פרשת תולדות תש"ל - הבארות והברית

S.v. And he called the name of the well, Contention (Esek): And Scripture recounts and tells about the matter of the wells at length. Yet in the simple understanding of the details of the story, there is no purpose or great glory that comes to Issac; and he and his father both made them. But there is a hidden matter in this thing, as it comes to inform things about the future: As the spring of water hints to the House of God which the descendants of Isaac will make. And hence it mentions, "a spring of living water," as it is stated (Jeremiah 17:13), "the source of living waters with the Lord." And he called the first one, "Esek," which hints to the First Temple, about which they contended (hitasku) with us. And they had several conflicts and wars with us, until they destroyed it. And he called the name of the second one, "Sitnah (Opposition)" – a harsher name than the first. And that is the Second Temple, such that he called it by its name; as it is written about it (Ezra 4:6), "And in the reign of Ahasuerus, at the start of his reign, they drew up a sitnah (Accusation) against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." And all of its days, they were in opposition to us, until they destroyed it and exiled us from it into a [particularly] bad exile. But the third one, he called, "Rechovot (Wide Spaces)." And that is the temple that will be built in the future, speedily in our days. And it will be made without a fight or contention; and God will widen our borders, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 19:8), "And when the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers" – which is in the future. And it is written about the Third Temple (Ezekiel 41:7), "The winding passage of the side chambers widened from story to story." "And has made us fruitful in the land": As all of the nations will 'worship Him, shoulder to shoulder.'

However to fulfill that which was further said to him (Genesis 26:3), "as I will give to you and your seed, all of these lands," Scripture recounted the matter of the wells, his leaving Gerar, and that which Abimelech came to seek his friendship – as if he was the master of the land. And observe this story, and see how it indicates this concept: For behold, Scripture mentioned [that] the reason of, "And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham," was in order that Issac's shepherds should not benefit from them, and go away from there from lack of water; and besides that, Abimelech told Issac, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us," meaning [that] due to the large quantity of his livestock, there was no room for the livestock of the land; [such that] behold, Issac left the land – but he did not distance himself from the city [of Gerar]. As he dwelt in Nachal Gerar, close to the city – and not like Rashi wrote – as since it shares the name Gerar, it appears that it was close to it. [Hence] he dwelt there against their will. Moreover, he returned and dug the wells that Abraham had dug and the Philistines had filled. And in order to govern over them more, he called them by the name his father had called them – to indicate that they were not new. Rather he would open the wells that they had already filled and call them by their names – as he did this by the power of his hand. And they also dug and found a spring of living water... and even though the shepherds of Gerar fought about this well... behold, this well nevertheless stayed with the shepherds of Issac... And they also dug another well – and even though they also fought about it, it stayed with him; and he called it Sitnah, to [mark] their hatred (sinah) towards him. Until, when they dug the third well, they did not fight about it; and he therefore called its name, Rechovot – as Issac said, "the Lord has widened (hirchiv) and made us fruitful in the land." [This] means to say, "Even though they sent me away from them, the Lord widened it for us in this land, against their will." And this is the reason for all of this story – about which Ramban did not find any purpose or glory to Issac – being written here. [However, Ramban] maneuvered to explain it by way of [its] shell [to be] about our holy and glorious Temple. But in my opinion, there is great glory to Issac [in this story], and that is why it is written here. And since Issac did all of these things with a bold heart – as if he was the master of the land – hence in his coming to Beersheba, the Lord appeared to him and promised him, "I am the Lord of Abraham, your father; do not fear." [This] means to say, "I am the One who gave Abraham your father the power to defeat the kings, and I am the One who gave you the power to act with strength; hence do not fear the men of Gerar, nor about the matter of the wells that you made – as I am with you in all that you do"...

And Issac sowed: To say that Issac already made efforts in working the land and was very successful. But the Philistines were jealous of him, as they thought that his success was from buying and selling with the people of the land, such that this one benefits and those ones lose – to the point that they said to him, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big than us." This means that you have become big, in that you benefit and subjugate the people of the land more than us – even as we are the masters of the land.

"If thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good"

"as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good"

In the days of R. Yehoshua ben Chananiah, the evil kingdom (Rome) decreed to rebuild the Temple. Papos and Lulianos (two brothers who were later martyred in Lod) set up tables from Akko to Antioch and supplied the pilgrims from the diaspora with silver, gold and all of their needs. Some Kuthites went [to the emperor] and said, "The king should know that if this rebellious city is built and its walls fortified, 'they will not pay tribute, poll-tax, or land-tax.'" He said to them, "What should I do, I have already made the decree?" They said to him, "Send to say to them [that] they either change the place of the Temple or add or remove five ells from it, and they will recant on their own." And all of the [Jewish] people was gathered in Beit Rimon. When the king's edict arrived, they began to cry. They sought to rebel against the king. [The sages] said, "Let a wise man go up to quiet the assembled." They said, "Let R. Yehoshua ben Chananiah go up, as he is learned in the Torah." R. Yehoshua ben Chananiah went up and expounded, "A lion was devouring prey [and] a bone got stuck in its throat. It said, 'I will give a reward to anyone who comes and removes it.' An Egyptian heron with a long beak put his beak into the mouth of the lion and extracted the bone. It said to the lion, 'Give me my reward.' The lion said to it, 'Go and praise yourself, "I went into the mouth of the lion in peace and I came out in peace" - and there is no greater reward than that.' So too is it enough for us that we entered into this nation in peace and came out in peace."

And the explanation of "we have not touched you": That our heart not seduce us about your wife, to touch one of you, as per the wording (Genesis 26:11), "The one who touches this man or his wife will surely die." "And we have done with you only good": To guard all that is yours, in our commanding the people to guard themselves from [what belongs to] you.

S.v. If you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you: It is saying, "If you will do us no harm," like "we have not touched you, [...] you are now blessed by the Lord," and we do not have the power in our hand to do harm to you. But if the time changes because of the robbery that you do and you will need to come to our land, we will pay you back your retribution.

אתה עתה, therefore conclude a pact with us and let us go home, just as we have allowed you to leave our country unmolested. אתה, that you are blessed of the Lord. An example is "Come, blessed of the Lord," that is written with Laban (24:31). And so did Issac do, and they walked away from him in peace.

"We did not touch you and we sent you away in peace" - meaning to say that we did not take anything from all that is yours, but we rather sent you away in peace. As there is no doubt that you are now more blessed of the Lord than when you came to our land. And that proves that you received benefit and goodness in this land, even as it was from God. And therefore, it is not fit that you do harm to the land in which you lived and were blessed.