Why Abraham Moved to Gerar After Sodom Was Destroyed

Another interpretation: because the region of Sodom had been laid waste, and the travelers passing to and fro had ceased, Abraham said, "Shall I let the giving of charity stop from my house?" So he went and pitched his tent in Gerar. This is the meaning of what is written, "And Abraham journeyed from there" (Genesis 20:1). "A brother who has transgressed is harder to win than a fortified city" (Proverbs 18:19) refers to Lot, who was Abraham's nephew and who sinned against Abraham. You denied him, you dealt falsely with him. And what did this cause him? It brought upon him "and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress" [reading the verse as bringing strife against] the palace of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is the Temple. Just as it says elsewhere, "no unclean thing of any kind shall enter" the Temple (compare 2 Chronicles 23:19), so too here, "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 23:4). Therefore the verse "And Abraham journeyed from there" is placed adjacent. "The wise of heart will accept commandments" (Proverbs 10:8) refers to Abraham: because the region was laid waste, and so on. "And he journeyed from there" means he cleared out from his place because of the foul rumor, for people were saying, "Lot, Abraham's nephew, lay with his daughters." "To the land of the Negev" (the South): seven names are given to the south: darom, negev, yam, teimanah, yamin, cheder, and sinim. They raised an objection: is it not written, "not from the wilderness of the mountains" (Psalms 75:7)? He said to them: that too is the south. Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: I was passing before the synagogue of the Babylonians in Sepphoris and I heard little children sitting and reciting, "And Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev." I said: Great are the words of the sages, who say, "Be careful with their coals, lest you be burned, for their bite is the bite of a fox, and all their words are like coals of fire." From the hour that our father Abraham parted from Lot, his separation was a separation forever. "And he sojourned in Gerar," in Gardiko.