6.1.10 Gen. 20: Abraham and Sarah at Abimelech

The second incident of the “endangering of the ancestress”, not as  harsh as Gen. 12, but with a happy ending, ethically clean and boy-free.  There the Pharaoh, here the king Abimelech: The power of the rulers to  deal with their subjects at will must have been considerable. And the  prominent position of the 6th commandment, which declares the wife to  be taboo for any other man, right after the prohibition of killing is  certainly a bitter necessity. In the course of Abraham’s story, this repeated  endangerment of the promise of blessing stands as evidence of the  power of God’s promises even in the most difficult circumstances.