“Hashem appeared to Avimelech in a dream at night and told him, ‘Behold you are going to die for having taken the woman you took, for she is a married woman.'” (Bereshis 20:3)
Thinking that Sora was the sister rather than the wife of Avraham, Avimelech took Sora into his house. Hashem came to Avimelech in a dream and told him that he was deserving of death for this matter. The Almighty then added, “And now return this woman to her husband for he is a prophet and he will pray for you that you might live. And if you do not return (her) know that you will die...” (Bereshis 20:7)
The words “Behold you will die” spoken by the Ribono shel Olam in pasuk 3 are the equivalent of “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!” If the Ribono shel Olam pronounces someone a dead man, is that not a Divine Decree? After a Divine Decree, should it not be a done deal? And yet, Hashem then instructs in pasuk 7, “Return this woman to her husband and he will pray for you so that you may live.”
We see from this latter pasuk, that even if a person has a death sentence upon himself, prayer can nullify the death sentence. It does not always work. It does not always happen. But that is what this pasuk is saying: Behold you will die. You are a dead man. Nevertheless, he will pray for you. Prayer helps.
The same thing occurs in two other places in Tanach. Yeshaya the prophet comes to Chezkiyahu, King of Yehuda, and tells him prophetically “You will die. You will not live.” (Yeshaya 38:1) The very next pasuk says, “And Chezkiyahu turned his face to the wall and he prayed to Hashem.” (ibid. 38:2) Guess what? Chezkiyahu lived for fifteen more years. What happened to the prophetic decree? The decree was prior to his prayer.
The primary example of this is Hashem’s decree to Moshe: “You shall not cross this Jordan (River)” (Devorim 3:27). The Almighty decreed that Moshe Rabbeinu would not enter Eretz Yisrael. And yet the pasuk says, “And I prayed (Vo’Eschanan) to Hashem at that time saying...” (Devorim 3:24). Chazal say that Moshe davened the gematria (numeric value) of the word Vo’Eschanan, in other words, 515 times, after which Hashem told him, “Do not speak to me any more about this matter” (Devorim 3:26) because if you pray even one more time, I will need to let you enter the Land of Israel. What does that mean? He is the Ribono shel Olam! How can Moshe force His Hand? We see here again, that the Ribono shel Olam created an institution in this world called prayer. Prayer has a power—even to nullify a decree from Heaven.
