Comentário sobre Gênesis 12:15

ויהללו אותה אל פרעה AND THEY PRAISED HER TO PHARAOH — They praised her among themselves saying, “This woman is worthy of the king (i. e. they praised her as being suitable אל פרעה for Pharaoh).

AND THE PRINCES OF PHARAOH SAW HER. The purport⁹⁵Ramban is aiming to answer the following question: In the preceding verse it says, And the Egyptians saw the woman. Why does it say here again, And the princes of Pharaoh saw her? thereof is that when the Egyptians saw her they said, “This one is worthy of the great princes,” and so they brought her before them. But they were also afraid of touching her for due to her great beauty, they knew that the king would desire her exceedingly. “And they praised her among themselves saying, ‘This one is worthy of the king.’” Thus the language of Rashi.
This is in accordance with the opinion of Onkelos who says, “And they praised her for Pharaoh.”⁹⁶Meaning that they praised her among themselves by saying that she is suitable for Pharaoh. Or it may be that they praised her to the king himself, and he sent for her and took her.

ויראו אותה שרי פרעה, they quickly quashed any hopes the commoners had entertained relating to marrying this woman.

ויראו...ותקח, our sages, in comparing the abduction of Esther, and that of Sarai, point out that whereas with Esther the word used is ותלקח, here the word used by the Torah is ותקח, a pual (strong passive) mode, as opposed to a nifal-passive mode. (compare Torah Shleymah item 157 on this) In Sarai’s case, the formulation reflects the fact that she was a married woman, so that her abduction was a violation of her and her husband’s rights, whereas in Esther’s case it was “merely” a violation of her rights. According to our author Esther had been agreeable to participating in the contest. [The passive form would only reflect that none of the girls were active, but were selected by the king’s servants who had to decide if they had a chance to appeal to the king. Ed.]

ויראו אותה שרי פרעה, “When the ministers of Pharaoh saw her, etc.” When the local Egyptians saw this beautiful woman they said that she is suitable for highly placed ministers, etc. But even when they brought her to such ministers they were afraid to touch her themselves, preferring to bring her to the King, having decided that she was suitable only for the King himself.

They praised her among themselves saying ... Otherwise it should have written לפני פרעה or לפרעה, [rather than אל פרעה].