ויהי רעב בארץ, in the land of Canaan.

מלבד, meaning that since the last mentioned famine in Genesis chapter 12, there had not been another famine in the land of Canaan. The only reason Avraham had left the land of Canaan at that time had been the famine, and his desire to save the vast herds of cattle and sheep owned by him at that time.

וילך יצחק, Yitzchok, relying on the treaty between his father and Avimelech the King of the Land of the Philistines, considered it the natural thing to do to move to the region ruled over by Avimelech in order to sojourn there until the famine would pass. Avimelech at that time had stipulated that the treaty between them would remain in force for grandchildren and great grandchildren of the signatories. (21,23)

וירא, perhaps it had been part of Yitzchok’s plan to move all the way to Egypt as had done his father in similar circumstances, knowing that the food supply in Egypt was more abundant than that in any other country in the civilised world at the time. G’d appeared to him, meaning to dissuade him from carrying out such a plan, seeing that in the Land of the Philistines there was no famine at the time. In view of this, G’d said it would be better for him to reside there on a temporary basis than to move all the way south to Egypt. The Land of the Philistines is historically considered as part of the Land of Canaan as we have written in connection with 15,21 in reference to 15,18. G’d repeats this in verse 3 so that there could be no doubt about it [as some of us might have thought after considering that Avraham might have signed it away when he concluded his treaty with Avimelech at Beer Sheva. Ed.]

שכון בארץ אשר אמר אליך, in this verse the instruction is שכון, “make a permanent residence,” whereas in verse 3 the same instruction speaks of גור בארץ, “establish a temporary residence.” The commandment is reinforced that Yitzchok should not leave the Land of Canaan at that time or at any time in the future, the reason being

אשר אומר אליך, what I have said to your father is equally valid for you.

גור...לך ולזרעך, I have already explained this in connection with the previous verse.

והרבתי...ונתתי לך לזרעך, for them it will be an outright gift as they will not only dwell there but will expel the gentiles from this land. The word זרעך is intended to apply to the descendants of Yaakov, seeing that this is the only seed common to Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov. והתברכו, I have explained this on 23,18.

עקב אשר שמע אברהם, the reason why I have given him the land is because he heeded my voice even to the extent of offering his only son as a burnt-offering.

משמרתי, מצותי, חוקותי, ותורותי, G’d included all the commandments, hinting that all the commandments, i.e. chukotai, contain elements of which the rationale has been revealed and some which have not. Even the seven Noachide laws, applicable universally, contain elements the reason for which has not ever been revealed to the people but whose rationale is familiar only to the wisest scholars. Examples of such commandments are: the prohibition of grafting or crossbreeding, eating (amputated) limbs of a living animal אבר מן החי. To describe such laws, the Torah here mentions the word חוקותי, “My statutes,” whereas the description מצותי refers to commandments which the human mind understands or even applauds. It matters not that these commandments be performed by different parts of the body, i.e. the mouth, the hands, or merely the heart. Similarly, it matters not whether they are positive commandments, requiring action, or negative commandments requiring self-restraint. Some commentators (compare Torah Shleymah 25) claim that Avraham was only 3 years old when he recognised the existence of G’d and began to worship him, so that the numerical value of the letters in the word עקב=172 would comprise the number of years which Avraham carried out G’d’s commandments. Other commentators place the time when Avraham became convinced of monotheism as the only religion as being when he had completed his fortieth year. (Bereshit Rabbah 30,8) This appears to be more probable. Our sages claim that Avraham observed all the commandments spelled out in the written and the oral Torah including such rabbinic ordinances as Eyruv Tavshilim (Yuma 28). They base this on the word משמרתי, seeing this word refers generally to the type of “security fence” סיג, introduced by the Rabbis to safeguard us against violating Biblical injunctions. What the rabbis meant therefore was that Avraham invented such safeguards for himself in order not to violate the basic prohibitions.

וישב, he accepted G’d’s instruction to remain within the boundaries of the land promised to his father Avraham.

