2496. Genesis 20

1. And Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the south and settled between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar.

2. And Abraham said [in regard] to Sarah his wife, "She is my sister"; and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Look, you will die because of the woman that you took; and she is married to a husband."

4. And Abimelech had not gone near her, and he said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?

5. Didn't he say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and in the blamelessness of my hands I did this."

6. And God said to him in a dream, "I do indeed know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, and indeed I kept you from sinning against me; therefore I did not give you [a chance] to touch her.

7. And now return the man's wife, because he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. And if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, as will everyone who is yours."

8. And Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his slaves and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men were extremely frightened.

9. And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us, and in what way have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom an immense sin? Deeds that are not done you have done to me."

10. And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What have you seen, that you would do this thing?"

11. And Abraham said, "Because I said, "Nevertheless there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me over the matter of my wife."

12. And in addition she truly is my sister; she is my father's daughter–although not my mother's daughter–and she became my wife.

13. And it happened when God made me go from my father's house that I said to her, 'This is a kindness that you might do for me: every place that we come to, say [in relation] to me, "He is my brother."'""

14. And Abimelech took flock and herd, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored to him Sarah his wife.

15. And Abimelech said, "Look: my land is before you; settle in the [part that is] good in your eyes."

16. And to Sarah he said, "Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother; here now, for you it is a veil over the eyes of everyone who is with you, and of everyone [else], and you are vindicated."

17. And Abraham prayed to God, and God cured Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, and they bore children,

18. because Jehovah had tightly closed every womb of Abimelech's house on that account, because of the matter of Sarah, wife of Abraham.

Summary

CHAPTER 12 above [§§1401-1502] dealt with Abraham's stay in Egypt, which symbolized the secular knowledge the Lord acquired while he was still young.

The current chapter deals with Abraham's stay in Gerar, where Abimelech was. This period too symbolizes what the Lord learned, but what he learned about the doctrines concerning charity and faith.

In particular, the subject here is the source of the teachings about charity and faith. To be specific, those teachings are spiritual and come from a heavenly origin, not from logic.