Kommentar zu Bereschit 12:19

קח ולך TAKE HER AND GO AWAY — Not as Abimelech who said to him (Genesis 20:15) “Behold, my land is before thee; dwell wherever it seemeth proper to thee”: but he (Pharaoh) said to him, “Go and do not stay here,” for the Egyptians are greatly addicted to lewd-living, as it is said. (Ezekiel 23:20). “And whose issue is like the issue of horses” (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 5). (The passage deals with the immoral practices of the Egyptians).

SO THAT I TOOK HER TO BE MY WIFE. The meaning thereof is that it was Pharaoh’s intention that she be his regal wife, not just his concubine. Pharaoh mentioned this to Abraham so that he should confess to him if she is his sister, as I have explained.

?למה אמרת אחותי היא, even after she had already been brought to my palace?

למה...לאשה, I did not take her merely to sleep with her but I took her to be my wife.

ואקח אותה לי לאשה, “so that I took her to be my wife.” He meant that Sarai was intended to be his queen, as opposed to her being merely a concubine. He used this phraseology in order to induce Avraham to reveal whether she was indeed his wife or not.

הנה אשתך קח ולך, “here is your wife, take her and go!” Avram did not bother to make a response to Pharaoh although he did make a response to Avimelech in chapter twenty. In the latter case he excused his conduct by saying he had feared for his life if he would have declared that Sarai was his wife. The obvious question is that seeing that both kings had asked him about his relationship to Sarai, why did Avram see fit to explain his conduct to Avimelech whereas he did not do so vis-a-vis Pharaoh?
We must conclude that the manner in which Pharaoh restored his wife to him by saying only the minimum words required “take and go,” indicated to Avram that he was not interested in listening to explanations.

למה אמרת אחותי היא, “why did you say: “she is my sister,” whereas she never said that you are her brother. This is distinctly different from when Sarah had been kidnapped by Avimelech, and the latter had subsequently accused her in his dream of having said that Avraham was her brother. (Genesis 20,5) [It was part of his plea that he was totally innocent. Ed. Our author ascribes Sarah’s conduct vis a vis Pharaoh as due to her relative youth and naivety, whereas by the time she was kidnapped by Avimelech she had become more familiar with the real world.

ואקח אותה לי לאשה, so that I took her to be my wife, not my concubine. I though that seeing that she is your sister you would surely approve of this union!

הנה אשתך, here she is, as much your wife as before, since I did not touch her.

הנה אשתך קח ולך, “here is your wife, take her and leave” They did not part on cordial terms as in the case of Avimelech, who allowed Avraham to settle anywhere he chose in his country. (Genesis 20,15) The Egyptians knew no sexual restraints and Pharaoh was afraid if Avraham stayed there he might be exposed to further dangers on account of his wife.

קח ולך, go and leave immediately before any person in my kingdom tries to rape her. She is too beautiful for most of my subjects to resist the temptation she represents for them. The reason why Avram did not bother to answer Pharaoh as he did Avimelech later (20,11-13) was because Avimelech had not expelled him, so that he deserved an answer.