Rashi on TanakhGenesis 26

Do not go down to Egypt. Because he [Yitzchok] intended to go down to Egypt as his father had gone down during the days of the famine. He [God] said to him, “Do not go down to Egypt for you are a burnt-offering without blemish and being outside the [Holy] land does not befit you.”

These. [הָאֵל is] the same as הָאֵלֶּה [these].

Through your descendants shall be blessed. [Meaning:] a man will say to his son, “May your children be like the children of Yitzchok.” This [phrase] has similar meaning in all Scripture. And the following [verse] is the archetype of all: “Through you shall [the People of] Israel bless, saying: ‘May Elohim make you [as Ephraim and Menasheh].’” We also find this concerning a curse: “And the woman shall be a curse” whereby one who curses his enemy says, “May you be like that particular woman.” Similarly: “May you leave your name as an oath to my chosen,” whereby one who takes an oath says, “May I be as that particular person if I did such and such.”

Avraham listened to my voice. When I put him to the test.

Minded My mandate. [Referring to] precautionary measures for the purpose of avoiding [transgressing] on prohibitions [set forth] in the Torah, such as [the prohibition to marry] “second-degree” relations and the Rabbinic prohibitions concerning Shabbos.

My commandments. [Referring to] things that even if they were not written, would be fit to be included in the commandments, such as [the prohibitions against] robbing and killing.

My decrees. [Referring to] things that the evil inclination and the nations of the world argue against, such as [the prohibitions against] eating pork and wearing garments of wool and linen for which there [apparently] are no reasons, but are the edicts of the King and His decrees upon His subjects.

And My teachings. To include the Oral Law—laws given by God to Moshe at Sinai.

About his wife. [I.e.,] concerning his wife as in, “Say to me, ‘he is my brother.’”

A long while. He thought, “From now on I have no need to worry since they have not molested us till now” and he was no longer careful to take precautions.

Avimelech looked. He saw him having marital relations.

One of the people. [Refers to] the one singled out amongst the people, meaning, the king.

And you would have brought guilt upon us. [Meaning:] had he had relations, you already would have brought guilt upon us.

In that land. Despite the fact that it [Gerar] is not as esteemed as Eretz Yisrael itself, i.e., the land of the Seven Nations.

That year. Despite the fact that it [the year] was abnormal for it was a famine year.

In that land, that year. Why are both [the land and the year] mentioned? To tell us that the earth was hard and that the year was a hard one.

A hundred fold. For they had estimated the amount it ought to produce and for every one estimated, it produced one hundred. Our Sages said, the purpose of this estimate was for tithing.

He became very great. So that people would say: “[Rather] the dung of Yitzchok’s mules than the silver and gold of Avimelech.”

And many slaves. [Meaning:] a great deal of work [or production], ovreine in Old French. עֲבוֹדָה denotes one particular labor [whereas] עֲבֻדָּה denotes a great deal of production.

The Philistines plugged them. Because they said, “They are a danger to us because they will [provoke] armies to come upon us.” [Onkelos renders it:] טַמּוֹנוּן פְּלִשְׁתָּאֵי meaning stopping up. [We find the] expression in the Talmud “Stops up the heart.”

In the valley of Gerar. Far away from the city.

Returned, excavated. [Meaning:] those wells that they had dug in the days of his father Avraham and which the Philistines had stopped up, before Yitzchok departed from Gerar he again dug them.

Eisek. [Meaning] dispute.

Because they had quarreled with him. They disputed with him over it with strife and contention.

Sitnah. Nuisement [in Old French] [obstacle].

And we shall be fruitful in the land. As Onkelos translates it: “And we will increase in the land.”

Along with a group of his friends. As Onkelos translates it וְסִיעַת מֵרַחֲמוֹהִי meaning: a group [formed] from his friends. There are some who explain מֵרֵעֵהוּ the letter מ' being part of the root of the word as in: שְׁלשִׁים מֵרֵעִים, “thirty friends” of Shimshon, so that the word וַאֲחֻזַּת be in the construct state. However, it would be improper to speak of a king in this manner “his group of friends” because this would imply that he brought along his entire group of friends and that he had only one group of friends. It is therefore preferable to explain it in the first way. You need not wonder about the letter תי"ו of the word אֲחֻזַּת; though the word is not in the construct state we [nevertheless] find similar cases in Scripture: עֶזְרָת מִצָּר —“Help against the oppressor,” וּשְׁכֻרַת וְלֹא מִיָּיִן —“Drunk, but not from wine.”

A group. Has the meaning of a gathering or group who are נֶאֻחָזִין יַחַד —held together.

We have indeed seen. [Meaning:] “We saw it concerning your father, and we saw it concerning yourself.”

Let there now be an oath between us. [Meaning:] that oath that exists between us since your father’s times should now continue between us and yourself.

We did not touch you. When we said to you, “Leave us.”

You. You, also, do with us likewise.

Shiva. so called because of the covenant.

Forty years old. Eisov is compared to a pig as it is said: “The boar of the forest ravages it.” When the pig lies down it stretches out its hooves as if to say, “See, I am a clean animal.” So, too, these, the descendants of Eisov, rob and extort and make pretensions of being honorable. For [the first] forty years Eisov would kidnap wives from their husbands and take them forcibly; when he turned forty he said, “Father was forty when he married and I will do likewise.”

Rebellious of spirit. An expression meaning: a spirit of rebellion, as in: “[מַמְרִים] You were rebellious.” All their deeds were to anger and cause grief to Yitzchok and to Rivkah because they worshiped idols.