ויקרא שמה שטנה, “he called its name Sitnah. (hatred, enmity) He had given the Philistines the benefit of the doubt regarding denying his claim to the first well his servants had dug. But now he knew that that had not been mere coincidence, but a display of their hatred of him.

ואחוזת מרעהו, “and a group of his friends,” (as per Targum) Some commentators believe that the word אחוזת refers to an individual named thus. (B’reshit Rabbah 64,9). This is supported by the messorah, (the notes made by the sages responsible for ensuring that the text of the Torah is accurate.) מרעהו, “his friend.” As far as the prefix מ in that word is concerned, it is not a prefix but part of that person’s name. We find something similar in Judges 15,6: ויתנה למרעהו, “he gave her (Samson’s wife) to מרעהו. “

כאשר לא נגענוך וכאשר עשינו עמך רק טוב ונשלחך בשלום וגו', “just as we have not harmed you physically, and we have done you nothing but good, and allowed you to depart unharmed, etc.;” when reading this line our author was reminded of the parable concerning the type of gratitude a lion boasted as having displayed. A lion once had a fishbone stuck in his throat. He announced that anyone who would remove it would be richly rewarded. Upon hearing this, a bird known as Agron which has an exceptionally long neck, succeeded in removing this bone from the lion’s throat. Having done this, he asked the lion for his reward. The lion responded as follows: “is it not enough for you that while you had your head in my mouth I did not kill you? You have a nerve in asking me for an additional reward.” Avimelech acted in a similar manner by boasting that he had done Yitzchok a great favour by allowing him to leave his country without harming him when he had had a chance to do so. He implied that it was his custom and that of his people to take advantage of uninvited visitors.