Genesis 26:1

1 There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

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 There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2 God appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you.

3 Stay here in this land and I'll be with you and bless you. I'm giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I'll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants.

5 And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge - my commands, my guidelines, my teachings."