Genesis 26:1

1 And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestines, to Gerara.

Genesis 26:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:1

And there was a famine in the land
In the land of Canaan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham;
of which see ( Genesis 12:10 ) ; which was an hundred years before this; and Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar;
where his father Abraham had sojourned before he was born; and therefore the present king of this place can scarce be thought to be the same Abimelech that was king of it in Abraham's time; but it is highly probable that this Abimelech was the son of the former king, and that this was a common name to the kings of Gerar or the Philistines, as Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt. Isaac came to this place from Lahairoi, where he had dwelt many years, see ( Genesis 24:62 ) ( 25:11 ) ; which was at or near Beersheba, and was about eight miles from Gerar ^F1.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Bunting's Travels, p. 70.

Genesis 26:1 In-Context

1 And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestines, to Gerara.

2 And the Lord appeared to him, and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.

3 And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.

4 And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

5 Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.