'וה' פקד את שרה וגו AND THE LORD VISITED SARAH —It (Scripture) places this section after the preceding one to teach you that whoever prays for mercy on behalf of another when he himself also is in need of that very thing for which he prays on the other’s behalf, will himself first receive a favorable response from God, for it is said (at end of last chapter), “And Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife and they brought forth” and immediately afterwards it states here, “And the Lord remembered Sarah” — i. e. he had already remembered her before he healed Abimelech (Bava Kamma 92a).

פקד את שרה כאשר אמר HE REMEMBERED SARAH AS HE SAID — He remembered her by granting her pregnancy.

כאשר דבר [HE DID TO SARAH] AS HE HAD SPOKEN — by granting her the birth of a son (Pesikta). Where are the expressions “saying ״ and “speaking” used respectively in regard to these? “Saying” is mentioned in the verse (17:19) “And God said (ויאמר): “nay, but Sarah, thy wife” etc.; — “Speaking“ is mentioned in (15:1) “And the word (דבר “speaking”) of the Lord came to Abraham”, and this was when He made the Covenant between the Pieces where it was stated, “This man (Eliezer) shall not be thine heir, [but one who shall be born from thee shall be thine heir],” and He brought forth this heir from Sarah.

ויעש ה' לשרה כאשר דבר AND THE LORD DID UNTO SARAH AS HE HAD SPOKEN — means, spoken to Abraham.

למועד אשר דבר אתו Render it as Onkelos translates: “At the appointed time which He had spoken: — the time He had said and appointed. When He had said to him (18:4) “At the set time I will return unto thee”, He scratched a mark in the wall and said to him (Genesis 53:6), “When the sunrays touch this mark next year she will bear a son” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 59:1).

In his old age. That his [Yitzchok’s] facial features were similar to his [Avraham’s].

יצחק לי means will rejoice on my account. The Midrashic statement is (Genesis Rabbah 53:8): Many barren women were remembered together with her, many sick were healed in that day, many prayers were answered with hers and there was great rejoicing in the world.

מי מלל לאברהם The word מי is used as an exclamation of praise alluding to the distinguished position of the Being spoken of. The sense therefore is: See, Who it is, and to what extent He keeps his promise! The Holy One, blessed be He, promises and performs!

מלל SAID — Scripture employs here an unusual expression and does not use דבר, said, because its numerical value (i. e. of מלל) is one hundred, signifying as much as: Who was it who spoke in reference to the end of one hundred years of Abraham’s life (Genesis Rabbah 53:9).

הניקה בנים שרה THAT SARAH WILL HAVE SUCKLED CHILDREN. What is the force of the word “children”, in the plural? On the feast-day princesses brought their children with them and she (Sarah) gave them suck, for these women said, “Sarah has not given birth to a son; she has brought into her house a foundling from the street” (Bava Metzia 87a).

ויגמל AND HE WAS WEANED — at the expiration of twenty- four months (Gittin 75b).

משתה גדול A GREAT FEAST — it is so designated because the great men of that generation were present at it (Genesis Rabbah 53:10) — Shem, Eber and Abimelech (Tanchuma Yashan, Vayishlach 23).

מצחק MAKING SPORT — This means worshipping idols, as it is said in reference of the Golden Calf, (Exodus 32:6) “And they rose up to make merry (לצחק).” Another explanation is that it refers to immoral conduct, just as you say in reference to Potiphar’s wife, (Genesis 39:17) “To mock (לצחק) at me.” Another explanation is that it refers to murder, as (2 Samuel 2:14) “Let the young men, I pray thee, arise and make sport (וישחקו) before us” (where they fought with and killed one another) From Sarah’s reply — “for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son״ — you may infer that he (Ishmael) was quarrelling with Isaac about the inheritance, saying, “I am the first-born and will, therefore, take a double portion”. They went into the field and he (Ishmael) took his bow and shot arrows at him (Isaac), just as you say (Proverbs 26:18-19) “As a madman who casteth firebrands, [arrows and death] and says: I am only מצחק mocking” (Genesis Rabbah 53:11).