וישאלו...לאשתו, an inquiry regarding his marital status, especially the woman in whose company he had been seen. We find a parallel construction in 20,13. There are numerous such constructions, and I have dealt wit them in my commentary on 12,12.

ויהי...וישקף, compare our commentary on 18,16 on the word וישקיפו.

ויקרא...אך הנה אשתך, the word אך in this verse means the same as the word אבל, “but, however.” It also appears in this sense in Exodus 31,13 אך את שבתותי תשמורו, “but you must observe My Sabbath days,” (even when engaged in building the Tabernacle) In Exodus 21,22, when speaking about someone dying as a result of an injury deliberately inflicted upon him, the Torah writes אך אם יום או יומים יעמוד, “but if the victim can stand on his feet for a day or two days, etc.” (his death is not directly attributable to the injury described). In our verse, Avimelech challenges Yitzchok who had presented his wife as being his sister by saying: “but I have seen with my own eyes that she is your wife!” He used the fact that he had observed Yitzchok being intimate with Rivkah as proof that therefore she must be his wife, as no one sleeps with a woman who is not his wife.

ואיך אמרת, the Avimelech mentioned in our chapter here was not the same one that lived in the days of Avraham. Had he been the same it is inconceivable that he could have asked Yitzchok such a question. He had, after all, had experience with Sarah and Avraham concerning the same subject. The Kings of the Philistines generally assumed the title “Avimelech,” just as the Kings of Egypt generally assumed the title “Pharaoh.”

ויאמר.. כמעט שכב, he meant that it had been very likely that someone among his people would have slept with Rivkah seeing that Yitzchok had represented her as being his sister. They would not have considered such a sexual encounter as something sinful and therefore Yitzchok would have been to blame for any guilt arising from such an encounter.

ויצו, after Avimelech had found out that Rivkah was Yitzchok’s wife, he had to inform the people of this fact to ensure that no one would touch her. Also, he had to warn the people not to harm Yitzchok, so that he would not be killed on account of his wife.

ויזרע...מאה שערים, 100 times as much as they had expected to harvest from this planting.

'ויברכהו ה, He made him successful in all his undertakings.

ויגדל, in material wealth and all types of possessions.

הלוך וגדל the word הלוך is an infinitive mode of the verb, whereas the word גדל is an adjective or also an infinitive.. We encounter a parallel construction in Exodus 12,9 ובשל מבושל. The meaning of the phrase is that Yitzchok’s wealth kept on increasing and he kept on becoming a man of great substance until he had reached a point where he could be described as גדול מאד, “very great.”

ויהי לו מקנה צאן ומקנה בקר, he had acquired both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. Both words מקנה have the vowel tzeyreh indicating that they are in a construct mode.

ועבודה רבה, he also engaged extensively in agriculture. Compare Proverbs 12,11, עובד אדמתו, “tilling his own land.” Compare also Genesis 4,11 כי תעבוד את האדמה, “when you till the soil.”

ויקנאו אתו, they were jealous of him on account of his astounding success. The absence of the dagesh in the letter נ indicates that this is an intransitive mode of the verb קנא.

וכל הבארות, after Avraham had died the local populace was no longer afraid of Yitzchok. Also, the Avimelech with whom Avraham had made the pact and who had restored the wells to Avraham had died in the interval. Why then did the Philistines stop up the wells instead of using them for their own flocks? They were afraid that in the event that when Yitzchok would grow up he would be as powerful a figure as his father he would appropriate these wells. Therefore, they reasoned the only way to deny him these wells is by also denying them to themselves. Therefore they closed them up so that no one supposedly would be able to locate them.

ויאמר ..כי עצמת, you have become wealthier and able to dispense more good than we. He used the plural ending nu instead of nee, i.e. ממני, meaning that Yitzchok had become not only more powerful than any individual in his country, but even more powerful than a whole group of Philistines collectively. He suggested that Yitzchok exposed himself to acts of violence due to the jealousy of him of so many Philistines so that even Avimelech’s warning to his people not to molest him might be ignored. My father of blessed memory understood the word ממנו as applying to all the Philistines collectively.

