CHAPTER XXVI.
_Isaac and the Philistines_ (Yahwist, Redactor, Priestly-Code).
The chapter comprises the entire cycle of Isaac-legends properly so called; consisting, as will be seen, almost exclusively of incidents already related of Abraham (compare especially chapter 20 f.). The introductory notice of his arrival in Gerar (¹⁻⁶: compare 20¹ ᶠᐧ) is followed by his denial of his marriage with Rebekah (⁷⁻¹¹ ∥ 12¹⁰ ᶠᶠᐧ 20² ᶠᶠᐧ), his success in agriculture (¹²⁻¹⁶,――the only circumstance without an Abrahamic parallel), his quarrels with the Philistines about wells (¹⁷⁻²² ∥ 21²⁵ ᶠᐧ), and, lastly, the Covenant of Beersheba, with an account of the naming of the place (²³⁻³³ ∥ 21²²⁻³⁴).――The notice of Esau’s wives (³⁴ ᶠᐧ) is an excerpt from Priestly-Code.
_Source._――The style, except in ³⁴ ᶠᐧ and some easily recognised redactional patches (¹ᵃ{βγ}ᐧ ²ᵃ{β}ᵇᐧ ³ᵇ⁻⁵ᐧ ¹⁵ᐧ ¹⁸: see the notes), is unmistakably Yahwistic: compare יהוה (²ᐧ ¹²ᐧ ²²ᐧ ²⁵ [even in the mouth of Abimelech, ²⁸ᐧ ²⁹]); טובת מראה, ⁷ (24¹⁶); השקיף, ⁸; העתיק, ²² (12⁸); קרא בשם יהוה, ²⁵; אָלָה, ²⁸ (24⁴¹); בְּרוּךְ יהוה, ²⁹ (24³¹). Some critics find traces of Elohist in ¹ ᶠᐧ, but these are dubious.――The relation of the passage to other strata of the Yahwist document is very difficult to determine. On the one hand, the extremely close parallelism to chapter 20 f. suggests that it is a secondary compilation based on Jehovist as a composite work, with the name of Isaac substituted for that of Abraham. But it is impossible to imagine a motive for such an operation; and several considerations favour the theory that chapter 26 is a continuation of the source distinguished as Yahwistᴴᵉᵇʳᵒⁿ in the history of Abraham. (1) The Abrahamic parallels all belong to the Negeb tradition (Yahwistᴮᵉᵉʳˢʰᵉᵇᵃ and Elohist); and it is natural to think that Yahwistᴴᵉᵇʳᵒⁿ, representing the Hebron tradition, would connect the Negeb narratives with the name of Isaac (whether Abraham or Isaac was the original hero of these legends we cannot well ascertain). (2) The language on the whole confirms this view (compare השקיף, העתיק, קרא בשם י׳, וירא י׳, and all the phrases of ²⁵ᵃ). (3) The ideal of the patriarchal character agrees with that which we find in Yahwistᴴᵉᵇʳᵒⁿ (magnanimity, peaceableness, etc.).――In any case, it is to be observed that the chapter stands out of its proper order. The Rebekah of ⁷ ᶠᶠᐧ is plainly not the mother of two grown-up sons, as she is at the close of chapter 25; and 27¹ is the immediate continuation of 25³⁴ or ²⁸ (see Wellhausen _Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher des Alten Testaments_² 30).
=1‒6. Isaac migrates to Gerar.=――Cleared of interpolations, the section reads: (¹ᵃ{α}) _There was a famine in the land;_ (¹ᵇ) _and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar._ (²ᵃ{α}) _And Yahwe appeared to him and said,_ (³ᵃ) _Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and bless thee._ (⁶) _So Isaac abode in Gerar._――=1.= Isaac comes probably from Beer Laḥai-roi, 25¹¹.――On _Abimelech_ and _Gerar_, see 20¹ ᶠᐧ. The assumption that Gerar was a Philistine kingdom is an anachronism (see on 10¹⁴), made also in Yahwistᴮᵉᵉʳˢʰᵉᵇᵃ (21³²) but not in Elohist.――=3a.= _and bless thee_] a promise fulfilled in Isaac’s successful husbandry (¹² ᶠᶠᐧ), and other tokens of the divine favour (²²ᐧ ²⁴ᐧ ²⁸ ᶠᐧ), with no reference primarily to the blessing of Abraham.