עם בני עם יצחק WITH MY SON, WITH ISAAC —For since this is my son, even though he were not as good as Isaac really is, or if he were as good a man as Isaac really is, even though he were not my son, this one (Ishmael) is not deserving of inheriting with him: how much less is he deserving of inheriting with my son, with Isaac — with one who possesses both these qualities (of being my son and of being the good man Isaac) (Genesis Rabbah 53:11).

על אדות בנו ON ACCOUNT OF HIS SON — because he heard that he had taken to degenerate ways (Exodus Rabbah 1:1). The real meaning, however, is because she (Sarah) had told him to send him away.

שמע בקולה HEARKEN UNTO HER VOICE — we may infer that Abraham was inferior to Sarah in respect of prophecy (Exodus Rabbah 1:1).

לחם וחמת מים BREAD AND A BOTTLE OF WATER — but not silver and gold, because he hated him for taking to degenerate ways (Exodus Rabbah 1:1).

ואת הילד AND THE CHILD — the child, too, he placed on her shoulder, for Sarah had cast an evil eye upon him, so that a fever seized him and he could not walk (Genesis Rabbah 53:13).

ותלך ותתע AND SHE WENT AND WANDERED — she reverted to the idol worship of her father’s house (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30).

ויכלו המים AND THE WATER WAS SPENT, because it is the nature of sick people to drink much (Genesis Rabbah 53:13).

מנגד means some distance away.

כמטחוי קשת AS IT WERE A BOWSHOT — about two bowshots (since the first word is really plural) (Genesis Rabbah 53:13). The word signifies shooting an arrow — we find it so used in the Mishna (Sanhedrin 46a). If you say that it should have been written כמטחי קשת (since the root is טחה) then I say that it is quite regular for a ו to be inserted in these forms as (Song 2:14) “in the clefts (בחגוי) of the rock”, where בחגוי is of the same derivation as חגא in (Isaiah 19:17) “And the land of Judah shall become a breach (לחגא) to Egypt” and of the same derivation as יחוגו in (Psalms 107:27) “They reeled (וחוגו) to and fro and staggered like a drunken man”. Similar, also, is (Psalms 65:6) “The ends of (קצוי) the earth” which is of the same derivation as ,קצה, end.

ותשב מנגד SHE SAT AT A DISTANCE — (this is the second time that it is so said) — now that he came nearer to death she moved further away from him.

את קול הנער THE VOICE OF THE LAD — From this we may infer that the prayer of a sick person is more effective than the prayer offered by others for him and that it is more readily accepted (Genesis Rabbah 53:14).

באשר הוא שם WHERE HE IS — According to the actions he is now doing shall he be judged and not according to what he may do in future. Because the ministering angels laid information against him, saying, “Master of the Universe, for him whose descendants will at one time kill your children with thirst will You provide a well?” He asked them, “What is he now, righteous or wicked?” They replied to him, “Righteous.” He said to them, “According to his present deeds will I judge him.” This is the meaning of what is written: “[For God hath heard the voice of the lad ] באשר הוא שם in that condition in which he now is” (Genesis Rabbah 53:14). Where did he (Ishmael) kill Israel with thirst? When Nebuchadnezzar carried them into exile — as it is said, (Isaiah 21:13, 14) “The burden upon Arabia … O ye caravans of Dedanites, unto him that is thirsty bring ye water! etc.” When they were bringing them near the Arabians the Israelites said to their captors, “We beg of you bring us to the children of our uncle, Ishmael, who will certainly show pity to us”, as it is said, “O ye caravans of the Dedanites (דדנים)”; read not דדנים but דודים, kinsmen. — These indeed came to them bringing them salted meat and fish and water-skins inflated with air. The Israelites believed that these were full of water and when they placed them in their mouths, after having opened them, the air entered their bodies and they died (Eichah Rabbah 2:4).

רבה קשת AN ARCHER — One who shoots arrows by a bow.

(This is the explanation of רבה קַשָּׁת he is so designated after his occupation, that of a bow-man — just as חַמָּר denotes one who is an ass driver, גַּמָּל a camel driver, צַיָּד a huntsman; consequently the ש has a Dagesh (which distinguishes all these forms). — He used to live in the wilderness and rob travelers. It is to this the statement refers, (15:12) ידו בכל “his hand shall be against everyone, etc.”

