Abraham prayed that Abimelech might be healed, and prayed
for them also, and they all were healed.^

Chapter XXI. — i And the Lord visited Sarah." The Torah
records the chapter of Sarah's conception close upon that

^ See Gen. ace. to the Tat., p. ^Z^, v. 18, where it is said that even the
hens belonging to tlie house of Abimelecli ceased to lay eggs (and needed
to be cured).
* This chapter is read with great devotion and solemnity at public
worship on the first day of the Jewish new year, for it was on that day
that Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were visited or remembered by the Lord.
Rosh-Imshanah, fol. IIA. flUnOTD p ^H HUnpS, Visitations are the
same as Remembrances (Gen. xxi. I ; xxx. 22; I Sam. i. 19 and ii. 21 ;
also Exod. iii. 16).
^Ii6 RABBINICAL COMMENTARY.
n:elating to Abraham's intercession on behalf of Abimelech,
that (the females of) his household might bear children. Here
the Torah teaches us : When one prays for his neighbour, and
he himself is in need of the same thing for which he prays,
God grants it first to him before He grants it to his neighbour,
for Abraham prayed that the household of Abimelech might
bear children, and God gave Abraham children before He
gave to Abimelech, and this is the meaning of " and the Lord
visited Sarah." God remembered, or was mindful of Sarah's
conception, before He healed Abimelech (and his wife and his
maidservants).
