Shabbat Parashat Toldot - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Toldot - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  God appeared to him and said, "Do not descend to Egypt. Dwell in the land that I

  shall tell you." [Bereishit 26:2]

Why would God need to tell Yitzchak not to descend to Egypt? Where do we see that

Yitzchak was headed there that God would need to stop him?

The first three words of our verse and that of Bereishit 12:10 are identical, "there was a

famine in the land". Both father and son, at different times, needed to go from their land

to find food. Since the crops in Egypt are not dependent on rain, rather the flooding of the

Nile, Egypt was a logical destination for all whose crops failed due to lack of rain. Avraham

went there, and only met Avimelech later on [Bereishit 20:2] on his way back to Canaan.

But our verse follows 26:1 that says "Yitzchak went to Avimelech". Whether this is the same

Avimelech that Avraham dealt with or not is not a question for today. Avimelech was king of

the Plishtim in Gerar, separate from Egypt. If Yitzchak was headed to Gerar, why did God

warn him at this point not to go to Egypt?

According to Rashi, "he had in mind to descend to Egypt as his father had descended in the

days of the famine", but we do not see this explicitly in the Torah. Ramban suggests that since

"God bestowed great honor upon (Avraham), for this reason Yitzchak wanted to follow in the

footsteps of his forefather to go down there". But we would have to ask why Yitzchak, of all

people, would seek such honor. Ramban then gives another opinion that "this matter is an

allusion to the future. For Avraham's exile to Egypt due to the famine was an allusion that his

children would go into exile there. His going to Avimelech was not an exile for he lived there of

his own free will. However, Yitzchak's descent to Gerar due to famine does allude to exile for he

migrated from his place against his will." Thus it was not a matter of honor, but need, that

Avraham had to go to Egypt, and when he went to Gerar it was voluntarily. Yitzchak went to

Gerar not by choice, but was forced to head toward Egypt and merely stopped on the way. Rav

Hirsch in fact states this directly, "Yitzchak had the intention of going to Egypt, the usual place

of refuge from famine" and notes that there was famine in Gerar as well. Radak disagrees with

this last statement and says there was no famine in Gerar, thus God told Yitzchak to reside there

temporarily and not go on to Egypt. Rashbam adds that Gerar was on the shortest route to Egypt.

Malbim, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rashi and others, based on Bereishit Rabbah [64:3], explain the

need to tell Yitzchak not to go to Egypt that Yitzchak was already purified by the Akeidah and

could not abide by the depravity of Egypt, or that Avraham was undergoing a test which Yitzchak

did not need.

Rav Hirsch gives us another thought. Various words are used for the idea of dwelling somewhere.

Sh'chon means to dwell quietly, which is more than gur (sojourn) and less than yashav (settle).

Avraham was told to sojourn in Egypt (lagur) but Yitzchak was told to dwell in Gerar (sh'chon).

It was this difference in the character of living somewhere that God intended to tell Yitzchak.