Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”
Gen 12:10-14 Abram in Egypt. - Abram had scarcely passed through the land promised to his seed, when a famine compelled him to leave it, and take refuge in Egypt, which abounded in corn; just as the Bedouins in the neighbourhood are accustomed to do now.
Commenting on Genesis 12:10-14
Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister,.... Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Gen 20:12 yet it was done to conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to endanger his wife's chastity, as well as showed great timorousness in him, and distrust of the divine...
Say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. (m) By this we learn not to use unlawful means nor to put others in danger to save ourselves, .