Genesis 20:13

And it was when they sought to turn me aside to the wor-ship of idols, and I went forth from my father's house, that I said to her, This is the kindness thou shalt do me: in every place to which we come, say concerning me, He is my brother.

1. "In the Holy Tongue, its taste travels from place to place and did not know to where it went. Behold, he was wandering in a field and this is not wandering in the heart. Write also why you were tortured by God.

2. "Say of me" - Say for me, and yes, as Pharaoh said to the children of Israel.

כאשר התעו אותי, He exiled me from my home by ordering me “go forth for yourself from your homeland.” (12,1). This is the true meaning of Deut. 26,5 ארמי אובד אבי. Yaakov’s troubles stemmed from having been exiled from his father’s home, at the behest of his father, whereas Avraham’s exile was at the behest of G’d. Both the expression התעו אותי and אובד אותי are repeats of the same expression similar to Psalms 119,176 תעיתי כשה אובד, “I wandered without destination, lost like a sheep.” Lost sheep were my companions, their shepherd having misled them.

אמרי לי, “say concerning me.”

התעו אותי אלוקים, on account of the various alien gods which I despise I have been forced to leave my father’s house and to travel to areas I did not know, not to places of my own choice. This is why he described himself as תועה, someone who wanders, does not have a fixed destination.

התעו אותי אלוקים, the meaning of the word התעו is similar to הגלו, “exiled.” When someone is exiled from a place with which he is familiar, he will tend to lose his way in areas with which he is unfamiliar.

אלוקים, this word here is sacred. The reason why the word is used in the plural is because the listeners refer to their gods in the plural, so the Torah uses a syntax familiar to ordinary people. In spite of this the word is treated as a sacred name of G’d, one that must not be erased, such as when Job speaks of אלו-ה עושי, literally: the “G’d Who have made me.” (not: has made me). (Job 35,10). We find a similar construction where אלוקים is sacred and at the same time treated as if totally in the plural mode in Psalms 149,2 ישמח ישראל בעושיו instead of בעושו. (as opposed to בראשית ברא אלוקים where the verb is in the singular) A somewhat less perplexing construction is found in Joshua 24,19 אלוקים קדושין הוא. [even though the adjective is in the plural, at least the pronoun הוא is in the singular. Ed.]

מבית אבי, from the house of my brothers and family, as when G’d instructed him in 12,1 מארצך ומבית אביך וגו'.

ואומר לה, seeing that we were coming to countries about which we knew nothing or very little, I said to her, out of my fear of the local inhabitants,

אל כל המקום, actually, we find that this stratagem was employed by Avraham only twice. We must therefore assume that Avraham meant that he had told Sarah that in any location which appeared to warrant such a white lie, he told her to use it. As soon as we hear from others that the people in the place which we are approaching are evil people, we need to avail ourselves of this strategy in order to enhance my chances of survival. This applied to locations in which Avraham would only be a transient. Wherever he settled down, people knew who he was and respected him, and would not dream of molesting either him or Sarah. We know that Avner, Eshkol and Mamre were actually allies of Avraham. Even the people of Kiryat Arba referred to him as a “prince in our midst.” (23,6)

אמרי לי, on my account, concerning me; Actually, many people asked Avraham concerning Sarah’s marital status.