Genesis 21:32

21:32 So they made a treaty ¹  at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned ²  to the land of the Philistines. ³ 

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ⁴  in the days of Abraham. ⁵  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 26:15

26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ⁶  all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

[21:32]  ¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[21:32]  ² tn Heb “arose and returned.”

[21:32]  ³ sn The Philistines mentioned here may not be ethnically related to those who lived in Palestine in the time of the judges and the united monarchy. See D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 238.

[26:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ⁵ sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[26:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”