“Avimelekh had not approached her; he said: My Lord, will You kill a nation that is also innocent?” (Genesis 20:4). “Avimelekh did not approach her…will You kill a nation even if it is innocent [tzadik]?” He said: If this is how You judged the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion, [perhaps] they [too] were innocent.21This explains why Avimelekh spoke of a "nation” being killed, despite the fact that it was he alone who was threatened.
Rabbi Berekhya said: If you kill this nation,22According to this explanation, Avimelekh was referring to his own nation, who were all under threat (see Genesis 20:9). you would also kill a righteous man [tzadik].23Because I did nothing wrong. “Did he not say to me: She is my sister? And she, also she said: He is my brother. In the innocence of my heart and in the cleanliness of my hands I did this” (Genesis 20:5).
“Did he not say to me: She is my sister? And she, also she…”24The words “also she” appear to be superfluous. – she, his donkey drivers, his camel drivers, the members of his household, and the members of her household, all of them said so.25The words “also she” mean: All these other people in addition to her. “In the innocence of my heart” – that is to say that there was touching of the hands.26Avimelekh protested that his hands acted in innocence, implying that there was some form of action.