מארץ מצרים FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT — from the place where she was brought up — as it is said (16:1) “And she (Sarah) had an Egyptian handmaid [whose name was Hagar]”. That is what the popular proverb says: “Throw a stick into the air and it will fall back to (literally, stand on) its element” (Genesis Rabbah 53:15).

אלהים עמך GOD IS WITH THEE — They said this because they saw that he had left the locality of Sodom safely, that he had fought against the kings and that they had fallen into his hand, and that his wife had been remembered in his old age (Genesis Rabbah 54:2).

ולניני ולנכדי NOR WITH MY SON NOR WITH MY SON’S SON — thus far extends a man’s pity for his descendants (Genesis Rabbah 54:2).

כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי ACCORDING TO THE KINDNESS THAT I HAVE DONE UNTO THEE THOU SHALT DO UNTO ME — viz., that I said to you. (Genesis 20:15) “Behold my land is before thee”.

והוכח AND [ABRAHAM] REPROVED — it means he argued with him about it.

בעבור (supply the word זאת) — IN ORDER THAT this (where this, a feminine form in a neuter sense, as is usual in Hebrew, refers to the incident just recorded).

תהיה לי לעדה MAY BE UNTO ME AS A WITNESS The word עדה means witness in reference to a previous feminine form (in this case to זאת, this, which word Rashi supplied), just as (31:52) “And the pillar is a witness” (עדה the feminine form to correspond with the feminine noun מצבה, whereas the preceding words are עד הגל הזה “this heap is a witness” where עד is masc to agree with Gal.

כי חפרתי את הבאר THAT I HAVE DIGGED THIS WELL —Abimelech’s herdsmen quarrelled about it, saying, “We have dug it”. They arranged amongst themselves that the well should belong to him who would show himself at the well together with his sheep and at whose approach the waters would rise, and they rose at the approach of Abraham and his sheep (Genesis Rabbah 54:5).

אשל [AND ABRAHAM PLANTED AN] אשל — Rab and Samuel differ as to what this was. One said it was an orchard from which to supply fruit for the guests at their meal. The other said it was an inn for lodging in which were all kinds of fruit (Sotah 10a). And we can speak of planting an inn for we find the expression planting used of tents, as it is said, (Daniel 11:45) “And he shall plant the tents of his palace”.

'ויקרא שם וגו AND HE CALLED THERE etc. — Through this Eshel the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was called “God of the entire Universe”. For after they had eaten and drunk he said to them, “Bless Him of whose possessions you have eaten! Do you think that you have eaten of what is mine? You have eaten of that which belongs to Him Who spake and the Universe came into existence” (Sotah 10a).

ימים רבים MANY DAYS (or, MORE DAYS) — More than those he sojourned in Hebron: in Hebron he had stayed 25 years and here 26. For he was 75 years old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4), and of that same year it is said (Genesis 13:18) “And he came and dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre [which are in Hebron]” — for we do not find that he had settled down anywhere prior to settling there (at Hebron), since in every place where he went he was only like a traveller who pitches his camp and then goes on journeying, as it is said, (Genesis 13:12:6) “And Abraham passed on”; (Genesis 12:8) “And Abraham removed from thence”; (Genesis 12:10) “And there was a famine in the land and Abraham went down to Egypt”. In Egypt, too, he stayed only three months, for Pharaoh sent him away (Genesis 12:20). Immediately (Genesis 13:3) “He went on his journeys” until (Genesis 13:18) “He came and dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre which are in Hebron”. There he resided until Sodom was overthrown, and immediately afterwards (Genesis 20:1) “Abraham journeyed from thence” on account of the shame he felt at Lot’s doings and came to the land of the Philistines. He was then 99 years old, because it was on the third day of his circumcision that the angels came to him. Consequently you have 25 years from the time he settled in Hebron (the year he left his father’s house) until he came to the land of the Philistines. Now, here it is written that he sojourned in the land of the Philistines ימים רבים more days, which means more than the preceding days in Hebron. Scripture does not intend by these words to leave the number indefinite, but to state it explicitly, for if the “more days” exceeded the former period in Hebron by two years or more, it would have said so plainly, so that you must admit that the excess was only one year — that gives 26 years in the land of the Philistines. He immediately left there and returned to Hebron, and that year was 12 years before the Binding of Isaac. All this is explained in Seder Olam (See Note on Genesis 10:25).