tion of Abimelech's good conscience (which depended solely
on the purity of his motives), but of Yahwe's words in 6b.
Why he had not come near her, we gather fully from 17.—4b, 5. Abimelech protests his innocence.—innocent folk]—'such as I am' (v.i.).—5. (
Hebrew characters)] 'unsuspectingly'; cf. 2 Sa. 1511, 1 Ki. 2234; in the wider sense of moral integrity the phrase occurs 1 Ki. 94, Ps. 7872 1012.—6. have kept thee back from sinning (i.e. inexpiably) against me] The sin is not mere infringement of the rights of a privileged person (Di.), but the moral offence of violating the marriage bond.—suffered thee not] by sickness (v.17).—7. The situation is altered by this disclosure of the facts to Abimelech: if he now retains Sarah, he will be on every ground deserving of punishment.—he is a prophet] in a secondary sense, as a 'man of God,' whose person and property are inviolable: cf. Ps. 10515.—On intercession as a function of the prophet, Dt. 920, 1 Sa. 75 1219. 23, Jer. 716 etc.; but cf. Jb. 428.—that thou mayest live] or 'recover.' The section (3-7) exhibits a vacillation which is characteristic of the conception of sin in antique religion. Sin is not wholly an affair of the conscience and inward motive, but an external fact—a violation of the objective moral order, which works out its consequences with the indifference of a law of nature to the mental condition of the transgressor (cf. the matricide of Orestes, etc.; and see Smend, ATRG2, 108 f.). At the same time God Himself recognises the relative validity of Abimelech's plea of ignorance (6). It is the first faint protest of the moral sense against the hereditary mechanical notion of guilt. But it is a long way from Abimelech's faltering protestation of innocence to Job's unflinching assertion of the right of the individual conscience against the decree of an unjust fate.
8-13. Abimelech and Abraham.—9. a great sin] i.e., a state of things which, though unwittingly brought about, involves heavy judgement from God (see on 3-7 above).—deeds
its late Jewish sense of an individual 'heathen.' Geiger, Graetz, al.
regard the word as a gloss or a corrupt dittography. G has (Greek characters).—5.
(Hebrew characters)] only here in Hex.; E is addicted to rare
expressions. For (Hebrew characters), cf. Ps. 268 7313.—6. (Hebrew characters)] for (Hebrew characters); G-K. § 75 qq.—(Hebrew characters)]
= 'permit,' 317, Nu. 2021 2123 2213 (E), Ex. 1223 (J), 319 (R), Dt. 1814,
Jos. 1019 (D): see OH, i. 192.
8. (Hebrew characters)] [E]GV pr. (Hebrew characters).—9. (Hebrew characters)] S (Syriac characters) = (Hebrew characters),
