Marital Duties and How Abraham's Prayer Loosed the Sealed Wombs

"And before all she was set right" (Genesis 20:16). He said to her: the reproof of that man [Abimelech, or a husband] is already with him, as we have learned: A wife who rebels against her husband, they reduce from her marriage settlement seven dinars each week. Why seven? Because she was obligated in seven kinds of work, and so on. And likewise a husband who rebels against his wife, they add to her marriage settlement three dinars each week, because he is obligated to her in three things: food, clothing, and conjugal duty. "And Abraham prayed to God" (Genesis 20:17). From the beginning of the book until here this expression had not been used; and once Abraham prayed, that knot was loosed. "For the LORD had firmly closed up" (Genesis 20:18) - there was a closing in the mouth, a closing in the throat, a closing in the ear, a closing from above, a closing from below, and all of it on account of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Rabbi Berekhiah said: because he dared to approach the sandal of the noblewoman, and so on.