Komentarz do Rodzaju 20:4

לא קרב אליה HE HAD NOT COME NEAR HER — The Angel prevented him, as it is said (v. 6) “I have not permitted thee to touch her” (cf. Genesis Rabbah 52).

ואבימלך לא קרב אליה, this conforms what G’d told him in response, that it was He, G’d, Who had prevented him from having sexual relations with her. (verse 6)

הגוי גם צדיק, is it fair that You would kill a nation by killing its king, especially when this king is not even guilty of a mortal offence?

ואבימלך לא קרב אליה. Avimelech had not been intimate with her. According to Maimonides Hilchot Melachim 9,7 a Gentile who engages in sexual inercourse with someone else's wife is only guilty of death if the act was performed in the normative manner. If such a Gentile indulges in intercourse with a Jewish woman however, he is guilty of death regardless of the manner in which the sexual act is performed. The Torah indicates that Avimelech was aware of this distinction and that he refrained from touching Sarah because he was afraid she might be married to Abraham the Jew.

ואבימלך לא קרב אליה, the reason was that G’d had restricted his lust. This is why G’d said to him in his dream in response to the accusation that He would kill the innocent, that the only reason Avimelech had not touched her had been that He, G’d, had made him temporarily impotent.

הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג,“are You going to kill also innocent people?” It is entirely possible that Avimelech referred to himself when he said: “are You going to kill a “people?” He meant that as a result of killing him, G’d would cause the death of the צדיק, the righteous Avraham, seeing that the king’s servants would then kill Avraham.

The angel prevented him... Rashi needed to explain this so the verses do not contradict each other. It is written later (v. 6): “I also prevented you from sinning against Me,” implying that Hashem prevented him, whereas this verse implies that Avimelech refrained on his own from coming near her. (Nachalas Yaakov)

הגוי גם צדיק תהרג, wirst du denn auch ein gerechtes Volk umbringen? Eben freilich hast du über Sodom gerichtet, (— auch in ב"ר wird zur Erklärung der Raw Hirsch on Genesis 20: 8 Abimelech und seinen Hof ergreifenden Furcht auf Sodom hingewiesen, לפי שהיו רואים עשנה של סדום עולה ככבשן האש וכו׳, sie sahen noch den Rauch von Sodoms Trümmern aufsteigen und fürchteten, es bereite sich ein gleiches Gottesgericht über sie vor —) auch dort war die Behandlung von Fremdlingen und geschlechtliche Vergehen die nächste Ursache. Allein in Sodom war es unmenschliche Grausamkeit gegen Fremde und viehische Ausschweifung im geschlechtlichen Leben. Dem gegenüber mochte wahrlich Philistäa, wo Abraham und Sara ungestörten Aufenthalt fanden, und wo, was Abimelech mit Sara vorhatte, vielleicht gar noch als eine Ehe angesehen wurde, als גוי צדיק erscheinen.

ואבימלך לא קרב אליה, “while Avimelech had not become intimate with her.” [but he had kidnapped her, Ed.] The reason why the Torah had to emphasise this latter point, i.e. that Avimelech had not violated Sarah sexually, is the fact that her being kidnapped occurred so close to her becoming pregnant with Yitzchok.

הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג WILT THOU SLAY ALSO A RIGHTEOUS NATION? — Even though it be righteous will you slay it? Is such perhaps Your usual way— to destroy nations without cause? That is what you did to the generation of the Flood and to the generation of the Dispersal. I may indeed say that you slew them without proper cause, just as you think to kill me without cause (Genesis Rabbah 52:6).

?הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג, if You were to kill me just as you would kill my people. I am a leader and practice law and justice in my country. I am not on the same level as my common people. This explains also verse 9 where Avimelech distinguishes between himself and his Kingdom (subjects) by saying to Avraham “that you have brought on me and my kingdom (people) this great sin?” Furthermore, he argued that he considered himself righteous, having had reason to believe that Sarah was unattached.

הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג "Are You killing nations even when they are righteous?" Why did Avimelech use the word גוי when he spoke about himself? Why did he say גם צדיק, "also the righteous?" The term תהרוג seems inappropriate seeing G'd gave him the option to return Sarah to Abraham untouched.

ויאמר א־דני, He said: ”My Lord,” i.e. this word is treated as the holy name of G-d.

The matter will become clear in conjunction with Berachot 64 on Kings I 22,17: "they will each return to his house in peace." The prophet Michayu uses the word בשלום instead of לשלום. The former is used when one speaks of the dead. Even though only king Achav died in that battle, the euphemism for death is applied to the entire nation. This teaches that when the king is in distress the whole nation is considered as being in distress. Here too Avimelech's statement reflects the same sentiment. His own problem becomes a national problem. By the same token Avimelech felt that if he personally was righteous this reflected on his entire people; it follows that if G'd were to kill him for a crime he had not committed, G'd would, in effect, kill a whole nation that was innocent. Moreover, he was afraid that G'd would kill him for having taken Sarah even without having slept with her. He added that even if he had slept with her while unaware that she was married, he would not have to face the death penalty, seeing Abraham himself had described her as "my sister."

?הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג, “Are You killing people even if they are innocent?” The verse appears as an abbreviated version of Avimelech’s thoughts. The full version would be: הגם גוי צדיק תהרוג?, “Are You also going to kill an innocent nation?” The word גם appears in the Torah quite often as part of such an abbreviated formulation. An alternate exegesis of this verse: the word, “also,” is treated as someone or something additional i.e. “if You kill me (Avimelech describes himself as if only one of the common people) then you must also kill Avraham the righteous person for having misled me. Had he not described her as his sister I would not have abducted her.

Alternatively, Avimelech thought that G'd had accused him of taking Sarah knowing she was married. He denied this vehemently.