וילך..בנחל גרר. The word נחל describes a valley even though there was no river in that valley. We have another example of this in Deuteronomy 2,36 העיר אשר בנחל, “the city which was located in the valley,” or Samuel II 24,5 ימין העיר אשר בנחל, “to the right of the city in the valley.” The most potent proof for our statement is Genesis 26,19 ויחפרו עבדי יצחק בנחל, “the servants of Yitzchok dug in the valley.” If there had been water, a rivulet, or something in the valley, what did they have to dig for? Gerar was the name of the town in that valley, the place where Yitzchok settled. He dug many wells in that region as he owned much livestock and had to provide water for his beasts.

וישב יצחק...אשר חפרו, the servants of his father.

כשמות, with the same names in order to maintain unbroken continuity of ownership.

ויחפרו, they dug even deeper than initially in order to supply sufficient water for the livestock.

וימצאו שם באר מים חיים, after they kept digging, they found this additional well beneath the old well. This is why the Torah did not write that they found מים, i.e. simply water, but באר, that they found a new source of water.

ויריבו לנו המים, as we explained in connection with Avraham and Avimelech (21,25), the quarrel was if the source of the water was part of the region of Gerar or part of the region of Beer Sheva. The old quarrel resurfaced now between the shepherds of Yitzchok and those of Gerar.

ויקרא שם הבאר עשק, He gave it a name so that in the future when he would become more powerful than they, the shepherds of Gerar would not be able to claim the well as theirs without protest. The very name already foreshadowed that the claim to this well would be disputed. The meaning of the name עשק as describing dispute is known to us from our sages in Baba Kama 9 המוכר את השדה ויצאו עליה עשיקין, “if someone sells a field and a quarrel ensues concerning it.”

ויחפרו...שטנה, from the word “Satan.” The name reflected the fact that every time they dug with success they would be subjected to this hatred.

ויעתק, he removed his digging tools from the immediate neighbourhood so that the shepherds of Gerar should not be able to claim future discoveries of water as belonging to them. It was clear beyond doubt that the area where Yitzchok’s servants dug now belonged to the region of Beer Sheva. This is why he called this well רחובות, to inform subsequent generations that the ownership of this well had never been disputed.

ופרינו בארץ, seeing that this is not subject to dispute we can now become fruitful and multiply in this land.

ויעל משם באר שבע. This was not far away from Gerar as we already explained. As to the reason for the expression ויעל, “he went up,” the reason for this is that the part of the Land of Israel which is known as the traditional Land of Israel was on a spiritually higher level than the part occupied by the Philistines. This is also why we find the expression ויעלו פלשתים in Judges 15,9 (against Shimshon) as well as the phrase uttered by King Sha-ul in Samuel I 14,36 נרדה אחרי פלשתים, “Let us pursue the Philistines by descending.” This expression occurs again and again. [this seems unnecessary as any student of the topography of Eretz Yisrael knows that the Philistines lived in the coastal strip, i.e. the topographically lowest region of the country, so that considerations distinguishing between areas of higher sanctity and lesser sanctity are hardly needed to help us understand the wording of the Torah here. Ed.] All these stories about the digging of the wells and the names they were called by were intended to inform us that in the part of Eretz Yisrael traditionally promised to Avraham, his son Yitzchok was digging according to his undisputed right. In those areas he also did not encounter opposition when naming these wells. All of this was an indication to them of which parts of Eretz Yisrael G’d had meant for them to plant seed in, i.e. the part of the land that G’d would give to the Israelites in the first instance. (under Joshua).The regions in which the Philistines dwelled did not really come under full control of the Israelites until many hundreds of years later. This accounts for the ongoing wars at intervals between the Israelites and the Philistines. These skirmishes were basically border-wars, neither side planning to conquer the territory of the other permanently. [according to the author the problem would be permanently settled only in Messianic times. Ed.] It is an outstanding issue similar to the territory of three Canaanite tribes, the Kenite, Knizite and Kadmoni, which formed part of G’d’s promise to Avraham in chapter 15 at the covenant between the pieces but has never yet been under Jewish sovereignty.

