Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
He is a prophet, [Hebrew, naabiy' (H5030), a recipient of divine revelations] - one who is in direct communication with God-for whom the Deity shows a special favour, and whose intercessory prayers in behalf of any one are of great avail. The scriptural meaning of the word is, an interpreter of the divine will (Exodus 7:1-2). 'Abraham enjoyed many prophetic promises, which were reserved for coming generations; and to this plainly reference is had in the application to him of this term (Havernick).
And he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. Since Abraham sustained a special covenant relation to God, he was still upheld in honour, notwithstanding this failure. He was the Lord's chosen servant, not on account of his personal righteousness, but by an act of grace; and consequently the divine purposes he had been called to promote would still be carried out, irrespectively of his occasional weaknesses in faith or errors in duty. God therefore told Abimelech to seek the benefit of the patriarch's prayers: for it is an established principle in the divine government that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much;" and there can be no doubt that the king's subsequent conversation with the devout patriarch was greatly conducive to his spiritual well-being.