¹ᵃ{βγ} (מלבד――אברהם) is a redactional gloss (Redactorᴶᵃʰʷⁱˢᵗ or Redactorᴶᵉʰᵒᵛⁱˢᵗ), pointing back to 12¹⁰.――²ᵃ{β}ᵇ (אל־תרד וגו׳) is obviously inconsistent with ³ᵃ, and is best explained as a gloss from the same hand as ¹ᵃ{βγ} (Kautzsch-Socin, Holzinger), Dillmann, Gunkel, al. consider it a variant from a parallel narrative of Elohist (compare אשר אמר אליך with 22²), to which Dillmann quite unnecessarily assigns also ¹ᵃ{α} and ⁶; but the evidence is too weak to warrant the improbable hypothesis of a _second_ Elohist version of 20¹ ᶠᶠᐧ.――³ᵇ⁻⁵ an expansion in the manner of 22¹⁵⁻¹⁸, emphasising the immutability of the oath to Abraham (see on 15¹⁸), and showing many traces of late composition.
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=3.= הארצות] so verse ⁴; LXX, _Jubilees_ read singular. The nearest analogies to this use of plural (which is rare and mostly late) are 1 Chronicles 13², 2 Chronicles 11²³ = ‘districts’ (of Palestine).――האל] see 19⁸.――=4a.= The comparison with the stars, as 15⁵ 22¹⁷.――=4b, 5= almost verbally identical with 22¹⁸: note especially the uncommon עקב אשר.――=5b= is made up of Priestly and Deuteronomic expressions: compare Leviticus 26⁴⁶, Deuteronomy 6² 28⁴⁵ 30¹⁰ etc.――שמר משמרת denotes chiefly the service of priests in the sanctuary, but is here used in a wider sense (compare Leviticus 18³⁰ 22⁹, Deuteronomy 11¹, Joshua 22³, 1 Kings 2³, Malachi 3¹⁴). The expression is highly characteristic of Priestly-Code (Holzinger _Einleitung in den Hexateuch_ 344).――אברהם] _The Samaritan Recension of the Pentateuch_, LXX + אָבִיךָ.
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=7‒11. Rebekah’s honour compromised.=――=7, 8.= Isaac’s lie (as 12¹³ 20²), and the king’s accidental discovery of it.――_looked out at a window_] possibly into a court of the palace: compare 2 Samuel 11².――מְצַחֵק אֵת] exchanging conjugal caresses (see on 21⁶),――a play on the name Isaac. The verb is nowhere else construed with אֵת.――=9, 10.= Abimelech’s rebuke of Isaac, and the latter’s self-exculpation.――_thou mightest have brought guilt_] Compare 20⁹. It is an instance of the writer’s timid handling of the theme (see below) that no actual complication arises.――=11.= So stern an injunction would have been in place in chapter 12 or chapter 20, but here it is unmotived.
That the three narratives 12¹⁰ ᶠᶠᐧ 20, 26⁷⁻¹¹ are variations of a common theme, appears not only from their close material resemblance, but also from particular phrases recurrent in each: _e.g._ אחתי הוא, הרג, מה־זאת עשית לנו, גור, טובת [יפת] מראה, etc. (compare Kuenen _Historisch-critisch Onderzoek naar het ontstaan en de verzameling van de boeken des Ouden Verbonds_ i. 228). Although many good scholars (Wellhausen, Kuenen, Holzinger, al.) are of a different opinion, the present passage appears to be the most colourless and least original form of the tradition. In 12¹⁰ ᶠᶠᐧ (Yahwistᴮᵉᵉʳˢʰᵉᵇᵃ) the leading features――the beauty of the heroine, the patriarch’s fear for his life, his stratagem, the plagues on the heathen monarch, his rebuke of the patriarch, and the rewards heaped on the latter――are combined in a strong and convincing situation, in which each element stands out in its full natural significance. In chapter 20 (Elohist), the connexion of ideas is in the main preserved; though a tendency to soften the harsher aspects of the incident appears in God’s communication to Abimelech, in the statement that no actual harm had come to Sarah, and in the recognition of the half-truth in Abraham’s account of his relation to Sarah. In 26⁷ ᶠᶠᐧ (Yahwistᴴᵉᵇʳᵒⁿ) this tendency is carried so far as to obscure completely the dramatic significance of those features which are retained. Though Isaac is the guest of Abimelech (verse ¹), it is only the ‘men of the place’ who display a languid interest in his beautiful wife: no one wants to marry Rebekah, least of all the king, who is introduced merely as the accidental discoverer of the true state of affairs, and is concerned only for the morality of his subjects. No critical situation arises; and the exemplary self-restraint manifested by the men of Gerar affords no adequate basis for the stern injunction of ¹¹, which would have been appropriate enough in chapter 12 or