וירא, this vision was meant to encourage Yitzchok not to be afraid on account of these territorial disputes over the sources of water for his flocks. He reassured him that those hating him now would not only give up their opposition but would come pleading for a peace-treaty with him; this is why He added that Yitzchok’s success would be linked to that of G’d’s servant Avraham. We see this promise fulfilled already in verse 26 when the King himself travels to see Yitzchok and is forced to acknowledge that the combination of Yitzchok’s G’d and Yitzchok is too powerful for him to oppose.

בעבור אברהם עבדי, seeing that Avraham had complied with all of G’d’s instructions just like a slave carrying out the dictates of his master.

'ויבן...ויקרא בשם ה. Just as Avraham had been in the habit of doing.

ויט שם אהלו, he fixed his abode in Beer Sheva.

ויכרו שם עבדי יצחק, just as Avraham had dug for water there, Yitzchok now ordered his servants to dig a well there. While they were engaged in digging this well and Avimelech came up from Gerar, Yitzchok’s servants came to tell him that they had met with success and had brought in a new well. All of this is reported here to show G’d’s timing was intended to demonstrate to Avimelech that Yitzchok was successful everywhere and that he better be in awe of him.

ואבימלך...ואחוזת מרעהו, Avimelech had a powerful minister whose name was Achuzat (Bereshit Rabbah 64,9) The Massoretes claim that the word is not the name of a human being. Accordingly, the word מרעהו would have to be understood as similar to Kings I 4,5 רעה המלך, “a companion of the king, a close friend.” The leading minister, comparable to a prime minister in a constitutional monarchy, always had the title רע המלך, “the King’s closest associate.” The letter מ in the word מרעהו belongs to the groups of letters known as אותיות א-מ-ת-י-ן which often are used as additional letters. For instance, we find this extraneous letter מ in connection with רע also in Judges 14,20 ותהי אשת שמשון למרעהו אשר רעה לו, “Shimshon’s wife then married one of those who had been his wedding companion.” Onkelos translates the words אחוזת מרעהו as “a group of his supporters.” Accordingly, the verse means that Avimelech took with him a number of his close advisers, friends. According to Onkelos the meaning of the letter מ in the word מרעהו is a mem hashimush, a formative letter varying pronoun endings, etc., so that the word רעהו would be the same as רעיו, His companions, and the unusual plural ending, the same as in Nachum 2,4 מגן גבוריהו, “his warriors’ shields.” The word גבוריהו is an alternate for גבוריו.

ופיכל שר צבאו, this was the same general who had held this position in Avraham’s time with the former Avimelech.

ויאמר...ותשלחוני, the plural mode here indicates that at the time when Avimelech had expelled Yitzchok he had done so by following the advice of his ministers and notables. He had also said at that time “לך מעמנו,” Go from us!”

ראו, the letter ו at the end instead of the customary letter ה as the last letter of the root is not unique, we encounter it also in Isaiah 6,9 or as בכו לא תבכה, in Isaiah 30,19. There are other parallel verses in Scripture.

תהי נא אלה בינותינו, a reference to all the people of his country having sworn to keep this agreement with Yitzchok, to be confirmed by an oath between the two representatives of the parties concerned, i.e. Avimelech and Yitzchok.

אם תעשה, they knew that if Yitzchok so intended he was able to harm them, seeing that the people of Beer Sheva would assist him in all that he would ask them to. [Avimelech’s trip to Yitzchok who had labeled him and his cohorts as hating him had been akin to going to the lion’s den. Ed.] For the people around Beer Sheva Yitzchok was a prince of G’d who could do no wrong. He was the personification of his father whom they had greatly admired. This is why Avimelech prefaced with words with the remark: אם תעשה עמנו רעה כאשר לא נגענוך, as if to say: “surely you are not going to repay our kindness with an act of hostility merely because you are now in a position to do so!” The phrase is to be understood as if the word אשר (כאשר) is to mean the same as בעבור, “on account of, in return for.” The word אשר appears in that sense in Kings I 15,13 אשר עשתה מפלצת לאשרה, “on account of the abominable thing she had done.” Another such usage of the word אשר occurs in Deuteronomy 4,40 אשר ייטב לך ולבניך אחריך, “in order that He will do good for you and your children.”

