little one; but adultery was heinous and formidable even among the heathens, and especially here, because it was fresh in memory how sorely God had punished Abimelech, and all his family, only for an intention of adultery, Gen 20:1-18. Note here, they take it for granted that their ignorance had not been a sufficient excuse for their sin.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Abimelech said, what is this thou hast done unto us?…. 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” c, 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.
c “parum abfuit”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. What is this thou hast done unto us? The Lord does not chastise Isaac as he deserved, perhaps because he was not so fully endued with patience as his father was; and, therefore, lest the seizing of his wife should dishearten him, God mercifully prevents it. Yet, that the censure may produce the deeper shame, God constitutes a heathen his master and his reprover. We may add, that Abimelech chides his folly, not so much with the design of injuring him, as of upbraiding him. It ought, however, deeply to have wounded the mind of the holy man, when he perceived that his offense was obnoxious to the judgment even of the blind. Wherefore, let us remember that we must walk in the light which God has kindled for us, lest even unbelievers, who are wrapped in the darkness of ignorance, should reprove our stupor. And certainly when we neglect to obey the voice of God, we deserve to be sent to oxen and asses for instruction. (38) Abimelech, truly, does not investigate nor prosecute the whole offense of Isaac, but only alludes to one part of it. Yet Isaac, when thus gently admonished by a single word, ought to have condemned himself, seeing that, instead of committing himself and his wife to God, who had promised to be the guardian of them both, he had resorted, through his own unbelief, to an illicit remedy. For faith has this property, that it confines us within divinely prescribed bounds, so that we attempt nothing except with God’s authority or permission. Whence it follows that Isaac’s faith wavered when he swerved from his duty as a husband. We gather, besides, from the words of Abimelech, that all nations have the sentiment impressed upon their minds, that the violation of holy wedlock is a crime worthy of divine vengeance, and have consequently a dread of the judgment of God. For although the minds of men are darkened with dense clouds, so that they are frequently deceived; yet God has caused some power of discrimination between right and wrong to remain, so that each should bear about with him his own condemnation, and that all should be without excuse. If, then, God cites even unbelievers to his tribunal, and does not suffer them to escape just condemnation, how horrible is that punishment which awaits us, if we endeavor to obliterate, by our own wickedness, that knowledge which God has engraven on our consciences?
(38) The allusion is obviously to Isa 1:3 : “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Gen 26:10 And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Ver. 10. Brought guiltiness upon us. ] Or, a shameful crime, subjecting us to condign punishment. This is more than many pseudo-Christians will yield; who hold adultery a light sin, if any at all, a trick of youth: being of the same mind with that old dotard in Terence: It is nothing for a young man to be found potting, piping, drinking, drabbing, swearing, whoring, &c. a And this poisonful position passed, it seems, for current at Corinth; whence the apostle Paul so strives to uproot that wretched opinion, by many arguments. 1Co 6:1-20 And 1Co 10:8 instead of the cloak of heat of youth, he puts upon fornication a bloody cloak, bathed in the blood of three and twenty thousand.
a Non est, mihi crede, flagitium, adolescentem belluari, potare, scortari, fores effringere.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
guiltiness. See App-15and App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gen 12:18, Gen 12:19, Gen 20:9, Gen 20:10
Reciprocal: Gen 31:26 – What Exo 32:21 – General Num 25:18 – vex you Job 31:11 – an heinous Pro 6:29 – toucheth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 26:10. Lightly Here, means perhaps. The heathen considered fornication either as no sin, or a very little one; but they had a different idea of adultery, considering it as heinous. Therefore, with a reference to it, Abimelech says, Thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us Probably it might be fresh in his memory how sorely God had punished his predecessor and all his family in the days of Abraham (chap. 20.) for only an intention of adultery. It is very observable here, that Abimelech takes it for granted, that their ignorance of Rebekahs being Isaacs wife would not have been a sufficient excuse for their sin.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:10 And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought {f} guiltiness upon us.
(f) In all ages men were persuaded that God’s vengeance would come on adulterers.