Midrasch zu Bereschit 26:12

[(Gen. 37:1:) NOW JACOB DWELT < IN THE LAND >.] This text is related (to I Chron. 29:15): FOR WE ARE SOJOURNERS BEFORE YOU [AND TRANSIENTS LIKE ALL OUR ANCESTORS]. So are the righteous. The Holy One had made them the essential thing, but they make themselves subordinate. In the case of Abraham, the Holy One had magnified him, as stated (in Gen. 12:2): I WILL BLESS YOU AND MAGNIFY YOUR NAME. And so (in Gen. 13:17): ARISE, WALK ABOUT THE LAND < THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH AND BREADTH, FOR I AM GIVING IT TO YOU >. < Yet > he says to the children of Heth (i.e., to the Hittites, in Gen. 23:4): I AM AN ALIEN AND A TRANSIENT AMONG YOU. So also with Isaac, the Holy One magnified him, as stated (in Gen. 26:12): SO ISAAC SOWED ON THAT LAND < AND REAPED IN THAT YEAR A HUNDREDFOLD, FOR THE LORD HAD BLESSED HIM >. It also says (in Gen. 26:6): SO ISAAC {SOJOURNED} [DWELT] IN GERAR. And so with Jacob (according to Gen. 36:6): NOW JACOB DWELT IN THE LAND WHERE HIS FATHER HAD SOJOURNED. It is therefore stated (in I Chron. 29:16): FOR WE ARE SOJOURNERS BEFORE YOU AND TRANSIENTS LIKE ALL OUR ANCESTORS.

R. Simeon explained: A king never stands in his field while it is being sowed or plowed or hoed, he does so only while the grain is being stacked. Abraham hoed, as it is said: Arise, walk through the land (ibid. 13:17), and Isaac sowed, as it is said: And Isaac sowed in the land (ibid. 26:12). The King did not stand beside anyone until Jacob came, for he stacked the first fruits, as it is said: Israel is the Lord’s hallowed portion, and the first fruits of the increase (Jer. 2:3). Then the Holy One, blessed be He, stood beside him (Gen. 28:13). Therefore, Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God (Ps. 146:5). Resh Lakish declared: Whose hope is in the Lord his God refers to Joseph, who was the hope of the world while dwelling in Egypt. The Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to Jacob that his hope was in Egypt, as it is said: Now Jacob saw that there was hope in Egypt (reading sever, “hope,” for shever, “grain”).

Another interpretation: What is the meaning of IN EVERYTHING? By virtue of the tithes. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 14:20): AND HE GAVE HIM A TITHE FROM EVERYTHING. Isaac also [was blessed] by virtue of the tithes. [Thus it is stated (in Gen. 26:12): SO ISAAC SOWED ON THAT LAND AND REAPED IN THAT YEAR A HUNDREDFOLD, FOR THE LORD HAD BLESSED HIM. He also says (in Gen. 27:33): AND I HAVE EATEN OF EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU CAME AND HAVE BLESSED HIM. Jacob also was blessed by virtue of the tithes.] Thus it is stated (in Gen. 28:22): AND OF ALL THAT YOU GIVE ME, I WILL SURELY SET ASIDE A TITHE FOR YOU. Ergo (in Gen. 21:1): AND THE LORD HAD BLESSED ABRAHAM IN EVERYTHING.