וכאשר עשינו עמך רק טוב, the word וכאשר at the beginning of Avimelech’s words must be imagined as having been repeated after the word טוב, as if he had said ובעבור שלא עשינו עמך רק טוב, “and on account of the fact that we have only treated you kindly.” We find a similar construction in Psalms 9,19 ותקות ענוים תאבד לעד,”the hope of the afflicted will not be lost forever;” in that phrase the word “not” appears in the first half of the verse, i.e. כי לא לנצח ישכח אביון, “for the hope of the destitute will not be ignored (forgotten) forever. There are many such constructions throughout Scripture where a word at the beginning of the verse is doing double-duty, i.e. must be assumed to have been written also in the second half of the same verse in order to make it intelligible.

'אתה עתה ברוך ה, seeing that G’d has made you so successful you are now in a position to do us harm if you so desire. This would not be appropriate seeing that we have throughout treated you in a friendly manner while we had been in a position to inflict harm upon you. Even when we expelled you we did so in a manner that did not make you suffer an indignity. When we told you to leave, this was only on account of the envy your success had aroused among the Philistine man in the street. We wanted to insure that they would not allow their envy of you to provoke them into harming you.

ויעש להם משתה, in order to preserve the friendly atmosphere he prepared a feast for them and they ate and drank together.

וישכימו..וישלחם, they rose early and he sent them off after accompanying them for the appropriate distance.

ויהי ביום ההוא, before Avimelech and his entourage had departed. This was deliberately timed by G’d to demonstrate to Avimelech the extent of Yitzchok’s success so that they would remain in awe of him.

ויקרא אותה שבעה, on account of the oath that Yitzchok and Avimelech had sworn there. Avraham had done the same. (21,31) Even though he had not named the well itself שבעה, he named the entire region Beer Sheva, both on account of the oath and on account of the seven sheep which had been the physical symbol of that oath. Both Avraham and Yitzchok named the event in the presence of Avimelech.

As to the Torah writing: על כן שם העיר באר שבע, and we know that the place had been known by that name already since the days of Avraham, the Torah informs us that the name Avraham gave it might not have endured, but that this event now ensured that the name would be permanent. When a certain location commemorates two historic events both in the life of the father and that of the son, this will be remembered for far longer as everyone recognises that more than coincidence was the reason why the historic event which produced the name occurred precisely there.

ויהי עשו, the reason why he did not marry until he was 40 years of age was that he wanted to emulate his father who had married at the age of 40. He wanted to create the impression that he was walking in the footsteps of his father. However, he did not observe his father’s ways who had not been allowed to marry a woman of Canaanite descent. In that respect he followed his eyes, judging by external appearances, not ancestry, and personal virtues. He had not bothered to consult with his father. He was guided by the influence the family of his wives wielded in the land of Canaan, for after mentioning the names of the wives it becomes clear that the father of each was a well known personality. Seeing Esau appeared a great man to the fathers of these girls, they consented to let him marry them.

ותהיין מורת רוח, they angered their in-laws and opposed them in every way. They even reversed the customs practiced by Rivkah in her household.

מרת, a noun, just as מרת נפש in Proverbs 14,10. The root of the word is מרר, embitter, the only difference between the word here and that in Proverbs being the vowel under the letter מ. Here we have the vowel cholem, whereas in Proverbs it is written with a kametz chataf, abbreviated vowel kametz. It is also possible that the root of the word here is מרה, in the sense of Isaiah 63,10 מרו ועצבו את רוח קדשו, “they rebelled, and grieved His Holy Spirit.” This too is a variation of the theme of bitterness. If we accept this word as the root of the word מרת in our verse, the meaning would be that these women actively engaged in causing anger, frustration to Yitzchok and Rivkah. The whole story would then have as its purpose to show how disdainful Esau was of the sensitivities of his parents. He did not even protest his wives’ behaviour or move them out of the patriarchal home.